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Writing Here Makes Me Feel Safer

The year 2022 has been a wild ride for all of us Poles. While still in the pandemic, we’ve encountered the war just beyond our border, and the extensive growth of our country’s population.

Since February 24, the day Russia’s aggression began, more than 4.89 million refugees from Ukraine have crossed the Polish-Ukrainian border, reports the Border Guard. According to the Guard, they are mainly women and children.

Figures from yesterday. Source: https://300gospodarka.pl/news/uchodzcy-z-ukrainy-w-polsce-liczba

The Polish government quickly decided there was no pandemic anymore. Instead, they tried to handle the formal matters related to refugees. Some Poles supported those actions, some were frustrated by them. For example, by the right to free travel on public transportation given to Ukrainians.

Imagine: you’re fleeing a country where bombs are raining down on homes, surely only to get free bus rides in Poland and food. Yes, that’s certainly the case. Anyone would do that if they had an opportunity.

In the meantime, the inflation rate shoots up each month, and getting along is more and more difficult. The zloty is losing value. On the first of February, the dollar was worth 4.05 PLN here. Today, 21st of July, it’s 4.66 PLN.

I am a programmer, so my situation is not that bad. I still don’t have to worry about a place to live, although I had to make some changes in my life plans to adapt to this new reality. Some with my friends had to go back to living with their parents due to the raise of rental prices. And what about those who earn the lowest possible salary?

I am afraid one day I will wake up in the world looking like Venezuela or Sri Lanka, where the situation was so bad that people took to the streets to strike against the government.

The weather is not spoiling us either. The grass near my apartment is still mostly yellow.

(As a side note, let me present to you the hidden cost of high temperatures. For a few weeks, our housing association hadn’t organized grass cutting due to the drought. So, I had a massive invasion of some strange bugs that I had never seen before with my eyes. Once they cut the grass, the insects were gone.)

I am always trying to give you a taste of what life in Poland looks like, but for some time now, I feel like I am also taking care of my safety doing that.

I don’t expect you to help when something happens, but it’s good to know when things will get worse in my country, you guys will be informed about that. You, readers and writers from all across the world. I can name at least a few countries that come to mind when I think about my fellow creators on Medium: USA, Canada, UK, Australia, and India.

There’s nothing more I can do, but a sense of community makes me feel safer in these strange and unpredictable times. I’d like to thank you for that.

https://colab.research.google.com/drive/1kcEvN077W0ipa8rG84KZpJ8M3g_ki6JP?usp=sharing

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