Ars Poetica, Poetry and Jelsa
Hello dear readers, how are you doing? In this post, we'll do
a bit of writing, a bit of sightseeing and a bit of fashion. In other words, I'll
show you an outfit I wore for a book promotion and I'll write a bit about (my
life in) Jelsa. Let us start with the outfit of the day and the occasion I wore
it for. It's actually a nice little story. So, I wore this styling for a book
promotion of a poetry book titled Ars Poetica and written by Nenad M.
Brown. I attended this poetry reading and book promotion in Jelsa library on 25th of May. The book
promotion was also the opening of an abstract art exhibition by the author of
the book, that is, Nenad M. Brown. So, it was a really lovely evening. I’ve
always loved Jelsa library, and with time I just love it even more. The
building is gorgeous and the staff is extremely friendly. In general, I love libraries
in Croatia. I often feel like libraries are my home away from home.
* This post was written in English, so I’m not responsible for
any mistakes made by the automatic translation. Nothing wrong with automatic or
machine translation, but if you’re using it keep in mind that the translation
might not be one hundred percent accurate. If you have any questions, let me
know.
Anyhow, I decided to visit Jelsa library in the morning
before going to work because I wanted to help them take off the exhibition posters
that I made with my high school students. You would not believe how
artistically gifted my class is, but that’s a subject for another post. Just for
the reference, I did an exhibition about cultural heritage of Jelsa with them.
I thought it would be fun to take them out of school so we did the whole thing
in the library. They got an A for this project. This was a while back, so on
that morning I figured I might as well offer to help take it off since the
staff so generously put it up all by themselves. Anyhow, as I arrived to and
proposed to help the library staff take the posters off, Nenad came in with his
paintings for the book promotion in the evening. The library staff laughed
about how it was the perfect timing. It really was! In the evening (after
work), I attended the book promotion and art exhibition and it was really
lovely.
The poetry reading was lovely as was the Introduction talk that was done by one of my coworkers. The poetry collection is very personal and lyrical. It spans many years. The author said that the collection was basically one old used up notebook that he kept writing in for years. The language of poetry collection varies in tone and sentiment, and the poems are written using different vocabulary, representing different countries and regions the author has lived in.
Personally, what I enjoyed most were the poems about island Hvar, Vrboska in particular. Nenad talked about his decision to make island Hvar his permanent home, about how he came to be settled on the island, about how we made friends and found a place for himself there.
One thing that really stayed with me was what he said about life on an island. ‘You don’t come to this island to find yourself; you come here when you have found yourself.’
So, basically an island is not a place where to come to find yourself, but more a place where you realize yourself. You should come to the island with a character, not in a search of a character. I found that very interesting, for I too feel like I have arrived on this island (again) as a formed ad fully functioning person.
From
my personal experience, I’ll say that life on the island has its struggles, but
there are also many benefits. Island Hvar is an absolutely beautiful place. It
is a true paradise. It is a privilege to call a paradise your home. No matter how high the living costs might be.
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| A collage made from photographs from the promotion, source: Jelsa library official site |
If you look carefully you can see me in the audience!
All in all, the book promotion was lovely. Jelsa library is not a large library, and Jelsa is not a large community, so it was not crowded but cozy. The atmosphere was nice
and friendly. I enjoyed the joining of art and poetry. It was lovely to gaze at
the paintings and listen to poetry at the same time.
I will leave you with the link to the site of the book author (Nenad M. Brown) : https://www.nenadbrown.com/home in case you want to know more.
Here is also the link to the Jelsa library official site : https://knjiznica-jelsa.hr/ and the link to their post about this book promotion: https://knjiznica-jelsa.hr/default_vijest_wide.asp?sid=7865
After the book promotion, I went for a little walk. I thought about my life on the island. What it means to me. What it means for me. Regular readers of my blog will know that I have lived on island Hvar in 2019 and 2020. My mom (and both of my grandparents) are originally from island Hvar, so I spent a lot of time here as a child. This island has often been featured on my blog. I believe that readers of my blog are quite familiar with it. I spend all of my childhood Summers here on island Hvar and many of my adult ones as well. However, 2020 was the first year that I actually lived there. I moved to Jelsa in Autumn 2019 on a year contract. When the contract ended, I returned to Mostar. Since then, I worked in a number of schools in Croatia. For about three years I worked in an International Primary School Mostar. I inquired about teaching jobs on island Hvar during this time, but nothing came up so when I found out about this opening, I was a bit surprised.
The job opening wasn’t a classical one, it was not to fill someone’s post, but rather to take on some extra hours and subjects created by the new educational reform in Croatia. This meant not only teaching subjects that I have never taught before, but also teaching subjects that nobody has ever taught before. You see, these subjects were brand new, a part of an educational reform. So, I knew I’ll have to do a lot of reading and research. However, when I got that call this Summer to work in Jelsa again, I didn’t think twice before applying. Nobody else applied for the position, so the job was mine.
There were some challenges of course. I already wrote about
our numerous moves and all that. Changing you place of work is never easy, but
moving and working between two countries (one of which is in EU, the other isn’t)
can be something of a logistical nightmare. I did my best to make it work. I
did my best to make everything work. I finished by Summer job at midnight, and
started by teaching job at seven am- and I had to travel from Trogir to Hvar
for my first meeting.
Funny how this school year seems to have just flown by. A
year of many new starts. New school. New educational reform with a completely
different curriculum. New subjects alongside Croatian. This was also the first time I taught Croatian
for a whole school year. I spend the majority of my professional career
teaching English (both as a second and first language, both in private and
public schools). Teaching English wasn’t really a choice. To be honest, I loved
teaching English and apparently, I’m good at it. However, I also always wanted
to teach Croatian. I have a double MA degree- English and Croatian. The fact
that my English was excellent proved to be somewhat of a professional curse for
me. As I got branded as the English teacher, it was harder for me to compete
for Croatian teaching jobs. Teaching English has brought me much joy, but I’m
happy to finally have the opportunity to teach Croatian. Not that I stopped
teaching English. My phone is always ringing and I sometimes I have to turn
down English lessons because there just isn’t enough hours in the day. Still,
now I’m also teaching Croatian in a formal way and I love that.
I find the comparison between the two to be fascinating. What
is the difference between teaching a foreign language and a mother tongue? Obviously,
the curriculum is different. However, there are so many factors that are
constantly changing. Europeans (with the exception of English speaking
countries) are usually multilingual. They can feel like they inhabit different identities
when they speak different languages. It can be such an interesting subject to
discuss and think about. Language teaching can mean so many different things to
so many people.
Speaking and expressing yourself in a foreign language can
feel both limiting and liberating, and sometimes paradoxically even at the same
time. I don’t really know how to explain this feeling to people who are
monolingual. Sometimes Nenad Brown (the author of the book) read some parts of
his books in English (because some people in the audience were English speakers)
and while doing so he said he has less stage fright speaking in English then in
his mother tongue. I can relate to that. Perfectionism can keep us down, both
in speaking our first, second, third or so on languages. Sometimes it will be
easier to express ourselves in our mother tongue, sometimes in a foreign one-
for a variety of reasons. Anyhow, it is all fascinating stuff. I might write
more about this is one of my new posts.
1. Here - with sandals and a mini ratan bag
2. Here- with statement necklaces a summer straw bag
3 & 4. Here- Two WAYS to Style The Blue Dress
5. Here- with Blue tights, a white blazer and a pair of pink heels
6. Here- See this blue midi dress layered with a red blazer and a grey coat
7. Here - With comfortable flat tropical sandals for a relaxed vibe
8.How to style a pale blue summer dress? Here I wore it with leopard heels and a white vintage blazer.
9. Blue dress worn with a leopard denim jacket, a pair of leopard heels and a black belt bag.
10. Blue dress styled for winter with a burgundy tartan winter jacket, brown boots and a bag.
11. With a brown leather winter coat with faux fur collar
12. With a pair of black flip flop sandals and a straw bag for a summer visit to Jelsa
- The first coat of arms of Croatia showcased three leopards or lions heads, which since the late 15th century began to be associated as the coat of arms of Dalmatia. In that period, due to historical events the disintegration of the Croatian lands began resulting in separate coat of arms for Croatia, Dalmatia and Slavonia (but all of them representing in general the Kingdom of Croatia and Dalmatia).
....
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| A little gif to show you a wider perspective of Jelsa town centre (and my outfit) |
Sve je tako prelepo! :)
ReplyDeleteHvala, Aleksandro. :) Divne su i tvoje figurice.
DeleteThank you for revealing to us that even small towns have very beautiful cultural events and that they are not much different from larger cities. It is fascinating that Jelsa, a small town, was such a large trading and fishing center important for the entire Adriatic Sea👏 We know so little about history and appreciate it so little. And your photos and the urban architecture of Jelsa are beautiful. We should enjoy small and beautiful things... Best regards, dear Ivana... Happy name day to you, today is St. John's Day 🤗🥂🫶☀️
ReplyDeleteYes, small towns have their culture.
DeleteThank you so much for your sweet comment!
DeleteLindo atuendo. Te mando un beso.
ReplyDeleteGracias!
DeleteLepa Ivana i njena Jelsa...bila sem v Jelsi ampak že zelooo dolgoi nazaj, res je lepa.
ReplyDeletePozdrav v Jelso iz moje vroče Ljubljane, Andreja!
V Ljubljani je vroče, ampak je tudi lepo. :) Bila sem tam samo enkrat, žal upam, da jo bom spet obiskala. Majhni kraji, kot je Jelsa, so poleti manj vroči, upam, da boste imeli priložnost spet obiskati Jelso. Hvala za komentar.
DeleteHey, I just finished reading your post and honestly it stayed with me longer than I expected. There’s something really grounding about the way you describe Jelsa — not as a perfect postcard place, but as somewhere you actually live, work and grow into, with all the chaos that comes with it. The whole “you don’t come here to find yourself, you come here when you’ve already found yourself” line… I’m not fully sure I agree with it, to be honest — what if someone is still becoming, not already “formed”?
ReplyDeleteI also really liked your reflections on language and identity. That part about feeling different versions of yourself depending on the language you speak — I think more people experience that than they admit. Do you think teaching Croatian after so many years of teaching English changes how you see your own language, or even yourself? And yeah, reading all this makes me wonder — do you ever feel like you’re writing about Jelsa to understand it better, or to understand yourself better through it?
When it comes to finding ourselves, I think we could look at from two angles. In one sense, we are all always evolving and trying to find ourselves, or our true self. In that sense, this island is as a good place to find ourselves as any other.
DeleteThere is another angle to approach, though. I don't know what exactly the writer thought about this island being a place where you don't come to find yourself, but I can make assumptions based on my own experience.
Off season, island Hvar is not densely populated. During the summer, there are crowds of people. Off season, especially in the Winter, it is a place of quiet. You have to be comfortable with yourself, I think, to live in such a place happily and comfortably. Some might find life on the island isolating. However, it depends on the person. When you feel like you know who you are, you are less likely to feel lonely. When a person is young and still looking for himself in a broader sense (professional and so on), it can be useful being around people. When we feel like our character is still in formation, we might want to live somewhere where there are more opportunities for certain things.
About language and identity, it is really a fascinating topic. I think teaching English definitely changed the way I look at some things.
I definitely feel like I'm writing about Jelsa to understand it and myself better.
In that sense, a blog sometimes feels like a diary.
I really like how you approached this from two different angles — it makes the idea of “finding ourselves” feel much more grounded and less like a single destination we’re supposed to reach.
DeleteWhat you said about Hvar is especially interesting. I can imagine how strongly the rhythm of a place shapes inner experience: the contrast between a crowded summer and a quiet winter almost sounds like two completely different worlds. And I agree with your point that solitude can feel either deeply peaceful or quite isolating depending on where someone is in their life.
I also find your reflection on language and identity very meaningful. There is something about writing in another language that almost forces a different kind of self-awareness — as if you’re translating not just words, but parts of yourself too. Maybe that’s why blogging starts to feel like a diary, as you said — it becomes a space where thinking and self-understanding quietly overlap.
Yes, there is definitely two ways to look at this idea of finding ourselves.
DeleteIt is two completely different worlds and I like that a lot. I love living in a place that has all four seasons...and every season feels like being in another place.
Language is a topic that has never ceased to fascinate me!
ReplyDeleteJelsa is a lovely place to stay. It also makes a great backdrop for your outfit.
I would have liked to attend the book presentation, too. :)
Thank you so much, Andrea!
Delete