During the first days, freedom slowly comes between our contracted muscles and we try to push the clouds aside with our free hands to get to the much-needed sun. Fate favors us and streams of water wash away our doubts about whether this trip was a good idea….

With the first rays of the sun, we try to find the ideal connection between a croissant, a strong espresso and a foggy mind… We succeed, the first thoughts of creative activity emerge from the brain fog, which for now very quickly slide to the sea, deep breaths and an imaginary walks on the rocks. The smell of wet stone flows through the city, which is most intense in the ubiquitous churches and we (again intoxicated by a croissant with pistachio filling and coffee) decide to follow it. The first images and visual moods of the surroundings begin to be imprinted in the bowels of our eyes. Terezka finds a rooster like wood (every morning we are woken up by their singing) and I find immaculate pieces of marble. Suddenly I feel like Michelangelo, but it quickly passes me by. For now, I will just be Vojta with a tool similar to a drill and we will see where I get to… 

Days pass and small vegetable statues appear around the apartment. Originally, the plan was that they would be the ones who would define the result of my work, but they are becoming just mute servants on the way to what we are about to create. Terezka creates a stand and beak for the rooster and I walk up and down, thinking about the marble…

Actually, I didn’t even know if I could do anything with it, I just blindly believed that it would definitely be possible to make a small excursion in the material that many have already stepped into. We better make more coffee…

Terezka takes out the beads and starts stringing the image of a heart. She has already strung my heart, so I know what it is like. Ashamed of my inaction, I make the first cut and in a few hours I'm done. The statue was inside the stone, as if it had been waiting for me there all along. I'm happy, I drink more coffee and eat cookies…

A small, inconspicuous figure in the shape of a Madonna has emerged. However, it requires a great deal of imagination, which I hope the recipient of this work will also have…

Days pass and Terezka starts painting shapes similar to tiles on paper. It seems to me that Scicli doesn't need any more tiles, but I respect that Terezka has a different opinion…

I look at other pieces of marble and try to find out what might be hidden in them. In the evening it turns out that they were hiding a piece of tile inspired by an altar in one of the local churches. After all, the heart that Terezka is working on is inspired by the same thing. Okay, I'm glad we came to an understanding with the stone…

Departure is approaching and the approximate statue of the Madonna is given its niche in the shape of a shell. It's a bit rough, but it was the material's fault. It didn't want to be gently worked and broke like a sandstone in a storm. Terezka finishes the heart picture, looking for a place for it, and I set off on my last stone hunt on the hill above Asmara…

I returned with a small square. I thought I would make a house number out of it, because it seemed like a good idea. It wasn't a good idea, the stone was unyielding and chipped terribly. It was as if Asmara wanted to remain identifiable only with a marker and I just went against that. I didn't give up and we leave the beautiful place, which is now almost unidentifiable, because the writing in the stone is much harder to read than the original marker on the wall.