History / Zygmunt Szendzielarz, Polish Innocence [25]

I don't get your drift. I thought you wanted to give me your side of the story? I'm interested, I am waiting...

Love / My polish girlfriend has changed following death of dad.. [153]

Give her time to start missing you. Don't worry, it will very probably happen ;-)

Love / My polish girlfriend has changed following death of dad.. [153]


Of course NOT - you do not form romantic relationships with family members, do you? With time, your partner sort of "grows" into your family, but in this case, when the bf did not even know the father, I think the situation is quite clear.

Love / My polish girlfriend has changed following death of dad.. [153]

absolutely nothing's fishy here. the gf has quite openly said that she doesn't know herself what's going on, and having lost my mother in my early twenties I absolutely understand what's she's going through. fixed "mourning periods" have nothing to do with what's going on in your head at a time like this.

basically you're trying to have one last long conversation with the departed loved one, of course it's actually a monologue, but it has to be done.

the fact that she hadn't invited the bf to the family and dad's friends party sounds quite understandable to me as well - it was more of a wake than a ball to be sure (and the bf didn't even know him). and she was honest about that as well.

quite frankly - if you had a Polish gf/bf, and your dad died, and your aunt Mildred and ancient uncle Arthur and cousin Joe and dad's army friend Ed and all your other relatives wanted to have some time together to remember and cry and smile about your dad's life - would you invite the gf/bf? I wouldn't. It would be a major faux pas towards both your family and your partner.

History / Zygmunt Szendzielarz, Polish Innocence [25]


17 September 1939. Discuss.

History / Zygmunt Szendzielarz, Polish Innocence [25]

Have you read my post? I said it makes no sense in trying to find out who was more "innocent" in a war (regardless of nationality). Apart from the fact that the Russians did kill considerably larger numbers, and were the aggressors, sorry but it's simply true. Check your history books.

History / Zygmunt Szendzielarz, Polish Innocence [25]


No, I have not missed it, but I do not see any sense in posting this info with a heading like "Polish Innocence". War is war, and (extremely) nasty things happen. Otherwise, we would need to post similar threads with titles like "Jewish Innocence" - Koniuchy, Naliboki (my ancestors were directly involved on the victim side), "American Innocence" (Hiroshima, Nagasaki), "Allies Innocence" (Dresden, Hamburg) etc. etc.

"Between 20-27 Lithuanians were shot in Dubingiai on 23 June, 1944, during World War II by a local Armia Krajowa unit.[1][2] The crime was supposed to be a retaliation by the Polish commander for an earlier massacre of Polish villagers in Glitiškės by colaborationist Lithuanian police" - from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubingiai

- seems like war is not a clean-cut thing at all, at all. Which does not make it any less terrible.

Rather than discussing who was "innocent" or not, I would rather discuss the choices people had / hadn't when in the army and trying to fight the good fight within constantly shifting borders and changing political alliances, as was the case in the Polish Kresy at that time. Mistakes were made - and paid for, in blood.

History / Zygmunt Szendzielarz, Polish Innocence [25]

...and...?

Food / Cost of Nescafe coffee in Poland. [49]


I personally knew people (young professional Poles) who could easily afford that kind of stuff. I hope some of the glory rubs off on me ;-)

Language / "polish pig" - is it offensive? [41]

Nazi Germans used to call Poles "polnische Schweine" (Polish swine) and I do not think calling Polish people pigs - especially in a WW2 context as mentioned in the initial posting - is a very good idea or especially sensitive.

Life / Cool Polish names [133]

Robert shortens to Bob (in English)
Aleksander shortens to Olo (in Polish) - so there! ;-p
Alicja, Alina shortens to Ala - surprise, surprise!
There's probably more, but I'm in a bit of a hurry right now.

Life / Cool Polish names [133]

Jagna is actually Agnieszka (Jagnieszka - regional), Jagoda comes from Jadwiga, both happen to have the same possible form of Jagusia. Why not?
Halina, Alina and Ewelina can all be called Linka, or even Inka. I don't think I get your point...?

Life / HOW CAN POLISH PEOPLE AFFORD IT?? They are said to earn very little..? [43]


Examples please? I mean 2007-2008, not the old stories about builders carrying a construction site away bit by bit (I know these things used to happen, I'm just not happy with the way you frame your thought).

Capitalism is just a tiny bit different from communism (or, rather, from a socialism rotten on the inside). You might want to keep that in mind.

Life / Goth scene in Poland [30]

The thing is, appearance very often speaks volumes about the person. I am sure you would know who I am, at least in very general terms, if you saw how I dress. Dress is our code, our second skin, our mask, and our confession, all at the same time ;-)

History / Where do Polands non Jewish victims go? [64]


omg, here we go again... I wish I had never been interested in WW2 history, then I might just pass such comments by... on the other hand, I hate feeding trolls. contraband, you are wrong on so many levels that I don't know where to start, so I won't.

BTW - you say "I didn't see Poles" - where you personally there? And did you take the train?

Life / HOW CAN POLISH PEOPLE AFFORD IT?? They are said to earn very little..? [43]

Back in the day, ZUS was approx. 600-700 from day 1.
And believe me, the majority are no fools and either know how to do their tax returns, or ask someone knowledgeable to do it. Most people have an accountant in their family or among friends somewhere ;-)

The only good thing about ZUS is that since the "ubruttowienie" of salaries that took place about 5-6 years ago (i.e., your ZUS is included in your gross salary), ZUS is taken away from tax payable (odliczenie od podatku) at the end of your income tax statement. This means v. good news for many people, sometimes even a considerable tax refund at the end of the year :-)

Whereas in the UK, I actually had to pay extra National Insurance at the end of the year, even though my taxable income was under 2000 pounds... ;-(

I don't really understand the British system, I'm afraid. Thank God for the online tax return thingy on the HMRC website...

Life / HOW CAN POLISH PEOPLE AFFORD IT?? They are said to earn very little..? [43]

What you are doing is not "lewizna" - the tax code duly authorizes costs deductible from income, i.e. costs without which it would be impossible to conduct your business = koszty uzyskania przychodu. Unless you bend the definition of what is necessary to your business, ofc ;-)

You pay VAT, you claim VAT - as a business.
Not as a private person employed by a company, though.
I ran my own business in Poland for 10 years, I would never choose the ryczałt option. I almost never had to pay income tax, but ZUS was a major pain. Overall, I think the Polish income tax system is quite easy to understand and rather fair. I used to do everyone's tax returns, actually when I visited my dad in Poland last year, he made me do his tax return again! ;-)

Life / Cool Polish names [133]

I just wrote the same in my post. I said they used to be variations. And because Jagoda is being now given to girls as a name in its own right, I put it next to Jadwiga (as a distinct variation). But Jadwiga and Jagoda both are the same name, actually I did some research a minute ago and they both come from the German Hedwig, so they are not "truly" Slavonic after all ;-(

And I disagree, Jagusia is not a totally different name, it is a pet name for someone called Jadwiga or Agnieszka - I have yet to see a birth certificate with Jagusia on it. ;-)

Life / HOW CAN POLISH PEOPLE AFFORD IT?? They are said to earn very little..? [43]

How about the possibility that some Poles might actually have access to a) savings b) assistance from parents/family c) credit cards / bank loans? I don't think most Poles earn extra, untaxed cash.

I know many people who regularly take out loans to finance vacations or expensive purchases. I personally took out bank loans to buy my flat, my car, my computer, washing machine (not all at the same time ofc) - all repaid ages ago. Wouldn't have been able to afford any of that stuff otherwise.

BTW - spending more than you officially earn is not a Polish phenomenon at all. Just think about the sub-prime crisis or the lending crisis in general (US, UK).

Life / Cool Polish names [133]

Yeah, they are now, but they used to be variations of each other. My aunt's name is Jadwiga, and she is called Jagoda/Jagusia all the time. It's like Halina and Alina, actually they're the same name, and if I'm not much mistaken they are actually part of the Helena/Jelena/Elena family, but who knows nowadays? ;-)

More Polish/Slavonic names: Bronisław, Zdzisław, Bożena, Milena, Miłosz, Bożydar, Radosław, Dobrochna, Malina... there's loads more of them.

Life / Cool Polish names [133]

Sławomir, Lech, Kalina, Grażyna, Zbigniew, Władysław, Wojciech, Mirosław, Jadwiga (Jagoda), Kazimierz, there are more, but my memory has betrayed me. Dunno if they're cool, but they are Polish/Slavonic/Lithuanian (they are geographically and culturally connected to past and/or present-day Poland).

Later: and Jarosław, of course! How could I have forgotten! ;-)

Life / Goth scene in Poland [30]

You wouldn't believe the stuff young people used to wear back in the eighties in Poland. ;-) We were very adventurous and anarchistic. Reality sucked bad, so we just did our thing and couldn't care less. I'd say so-called "modern" youth is extremely tame and unimaginative by comparison.

And because there was basically nothing in the shops back then, we used to trawl through parents' wardrobes, flea markets, and other unlikely places (not charity shops or "łachmyciarnie" existed in Poland then), and then remake, dye, take in, shorten, whatever, until the desired result. ;-)

I particularly remember one cute guy waiting for a concert at Riviera-Remont. He was dressed all in black, had the tightest jeans you could imagine, and the jeans were very decoratively torn on his bottom, revealing... red underpants. Awww... all the girls were swooning over his fashion statement... ;-) Bye the bye, getting your hands on red underwear in eighties Poland must have been a task in itself - I guess our generation used up all the red and black fabric dye in the country ;-)

The way young people dress nowadays is really depressing me. No creativity, no personal touch whatsoever.


You too? Greetings! ;-) Wasn't it loads of fun?

Life / Polish Train Travel - Scary? [101]


If you are on a normal Polish train, the compartments are usually closed (aisle on one side, and compartments on the other), so how can these fat people (and why only fat? and why odorous, all of them?) push you over in your seat?

As I said, all cars are half non-smoking only. You need to check which half you are in. If someone smokes in the non-smoking half, people usually react very angrily to that and the culprit is banished into the aisle ;-)

Come on, don't make it sound worse than it is in reality. I'm a seasoned, born-and-bred Polish train traveller and I've had to sit on the floor by the loo once because of the crowding, but that was way back in 1984 ;-)

Some trains are crowded, some could be cleaner, but that's true of any railway. I am always happy that I get from A to B. Maybe I've been hardened by my communist-oppressed childhood, if so, I am thankful for that. ;-)

Travel / Warsaw aiport to the central train station??? [16]

I know it's confusing down there. But it might be worth it, overall. ;-)

Travel / Warsaw aiport to the central train station??? [16]

It's probably less a question of timing than of location... as I said, there's lots of those window thingy offices, and some of them are hidden way back in the recesses of the underground part of the station. Therefore, some are relatively unknown, at least to people just passing through Warsaw. I've had the luck to never have to wait longer than 10-15 minutes. It makes sense to run around a bit and check before choosing your particular window :-)

Life / Polish Train Travel - Scary? [101]

If you don't have a reservation, this means just that - you might end up standing in the aisle. The ticket inspector won't let you stand in the 1st class aisle if you have a ticket for 2nd class. You either have to pay the difference or get the hell out. Ironically, the 2nd class carriages are often half empty on the same train ;-)

The only trains that never sell more tickets than the actual no. of seats are express or IC trains. They are clearly marked as "reservation only" trains. You can choose to travel by those only. ;-p

BTW, I have stood in the aisle in lots of countries, including the UK. I always thought this is the way things are - a ticket purchase does not guarantee me a seat on the bus/tube/tram either. (Unless reserved, as above).

Each Polish train carriage is divided into a smoking and non-smoking end, marked appropriately. It makes sense to check that while getting on the train so you don't end up on the wrong side ;-)

Of course train travel isn't all wine and roses, but why the heck should it be? Life is never smooth going all the way. ;-p

Travel / Warsaw aiport to the central train station??? [16]

There's lots of little ticket offices dotted all over Warszawa Centralna, the lines are usually much shorter there. Don't bother going into the main hall at all is my advice. The best way to cope if you don't speak Polish is to write down, legibly, the exact train, no. of people, and date you want to buy tickets for (use the departure timetables that are also put up all over the place). Some trains have names, that makes it even easier. And do watch out for pickpockets! When you're all wrapped up in getting your tickets right, they might have an easier job. If there's more of you, one should guard the luggage and one should buy the tickets, carrying just the amount of money needed. Just good common sense, I think.

Life / Polish Train Travel - Scary? [101]


Polish railways have been "regionalized" (whatever that means) quite some time ago, so the quality of service, age of carriages etc. does not depend on any central/nationwide management, but rather on the resources and transport priorities of a given region. I have travelled on spanking-brand-new second class electric traction trains from Białystok to Ełk, and on lousy "regular" 1st class trains elsewhere. Go figure. On the other hand, the situation in the UK is not much different, depending on whether you're travelling by the "one", "southern", "southwestern", "virgin" or whatever other line, you'll be getting anything from state-of-the-art computerized gizmo-type trains to trains that look as if they'd fallen from between the pages of a history book (and hadn't been cleaned since) ;-)

Life / Polish Train Travel - Scary? [101]

Hey there, I got robbed while sleeping on an overnight train as well, long-distance of course. That was waaay back somewhere in 1992 - and it only happened to me ONCE in my life so far. I have learnt my lesson - don't sleep on night trains unless you are travelling light (I wasn't at that time). I also got pick-pocketed (is there such a word?) maybe 5 times in my life on various trains and suchlike.

So what? There are pickpockets and thieves and robbers and muggers everywhere. When I lived in India with my parents, my father would keep finding strangers' hands in various pockets and bags of his - does this mean I should forever remember the Indians as thieving scoundrels?

There is a Polish saying - okazja czyni złodzieja (the occasion makes the thief). Walk around London with a wallet sticking out of your pocket or a half-unzipped bag and let's see how far that takes you. My friend was robbed at an internet cafe in Paris. So what? Does it tell us anything about the French? My bf had his wallet stolen in London, even though he is usually very cautious. So what? Should I be branding the English as thieves from now on?

I hope you get my drift.
And pardon me, going to sleep on a night train, in a 2nd class EMPTY compartment, on a stretch of railway that has no major stops, and carrying a laptop - I don't think that's a very smart thing to do anywhere - be it the UK, the US, China, Poland, Greece, Denmark, Brazil.

Love / why is the older women such a problem for polish guys [37]


My great-grandmother was middle-aged when she married. I'm not sure she was actually older than her husband, but in that day and age a 40-year-old bride was not run of the mill either. My mother was 6 years older than my father. I am 7 years older than my partner. One of my friends has a bf at least 7 years younger as well. They're getting married soon. Etc. I am 40, and I have never heard of any older/younger prejudice. Sure, most guys tend to go for the younger crowd, but if they settle down with an older woman it's not really seen as a big deal. Is it just the people I hang out with?