Af-riikka

Varoitus: seuraava teksti sisältää paljon huutomerkkejä ja ihana-sanan toistoa. Ensinnäkin: kevät on täällä! Toiseksi: Suomessakin on alettu lopulta valmistaa suklaalakuja - kiitokset siitä Pandalle. Ihan/uutta, todellakin...vaikka hinta kirpaisee hiukkasen, tuollainen pieni pussi maksaa 1,39 euroa. Suklaalakut ovat jääneet makuhermomuistiin Islannin kesästä 2003, ja sen jälkeen olen syönyt vain korvikkeita, kuten suklaata ja lakua vuorotellen, tai viime kuukausien aikana Fazerin uutta Lontoon rae -suklaata, herkullista sekin. En siis voinut olla kiljahtamatta ilosta, kun löysin nämä Tarjoustalon karkkihyllystä! Kolmanneksi: psykedeelisen vaaleanpunaisen dinosaurus-ilmapallon (eikö olekin söpö!) ja punaisen pörrömattoni päällä lepäävät upouudet, mielettömän kauniit balettitossuni! Eivätkö olekin ihanat! Niitä voisi katsella vaikka koko päivän - jalassa tossuja ei voikaan sitten pitää kuin ehkä vartin verran kerrallaan. Pitäisi mennä harjoittelemaan kovakärkisten balettitossujen alkeist...

What follows is a very unscientific analysis of YOU people! I suppose almost everyone who has a counter on their homepage checks the information acquired of visitors every now and then. I remember some bloggers that have similarly been wondering who are you? (for example here) Well, according to my counter (the little box on the lower left corner) most of the visitors who end up reading this blog seem to find here through Google, and to stay only for 5 seconds or less (75 % of visitors). Such quick glances could mean that the visitors are either regular readers who are just checking if there are any updates, or alternatively that the googlers didn’t find what they were looking for. But then again, almost every 7 th person spends more than an hour on this blog – I’m impressed! Although two thirds of visitors come from Finland , it seems that I should still continue writing English now and then: the visitor map is filled with red dots from all over the world (see statistics from 10...

What is this country I came back to last Monday? I expected idyllic winter scenery with glittering snow and fresh air - instead I got weary looking people, black ground and darkness everywhere. It didn't take very long for me to start missing the colours, smells, sounds and people of Tanzania (or Benin too, still). Somehow the lowest point was reached when I was on a train from Helsinki to Varkaus, feeling a bit sick in a fast Pendolino train which was wobbling strangely and listening to a shaven 18-year-old boy in his army suit, talking on his cell phone about cruise boats, drinking and general Christmas stuff with a very strong Eastern Finnish accent. I started to feel very anxious and wanted to get away, quickly - it was just too much Finland for me. Today it was better already. I made one portion of gingerbread ('pipari') dough for tomorrow and went for this Winter Solstice thing that they organise at the old channel in Varkaus. Loads of candles, cool ice sculptures, pr...