Author · Educator · Immigrant

I left Communist Poland with $300 and two suitcases.
This is what thirty years taught me about starting over.

Retired mathematics teacher. Grandfather. Author. English is my fourth language — and I have never once waited for the right moment to begin.

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From Communist Paradise to Freedom — Book Cover

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From Communist Paradise to Freedom
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From Communist Paradise to Freedom

What $300, Two Suitcases, and Thirty Years Taught Me About Starting Over

"In July 1989, Bogdan Marzewski boarded a plane to Canada with two suitcases and $300. He was leaving behind Communist Poland. He arrived with his wife, survival-level English, and no guarantee that any of it would work. It worked."

This is not a story of extraordinary heroism. It is a story of ordinary courage — the kind that gets you out of bed the next morning when you have no idea what you are doing. Each chapter carries two things: a story from a life lived across two continents, and a lesson pulled directly from it.

Your Iron Curtain may not be made of concrete. It may be the voice in your head that has been telling you what you cannot do since before you were old enough to argue back.

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What You'll Find Here

Three Reasons People Come to This Site

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The Book

A memoir with lessons attached. Real stories from two continents — Communist Poland to Canada — with hard truths you can actually use.

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The Articles

Thoughts on starting over, patterns, mindset, and what thirty years in a classroom taught me about how people actually learn — and change.

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The Free Guide

7 Hard Truths About Starting Over. The bones of the book in four pages. Every one of them cost me something. Yours free.

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"The physical escape is one day. The mental escape is a lifetime practice — and that practice is the real subject of a life well lived."

— Bogdan Marzewski, From Communist Paradise to Freedom

Bogdan Marzewski
About Bogdan

The man behind the book

I was five years old when I walked out of a communist-era preschool in Poland, decided I wanted to go home, and just — went. Nobody gave me permission. The custodian had to chase me down on a bicycle.

That's the operating system. Years later I boarded a plane to Canada with my wife, two suitcases, and $300 between us. Same operating system, bigger stakes.

I taught high school mathematics in the Toronto area for over thirty years. I raised two daughters. I became a grandfather. English is my fourth language. And I never stopped noticing patterns.

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Ideas Worth Reading

From the Blog

Thoughts on patterns, starting over, and the hidden curriculum nobody taught you in school.

Mindset

Why Your WHY Is the Only Engine That Actually Works

Every plan that collapsed in my life collapsed at the same place — the moment it got hard. Not because I wasn't smart enough. Because my reason wasn't strong enough.

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Patterns

The Trained Flea Problem — and Why Most People Never Jump Higher

Zig Ziglar's flea story is the best explanation I've ever found for why people live below their own ceiling. Some fleas keep testing the lid. Are you one of them?

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Starting Over

Freedom Is Not a Destination. Freedom Is a Workload.

Nobody says this out loud: starting over doesn't give you rest. It gives you a different kind of work. Here's what I learned working seven days a week in a Toronto factory.

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