We left Poland on 10th April 10 1994, we drew the so-called green card. It was always my dream to live in the US. I do not know why, but I always dreamed about it, I felt that I wanted to be and live there. It may seem strange, but I had such a dream. Perhaps because a lot of my friends from school years lived in the US permanently. And I liked the myth about America very much.
Dreaming of skyscrapers
It was important for me that I was coming to the US with my beloved husband and that the trip would be a new experience for us. I was very excited about the trip, I was 21 years old and, in fact, I did not know anything about life. We left to the States soon after our wedding. I think our parents experienced our trip very much, I know that they were very worried about us. Because that young people wanted to go very far into the unknown, so far from the family.
We had in the States very good friends. Especially one, Piotr, who really helped us settle. Arriving in the US we had nothing to lose. We got some stuff for the road. Saying goodbye to family at the airport we cried a lot. What I imagined after arriving here? I guess, as everyone else, I wanted to see the wonderful American skyscrapers.
Difficult beginnings
After landing, we went through a special customs clearance for immigrants, which was not the most pleasant. Not knowing the language, I felt a little bit so … broken. Fortunately, Piotr, an acquaintance and then the only friendly soul, was waiting for us at the airport. I was incredibly glad to see him. Piotr took us to his apartment, where good Polish dinner prepared by his mother was waiting for us. After a few hours we went to the apartment that Piotr rented for us. When I saw it, I thought: God, where is the America ??? It was an apartment in the so-called Polish basement. Together with us lived there two other people. Everything was shared: bathroom, kitchen and a laundry pad locked by the landlord. Additionally we had tiny windows, something awful. When we wanted to do the laundry, we had to pay extra for access to the laundry room.
Two days after the arrival I got a job in the so-called cleaning service. I cleaned houses of wealthy people. It was a horrible experience. I do not mean the work itself, because I like working and I always had enthusiasm for work, but the owner of the service treated all of us very badly. Whenever I reminisce that work I have chills, although I can also say that then I saw how real rich Americans live. I hadn’t seen in Poland such houses, full of pomp. Then I felt great sorrow and I wanted to go back to my beloved family. I often cried at night. My husband did not work for almost two weeks and he was very worried about it. He wanted to go back to Poland already after a few days. It was very hard for us, even though we had each other. It was hard because I totally did not know the language, the city, the streets … for me then it was a nightmare.
Changes for the better
After three months of living in the so-called basement a cousin of my husband found for us a great apartment. We bought the first car and we didn’t have to commute to work by bus anymore. My husband started work, and somehow we started to move on. When I think of it today, the lack of knowledge of the language, the people, the city – it really was terrible. We moved to a normal apartment, where we were only the two of us: me and Zbyszek. The owner of the building where we rented our apartment was Mr. Lalik. I will never forget him. His life story is very interesting. He was born during World War II in the United States. After the war his parents with him and his siblings returned to Poland. But after a few years, once again they came to the United States and lived permanently in Chicago. We rented the apartment from Mr. Lalik for five years. Sometimes he dropped in for coffee and a chat. I could listen to his stories for hours …
With time, we furnished our rented apartment. I remember our first TV. I bought it at a garage sale for $ 15. It was as big as a chest, and when it warmed up the picture was jumping and … no way to watch further. I remember that it was then the season of the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan still played. We gathered in front of the TV with our all bunch of friends, but unfortunately our chest warmed up so much that in the end we didn’t watch the match.
We longed for the family, we missed the loved ones very much. But we had each other and friends, and the friends replaced us our family. We spent with them holidays and I have very good memories of all these meetings. So we were in Chicago alone and not alone.
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