E-VITA

I am an English teacher. I studied languages, because I thought it would be a good way to get an opportunity to leave Poland and lead a good comfortable life abroad. Life in Poland was difficult as it came to ordinary things – shops were almost empty, it was difficult to buy any nice clothes, many things were not available for ordinary people, we were poor and I remember had one pair of winter shoes for all 5 years of my studies… I wanted to study American literature and film, but it was seen as a politically wrong action against the country. There were many absurdities present in everyday life, but the worst thing was you could not feel free, you could not travel, you could not have your own passport at home. Why do you want to travel abroad? Don’t you have a good life here? Don’t you like your country? – they asked. One by one I abandoned my dreams, I met my husband and have a son and we stayed in Poland. I started to work as a teacher in state school, but no matter how much and hard I worked we always had too little money to get all we needed. At that time a horrible inflation struck the Polish economy and everything cost thousands and thousands of zlotys and a loaf of bread was twice expensive every half a year. It was awful.

I decided I would go abroad to earn some real money. I had two month holiday and I decided to travel to the UK. I put so much effort to receive a passport, then I found a very relative of my father’s cousin living in the UK. He was a Polish soldier who stayed in GB after the war and I asked him for help. He arranged an official invitation for me and he became my first harbour on the island. The UK did not accept tourists from Eastern block eagerly, they were isolated and had own local problems to deal with. They did not want immigrants. Many people were denied the British visa. Anyway I managed to get one and I invested money in the air ticket, said good bye to my family and travelled to Warsaw to Okecie airport to take off to a new world! I remember the procedures at the airports – both in Warsaw and then at Heathrow – it was so humiliating. Custom officers asked me many times why I went, where to, what for, who helped me, when I come back, what I had in my luggage, they repeated several times if I could speak English and if I had any goods to declare; they ordered me to open my luggage and looked through my personal belongings… I felt like a criminal before I left my country, but the anger I felt made me determined even more.

Finally I was let in the UK and went to London which appeared the greatest city in the world, I could not believe it was so big and so spectacular. First few days I spent walking along the streets and listening to what people were saying. I did not understand a lot, they spoke with so many different and strange accent, it was probably the first time I heard real live English. I was scared and excited, happy and frustrated, confused and self-assured. I knew it was a free world, wide and open waiting for me… After a few days and after the emotions got calmer I started to look for work, I bought a newspaper and made a few phone calls. I found a job very quickly and started as a baby- sitter, then I moved to work in a pub. It was better money and I met so many different people who spoke so many variations of English! I could talk to them all the time and my English improved and got more refined every day. It was what I liked best. A real lesson of life and language! After a hard day at work I visited museums, travelled on double-deckers and admired London. Of course I earned a lot of money – really comparing the sum I had after three months in London to my Polish income it was a fortune! I came back to my grey life in Poland and we started to build a house with my husband…

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