My sister Edith married Joe Shuman who had changed his name from Shumovski. His Polish mother was like a mother to Edith, and our family always spent the Forth of July at her house to help her celebrate the patriotic American holiday. She taught us to say, "Yok shimosh?" meaning "How are you?", and "Doabshey" meaning "Good". We learned the names of some of her special dishes and treats. She baked with plenty of powdered sugar covering them. She spoke English with a lovely Polish accent, and we loved her until she died in her nineties. She helped me feel a kinship to Polish people.
A Polish-American nurse invited Barbara and I to attend a dinner dance with her. Barbara had mentioned to the nurse that we loved to do the polka dance, and that's how we happened to be invited. During the dinner we managed to say '"Yok shimosh?" and "Doabshey." a few times, and Barbara got up and did the polka like a pro. Everyone treated us like real Poles and we had a swell time. During our after dinner coffee, our lady friend told us a good story about herself coming from Poland to work in the United States. "I came to Los Angeles, and I knew a Polish nurse who spoke to me in Polish because I didn't know English. She managed to get me a job in a hospital as a nurse’s aid. Of course, I worked very hard to learn English from the other nurse’s aids I worked with. During our coffee breaks the girls taught me new words and phrases. After a few months, I decided to try out my new English on my friend the Polish nurse. She laughed at me and said. "Didn't you know? The other nurse’s aides you have been working with are all Mexicans. You learned Spanish!"