Kragujevac, Central Serbia

Another wonderful example of Serbian hospitality! I am visiting Danica Krstic, an extremely talented young singer of traditional Serbian folk music. She and her family have put me up in a hotel and have taken me to various events they knew I'd like! How did they know? Well, my friends in Vranje, the group Izvor, recently had a concert with Danica and so when I told them I was planning to visit here, they called ahead and spoke with Danica's parents. Her father, Dejan, and mother, Sladja, were both dancers in the local ensemble KUD "Abrashevich" and are still very connected to the local music making community. I accompanied Danica to her voice lessons with the music director,Isa, at the Abrashevish center, and also to a rehearsal of the 3rd (childrens) dance troupe as they prepared for a competetion in Ohrid, Macedonia. I was quite impressed but the others all said the equivilent of "you ain't seen nothin' yet"! The dance director, Pashko, also knows Daniela Ivanova, a Bulgarian dance teacher who has come through Seattle and whom I hosted at one point. Anyway, they are fantastic and I wish I had more time to spend with them here!

Tomorrow I head to Zajecar, a border town with Bulgaria. I have a long trip ahead tomorrow because from here, I take the bus to Jagodina, and then from there, if I can catch the connection, onto Zajecar. It isn't close and the busses will be stopping at every village...and for every cart and tractor on the road.

One of the musicians in the group Belo Platno invited me to his place for coffee when I mentioned that I would be passing through. What good fortune that I spoke with him! The plan is that after coffee, he'll drive me to the border, I'll walk across, and then another friend (well, friend of a friend) will pick me up on the other side. I hope this works since, evidently, there is no bus! Of course, I can always walk...but today was 35-37 degrees out and humid so I hope I don't need to. In fact, it is so hot I'm not really doing anything...I'm trying to find excuses to stay inside the hotel or anywhere where it is cooler. Today would be a good day for a museum, but I'm not sure where it is :)