"What do you think?" she asked me, staring over her Bloody Mary.
This is what I heard tonight from a friend (well, she's a bartender at a place I frequent) about her and her boyfriend's plan to go to England for the summer. We were sitting in a restaurant that had already closed. We were allowed to stay in because her boyfriend delivers food for them.
As everyone in Europe knows, Poland is going through yet another diaspora at the moment. This time, though, it's mostly young people leaving instead of whole families. I feel so dearly for people like my bartender friend. She has no idea what to expect. Her boyfriend has a job lined up for six pounds per hour doing construction work. They are filled with hope and still plagued by anxiety. Why else would they ask an American about work conditions in England?
I told her that if there is a tourist industry in this town then she has a good chance of getting a job, however locally low the wage might be (I'm not so sure about this point since Poland has joined the EU, but I remember hearing about Poles working for ridiculously low wages a few years ago). She sounded mildly hopeful, but when her boyfriend left for a moment, she told me that she would really rather stay in Poland because she likes her job here. She would only go to England because she'd miss her boyfriend too much.
England is a shangri-la for many Polish people. It's the local version of the American dream: Work hard, earn money, be happy. Learn English for free. It's a success story for many but now, due to some tax irregularities (I bet beatroot knows more about this than I do), that dream has lost much of its gloss. There are still so many young people ready to throw caution to the wind and make that journey. I don't know whether to take this as a testament to their bravery or to the condition of the economy in Poland.
As we part ways after our Bloody Marys, I can't help but wonder what will happen to my new friends but I do know that their hopes, imparted to me in a dark room after hours, live in the hearts of thousands (maybe bordering on millions) of their peers and compatriots. I sincerely wish them all the best.
