I arrived in Brussels. I expected to grow and learn. I didn’t expect to grow and learn so much! That I found some very good friends was also very welcome.
Merci Bruxelles!
Dank u Brussel!
There’s no time like mökki time
I'm spending this weekend again in a summer cottage, but with friends instead of family. It is very striking to see how much Finns are more at home in the countryside than in the city. With views like that below, I don't blame them.
Street view
80’s nostalgia & fantasy storylines
I watched the Transformers movie (mecha porn!) during the week and both that and my recent acquisition of a Nintendo Wii (I've already bought online Super Mario Bros. and Punch Out) have convinced me that we're ongoing a serious case of 80's nostagia.
Furthermore, I'm surprised by the amount of fantasy movies currently either on cinemas or on the way. Given that some of the most famous fantasy storylines are product of the escapism needed in times of crisis (Lord of the Rings is a product of the II World War, whereas Star Wars was written during the aftershock of the Vietnam War), I wonder how this offering reflects on the times we're living.
Wii love it
It has been a long time since I have been so enthusiastic about a gadget as it is currently the case with the Wii. Bought it yesterday and have to say that the overall off & online experience is very well thought through.
Technology specs are nothing if you don't deliver your promise.
Sports tracker
I went skating yesterday. Not any kind of skating, but one special modality called nordic blading, which is done with poles as if you were skiing. I am now the proud owner of an N95 and was using the Sports Tracker application, which is able to calculate the kind of route I took, how many kilometres I did and my speed and altitude. You can even export your workouts to Google Earth! Quite a nice thing, I should say.
P.S. For those interested, I skated 15.4 km at an average speed of 10 km/h and a maximum speed of 49 km/h.
Different ways to see the news
I have wrote before that the news you see determine your reality. there was no clearer example of that than a quote I read in the Financial Times a couple of weeks ago: "CNN films the launch of the missile. Al-Jazeera films what happens where it lands."
Of sunsets and sunrises
Sunsets always make me think of new beginnings. Ever since that salmon-coloured one I saw years ago on the plane that took me to Finland the first time, sunrises don't make me melancholic, but hopeful instead, as there is a sunrise after every sunset, and the day after today is what one makes of it.
It better be good. If it isn't, just smile, it makes it easier.
Summer in Finland
If you ever come to this place in the far north, try to make it in summer and try to go to a summer cottage with sauna next to a lake. You will understand more about this country and its people than if you visit their cities. I have to say that the peace you find is very endearing.
It helps if it is warm too, as is currently the case.
Lunch with the “Mexicans”
Today I had lunch with the "Mexicans" at work. They are under quotation marks since many of them weren't actually Mexican, but people who have for some reason or another spent some of their time in Mexico and not only speak proper Mexican Spanish, but also behaved as Mexican as any chilango, regio or yucateco would. Even though we were an Italian, 3 Mexicans and 2 Finns, the table sounded as having 6 Mexicans.
Globalisation and acculturisation go both ways, I've seen.