Vodka and Apple Juice - Travels of an Undiplomatic Wife in Poland

Jay Martin

Fremantle Press

2018

224 páginas

7h 28m

ISBN-13: 9781925591316

When Jay’s husband lands a diplomatic job in Warsaw, she jumps at the chance to escape a predictable life in Canberra for adventure in the heart of central Europe. From glamorous cocktail parties and dining with presidents, to snowy sleigh rides and drinking vodka in smoky bars, Jay is thrown into all that embassy life has to offer. She comes to realize that three things in Poland are certain: death, taxes, and that shop assistants won’t have any change. What is less certain is whether her marriage will survive its third Polish winter.

Resenhas (1)

4 (Muito bom)

As an expat myself, I find Jay’s difficulties to learn polish particularly relatable. Even though I’ve been exposed to my target language since I was a child, there are many singularities that are comprehensible only if you’ve been surrounded by a language (and/or a culture) in every possible opportunity since ever.

Her insecurities are the same as for everyone who has tried or is still trying to learn another language:

“Then we’d moved to Poland, and so much of my ability to communicate had been ripped away. I communicated for purpose in Poland. I could ask questions and understand answers. Give directions, understand the babcias that yelled at me. Follow the arguments of people on the street, even tell a story or two. But I couldn’t be witty, or insightful, or articulate, or succinct or any of the other things I could be in my own language. I had no sense of humour. I had no personality when I spoke Polish. More and more, I silented. And every time I did, it sliced away a little of my dignity.”

There is also her experience as a wife of a diplomat. She’s away from her family, and friends, everything she used to know, everything she used to be. That is a big challenge too. That’s the biggest challenge of all:

“Where to start.
‘This language is really hard! I’m doing my best but I don’t know much about German history or World War Two or what an Abwehr is, although I do know some other stuff and in another country people sometimes think I’m actually quite intelligent. And not even a year ago I had an important, well-paid job and now I don’t even know how to do the shopping. And I didn’t realise how stupid that would make me feel. And I didn’t understand how it would be to feel so stupid all the time’.
That’s what I wanted to say. But constrained by vocabulary, grammar, confidence, and the exhaustion at having to try so hard at everything, every day, I couldn’t. 'Nie wiem,’ I mumbled. I don’t know.”

I had to add these quotes to this review, as the author is always so honest, and truthful. I believe that there are some books for some people, and this might have been the one that I needed to read right now. I’m an expat, I’m a wife, I’m almost 5000 miles away from home. I don’t have a cat, but a dog, and many of the things that Jay questions herself about over the book, well, I’ve asked them myself too every single day. After all:

'It’s hard sometimes. Being a guest in someone’s house, isn’t it?’
I received a copy in return for my honest review.