Holloween

Today is the anniversary of my arrival here in the US. Fifty seven years ago today I "honored" this country and this great city with my presence.

I know it was Halloween because while we were taken by bus from the airport to our hotel we saw kids dressed in all kinds of "funny" dresses. Not knowing our asses from our elbows and none of us speaking any English we had no clue as what that meant.

Eventually we all agreed on that the Americans are a funny bunch!

We were in Yugoslavia for nine months in various refugee camps trying to get to some Western country. Eventually the US accepted us and we spent the last three or four weeks in an American collection or debarkation camp. Every week they posted a list of the people who were slated to go and about a week before this time we found our names on that list. We meaning my fiancé and me.

People can not imagine the excitement we all felt before taking the trip. Leaving the continent was no small feat for us. But eventually the day arrived when we woke early in the morning, put on our best dress (the only ones we had) and headed to the buses that were taking us to the Belgrade airport.

I don't think any one of us had ever been on an airplane before meaning the entire experience was totally strange to all of us. It was a two or four engine propeller plane chartered for this occasion. I don't think jets were very popular in those days. I do remember that propeller planes were flying over the Atlantic for many more years.

The flight was uneventful as far as I remember. We stopped at three different airports on the way where we were fed and had a chance to straighten our legs. The plane had stewardesses but none of them spoke Hungarian so there was really no communication between us.

At one point somebody saw some flames coming out of one of the engines and got all excited but the pilots thought nothing of it and we continued flying.

Not being familiar with the time zones I was trying to keep track the time because it seemed we were flying forever. I think we flew over twenty hours. But eventually we arrived in New York. Way back then JFK Airport was called Idelwild. Very few people remember that name now.

We were taken by bus to a hotel in Brooklyn where we stayed until collected by relatives or other sponsors. At the hotel we had our first taste of the American kitchen. By American food I mean tasteless, unsalted but we ate it anyway. There was a cafeteria there manned by very nice military people who really showed compassion towards us, and we all had a chance to fill our stomachs with decent hot food.

So eventually the day was over. After traveling seemingly forever we arrived at our final destination, into a New World and in the days to come we all had to face reality and start our new lives.

Thinking back fifty-seven years and seeing how much changed in this world, some to the better some to the worst I wonder if it would not be better to start all over again!