Category Archives: *All

July 4, 2011 — Call me “Dziadziuś”

Dear William (and Daniel, Catherine, Michael & Baby Girl Y) (and your parents), (and any future descendants and their parents),

Last night it was decided that you are to call me “Dziadziuś” — that it good. Dziadziuś is a diminutive form of dziadek (pronounced gah-Dek, with the “dz” sounding like the “g” in “genes”), which translates into English as grandfather. William — note that the “dz” sound in Polish is always like the “g” in “genes”; or “j” (like in “jar”); and “ś” sounds like the “s” in “she.”
Continue reading →

June 30, 2011 — Świętowit

Dear William (and Daniel, Catherine, Michael & Baby Girl Y) (and your parents), (and any future descendants and their parents),

The other day, I told you the legend about the beginnings of the Polish people — much more than a thousand years ago, there lived three brothers, known as Lech, Czech and Rus. As their tribes grew larger, they, with their tribes, decided to set out and look for a new place to live — they were known as the Slavic people.
Continue reading →

June 26, 2011 — My house in Ramos Mejia, Argentina

Dear William (and Daniel, Catherine, Michael & Baby Girl Y) (and your parents), (and any future descendants and their parents),

This morning I am ecstatic and despondent at the same time — I have been struggling all morning with picking a topic to tell you about, and during that process, I thought that I should tell you about my house in Ramos Mejia, Argentina. My problem, however, is that I have been looking for my house on maps for more than a year now, and I could not find it. Doing further research this morning, I think that I MAY have located the place, and HORROR — they built a highway right through the middle of it!?
Continue reading →

June 25, 2011 (Afternoon) — How I came to the United States

Dear William (and Daniel, Catherine, Michael & Baby Girl Y) (and your parents), (and any future descendants and their parents),

Let me tell you about how I came to the United States — I was born in Argentina, on January 9, 1949. In the 1950s, I lived with my Parents, my Brother Tom, and three Sisters, Olenka, Hanka & Elzunia, in a rented house in Ramos Mejia, a suburb of Buenos Aires, in Argentina, South America.
Continue reading →

June 25, 2011 (Mid-morning) — My college trip to Europe

Dear William (and Daniel, Catherine, Michael & Baby Girl Y) (and your parents), (and any future descendants and their parents),

Discussing this Blog with Malgosia and Babcia Krysia, I was urged to write a bit about my life — so, her it goes:

The year was 1969, and I was a Sophomore in college (at Baruch College, part of the City University of New York). In college, I joined ROTC (US Army Reserve Officers Training Corps). The previous year, I pledged and was accepted into the Carolyn Guard Military Service Society.

Our sister service society was the Boosters, who had their meeting room right next to our meeting room on the third floor of the Annex Building.
Between classes, we would all hang out together — one of the Boosters was Joan.

Joan was a year older than me (she was a Junior), and she was a Psychology major (at that time, I was an Economics major — later I switched to Finance). Joan had a boyfriend, Arthur, also a Psychology major. One day, I heard that Joan and Arthur were going to spend the weekend, cooking in the nude (relax, these were the 1960’s — lots of interesting things went on at that time).

Since I was interested in Joan, I got jealous, and I called her up by telephone, and presented a well-crafted argument as to why she should not spend the weekend with Arthur, and instead, she should start hanging out with me — it worked (poor Arthur; I do not think that he ever forgave me).

During the course of our relationship, we decided to go to Europe that Summer. We bought Eurail Train Passes, which allowed for unlimited train rides all over Europe; and we purchased airplane tickets from Kennedy Airport to London, England on Caledonia Airways (a charter flight operation).
Continue reading →

image_pdf