Haven on Earth: Her Summer Job Ends Soon, Then It’s Back to School…In Ukraine

Liuda “Lucy” Mosiichuk is enjoying her summer in Sea Isle while still worrying about her family in Ukraine.

It’s a typical summer evening in Sea Isle City’s Fish Alley. The orange sun is just beginning to set over the back bays and The Dock at Mike’s Seafood is packed with families huddled around tables, eagerly anticipating their seafood favorites. A small army of Mike Monichetti’ s employees are busy, quickly moving about The Dock. Some are delivering trays of steaming delights, while others are bussing, cleaning and sanitizing tables for the next set of fortunate occupants.

The staff goes about its duties with perseverance and diligence. The desire to make each guest’s experience memorable brings with it a certain level of inherent pressure. Everyone working can feel the pressure. Everyone, that is, except one. The lack of pressure for her is not an indication of her lack of drive or desire. In fact, it’s just the opposite. She strives to exceed expectations on each shift. It’s just when it comes to pressure, Liuda Mosiichuk, or “Lucy” as her friends call her, has bigger fish to fry.

For Lucy, the hustle and bustle of dinner service is a pleasant distraction from the worries that she carries on her shoulders. Lucy is a lot like just about any other 21-year-old college student in some ways. She enjoys movies, going for ice cream, and spending time with her friends. But unlike many young adults employed this summer in Sea Isle City, Lucy’s trip to Cape May County took a bit longer than most of us are accustomed to. Three months, to be exact. And it had nothing to do with traffic.

“Lucy” and her dog Gina

Her adventure began back before Christmas. Lucy reached out to an employment placement agency in the Ukraine. The agency specializes in helping students come to the U.S. in the summer for travel and work. Her trek began when she created her employment profile just before Christmas. Her next step would be to gather the necessary travel documents from the U.S. Embassy.

“When I reached out to begin working with the embassy, that’s when everything began happening at home,” she was saying recently during a break at Mike’s. “More and more Russian weapons were gathering at our border. Still, it was hard to comprehend what was to come. I could not think about coming to the U.S. because I wasn’t sure what would happen even tomorrow.”

You probably wouldn’t recognize the name of Lucy’s hometown, but you may remember the media images from March of a huge television tower ablaze. That’s in Lucy’s hometown.

It’s understandable that Lucy removed the thought of spending the summer working in the U.S. when the embassy notified her that travel to the U.S. would not be possible. But Lucy’s dreams were not easily snuffed. Her dream was to see the U.S., like her brother had in the past.

She was still determined, so she came up with a new plan. She would try to travel through Poland.

“As I purchased my ticket for Poland, the war was beginning,” she says.

Since all regional airports were closed, she boarded a bus headed for Poland in hopes of obtaining her visa there. Her persistence and planning paid off. She was rewarded with the necessary travel documents.

Although the bus ride to Poland was long, she was distracted following news and current events on her cellular phone the entire trip.

“We were all glued to our phones,” she remembers. “Trying to learn as much as we could.”

Her visa appointment was on April 1, and after a brief stop in Delaware, Lucy arrived in Sea Isle City on May 26. Not your normal shore commute by any sense.

Many of Lucy’s perceptions of the United States were established by scenes that she’d seen in movies.

“I looked at Sea Isle City on the internet before I arrived, but yes, most of what I knew came from movies,” she says. “When I went into the 1st Bank of Sea Isle City, it was just as I had seen in the movies. Shops, businesses – it was as I imagined. And when I went to New York and walked around Central Park, it was just like in ‘Home Alone’ – surreal!” she adds with a smile.

The competition to land Lucy as an employee was great.

“Lucy” celebrates her 21st birthday with friends.

“Initially, I had 4,000 jobs to choose from,” she says. “Each listing explains the type of work, location, compensation, that kind of thing. I heard from lots of potential employers. One person who reached out was Gerry Deery, Mike Monichetti’ s brother-in-law. “Gerry wrote the longest email. His letter was impressive. Then we met via Skype.”

Lucy wanted to make sure that Deery and Monichetti understood that she could only work until the end of August.

“I realize that Labor Day weekend is a busy time here,” she says. “But I wanted them to understand that I must be home by Sept. 6. That’s when classes begin.” Lucy isn’t sure if the classes will be in person or online – but she makes it clear, “I will be there.”

That’s probably because Lucy isn’t your typical college student. Lucy’s parents are both involved in the medical field. She’s following in their footsteps.

“When I graduated from high school, I entered a special medical university,” she says. “After six years of study, I will be prepared for a two-to-three-year internship in a hospital, treating patients.”

She has finished her fifth year and, since this is her final year, you can understand why she is firm on her need to be in class on Sept. 6. No, Lucy isn’t your typical college student. This summer she’s serving up some of the tastiest seafood on the Eastern seaboard. This time next summer, she will have swapped her Mike’s staff shirt for hospital scrubs as intern in a hospital focused on saving lives.

Until then, Lucy says, “Our government has told us that we need to try to lead normal lives – going to cafes, work and school. This is necessary to drive our economy. We don’t know what tomorrow might bring.”

We’ve all seen the images on television. So how does Lucy maintain any focus, with her parents and other family members back in the Ukraine? Her parents work in a hospital, so she especially worries about them.

“When I got here,” she says, “my mother explained to me that the parents at home who are the happiest are those whose children are out of danger, like me. So that’s helped me a lot.”

“Lucy” with Mike Monichetti.

On top of that, Lucy diligently calls home three times a day. And she has a special app on her phone that “alerts me whenever there is an air threat or danger in my region.” She says her first two weeks were filled with alerts. Very scary. Then, the next several weeks it was quieter. It’s got to be nerve-racking because she worries when she hears an alarm – “I have it on 24/7,” she explains, “and there have been nights when I’ve had as many as three alarms go off as I try to sleep.

“My work here at Mike’s, and my friends that I’ve made here, they help to distract me,” she says checking a translation app on her phone. “They make me laugh. That’s such a big help.” No, not your typical college student.

She needs to find the occasional opportunity to relax and unwind. Lucy occasionally does things like a typical tourist.

“I shop with my friends that I’ve made here,” she says. “We watch movies and go for ice cream. But what I enjoy most is going to the beach early in the morning when the beach is mostly empty. I enjoy sitting and gazing out to sea. I used to enjoy swimming, but now I enjoy sitting, watching and listening to the ocean.”

Despite her cool appearance during dinner service, there are times, as anyone might expect, when it all crashes in.

“I was sitting on the beach one day last week, just relaxing,” she says. “I began to think how lucky I am. After all, this is my dream, to work in the U.S. And here I am … in such a nice town. The people that I work with are all so friendly and kind. As are our customers. I realize how lucky I am, and I then I realized that I was crying.”

She just pauses and then explains: “I’m so thankful for the opportunity that I have; for the support that I’ve been given. And while I’m not always sure what tomorrow may hold, I look forward to the future.”

To paraphrase William Shakespeare, Sea Isle City is her oyster. And no, Lucy is not your typical college student.