Harmony

Eight years ago, when I was still in high school and had no idea what the future holds, I was on a summer school where I met my first Polish friend. On the last night, instead of goodbye, he told me “Maybe someday we’ll meet again. Life writes many interesting scenarios”. I haven’t seen Oskar ever since, but today I thought about him, because his prediction came true. I’m a fool for coincidences.

Three years ago, when I first came to Poland – for a summer school, by the way – I was so lucky to have had the very best teacher in the world. His perfect teaching skills are still a mystery to me. I’ve met other gifted professors, but none of them had such an impact on my life. He encouraged me to keep learning Polish, telling me I was really talented and it would be a pity to give up. So I didn’t give up. More than that, I became a student of Polish Philology, even though I had sworn I wouldn’t set foot in the University of Bucharest after graduating Ro & En Philology. I never met Pan Jelonkiewicz again, never got the chance to tell him how he’s changed my life and to thank him.

Last year, at the beginning of the semester here in Kato, we were asked to write a short composition about our first impressions on Polish people. In love with Warsaw, in love with the language, I wrote about the beginning of my Polish adventure. And of course about my teacher. It was a very pretty text, honest even though somewhat naive, in the way you get to write texts when your vocabulary is, let’s say, that of a 6 year-old. Nevertheless, they did publish it in the little magazine they edit in the School of Polish Language. So I guess it was quite good.

Two days ago, after a talk with my teacher in Bucharest, I figured out I had no future (I’m also a fool for exaggerations, things were not that bad, but I actually enjoy being a drama queen and creating the darkest possible scenarios. This week’s plan was to start working in a mine here in Silesia and to stop going to school, for good). I had given up the thought of going to England, because I knew that if I take a break from studying Polish in its natural habitat, it will be forever. And I’m not ready to break up with Poland. The details of our discussion are irrelevant, the main point is that I was on my own again, and having no one to turn to, I turned to the people in the Polish School of Language here in Kato.

So today I had a little talk with Pani Dyrektor. She told me that if I want to stay in Kato, she can help me with that. But we both knew that all this time I wanted something else. My body had to be here (the body signed a contract it would be in Kato until the end of July), but my heart and my mind were somewhere else. So she told me that if I want to go to Warsaw, Pan Jelonkiewicz would help me for sure. I was surprised to hear his name in this context, even though I should've known better, and I wasn’t that sure he'd help me, especially since I wasn’t even sure he remembered who I was. And then she told me that the last time they met, she gave him the little magazine. And he read my honest and naive text. Which made him very, very happy. And he knew very well who I was. I was also informed that he said very nice things about me. After the holidays I’ll finally meet him face to face and tell him everything I wanted to tell him. And I’m also going to Warsaw, for good.

Which is really awesome, since I’m not at all convinced I would’ve made a good miner.