17th july 2007 - ruse/ bulgaria

"The short night was for sleeping or for brooding thoughts about the timeless nature of rivers and their inexhaustible bodies of water.
Rusticus exspectat dum defluat amnis, at ille
Labitur et lebetur in omne volubilis aevum.
Yes. That is exactly how it was. There was a lot to think about."
P.L. Fermor - Between the woods and the water

heat, heat, heat - and no chance to escape! unbearable, crippling heat. headaches - not sleeping at all at night, drenched in sweat i look for relief on deck, without success. nightmares plague me as i doze, i die a thousand deaths.

only after the sun has come up does sleep save me. but only for 3 hours, then the heat wakes me once more. a walk through the town distracts me. back on the boat i jump into the danube a few times. but the water is too warm, it's no longer refreshing. in the evening we rehearse with karandila. not actually necessary, as i can't for the life of me imagine it being better than yesterday. i'm almost worried that we're improving for the worse. i want to play, not rehearse, but that doesn't mean that it has to be a concert, you can play this way too. at 10pm we have food. mr ivanov comes to visit. he is the director of the german school, choir leader and a kindred spirit. i'm delighted to see him again. he was my first contact in ruse.