Growing up, I heard many stories about Kazimierz Bulas from our grandma and dad, particularly about how many languages he spoke. I even used his Polish-English and English-Polish dictionary that belonged to dad - two heavy, linen-bound volumes. I remember feeling a sense of pride knowing that my relative was their author. 

Bulas was the elusive superstar of the family.

As an adult, I often wish I could go back in time and talk to him about our shared love for languages, fascination with Greece, teaching experiences, writing, and life in the U.S. It feels like our journeys overlap in some ways.

I’m Pola Henderson (née Janosz), a writer, entrepreneur, and former English teacher. I am a dual Polish and U.S. citizen, and I’ve been based in Paris since 2016. In addition to running my content marketing agency, I've ventured into book and script writing. I love to travel and speak "Frenpolspanglish." Feel free to connect with me on Instagram. 

My earliest memory is waiting at the airport for takeoff when I was just three years old. I was traveling with my mom and brother to visit dad, who at that time was on an engineering assignment in the Middle East. I am grateful to my parents for that remarkable trip, which ignited my lifelong interest in travel, languages, and discovering other cultures. It eventually brought me to Paris, after living in Chicago and Krakow.

One of the countries I visit often is Greece - I’ve been there on writing retreats and vacations with my brother Jacek. 

During one of those trips, while walking by the cliffs in Rhodes, I stopped to look over at the sea, the breeze blowing my hair and Greek pop music playing in my ears. At that point, we had already discussed the website project. My thoughts turned to Bulas, and in that moment, surrounded by the beauty of Greece, I understood why it was so important to him. It became special to me too. Maybe it’s not surprising, given that my first name is Greek - Pola is short for Apolonia. 

Kazimierz Bulas lived and traveled in many countries, and I hope that this website and our plans for it will continue building bridges. This project is my way of feeling more connected to him and keeping his legacy alive. Bulas led an extraordinary life, and his name deserves to be remembered for years to come.

For me, Kazimierz Bulas has always been a family legend. I will never forget the distinctive gray, bulky volumes of the "Bulas dictionaries," as our dad called them. They were falling apart from years of use, with pages that seemed to ‘fly’ loose and volumes that existed in several separate pieces.

Years later, when I decided to explore the family legend and dig into Bulas' history, I bought a few well-preserved volumes and later editions of his dictionary. I wanted to preserve them for future generations, save them from being forgotten, and keep spares for planned exhibitions or a museum. Today, dad already uses an online translator.

My name is Jacek Janosz, and I live in the apartment that once belonged to our grandmother, who, as a young girl, lived with Bulas' parents and later worked for them. 

It’s a place filled with memories, magic, peace, and contemplation: an old clock with a pendulum, an antique mirror that supposedly predicts the future for anyone who knows how to look into it. It’s also a place that constantly reminds me of our family’s history and of the brilliant scholar and world citizen, Professor Bulas.

In our family, we’ve always placed great importance on personal development and sparking creativity in children. This is how our mother raised us, putting a lot of creativity into our upbringing. It was she, along with our grandmother, who would often tell us stories about Bulas. In later years, she diligently studied his biography and collected details about his life and work. Together with our dad, they instilled in us a love of travel and the discovery of distant countries, languages, and cultures.

For years, I’ve been traveling extensively, working both remotely and on-site. I try to live creatively. Over the years, I’ve been involved in many different fields: I was a student, a mechanic, a construction worker (during my studies), a graphic and packaging designer, an entrepreneur, and an engineer. Eventually, I found my calling in sales management, working across Central and Eastern Europe. 

At the age of 41, I also became an actor and spent several years performing on the Krakow theater stage. Yet, working in sales has probably been my biggest role. In my private life, I’m the father of two adult daughters. My heart is rooted in Greece; I live in Poland, but I’m still searching for my place.