Last year I was asked if I would return to Jersey to sing for the Opening Ceremony of the NatWest Island Games. It has been nearly 30 years since Jersey hosted the last Island games so it wasn’t something I would miss given the opportunity...

Big love and thanks to Tracey Allison Glavina for this beautiful write-up!

Click to source! 

http://www.croatia-split.com/blog/what-s-happening/michelle-rowsell-singer-and-total-split-blogger-takes-bokeria-tonight.html

Read my first Croatian Interview here! Fala Lipa (beautiful thanks) to Dina Bujas at DalmacijaNews

http://www.dalmacijanews.hr/clanak/gv6v-kantautorica-michelle-rowsell-u-splitu-se-moze-zivjeti-od-glazbe#/clanak/gv6v-kantautorica-michelle-rowsell-u-splitu-se-moze-zivjeti-od-glazbe

Happy Google translating ;)

It’s my anniversary this month! I’ve been living in Split for a whole year and can’t believe that I was ever nervous to make the move! I’ve been performing regularly and life has never felt sweeter. People here are always willing to help and lend a hand. They introduce you to other like-minded people they know. There’s a real word-of-mouth movement here and for this reason it reminds me of Jersey C.I. somewhat! Someone knows someone who knows someone’s wife etc…

That’s how I started gigging regularly in Bokeria. A friend of mine showed one of my music videos to a friend, whose sister knew the manager of the restaurant. The same friend’s husband told a promoter who was looking for live music on Riva back at Christmas time about me. And that’s how I accepted my craziest gig to date! A gig where I would come to learn the full force of the bura wind!

So it’s been over 6 months since my move to Croatia and the first time that I’ve been available for olive picking season. This is something that I have wanted to do ever since I heard that Ante’s family had kept olive trees for generations and each year they make olive oil from them. For one reason or another, I always “escaped” as Ante likes to call it...

When I worked for P&O Cruises as a singer in their theatre company, Dubrovnik was my only experience of Croatia. On my first visit to Split to meet Ante’s family and friends, I realised how very little Croatian I had learnt. I had the basics under my belt to show that I was willing to learn but nothing that could prepare me for a conversation. 

As someone who eats porridge every morning like it’s my religion, I have a tip for you if you ever have the pleasure of being invited to a Croatian’s home for lunch: Skip breakfast and go with a healthy appetite! Be warned: You will be encouraged to eat past your physical limitations!

In my first blog I mentioned that as I am learning Croatian, I am often using words in the wrong context or using a word in place of another that sounds similar to my ear. This is referred to in English as a “malapropism.” I dare any Croat to drop this word into a conversation with the English. I guarantee they will be impressed with your knowledge of our language as for sure they will have to look this word up just as I did!

My first malapropism was when I was trying to convey detest for mosquitoes to Mama & Papa Franić...

Firstly, I should explain myself… This blog has only come about because I was sharing my experiences of life in Croatia with a complete stranger at a typically British BBQ that I had gate crashed. When I say “typically British” I of course mean it was raining. When I say gate crashed… I was visiting some friends that had recently swapped the smog of London town for the cleaner airs of Surrey. They had been invited and it was a chance for them to meet their new neighbours. When they mentioned that the people hosting were from Serbia there wasn’t much to think about! I knew that this would be no “ordinary BBQ”