There are several wonderful aspects of having The Child back in the same breathing space as the family but an added bonus would be having his friend George along as well.
George is a gent in his late thirties with whom The Child works on Key Largo. He hails from Poland originally and didn't really have anywhere to go when they were ordered to evacuate the Florida Keys to avoid Hurricane Irma. The Child has a big heart so he simply brought him along to the land of “corn season.”
George has been a wonderful guest in the “big house” next door owned and operated by Mother, of course. He has cooked so many meals for us that we all have decided to go on crash diets. (I think Perpetual might propose marriage to George.) He lives for Mother in general but is enamored to the max over her well oiled kitchen, so to speak. As you know, the woman alphabetizes her spices and has other necessities arranged just so for quick seizing purposes whilst prepping any kind of meal.
Moving along, I sat down with George last night on my porch to carry out an interview in the old fashioned manner of this: Lisa: “Blah, blah, blah?” George: “X, Y and Z!” Get it? That is how I shall present the following to you.
Before I launch into the Lisa: and George: scenario, I'd like to point out one thing that he stressed throughout the interview. I had asked him what kind of advice he'd give to those perhaps getting ready to graduate high school or members of that generation in general. An overall and recurring theme of that answer was present in his other answers so I will simply place it here for all to enjoy.
George recommends to the above-mentioned to apply for passports and try and see as much of the world as possible prior to settling down to raise a family. In fact, he was rather taken aback by the lack of passports owned by Americans in general. He stated on several occasions throughout the discussion that he has found that many residents of the US of A tend to stay put, from what he can ascertain.
Of course coming from Poland, a part of Europe, made it easier for him to see other countries in that region due to the proximity factor. With that being said, he really stressed how if one really concentrates on it, he/she can travel and do so in an inexpensive manner. It just takes some careful planning.
Here goes the official interview portion of this column. I'm going to try my best to type this out as he spoke it so you can get the feeling for his Polish accent. Isn't this exciting? I'm not going to bother with quotation marks as I think you will get the idea without them. I love breaking these grammatical laws now on a weekly basis. It's so freeing and energizing.
Lisa: George, can you give me a little bit of background like how you arrived on Key Largo, where you were born and how your employment has taken you around the world? George: Well I live now in Florida since December. I've been working at the Ocean Reef Club for past four months. Unfortunately 2 weeks ago with the hurricane we had to leave. I'm here in beautiful Pennsylvania with my friend Spencer, his mom and his lovely granny. We are spending time cooking some good homemade food and just chilling.
Lisa: Can you tell us about your employment taking you to various regions on the globe? (He missed that part in my first question. Perhaps I gave him too many questions wrapped in one? I wonder if my speaking at the speed of light was a factor?)
George: I had been living for 20 years of my life in Poland and I kind of decided to travel a little bit. I lived in Ireland for a couple of years. After Ireland I moved to Spain. I was living for a little bit in Galicia, a few years in Barcelona and Canary Islands also for one year.
Lisa: Tell us a little bit about the weather in Poland. For instance did you have severe weather events?
George: Poland has like 4 seasons really. Winters are cold but now with the climate change not all of the winters are as cold as they used to be. Autumn is autumn and spring is spring. Sometimes in the winter it can be bad. Sometimes the winters can be cold but now sometimes it's like the weather isn't what it is supposed to be.
Lisa: I understand you worked on a cruise ship. How did that come about?
George: After living in Spain for a few years I got idea to get a job on cruise ships. So, that's what I did. I applied for a job on the Cunard line. I kind of thought like I wanted to do something different; get out of Barcelona travel the world and get some money doing it.
Lisa: And your specialty is bar tending?
George: Yeah I worked mainly in hospitality; high end cocktail bars, hotels, casinos. I've pretty much done all of it over the years. The cruise ship was challenging because it's work under pressure. For six months you really don't have a full day off. You work every day but sometimes you get some time off and that's when you can go out and see places. The ships are usually going to the same places again so if you don't get to see something you can the next time.
Lisa: What is the furthest south you have been?
George: South? South? Oh, yes Antarctica. I went to Antarctica two times like six or seven days.
Lisa: Did you get to get off the ship?
George: Oh yeah you basically, you go all the way to Argentina and from Argentina you go to Antarctica for six days. All of this depends of course on weather conditions. Because summer you know in Antarctica is like from let's say from November to like February. Yeah you can go out as far as... how do you call...regulations you have to obey regulations like about the wildlife and things like that. I think Antarctica is one of the most beautiful countries I've seen.
Lisa: What is the biggest culture shock to you or one of them?
George: I don't know I just think that people in the states, well, they need to be more—I'm not saying that in Europe everyone is traveling all the time. From what I see from here in the states and meeting people who, let's say have the money and can do this, it's like they don't travel even if they can afford it.
When I meet some people and tell them I've been to Hawaii some are surprised because they haven't gone to other places. I think you can go to Europe for a few hundred dollars. The expense depends on where you go in Europe but if you try you can find a way.
Lisa: What is the biggest culture shock in terms of this area and Key Largo?
George: Oh well you know, Florida is a completely different story like misty weather. Your area actually I would say there's only like local people living here. I haven't seen people from Jamaica or Caribbean or any people from South America. In fact, for two weeks I haven't heard anyone speaking Spanish other than your brother when he was here. Obviously in Florida anyplace you go you will hear it. I obviously speak Polish and Spanish and English. I think any foreign language you learn it's important and will help you at some stage in your life.
Spanish like when we were visiting places it was very good to speak Spanish and now that I live in Florida it is very good to know.
Lisa: Overall then you've liked our area? Have you found it to be quaint? (George wasn't familiar with the word quaint so I explained.)
George: Oh yes, yes seems to me like a lot of people know each other. I think probably most of the people have lived here most of their lives. Everybody knows everybody. Very good food and nice landscape beautiful forest. It reminds me actually of my homeland. And the weather is beautiful.
It was at this point that I asked George about the advice he'd give to a graduating senior, which was discussed at the beginning of the piece. After I explained what a “graduating senior” was, he elaborated as was shown above.
In addition to the earlier advice he said that he feels anything is possible if a person really puts his mind to achieving goals. “I don't think you have to be rich either,” he explained.
I asked him if he thought a passport was more or less an essential item to which he answered “yes” with great enthusiasm.
George wanted me to be certain to mention a friend of his who has a heartwarming story and has written a book about it. He would really like for those of the younger generation to check into this book as it might serve as a guide for their road ahead.
His friend is named Martines Rocha De Sousa and the name of the book is “My Way to The Seven Seas.” The basic overview is how Martines rose out of the slums of Brazil to having a life on cruise ships.
In closing I asked George to describe Mother, which he did with a broad smile on his face.
George: And of course I appreciate the fact that Spencer brought me to his house. I met his lovely mom and his lovely granny. She is so good she really is. It amazed me how we, my generation, we get lazy about things. We don't do things. And here this 90 year old lady who you know goes to work, does her little job and has her activities. She goes and sees her friends and play cards or go to cinema, or whatever.
I think it is something we should all do. Somehow make yourself busy you know, in whatever you do.
With that, we ended our discussion on my front porch.
Before I sign off, I wanted to tell a quick story of what happened on Tuesday night. I was in bed when I got a message on my phone from George. Here the man was totally concerned about Mother as she was not home yet and it was almost 10pm! I explained that Tuesdays are her fun days as she carries out most all of the above-mentioned activities in one day. I just thought it was precious how he was worried for her well being. She feels the same way because she called me last night and said, “I'm missing one Polish chef!” I sent him next door after that so she wouldn't be concerned the night through.
THE END (Interstate Crosscheck, AIPAC, geoengineering)