Food / Krakow Restaurant Recommendations [17]

That's two for Pod Aniolami - sounds like the place to go. Thanks!
I was provided with a phone number for a good cab driver by another PF member - would anyone in Krakow be willing to call him for me, and make arrangements with him to pick up my party at the airport when we arrive on the 16th? That would be a HUGE benefit and I'd REALLY appreciate it. I want my Dad to feel secure and confident immediately, and having a friendly and competent cab driver there to greet us would be a phenomenal start.

Food / Krakow Restaurant Recommendations [17]

Thanks for the feedback! I'll see if I can find these places.

Life / A small gift for a Visitor from Poland (she's a music teacher) [13]


It's funny you should mention computer hardwar. A friend of mine there asked me to bring him a couple of external hard drives, so I'll be muling them to Poland for him. He ordered them over the Web, had them delivered to my home here in the States, and I'm the delivery boy. He's a great guy and has been a huge help to me in my genealogical pursuits, so I'm happy to help him out in this way.

Life / A small gift for a Visitor from Poland (she's a music teacher) [13]

How about someone visiting Poland - what do we bring as a nice gift for our hostess/guide? All she's asked for is tea and coffee, saying yours in Poland isn't very good. Any other suggestions? What kinds of things do we have in the US that are unavailable or a lot more expensive there? Note it has to be small enough to fit into a suitcase, along with a lot of other stuff.

Thanks!

Food / Feeding of Livestock in Poland [13]


I'm reading a great book called "The Omnivore's Dilemma" that goes into great detail about what's behind this - the need to consume all of the corn that's being produced. There's just so much of it, at so cheap a price, that novel ways are being created daily to market more of it around the world. That's why so much livestock is now eating a corn-based diet instead of the foods they evolved to eat. A cow can only eat this crap for so long before it kills them - which is why they're shot full of anti-biotics and other drugs right up until the day they're slaughtered. The life span of a cow raised for its beef is now only 14-16 months - that's all it takes to get them to the desired weight with that diet and their non-existent exercise regiment.

Food / Feeding of Livestock in Poland [13]

Thanks everyone for your input on this subject. I'll dash off a note to the couple who will be our guides for our trip and ask about the source for any meats we'll be served. I doubt they'll be able to answer for all of it, but it's worth asking. I'll hope for the locally farmed type.

I'm glad to see you're still working on the photography, JustysiaS! Nice work!
plk123 - thanks for the note of caution. I intend to be VERY careful. I should be able to find high-quality meats here to use for the break-in period, and I'll eat very little of it to start.

Food / Feeding of Livestock in Poland [13]


OK, let's consider this the worst-case scenario of what might be put in front of me. I can't imagine the means of mass production in Poland to be as horrific as they are here in the USA. I'm just hoping someone there can give me a fairly accurate idea of how its done there. Are they kept indoors, in huge facilities with giant swamps of offal all around them? What are they fed? That kind of thing.

By


I mean "less industrial than US methods."


Yeah, I can buy meat here that is USDA-certified, but I wouldn't eat it.

Travel / What are Your Best Poland Travel Tips? [64]


Ah, Piorun, where have you been? Are you the Polish mycologist I've been seeking? Thank you so much for your useful and helpful information and links. As I'd hoped, it seems there is a good chance for finding some edible mushrooms in July, as there is here in New York at that time of year. You don't happen to live in the vicinity of Gorlice, Wysowa or Zydnia, do you? The guides who will be taking care of us while we are there seem to have some knowledge of the wild mushrooms, but it would be great to meet some of the more knowledgable people from the area. I enjoy the hedgehogs as well - we have a couple of species that grow locally to me - one small and one much larger - and they are very tasty when prepared properly.

Thanks again to everyone who has posted so far on this topic. I'm sorry to have been away for so long, but I started a new job and have had little time to read or post here. I hope to be more active now that things have settled down a bit.

Rakky

Travel / What are Your Best Poland Travel Tips? [64]


YET!
It's never too late to start learning!

Travel / What are Your Best Poland Travel Tips? [64]


True, but not all of the edible species grow in the fall, when most people hunt for mushrooms. For example, I find nice chanterelles in the summer, as well as some early boletes. Do you have chanterelles there?

Travel / What are Your Best Poland Travel Tips? [64]

Our trip in July will include some time to do a bit of hiking and mushroom-hunting in Magurski National Park. Is anyone familiar with this park? Is it also referred to as Magura, or is that another park? Does anyone hunt mushrooms successfully in mid-July? If so, what species do you find?

Travel / What are Your Best Poland Travel Tips? [64]

Hello again, everyone!
It's almost January, and I need to make solid plans for our trip to Poland in July. You've all been most helpful already, so I hope you don't mind if I keep asking more questions and looking for more assistance with this.

If you live in or around Krakow, or are knowledgable about that area, or also the area from Gorlice south to Wysowa (very near the border), east to Nowy Zmigrod and southeast to Zyndranova (please click on map below to see the area) and would be willing to help me out with planning this trip, I sure would appreciate it. Feel free to PM or e-mail me or to add postings here - I'll gladly take all input and suggestions.

I'll add more posts with specific questions, but wanted to put this out there right away so that you can feel free to post whatever you like on the subject.

Thank you very much for all your help!

• 
  Rakky Travel Map
  

Life / No snow for Xmas 2008 in Poland [49]

We'll certainly have a white Christmas here in the northeastern part of the USA. I live in southeastern New York State, about an hour's drive out of Manhattan, and we've got a good 4-5 inch ice-capped base on the ground, and with the short days and low temperatures it's not going anywhere for a while. I'm just hoping that we get no significant snow or ice between today and Christmas Eve, so our weekend trip up to the Albany area to visit family and friends there is smooth and easy. Last year we nearly got stuck at my brother's house when a blizzard blew in unexpectedly - we got out of hs house, down the snow-covered windy country road and back to the hotel just in time.

Merry Christmas to all my fellow posters here at PF - and a very Happy New Year, too!

Genealogy / Jankowski, Yankoski, Kizielewicz, Gmurczyk surnames [6]

My wife worked with a guy named Jankowski in Stamford, CT a few years back.

Love / Polish mens attitude to the English female and sex-the catholic influence [13]


Are you describing Polish women here, or Poles in general, or what? If the former, is that a factor in Polish men going to England to find women who cannot be so easily describe that way? Men are designed and programmed to spread their seed as far and wide as possible, so don't blame us - we're not that evolved!

UK, Ireland / Are polish pupils harming native british childrens education? [280]


Open a major artery anywhere on the human body and you'll bleed to death in short order.

Love / My sweet Polish girlfriend's family doesn't want us together [17]


Be likable. If the apple didn't fall far from the tree, that may not happen - at least as far as her parents are concerned.

Does your girlfriend still like you? How does she feel about your parents?

Life / St. Nicholas Day (Mikolajki) 6th December [12]


Very nice - thanks a lot! I'm going to pas this along to my family members. Our grandfather was named Mikolaj (although he was born in April).

Life / Polish Name Day celebration [40]

Today is my grandfather's Name Day - Mikolaj Rak, son of Konstantinius of Wola Cieklinska.
This is all new to me - what is the significance of Name Day? How is it celebrated? How does it compare to your birthday?

Love / Why my Polish girlfriend's mother started to ignore me? [74]


That might be why her Mom is upset. Parents often don't want to be confronted with their children's problems first-hand. Some feel it is an indictment of them that their child isn't "perfect." You put this back in her face, so, since she can't display anger at her daughter, she's displacing it to you.

On the other hand, she might think you're "dumping" her daughter on her, rather than taking care of her yourself. Or maybe she blames YOU for her problem - heaven knows it can't be HER child's fault. My parents always blamed my friends for all of our problems and troubles - again, displacement.

Give it time. The Mom and your girlfriend have a lot to work out between them before you can be brought back into the picture. She's detoxing - it might be time for you to find a support group for yourself. Check with your local Narcotics Anonymous groups to see if they can refer you to a group for friends and families of drug addicts. If you don't take care of yourself, you'll be a lot less useful to her.

Love / Why my Polish girlfriend's mother started to ignore me? [74]

NOW you see what I was trying to find out!

Love / Why my Polish girlfriend's mother started to ignore me? [74]

Is there any connection between you and her being in the clinic? What kind of clinic? For what? Is it possible she learned something about you that affected her negatively toward you?

Love / Why my Polish girlfriend's mother started to ignore me? [74]

Need lots more info, or would just be guessing. Circumstances (recent and historic)?

Love / STRANGE BEHAVIOUR FROM MY POLISH FRIEND [16]


It's difficult for straight guys to have female "friends" and not be (if even only in our deep-down hearts) emotionally connected to and even physically desirous of them. It's just the way we're wired. Why were you so sure that he fancied you the same way you fancied him? What were the specific signals? Have you ever seen evidence that he fancied someone besides you? If so, what were the tell-tale signs of this? How did they compare to how he behaves toward you?


How exactly does one do this? I'm not a texting person, so perhaps it's common knowledge among those of you who are, but it sounds difficult to me.


I've known guys to do this - it's kind of like building a harem, or a stable, so that at any time they can move on one of them. Doing so, however, disrupts the mechanics that have been so painstakingly set up and followed so, even though he may fancy one in particular, he doesn't move on her for fear of scaring off the others.


HOW do you know? Be specific.


All of this could be attributed to the "harem" model I already presented. There were obviously some strong feelings for, or at least attachment to you, but now that you've moved on and he is no longer local he's dismissing you from his "group." That's one possibility, and I'm not convinced it's the true one.

Is he by any chance gay? If you say "no," is it possible that he is but has not yet accepted this about himself? Or that he simply has not yet come out?

Now - about you. Are you a "1-guy-and-1-guy-only" kind of gal? If so - drop him like a rock and stick with Pawel. If not, enjoy your time with Pawel, and others, and, when possible, this guy as well. Don't cancel the trip. Make sure all the guys know that you're not exclusive to them, so there are no secrets.

Most of all, take miranda's advice to "Stay positive and keep in touch with people who have your best interest in their hearts" uppermost in your mind.

Love / STRANGE BEHAVIOUR FROM MY POLISH FRIEND [16]


That's hitting it on the head, miranda! I totally agree.

Genealogy / I have found the place of birth (Chelmek) of my Grandfather, what is the next step. [5]


Definitely. I can highly recommend the one I employed to research my family's records. If you'd like her contact info, let me know.

Genealogy / I have found the place of birth (Chelmek) of my Grandfather, what is the next step. [5]

The fact that there is one person with the same surname in the town is no indicator that they are relatives. Do more research on what it takes to track genealogy - then decide whether or not you want to make the efforts.