Voices+-+Dear+Fabiano

=Dear Fabiano = = = 

150 North Wacker Drive 1950 Chicago, IL 60614

December 1901 Dear Fabiano, 

Hey, how are you? I’m in Chicago, America right now. I just wanted to let you know that I’ve reached here safely. It’s been a month and a half here, as I made my journey from Poland to America. This voyage has been the most terrifying experience of my life. The first 5 days on the boat was awful. During the nights, the storm, thunder, lightning and rain was extremely hard, due to the bad weather. The waves were very high. It took us few days to get back on track, after bad experiences from the past days. I thought the food there on the boat would be great, and I would be able to taste food I’ve never tasted before. But my thinking was wrong, the food tasted horrible there. Sometimes the food was spoiled, and often dirty. The crew often gave spoiled food to poor people, but I was lucky, I had money along with me. The boat was full of people from different countries, and they treated me badly. I was staying with the rich people on the boat, and the poor people stayed in the steerage. It wasn’t my best trip after all.

One by one, the immigrants went out of the boat entering Ellis Island, immigrants processing center. After arriving at Ellis Island, waiting in line, I could feel the excitement of the immigrants behind and in front of me. I could here children crying, people talking loudly in their own language, which I couldn’t have guessed where they were from. While waiting in line for several hours, my legs became very tired. I was in thirst and hunger, but couldn’t do anything. When it was my turn to get into the process, I followed the officer who called me in. I was nervous, and bored at the same time. When I arrived at first station, I was asked my name and age, and personal details, which I had no problem answering. But I had problem on the second station because I couldn’t communicate with the officer, even though I could speak English really well. The third and fourth station wasn’t a problem for me. All the officers treated me with respect, but not the officer who was in charge of the second station. He was a rude and hot tempered guy.

As you know, I decided to leave Poland because of political and economic reasons. We didn’t have rights to vote, or make any decisions. We were pushed around, especially the poor people. No matter how hard we tried we couldn’t get enough money for our daily lives. Since my parents are dead now, I have to work even harder. America then offered better lifestyle, so I decided to leave Poland, my home country which was pushing me out.

Now I am let to America, I have freedom. I can own a new land, and I have the rights to vote. I am really happy that I wasn’t deported, and also being an American citizenship. I am hoping to have a better life here in America. I hope to find a better job than coal mining. I want to own a business, making a lot of money, and becoming rich. I’m having fun here, and I’m expecting to have a better life here. I’ve found few friends now who could really help me out in a country I totally don’t know about. I hope you read this letter and reply it back to me soon.

Sincerely,  Your best friend, Jerzy Dudek