Irena Blum
I have always been driven by my curiosity about the world and I wanted to get to know other cultures. After graduating from high school in 1978, taking the first opportunity, I got on a train from Wałbrzych to Świnoujście, and then I travelled to Kalmar, Sweden. I spent my emigration life in Sweden, Canada and France. Recently, I have returned to Gdynia, the city I loved, but my second homeland is still Sweden. When I was a child I read books on distant travels, and so I became interested in foreign cultures; the books also inspired me to go abroad. Today I could write an extensive collection of stories on my long emigration stay…
Paweł Baranowski
I left Poland in January 2005 and went to the UK during the economic migrant wave that occurred after Poland joined the European Union. For the next 4 years my new home was Basingstoke, Hampshire, north-east from London. From the moment of my emigration a lot has changed in Poland, a lot has happened and many poems have been created but the homesickness and the willingness to return to Poland remained unchanged. In 2008 I came back to Poland. My English period left me with good memories and artistic notes collected in the “London aj” volume.
- When I came to the UK and heard people speaking Polish once a month, that was something, I heard Poles. After two years it became obvious that the number of Poles increases. I had a chance to meet Poles there.
- Did you feel the need to be with Poles?
- Yes, I did. We tried to create various..., spend time, like Easter and Christmas. I tired visit my friends in London and I had a few back there. We definitely needed contact with the Poles we knew. And we liked to get to know some new Poles because we could establish some communities. We met at parties or meetings organized at homes. Well, it was helpful. Despite it all being so evanescent, we knew that soon everyone will go somewhere else, nobody knows when. I will be, for a longer or shorter time, somewhere, somehow my companions will lose touch with each other.
- When I left, I wanted it to be as short as possible.
- Why?
- I didn’t want to go away. In Poland I felt at home. I saw new things, often positive, and this involved me in a way and made up for the discomfort that I am not in Poland any more. Well, I am not close with my family, my environment and my passions – mountains and rivers. Active tourism. I ran some poetic circles somewhere, I was involved. It all had to be put away and I had to leave everything. Go somewhere and meet new people. It was good that it was fun, interesting, but I was missing something though. It’s not the time... It’s not like it’s not home-made sausage, bread, hay, this view outside my window... it’s all different. I was also missing Polishness, the homely nature, I couldn’t get on a train and go to the mountains, walk a Polish mountain trail. I was missing that and I couldn’t do anything about it. Other atmosphere. You can go sightseeing, visit it but it’s not the same homely nature. This is not our Polish nobleness.
To suddenly leave this interesting place functioning on its own was also quite a challenge In Poland such an interesting place, let’s say, required new ways of adjusting to it, inducing. In the UK I knew where to buy a particular item and in Poland I didn’t; small shops had been replaced by omnipresent hypermarkets. Shops became more and more specialized, especially when it comes to their assortment, I had no clue where to find some minor items. And in the UK I knew everything. It became my second back yard. Second homeland? In a way, yes. Since I worked there, lived there, it also became important.
My home is where I am. Right now I’m in Gdynia, and my home is here as well. Gdynia, I believe, is a fantastic place to live. Gdynia and the cities and towns around it. Just amazing. I love Gdynia, I have been in love with it from the very first moment.
There were no queues, oh, no queues at all. I somehow liked it a lot. Oh, you’ll go there, they say. They can do everything for you. Somehow you didn’t have to do anything in administrative matters. But then I immediately noticed that I’ve become a mental idiot. You don’t have to think, somebody can do that for you. And I didn’t like that at all and I still don’t. But unfortunately, when you get used to it, you have no choice left. Everything is strictly allocated, you can't... I asked somebody for something: it’s not allowed, we can’t change that, it all goes by the rules. There is no fluidity, no movement, and maybe we’ll see, maybe something will be fixed, maybe something will change. There is no such thing. It is said: that’s the way it is, very strict. This is practical in many cases but in other cases I limit my own thinking capacity. I believe that people are being fooled. Because you don’t have to think. You don’t have to exert yourself and you get everything served on a silver platter. It really impressed me at the beginning. But is a kind of a trap.
- I believe that travels are very beneficial. I believe that every man should stay for a while in a foreign country. And it’s not about trips. You can go on a trip, and it’s fun, obviously, but it’s not the same. It doesn’t develop us, people, as it might, should, I don’t know... It’s like changing the restaurant: I’ll eat here once, then I’ll try a new one. This is not the point. Just getting to know what it’s like. Feel, feel the soil, those people, the atmosphere, the air in a particular country. This is very developing. And this is it. And this is it.
- Wandering with life.
- Staying for a while, feeling, accepting, comprehending. And, at the same time, staying true to oneself. Some cute things to take with oneself. And grow with it. This enriches you.
