Hands

It's possible that, although things here are kicking to a start again, my subconscious is still clinging to Ecuador. For example, although jetlag should be long gone, I'm finding myself wide awake at two in the morning, reading a thriller which was spell-binding until I just stumbled upon one of the most ridiculous plot twists ever, going through my calendar and enjoying all the blank spaces (especially Fridays and Wednesdays look pretty loose for now), or immersed in sudoku.

I'm also listening to songs we heard with my cousins on countless road trips through the packed streets of downtown Quito, out to the beautiful countryside or, best of all, into the jungles of the Oriente. I'm sure the trip back to Quito from the jungle is something which will stick in everybody's mind for a long time, and one of my personal highlights from the entire trip remains the incredible night sky under which we stopped to change a flat tire in the middle of the night in the freezing Andes.
Another highlight is our last night in Ecuador and the last drive we made with my cousins and sister, during which everything in the world seemed just perfect and we listened and sang along to the song I'm listening to right now.

Winter is finally here - this is what it should be like! Snow hitting you from every direction and winds hitting in your face. While probably all the city was cursing today's blizzards, I actually enjoyed them because snow is part of winter and you can't have a winter with grey, wet streets.
Two weeks ago on Friday I was in Quito, last Friday I was in Stockholm and next Friday I'll be in Riga, but although people might thing that I live for getting out of Helsinki, they are completely wrong. It's just that returning home is usually fun and there is so much to see in the world everyone should get a head start.

Piece of the day would probably the St Matthew Passion of Bach, which Dominante sightread yesterday for the first time (at least in six years). I have yet to come across a piece of music where crying can be heard in the notes as vividly as in the first and, especially, last chorus.