The Heart of a Cabbage: A Polish Perspective

By: Saeyoung Cho

photo source: Weronika Glab

BOSTON - “I tell people I was basically raised by wolves,” says Weronika Glab.

Despite being born in Canada and receiving her American citizenship five years ago, Weronika says she has always felt like an immigrant.

With triple citizenship in Canada, the U.S. and Poland, Weronika has an international background. Sitting across from the table at Starbucks, she states this fact matter-of-factly as if it was nothing special. Weronika’s bright blue eyes behind a curtain of long blonde hair and pale skin give her Polish background away.

Her parents left communist Poland in 1987 for Italy, where they got married. The ultimate goal was to come to America because Weronika’s father, Krzysztof, had a notion of a “great American adventure,” says Weronika. But first, they came to Canada, where Krysz struggled to find a proper job.

“My dad finished medical school in Krakow, but was overqualified for a technician position,” says Weronika. Shortly after, the Glab family moved to Albany, N.Y.

As their visas were about to expire, Krysz found a clause that expedited the green card process for doctors who applied for permanent residence in an area in need of medical doctors. So the family moved to Nebraska.

“The hardest part of the immigration process was living in Nebraska for five years,” says Weronika, looking off to the side as if lost in a bad memory. Her father delivered pizzas after long days at the clinic, while her mother was cleaning houses.

Weronika says she feels that her story of odd jobs, employee discrimination, and the struggle to make ends meet is common for immigrants in the U.S.

“I just really don’t have very much sympathy for the argument that immigrants are taking American jobs or taxpayer benefits,” says Weronika, shaking her head animatedly.

“I’m really opposed to some of the things George Bush has done because it’s not very

effective,” says Weronika. She says she feels much of the motivation to come to this country is to make a better life and that a lot of the immigration policies make that more difficult. “People that come here consider themselves political and economic refugees,” says Weronika.

“It’s a positive reflection of the U.S because, in the past, the U.S. hasn’t been perceived as a very open country,” says Weronika. She says she embraces the idea of America as a melting pot and reflects on how she’s held onto her own Polish culture.

Weronika tilts her head back and smacks her lips together as she speaks of pierogies and kielbasa. She says staying in touch with her culture at Boston University has been especially easy due to the on-campus diversity. In addition, her parents have embraced the Polish community in Albany and heavily enforced using the language at home with Weronika and her sister, Martina.

“My parents get together with other Polish families, and we have great big Polish parties,” says Weronika. She spent the past summer in her parent’s hometown in Poland. After her semester abroad in Madrid, she plans to go visit her grandmother in Krakow.

Despite living in North America her whole life, Weronika says she identifies with her Polish culture more. “There are so many American things that I’m really not familiar with because I was raised in such a Polish environment and community,” says Weronika. She considers her upbringing so “un-American,” that she compares it to the raising of wolves. Polish was her first language, and she says she still finds the concept of a slumber party strange.

“Despite the spelling of my name, it’s actually pronounced ‘Veronica Gwomp’,” explains Weronika, “Glab means the heart of a cabbage, but also means a fool or idiot, which I think is really cool,” said Weronika as she giggles under her breath.

As a nation started by immigrants, Weronika says she feels immigrants maintain the U.S. “Hard-working immigrants who’ve lived here for so long should be given a path to citizenship. Our blended cultures is what makes America so unique.”

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