Return PolishForums LIVE
  PolishForums Archive :
Archives - 2005-2009 / Life  % width 16

About Polonia (Polish migrants who live or work abroad)


PolReport  
21 Jul 2006 /  #1
Polonia [Polish immigrants living abroad] - They aren't usually very friendly towards each other (in contrast, they are usually nice towards other nations). Why?

Migration is so common nowadays that we do not even pay attention. Migrants are a common, even inescapable, motif in today's multicultural landscapes of most modern countries, like the US, Australia and most European countries. But if you think about it, there is nothing normal about it - for thousands of years people used to live in the same social groups and in the same places. You were born in one place, you lived there and you died there and that was the common order for generations.

My family used to live for hundreds of years in one place and it was first my father, who after the end of the second world war moved a few hundred kilometers from Brzesc on the river Bug to live in Gdansk, a port on the Baltic Sea. Although people spoke the same language, he still found that it took him some time to adjust. New people, new habits and new circumstances. I myself moved a bit further to Australia, where everything is different, not only the language.

When you live in your own country, you are a part of it, and you know what to expect. You know who you are, your social position, you do not even reflect over the situation. You are a cogwheel in motion and there is no reason to stop and contemplate over what is going on. When you move overseas, you are like a cog that does not fit anywhere, not within the new society, not even within the local Polonia.

Not only these are new people, they also, just like you, do not fit together. In principle, the only thing in common they have is the language and the fact that they come from the same country, but is that enough? How close are we really to strangers that speak our language?

What has a medicine doctor from Szczecin in common with a plumber from Katowice, what can a civil engineer from Gdansk talk with a taxi driver from Poznan about? What can a female factory worker discuss with the, also female, rocket scientist from Warsaw, except possibly their kids and cooking?

It is easy to forget those differences living abroad and meeting each other. It is easy to forget the fact that these people would have never met each other in Poland, moving in totally different social circles. They would have never spoken with each other or socialized. Can you imagine the respectable doctor inviting the hard-working plumber for dinner?

Well, once they come abroad, as a part of Polonia, they will have more than one occasion to talk to each other, sit at the same table, go for a picnic or to a party organized by the local Polish club. On the surface, they are equal, but once they go home and on Monday morning return to their jobs, a doctor is still a doctor, and a plumber is still a plumber (it is still a good profession, though). No wonder if there can be a dissent.

Another factor that contributes to the problem is that, in a way, everyone starts anew in the new country. It is hard not to keep an eye on the people from the same place and compare them to yourself. "He came with me and he already has a new flat. She came after me and she already has a better paying job." This kind of constant comparison with each other creates more frustration.

Just see what happens when the local Polonia organizes a local pick nick. Instead of enjoying the excursion the men spend half the time checking out each other's cars, while the women compare their dresses and the kids' education ("you send your kid to a private school?").

We were all created equal, as they say, but there it stops.

Polonia is not a homogenous group of people, but they are all individuals, and some are more forward than the others taking the wheel and running with it, whether asked for it or not. Just check out who decides in the local Polish club, who is in charge of the finances.

Unfortunately, there is often a group of people that runs the Polonia like an own business instead of a social club. They do organize activities, but not in the first place as a means of creating new contact opportunities, but in order to bring more money into the treasure box. And it is the same people in charge that decide how the content of the box will be divided. No wonder not everyone is happy.

On the other hand, there is not such a conflict of interest when it comes to the contact with the natives. We accept if they are in front of us. After all, they have been here first and they have more rights, than a Pole that came to this country with us on the same flight. We don't care either how other nationalities do. After all, it is not our business how well a migrant from another country adjusts to his new homeland.

As Poles, we are all different, although we are alike. The language makes a Pole, but it is the friendship that makes Polonia.

PolReport
IndianPolishGurl  
21 Jul 2006 /  #2
I am part of Polonia... I am Natasha from The States. My mom is Polish and My dad is Indian. Both imigrated to the US when in their mid 20s, met got married had kids. Eversince br brother, me and my sister were born we have traveled to Poland and India a few times and around the states. If thats not enough every weekend we spend Saturday at the Polish club, Sunday or Friday at the Indian community and one a month we go to the Polish church and once a month to the Hindu temple.

As a true half of both, OK Im an American but Im not REALLY and American... I still Identify myself by heart as Polish or Indian. So this thing about Polonia... yes we are individuals but we are also all part of the 21st Century where multiculturalism is now a normal thing. Once it was not but now it is... and I am just one product of a multicultural person :)

Enjoy i pozdrawiam! :)
Pavlo  
21 Jul 2006 /  #3
Hi Natasha, It's good to meet you here. I'm glad your mom is Polish and your dad is Indian - I bet you are a beautiful girl! I know how it feels to have not only two homelands but also two parents from completely different cultures. Polonia is not that bad (especially among people from two different nations like Polish and Indian). It's true, though, that sometimes Polish people don't like each other a lot, but I'm sure that's something that's going on in every nation.

Cheers!
Pavlo
IndianPolishGurl  
21 Jul 2006 /  #4
Hi Pavlo... thanks for your reply :)
annab 6 | 23  
22 Jul 2006 /  #5
Polonia is not what it should be. I agree with the original poster. Other nations living in a foreign country help each other and respect each other more than the Poles do...
AntiMonoPole#1  
13 Sep 2006 /  #6
What's all this pompous crap about 'homogenous groups of people'?

It's so simple:
We of the Older Emigration in the UK (say pre-1989) hate the NEWER emigration, especially arrivals since 2004.

It took years, nay decades, for us to gain the respect of the Brits. Now you've all ruined it for us, in just two short years.

FAR FAR worse than that... none of you never smile*.

(*unless under the influence of alchohol).

FAR FAR worse than that... none of you never smile*.

Err sorry, that should read: "none of you ever smile" (except electronically :-))
opts 10 | 260  
13 Sep 2006 /  #7
[

It's so simple:
We of the Older Emigration in the UK (say pre-1989) hate the NEWER emigration, especially arrivals since 2004.

It took years, nay decades, for us to gain the respect of the Brits. Now you've all ruined it for us, in just two short years

You are only responsible for yourself, your own actions. If you lost “respect of the Brits”, than you never had it.
I am sure that most British are sophisticated enough, and are able to distinguish between a person deserving respect and a person who does not.

My impression of you: angry, lonely, obnoxious person.

I do not think that you speak for a group of people that immigrated to UK before 1989.

Are you looking for pity?
Matyjasz 2 | 1,544  
14 Sep 2006 /  #8
FAR FAR worse than that... none of you never smile*.

(*unless under the influence of alchohol).

I think that its basically because people wear two size smaller shoes and very tight jeans in Poland. Ever tried to smile with squeezed testicles? I bet you didn't you bloody ignorant bastard! :)
opts 10 | 260  
14 Sep 2006 /  #9
you bloody ignorant bastard

Matyjasz,
That is harsh.

Perhaps, he is going through an identity crisis.
Maybe, he tried too hard to fit into a British society.
Maybe , he is insecure.
No matter what, I think that we should be more understanding?
Shelley  
14 Sep 2006 /  #10
I think I understand the point he's making.....
AntiMonoPole#1  
14 Sep 2006 /  #11
Are you looking for pity?

It did occur for me for I time that I was just looking for pity, but it's much worse than that... I want revenge.

I want to make it clear to all you Poles coming over to Britain, that prior to May 2004 there was a thriving Polish community of about 200,000 Poles living in Britain.

Now with the new influx of 600,000 Poles all fresh from Poland, and evidently mostly ze wsi judging from your appalling lack of manners, you all have to tread a little more carefully over here... and behave yourselves.

My impression of you: angry, lonely, obnoxious person.

Still angry, but no longer lonely thanks to all these great friends I'm making on polishforums.com!!!

I'm still thinking of changing my name, so as to get rid of the horrible Polish '-ski' suffix.

What do you all think about
Obnoxious T. Dumbass ???

No, sounds a bit too American, and I wouldn't want to be mistaken for an American now would I?
FISZ 24 | 2,116  
14 Sep 2006 /  #12
No, thank god. We don't like your type :)

We all try to get along here in the US. It makes for a more comfortable environment. The british were always uptight anyway, so you're excused.

We have our Mexican problems, but I'm not competing for the same jobs as them so it's nice to have someone else do our less desireable work....and mexican food is good :)

I think that its basically because people wear two size smaller shoes and very tight jeans in Poland. Ever tried to smile with squeezed testicles?

:)
opts 10 | 260  
14 Sep 2006 /  #13
I think that its basically because people wear two size smaller shoes and very tight jeans in Poland. Ever tried to smile with squeezed testicles

I see Poles are copying/adopting Western ways.

When I was a kid in Poland, my parents always bought me shoes two sizes larger, so the shoes would last me long time.
jkoz  
4 Jan 2008 /  #14
Thank you very much for your comments on Polonia. I really enjoyed reading them. You did an excellent job. Joe Kozlowski. Nevada, USA.
PrimoPolska  
12 Apr 2009 /  #15
The US encourages assimilation and the notion of the Great Big Melting Pot. Canada encourages multiculturalism...big difference...no wonder why there's beef in heterogeneous Polonia. As Poles assimilate in Polonia, new immigrants join with conflicting ideologies which creates tension. New immigrants claim Polonia has lost it's Polishness while established Polish-Americans feel misunderstood. Status competition enabled the development of a complex social structue within the community but also led to conflicting and changing ideologies about what it means to be Polish American and what are Polonia's goals.
derek trotter 10 | 203  
12 Apr 2009 /  #16
Polreport,
Hi, nice piece of sociological observation, keep going that way.

Archives - 2005-2009 / Life / About Polonia (Polish migrants who live or work abroad)Archived