Genealogy / surname Balitewicz [6]

Try surnamenavigator.org

It will tell you where most people with that name originated from or ended up and pop up windows with lots of genealogy related info and family trees from other people with that name in their tree...

It's free and very easy to use, but you'll need a fast connection (broadband preferred) and you should probably close all other windows you have open first, as the vista-like windows that pop up with all the results (about 15) need the view space/memory to do so.

Try each spelling of the name and also change the country search from Poland to USA
(there are 7 different USA searches to run).

Run each name/varied spelling separately. You'll get some differences when you do it that way, better than if you just ran one or two.

Bet you'll find something useful doing that.

Genealogy / Karasienski/Karasinski Heritage - Galicia, Silesia? [5]

There was a Karasinsky family, with the patriarch being a John Edward Karasinsky, born 1879 in Poland, living in Pittsburgh, PA at one time. His wife was Antoinette (unknown), also born in Poland. His youngest daughter was a Laura Karasinsky, born in 1926 in Pittsburgh, PA. Some of his other children were Anna, Edward J or F, Emma and Henry.

Genealogy / Is my family surname (Reslofsky) Polish? [18]

Let me know names and approx. ages, where they may have ended up in the US or at which port you think it's likely they entered the US.

If you don't know that, that's ok, just provide names and ages and/or where you think they were from/may have lived in Europe.

In genealogy, you work backward from the known to the unknown, so we have to start with a correct name/entry point or place of settlement in the US to eventually get to where a person came from.

If you know a husband's or wife's name, or a child's name, I will check that in addition to the target person, too.

Once we know we have the right person on these shores, we work backwards from that point to the point of origin overseas. We try to figure out if one trip was made by the target person, or several, or if many members of the same family went back and forth.

Then from that point I can look for trips to the port of embarkation and there to manifests onboard the ships that brought them over.

Sometimes, I can access archived records overseas. Poland is usually easier due to the voluminous church records kept there, but not always--and I don't read Polish well enough yet to do a complete translation if I do find something.

But I work on my free time and I'm free, so I think that's a pretty good offer!

FYI: many Canadian records are now available that will show passage from Europe and then record a person's trips thru Canada, then into the US via that country. I have access to those, too, if needed.

Genealogy / Is my family surname (Reslofsky) Polish? [18]

Hi Gary,
I do genealogy lookups for free here in the US as a volunteer. I am moving to Krakow in Sept for three years, but still have some time and the books/etc to do a lookup and some follow up for you.

What was your great grandma's first name? I will use Rofstke and Reslofsky to do a brief search in ancestry.com and elsewhere, but first names help.

Travel / 2-week vacation in Poland - it was awesome! Culture shock interesting. [29]

In Krakow, when we were in the hotel bar having drinks before dinner, no one looked twice at us when my son was with us. The woman (in the couple we dined with) was born in Poland and has lived most of her life there and she never said a word to us about it not being ok to have him with us.

Her husband ( he is French ) works with mine; I am pretty sure she would have said something to him or to us if it was wrong, or that he would have said something to my husand quietly later on, if so.

Now, we were simply meeting for a quick drink before dinner, which was to be in the same hotel; we were not there to get drunk and it was pretty early (8 pm).

Maybe only in hotels, this is ok?

Genealogy / Sawinski surname around Warsaw: julianne2saw: From NYC, upstate NY and nw Florida, seek ancestors [9]

Did any of your family have these names:

Nellie, Anna, Stella, Mary and Edward, living in Bethlehem in 1930? Nellie came to the US in 1905.

I may have found them online in the ancestry.com files and if so, you might be able to find more about them at familysearch.org or surnamenavigator.org, in addition.

Life / Polish people hate jeans? [56]

Never had a problem with that; as a tourist and being in the tourist city of Krakow recently, even the nice restaurant in our hotel and the better cafes in the city didn't have a problem with us stopping there dressed in jeans, or in shorts or casual cargo pants and sandals, etc.

But, at a classy joint or fine restauraunt, I'd definitely dress up, just like you and I would or should at home. At a church service I'd dress better than when walking around the city, ie: skirt or dress or khaki pants and polo, or dress pants and dress shirt, vs. jeans and t-shirt.

But no, I didn't notice any particular prejudice against jeans while there. No one made any comments at all.

Travel / "Target", "CVS" or other convenience stores in Krakow [6]

Shopgirl, they do not have Target or CVS there, but do have chemists/apothecary/pharmacy stores, and the bigger cities have Carrefour and Tesco stores, kind of like Aldi and Meijer in the states.

What part of Poland will you be in? Malopolski, Wielkopolski, etc?

I was just there in Krakow, and shopped at a Jubilat, which is kind of like the old Woolworths five and dime stores we used to have in the states, but with more grocery items. Maybe more like a lower grade Kmart?

Depending on where you will be, stores/selection will vary.

Life / Bringing American cash to Poland/banks, money, etc... [4]

Don't use airport exchange offices, use local Kantor offices (official money exchange offices). Use atms when in Poland for ready or walkin around cash; do not plan to use use traveler's checks, even Visa internatinal ones, as they are not universally accepted.

At atms, the money exchange/conversion will be done for you but with fees for w/d of money, too may not be in your favor.

See if your bank credit union has a share branch system with a branch or bank in Poland.

Or, use an online bank which charges low wire transfer and EFT fees and just manage everything online, including depositing and withdrawing of funds, transfers between accounts, bill payments, wire transfers, ACH and EFT transactions, etc.

Avoid ING Bank. A friend living in Poland says that's a terrible place to use.

We plan on using ATMs and wire transfers while we're living there, mostly. Cash occasionally, for buying small things, restaurant meals, etc.

Check into this bank called USAA in the US, as some people in Poland have reported it to be easy and low cost to manage and use while over there: usaa.com/inet/ent_logon/Logon

Work / Any Law Enforcement Officers (Police) from Poland here? [40]

Poland is number 20 on the list and lower down the list is the USA at number 24. These are old numbers from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.

But look here:

nationmaster.com/graph/cri_pro_cri_vic-crime-property-victims

and here:

nationmaster.com/graph/cri_rap_percap-crime-rapes-per-capita

and here:

nationmaster.com/graph/cri_kid_percap-crime-kidnappings-per-capita

Is the term VIOLENT only a murder, or a kidnapping or burglary or rape with threat of or actual violence used against the victim, that does not lead to death in the end?

Note that South Africa has a horrible rate of all kinds of crime, and while gun ownership there is reputedly not as high as in the US, the fact is that MOST guns in the US are registered, known and accounted for while MOST guns in South Africa are not registered, known and accounted for. So it's a little like apples to oranges being compared there.

Work / Any Law Enforcement Officers (Police) from Poland here? [40]

Murders per capita, worldwide:

nationmaster.com/graph/cri_mur_percap-crime-murders-per-capita

#20 Poland: 0.0562789 per 1,000 people

Travel / Taxi cabs in Krakow [9]

Ditto above about radio taxis and the 919 company; we've been using them when we are not using the ones provided for us. Also used them coming from the airport.

The cabbies do seem to know most everything in Krakow but outside the city, even a little, maybe not so much. My husband's company sent cabbies to us to go look at houses in and around Krakow this week and each got confused and turned around a couple times. Even with maps, they got confused. And they were paid a flat rate by the company, so it isn't a question of trying to rip us off or get more ooney by taking the long way.

They often stopped to call the office to see where they should be. Difficult to do while driving on Krakow's busy, narrow roads.

Two of those times were when we needed to go to Lusina, just outside the city, where the ISK school (a very well known place) is. They didn't know where it was and seemed to have no idea it existed, even when Poles at the office gave very good directions and showed it to them on the map.

So, always make sure they know when you are getting in the taxi, exacty where you want to go and show it to them on a map if they seem unsure.

Prices are reasonable and tipping is also. 5% is expected, 10% is good, or just tip up to the next whole amount. We tipped about 15%, cause we knew our cabbies could have gotten more with real paying customers all thru the day, rather than thru the company's flat rates.

Taxis are clean and well maintained that we've seen so far and no one minded us taking time to pack the trunk with stuff or our using our booster car seat for our child.

Life / Poland's Craft Stores, Yarn Shops and Sewing/Fabric / Clothes Stores - in or near Krakow? [21]

Grzegorz, very close to what I am asking about in crafts, thank you, but more like this:

joann.com/joann this is a store in my town but also a website for the national chain it is a part of

knitpicks.com/crochet+hooks,+needles,+&+pins_AL300510.html

this is an online store only but these items are carried in yarn shops in every town I have ever lived in here in the US.

I am basically looking for a store that carries yarn and patterns, needles, accessories, sewing supplies, sewing machines, fabric, buttons, etc all in the same store, as they do in Australia, US and Canada.

I guess this type of all-in-one- craft store does not happen to be in Krakow?

Maybe I should try a sewing machine store? Where would I look for that/what Polish words should I know to be able to look that up?

Life / Poland's Craft Stores, Yarn Shops and Sewing/Fabric / Clothes Stores - in or near Krakow? [21]

Nope, no yarn shops there. I'm here now and just got back from there yesterday; just returned from walking the square and the surrounding neighborhoods for hours today and again, nothing.

All I could find were fabric stores that sell only fabric; no thread, needles, buttons, scissors, yarn, hooks or accessories anywhere to be seen.

I was told to ask for velna sklep or "yarn store" and everyone looked at me like "what in heck is she saying?" Then I found an English speaker and she said "oh, only old babcias do that here, how old are you?" and then did not even know where I should look.

I asked at Jubilat (sp?), a kind of grocery/department store; at an art gallery; the hotel and my husband's work. No one knew.

Maybe I should have asked for crochet or tatting thread? I did see some crocheted items at the square for sale, but the older lady selling them knew only Polish and Russian and I cannot understand either.

Anyone have the correct Polish words for those crafts or for knitting or yarn? Or should I be asking for a sewing machine store or something else?

Travel / Ostrowo Budy....Know were it is??? [14]

Ron, what is/was the grandfather's name? I can help you some if I know that and age at immigration.

Try also surname navigator dot org online, set it to Poland and run, then try US or UK or Canada or wherever he ended up and run.

Try also familysearch dot org and geneanet dot net

Travel / Hotel recommendation in Krakow [23]

Have you seen this website?

hotelclub.net/hotel.reservations/Krakow.htm

Life / Shipping or taking goods with you on the plane to Poland [10]

Is there anything like Doma or Polamer in or near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania or Columbus Ohio in the US? I've been googling around for a shipping service like this to Poland for awhile now, but the only ones near us that do this are DHL, Fed EX and UPS. And they're all expensive.

Any US expats have experiece, good or bad, with a particular company?

USA, Canada / American culture: [85]

Good one!

What about tailgating?

News / vatican columbian marching powder shock horror [4]

Yes. Read it here, from an article dated July 8:


iht.com/articles/ap/2007/07/08/europe/EU-GEN-Poland-Drug-Arrest.php

I couldn't find anything about a Polish priest and marching powder, but did find a 2006 article on an Italian one, from last year

abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/04/13/1896167.htm

USA, Canada / American culture: [85]

Deep Fried Turkey
Monster Truck Rallies
Paintball Armies
California Girls/Beach party and surfer culture
Militant Militia and Apocalypse Commune culture

The dog in the handbag thing is everywhere here now. Even boring little old Pittsburgh has their "divas and dogs" crews roaming malls, libraries and restaurants. I saw one at the pediatrician's office the other day! I HATE this "fad". Even worse, I hate the managers of these places that don't tell these women to get the heck out.

Life / Buying computer system in Poland [20]

pcmag dot com has some recent hp pavilion laptop reviews from January and May 2007 that may help.

J&R in NYC at jr dot com is a pretty good place to buy online for cameras, computers, etc. We've bought from them pretty regularly over the last five years and been happy with everything we got from them and their prices are reasonable, especially when they have either the free shipping or the free J&R gift card promos.

USA, Canada / American culture: [85]

Potlucks
Beauty Pageants
Yard Sales
Route 66/Road Trip Mythos
WWE Wrestling (yuck)
All U Can Eat Food Fests: ie: Cajun Crawfish/Mudbugs and Maryland Crab Legs
Country Music/Country Gospel
Boxcar/Railroad Mythos
Tent Revivals
Gun Clubs
Beat Poets/Generation
Hippies/Yippies