UK, Ireland / Why are we paying child benefit in Poland? [63]


You could go one further and link *all* child-related benefits and tax credits to school attendance. In fact, I struggle to see why they aren't linked!

Life / Do Poles Lack in Social Skills and Etiquette? [74]


Seems quite odd behaviour to me! Poles are generally quite socialable people.

Life / Pay by Credit Card at Postal office? I need Bulk rates of stamps! [4]


This is because they don't want the hassle of credit card fees - most of their customers are unlikely to use cards, so cash is much easier. They're also the worst retailers ;)


Really? I never have problems in restaurants in Poznan...


Same in most of Europe, really.

moneybookers is quite good. Otherwise, ask your Swedish bank about a SEPA transfer.

Real Estate / 15 reasons why the Polish real estate market will crash soon [258]

Looks flimsy!

Real Estate / 15 reasons why the Polish real estate market will crash soon [258]


It's proposed, but I think it won't happen. PASE seem to be organisnig a hell of a campaign against it, and crucially, Gazeta Wyborcza is against it too.

Work / Some details about Teaching in Poland [51]

You won't catch me arguing with you there. Callan (or anything similar) gives them a hell of an ego boost in the beginning stages and helps to see if they're actually capable of learning full stop. A decent school should encourage creativity with it too.


Hmm...I've never thought of it that way, but thank you for that - it's a brilliant idea!

I remeber I was thrown in at the deep end and was quite honestly useless :/

Life / Are Polish women the fussiest shoppers in the world ?? [18]


But I do this!

Work / Some details about Teaching in Poland [51]


I'm not convinced it even works from a money making point of view - people see through "methods" quickly and boredom sinks in. At least from the Callan/Avalon/whatever method point of view, they all suffer from the same problem in that it's plain boring after a year. I can't figure out why directors would rather have a class full of bored people who can't quit because they've emotionally invested into it than to change things round.


I think most teachers are more than capable to be honest - okay, I couldn't cope if my school moved onto a heavy grammar-based approach, but anything else, I could probably give a bloody good shot.

I guess the complete lack of trust that most directors have for their teachers is part of the problem.

Maybe it's a cultural thing though.

Work / Some details about Teaching in Poland [51]


Or bizzarely in some schools, the students don't decide but the director. I've heard some amazing stories here about school directors who stubbornly refuse to give students what they want and instead insist on THE METHOD. Fine if it's just one or two people from a class of 10 - but if an entire class is asking for a change and it gets refused, something is very very wrong with the school.

Madness.

At least personally, I think teachers should be able to have a go at whatever the students want. There's no 'correct' way to teach - and this is in fact my one big bone of contention with CELTA and the like.

News / Poland will take half a century to catch up with the West [240]

Railways too, don't forget.

Eastern border crossings could do with significant improvement, though I think it's a deliberate policy by the Straż Graniczna to try and restrict non-EU movement as much as possible.

Generally infrastructure is lacking, I think - but then again, Polish tramways are vastly superior to anything in the UK.

Work / Some details about Teaching in Poland [51]


SITA, for instance. "lol' is about the only appropriate phrase for that!

News / ENGLISH STILL PROFITABLE IN POLAND? [78]


I'm hoping to launch something that might address some of these issues - think of it as being professional management for teachers. My feeling is that if teachers (especially new and Polish ones) have someone to fight their side, schools may be much less willing to actually attempt half of the stunts that they do. The idea is to make sure that people have someone behind them to fight their side if needs be - especially when it comes to being paid.

The one big problem is that the industry is very short-termist, after all, why do you rarely see older people in language schols teaching?

News / ENGLISH STILL PROFITABLE IN POLAND? [78]


Great way to motivate your teachers, isn't it? :/

I can never understand why most language schools seem so utterly unable to accept that the teacher might actually be right.

Travel / Wroclaw (tourist help needed for a 14-year old) [20]

The In Your Pocket guide is a must :)

Real Estate / 15 reasons why the Polish real estate market will crash soon [258]

Typical? The guy appears to be completely mental!

Something tells me that he might have options on buying flats at their market price in the future, and is desperately trying to somehow lower Krakow prices.

UK, Ireland / Why are we paying child benefit in Poland? [63]


Hey hey Seanus, not true - there's both GCSE and Standard Grade Polish now! I think they're actually starting to recognise Polish as a good gateway language to Slavic languages instead of Russian in some schools now.

News / ENGLISH STILL PROFITABLE IN POLAND? [78]


Yeah, it doesn't appeal to me at all - anyone that can do it to make a living from (as opposed for just some cash) does deserve credit in my book. Maybe it's because there's no room for innovation and it's simply tedious work - but then again, I guess that's why it pays well!


The worst of those people are the ones who clearly don't bother to actually learn - there's one guy I can think of who spends the break on his mobile, doesn't bother to bring the workbook and generally has a rotten attitude. Unsurprisingly, he likes women - mainly because he can flirt with them behind his wife's back.

Ugh.

UK, Ireland / Why are we paying child benefit in Poland? [63]


The problem is that the UK state could cut it out overnight by simply linking child benefit to school attendance - which has to be verified by the educational authorities. Easy for UK resident children, but very difficult for Polish resident children due to the much more autonomous nature of schooling here.

News / ENGLISH STILL PROFITABLE IN POLAND? [78]

Kids are much more pleasant to teach - they don't have any preconceptions and will willingly do silly things.

Adults on the other hand are a nightmare - particularly the ones that have a 'I don't have to learn at home, I pay you to teach me' attitude. That particular mindset is very, very common in 25-40 year old men - and it's awful. They seem to believe that they know everything about English - one guy complained about me because apparently he just KNEW that his pronouncation was wrong and I wasn't correcting him.

Women are usually fine though.

Isn't proofreading exceptionally tedious, but well paying work?

Life / Any tips for a first-time Expat? [13]


Work - be flexible, but at the same time, be strict and don't allow them to take any liberties whatsoever. Go with your gut instinct - if something isn't right, then it isn't right.

Life - try and get independent friends from your wife, it'll help considerably with your sanity if you have someone to go to the pub with, so to speak.

Bureaucracy - it's not so bad, just so long as you give them what they expect. And make sure that your paperwork is entirely in order - do not attempt to get round things, you'll just end up finding that it causes trouble for you in the long run.

In relation to work - it could be worthwhile for you to contact us at lindenia.net - I'm developing something right now that could make life considerably easier for you in terms of paperwork :)

USA, Canada / Are ther any Free Colleges in the US to join? [10]


No it's not. FE education is for 16-19 year olds, but you'll have to pay for university, unless you live in Scotland.


As I've said elsewhere - no - unless you can get a scholarship.

Don't expect America to be happy to give you a visa unless you are really an asset to them, either. I suspect that they wouldn't be very quick to issue a visa to someone wanting to study for free in America.

Work / How are nurses graded in Poland and what is their typical salary? [14]


Yes, despite the fact that officially, they're not supposed to. Not just nurses, but others too - which is an absolute joke. And people wonder why the NHS has huge problems with infections?

It's a reflection on the utterly inept middle management culture in the NHS - and the fact that ward Sisters were replaced with desk jobs.

Law / Are residency fees tax-deductible? [2]

Get a new accountant is my advice - they really should be able to answer such questions straight away, or be happy to look up in tax manuals to find the answer on the spot. It's actually a good sign in Poland of a dodgy accountant if they can't answer such questions rapidly - the tax laws here are not so arcane as in Germany or the UK.


I'm fairly positive that you won't be allowed to - it's not a business expense. I could be wrong though - but while the Polish taxman allows all sorts of nonsense, I can't imagine they'd be happy to allow this being deducted.

I believe you can actually ask the Urząd Skarbowy for a ruling on this - which might be worth doing if it's not clear?

UK, Ireland / What is the british obsession with Polish workers [39]


Go ahead and prove me wrong.

Of course, no-one wants to believe that 'those dirty rotten asylum seekers, all of which ignore the EU and come straight to the UK' actually live in poverty, sometimes in absolutely shocking conditions. I suggest you start with finding out where Glasgow City Council put their asylum seekers.


Then deal with the problem by dealing with the employers. I'm sure if the punishment for illegal employment was an instant prison sentence, there would be far less motive to hire someone illegally.

Also - sort out the system! It's incredibly slow and bureaucratic - I don't think anyone would argue with a fair, just system that protected people from war zones and efficiently dealt with economic migrants - but a system that leaves people to rot in squalid council flats in places like Possilpark in Glasgow simply doesn't work.

But then again, you can't expect the UK to be sensible surrounding this - after all, it's the same country that said that people have nothing to fear from ZANU-PF in Zimbabwe!


There are jobs here, just no-one wants them because they don't pay enough. Unfortunately, apart from Romanians and Bulgarians (which no Pole would hire!), there's not really a large pool of labour available to work for minimum wage.

UK, Ireland / What is the british obsession with Polish workers [39]


Where are they getting the money from, when asylum seekers actually receive a pittance? Unless the rules have changed (and I doubt they have!) - they were getting 70% of whatever JSA is equal to nowadays.

They're also prohibited from working (one reason why many of them end up turning to crime - what choice do you have if you get 40 pounds a week?!) - so just where is this 'embezzled' cash coming from?

The real problem in the UK lies in the fact that there is next to no motivation for a person on JSA to actually get a minimum wage job. What's the point in working 40 hours for an extra 10-20 quid a week? Okay, so intelligent people will get promoted and so on - but what hope do unintelligent people have? The smarter option is simply to stay home!

The truth is that what Brit is going to go and do a tough 40 hour week in a factory for 10-20 pounds extra a week, money they could make by doing some easy work 'on the side' anyway? The Poles don't have a choice - most of them aren't eligible for benefits anyway. But Brits do have a choice - and most of them just use the Poles as an excuse. I'm sure if it wasn't for the Polish, then gypsies, or the Irish, or the Asians, or anyone else would be getting the blame.

Incidentally, I made the offer on here before and I can make it again - I know of a company that always needs workers in Poland. Language skills optional -the only requirement is to be willing to work for minimum wage.

Funnily enough, no unemployed Brit has yet taken me up on the offer.

Study / erasmus...is it possible for Non Eu students? [2]


Yep, it's EU subsidised and for EU citizens (plus a few others that have quite close links to the EU) only.


They're quite closely linked with the EU in some respects and there are bilateral treaties governing this sort of thing. Turkey will probably never become an EU member, but they do cooperate in many, many ways. The Customs Union is one example.


Check your university in Poland, check universities elsewhere to see what scholarships are available - if you're an exceptional student in Poland, you might find doors opening up for you.

Real Estate / Prices of apartments in Krakow are collapsing further down in 2010-2011 [150]


I'm going to argue with them and say that as long as Ukraine, Hungary and the Baltic States remain on edge of a great fall (and they are, there's no doubt about that) - then the Zloty is not overvalued.

If the Lat had devalued (and it still might - Latvia can't take any more shocks!), then it almost certainly would've taken the Kroon and Lita with it - with the Hyvrina and Forint going too. There's no way that the Zloty would stay where it is in such an eventuality - look at how people bailed out on the Zloty the second there was a hint of trouble in Eastern Europe.

Real Estate / 15 reasons why the Polish real estate market will crash soon [258]

Not only are you arguing with yourself, but you also can't read whatsoever.

The price shown is for a 17sqm room, and 30,000 pounds is not 120k PLN either.

And let's not forget that Wedding is very, very deprived in general - along with the fact that the Berlin government is on the verge of bankruptcy. But hey :)

Real Estate / Prices of apartments in Krakow are collapsing further down in 2010-2011 [150]

Sean already pointed this out, but...


I've already told you - about 3300zl is the average brutto wage, netto about 2400zl or so. x 2 is 4800zl - and that's ignoring the somewhat well developed 'black' economy for trading of services.


There are small, functional apartments in many cities that can be bought for these people. They're maybe only 25-30sqm, but they do the job for a first time buyer couple in such a case. And food is most certainly not expensive!


Who on earth on average wage is buying apartments for 450k when you can get a large-ish flat (3/4 rooms, 60-80sqm in a renovated communist-era block) for about 300k at the moment?

Professional people in Poland don't buy 'houses in the upper market' either, so the cost of them is irrelevant.


A pensioner also tends to live in a flat which they obtained during communist times, or lives in social housing. There's also plenty of pensioners out there who worked solely in Communist times and yet earns hard Zloty pension now - and these same pensioners are enjoying rather large pensions!

Again, pensioners aren't buying property, so what have they got to do with anything?


Show me a government which isn't? :)

Real Estate / Prices of apartments in Krakow are collapsing further down in 2010-2011 [150]


Sorry, it's you that's wrong.

Simple maths tells us that first time buyers will be fairly affluent and most likely married. Let's use the 3300zl average wage figure - that gives us just under 2400zl a month netto. Times that by 2 and you've got 4800zl a month netto - so by your maths, prices should be dropping down to around 5,000PLN sqm. Coincidentally, that's what we're seeing right now in Poznan, with premium developments going for around 6,000PLN/sqm.


Okay, now your ignorance is showing through quite badly. Why would they return to 2003/2004 prices when wages have dramatically increased since then, to the point where the minimum wage in Poland is becoming irrelevant because no-one is being paid it?