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Hanka Wojtowicz has enjoyed her stay in Warsaw, Ind., so far, even though it's very different from the Warsaw she knows -ÊWarsaw, Poland.
"It's difficult to compare. My Warsaw is like Indianapolis, it is the capital and very big," she said.
Warsaw, Poland, is also actually spelled Warzawa, one difference of several, she said.
Wojtowicz is staying in the United States with Sue Curtis, a longtime pen pal, from April 17 to June 5. She also will travel to different parts of North America during her visit.
Curtis and Wojtowicz began writing to one another after Curtis' son, Chad, visited Poland in the early 1980s.
"We realized these people helped him out and they risked a lot in helping him," Curtis said. Poland was a communist country when Chad visited. Curtis wrote to Wojtowicz and her family, thanking them for helping Chad. Wojtowicz wrote back in English and the friendship continued for the next 15 years.
"I knew when I first looked at her she was friendly. She's got a nice smile. I could tell by her picture she sent," said Curtis.
They wrote to each other about the problems they faced. They shared recipes and news about their grandchildren. Wojtowicz even told Curtis about "naletzov."
Naletzov would be considered health spas in the United States but are called sanatoriums in Poland.
"It's for people after a heart attack," said Wojtowicz. "My husband had a heart attack and we both go to the sanatorium."
Both Wojtowicz and Curtis are cooks and were in the process Thursday of preparing pierogi, a type of ravioli with mashed potatoes and cheese.
Every Christmas, Curtis sends Wojtowicz a box of gifts like sweets, baking powder, soap and perfume. Wojtowicz sends books. After the communist government collapsed in Poland, the Curtis family sent Wojtowicz and her family a VCR and "many, many tapes."
When asked how Poland has changed since Chad's visit, Wojtowicz said the country is better now as a democracy.
Wojtowicz, 64, a retired pharmacist, was invited to the United States by her cousin, a recent Indiana University graduate. Wojtowicz travels with a female friend all around the world and goes someplace new each year.
As for Warsaw, Ind., she said, "It's a very nice town. It's very clean. It's a very small town but over a large area. People are very nice. I met many families.
"All is big (here). Houses like here, we don't have similar to that. So many cars. Everyone has a car (here). In Poland, there are many cars, but not so many as here," she said.
She even said nice things about American food, of which there is "so much."
"I tasted many fast foods. It tasted good. We have not so many fast foods (in Poland), only McDonald's. Only young people go to McDonald's, especially for Big Macs. Older people don't go," Wojtowicz said.
Another difference between the two Warsaw cities, Wojtowicz said, is that Warsaw, Poland, has only one big lake.
"It's not so close. I think you have to go one hour to get to the nearest lake," she said.
Despite all the things she said she likes about Warsaw, Ind., she doesn't like the humidity. Weather in her Warsaw is more like the weather in southern Canada.
She's not staying in Indiana during her entire two-month visit. Wojtowicz visited Wisconsin and Minnesota. She's been to Indianapolis, Bloomington, Fort Wayne, South Bend, Kokomo and Peru. She's also been to Amish Acres.
She really liked Amish Acres.
"Very interesting people," she said. "Since they live in such a modern country and they look like people from Reuben paintings. To see them live is new to me."
Different cultures like the Amish help contribute to the great "mixing bowl" she sees in America.
"You don't have problems (in the United States) like countries in Europe," she said.
A big problem in Europe currently is Kosovo.
"I don't like it. It's not good for people in Europe. It's not a good situation," Wojtowicz said. "Our (Polish) history is similar to Kosovo."
She said she remembers when war ravaged Poland during World War II. The German Gestapo took her father when she was 5 years old and placed him in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, near Oranienburg, Germany. She never saw him again. Gestapo was the terrorist secret police force of Nazi Germany.
"They arrested many Poles because they were Poles," she said. "My grandfather helped us to leave. My mother had to move to another town because she could be arrested, too. I could have been arrested, too."
A school friend, only four years older than Wojtowicz, spent a year in concentration camps after the Warsaw, Poland, uprising in 1944. Warsaw was bombed, just like Kosovo, Wojtowicz said, and there were no houses remaining.
"Many young people spent a year in concentration camps and survived," she said. Her cousin's father was arrested because he was an officer and put into a prisoner of war camp.
Asked if she thought people would remember the atrocities that occurred during World War II, Wojtowicz said, "Of course! Every family had a member who was killed or lost."
