WHITE TO BLACK

It just took another 1 and a half hour to Helenki-Vantaa Airport from my transit from Riga. I boarded a Focker 500 after stepping into snow for the first time. The feeling was quite unusual. Although I did not have the luxury of time to seep in the awesome-ness of the moment like the first time I saw the Sea, I know in my heart that in time I would come to know the Snow; his intricacies and relentless force in this region.

Han met me with my coat and gloves and with a bus ride, we were home. A small space framed by four stoic walls with a window that sheilded us from the elements. A thermometer sits quietly behind the glass, with her red mercurious belly rising and falling; as if breathing with the Air of Helsinki. It read -17 C on my arrival.

We had bought tulips and made our first dinner of vegetable casserole, chicken noodles and bread with cheese, all washed down with clear tap water. Afterwhich, with some errands abound - cleaning up, changing sheets and dishes, I set off to sleep in my first winter bed, snows in the park and a man on my side.

Silence fell. As it will for many days that came after...