Halloween night with the Poles!

I had 2 friends from home in town the weekend before Halloween, so after the concert they were going to, I met them and then we headed over to the Polish part of town since I thought they'd enjoy it.

(I actually got back by commuter rail from Wisconsin, threw on dressier bar clothes, had a cup of tea, and was out the door in 15 minutes to go meet them...  It was a long night, since I had been up since 6:10am in order to volunteer for Obama.)

The one Polish heavy metal bar had this Halloween party, and they had a bunch of food in the corner: a couple crock pots and some open face sandwiches.

I was talking with this one long-haired mid-30s Polish guy who was next to us at the bar ("Grzegorz" [sp.?]), who had been here on a "work 6mos - travel and see the U.S. 1mo." visa 11 years ago, and now works construction.

In other words, he's an illegal in the construction business. 

Years ago a Mexican-American guy who grew up in the city told me that Poles weren't considered white by Mexicans, since though they were white, they were immigrants facing a lot of the same situations, like being here illegally and getting dicked around by your boss because of it, and weren't really like other white people, who had all the power with stuff.

Anyhow, though that guy told me the food was free, I double-checked with the bartender, who was dressed like a pirate.

"Yes," she was like, "But do you know what it is?".

She then told me that they cooked up tripe and gizzards and served sliced head cheese, since, "That is intestines and brains, and tonight is Halloween!".

Then, she was like, "Would you eat if you didn't know?  Really, try, it is very tasty."

When we were leaving, I said bye to her, and she asekd me if I had tried anything,  I hadn't, but thanked her anyway, and then asked her her name, which she repeated once and twice, but I couldn't hear b/c the bar was so noisy.

"What is it?", I asked for a third time.

At that, she gave me a fierce pirate face, and was like, "ARRRRRRRGGGGH," and then smiled and said goodbye.

She had complimented me on my Polish, btw, when I ordered beers a 2nd time.  Poles loves that, how I learned enough Polish to get through a simple bar encounter.