On the way to work...

I do a lot of work as an art model, which usually involves commuting all over the area, since art schools are scattered around. My usual furthest commute is to a school named Pekka Halosen Akatemia, after the Finnish turn-of-the-century painter and artist Pekka Halonen. This school happens to be in the middle of nowhere between two towns: Tuusula and Järvenpää. The commute here is rather troublesome, it involves either an hour or more by bus, or some 25mins by train plus 25mins more walking (which is what I usually chose), and I still have mixed feelings about it. Nevertheless the walk from the train station to the school is often quite rewarding, as one gets to experience the beauty of Finnish nature throughout the seasons and in different weathers.

Today was definitely one of those days! Even though the snow in Helsinki has been melting for the last couple of days due to the temperatures going above zero, here in the outskirts the scenery is still white and crisp, and today specially mysterious since a thick mantle of fog covers it all. Definitely a view to enjoy and to remind us of how insignificant we are as compared to the greatness of nature <3

walk in the countryside on the way to work

Winter wonderland <3

Unless you live in Finland, you may not know we've had "Black Christmas" this year, which means there was no snow during Christmas. As a matter of fact we've only had snow in Helsinki since about a couple of weeks. Why is this such a big deal? Well, when you live in a place so far north that you only get a few hours of daylight during winter, having snow makes a huge difference. I specially like it when all the trees and bushes end up with all their tiny branches completely covered in snow, it really looks like Winter Wonderland! (remind me I said this around April, when I can't take snow anymore :-D)

winter wonderland <3

Yesterday we had a really fun day at my Tribal Fusion teacher's place. She lives in a small town called Järvenpää some 30mins north of Helsinki, in the cutest little house with a lovely yard and an absolutely SUPERB sauna! The day started with two hours of dancing and sweating, after which some of the other girls and me started to get food and sauna ready. A proper old-school wood-fueled sauna like hers takes around two hours to warm up properly, and the furnace has to be taken care of regularly by feeding it more wood every 20 mins or so, but it is so worth it! It was just a pity there wasn't more snow, because winter sauna is usually best when you can roll on the snow in between! ;-D

path leading to our teacher's house

After sauna we had some delicious food and s few drinks in good company. I must confess I'm not much of a party animal and you'll rarely see me in bars (unless I just performed there), but I sure love a nice relaxed party with lovely people. 

The evening was perfect even when we arrived to the railway station and realized the next train back home was leaving in about 40mins, because that gave us a chance to head to the closest pub and enjoy a warm jallu cocoa (Jaloviina aka Jallu can probably be described as some sort of Finnish Brandy, even though it is not a Brandy). 

Because Finnish winter! <3