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My Babci came from Poland! She came all by herself except for a friend at age 15, sent money and supplies home for the rest of her life, lived to 80, though she never went home again.

She made Polish chicken soup - which I can pronounce, but not spell! My mother's first language was Polish, though she was born here. She and her sister went to special classes after school to learn to read and write Polish. It's really too bad that I never learned since my mother was obviously fluent - I know words, mostly polite sayings, food terms that I learned from my Babci - and certain swear words that I learned from riding in the car with my mother, LOL.

My Babci was a wonderful cook and baker, made everything from scratch and never used any recipes. My mother was never an enthusiastic cook, though she made good pies, I just wish I had learned. And Slovak is quite similar, from what I understand my great grandfather spoke 5 languages, including Slovak, and taught children secretly in his basement. Where they lived was under Russian occupation. My Babci was a very sweet person, loved everybody - except she had no love for the Russians!