Work / Just about to move to Gdynia - teaching job Help! [24]

Yes, many of my polish friends think im a bit mental for going but both him and I cant stay apart but for many reasons he cant stay here any more. Iv been warned about the snow and cold etc, last week when i was there it was nothing but beautiful!

We have both had a look for teaching jobs for me but Its more difficult from here, so i might have to wait until im there.

Thanks for the replies,
if any of you know english folk who would want to meet up out there it would be much appreciated.
x

Work / Just about to move to Gdynia - teaching job Help! [24]

Thank you for the responces,

Lots of helpful information indeed! I agree that moving because my boyfriend is there doesnt appear to be the best reason but i cant really help myself, i cant stay here without him.

I'll be in London for another month i, would say, while i get a TEFL qualification, i dont have a degree or anything, I didnt go to university but i wansnt planning to teach in a shool for children, more a language school, or private tuition etc. Iv already spoken with one language school in Gdynia and they said they would like me as they dont often find native speakers.

thanks for the links Bubbawoo, ill send them to my other half for translation purposes.

kasia
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Work / Just about to move to Gdynia - teaching job Help! [24]

Thanks! Yeah i went to the Barracuda last visit but we just went in for a beer on a nice day, but next time ill definatly eat.

Atlantic; i have 6 GCSE's and im just now qualifying in TEFL so that i can teach English as a foreign language once i get over there, Its just something i may aswel try out, if it doesnt work out i can fall back on my cooking as im also a trained chef (once my polish is alot better!) unfortunatly i dont have a degree or anything but im also lucky that my boyfriend and his brother are very well known in the area (i hesitate at using the word 'infamous') and know everyone so i'v been assured that they will be able to find me something good. In that respect im very lucky.

Thanks to all!

Work / Just about to move to Gdynia - teaching job Help! [24]

haha. Na there good boys really, they've just always lived in the same place, been to the local junior school, then highschool then college, lived and worked there all there 30+ years so everyone knows who they are. for the good things and the bad....

tra lala

Work / Just about to move to Gdynia - teaching job Help! [24]

Hello,
Thanks for all the words of advice, support and concern. My thoughts about the 'risk factor' are this:

I dont actualy concider it a massive decision atall, its just a 2 hour flight away so if i need to get home for any reason i can fly back at the drop of a hat. Im only young so god forbid if id didnt work out i can just come home and do whatever i like back here in London. But if i did come back without him i would have gained teaching experiance and learned a new language so its win win really.

However at the moment i just cant wait to be back with him (for the record he feels the same!) so i will just go out and see what happens!

My parents just tell me to do what makes me happy, and at the moment, this is it!

X

Travel / Polish visa - Nightmare! [40]

Sorry,

I didnt mean to sound rude or ungreatful, i am looking forward to moving there and i hope to be there for the long haul so i dont want to make it sound like im just 'not bothered' to do all the paperwork. I was just misslead by what many of my polish friends had said, there rational being that: because they dont need anything to come here, surley i wont to go there. so it was a bit of a shock! My boyfriend is happy to sort out my translations etc and i can get everything (apart from the police check wich can take 50+ days) and as im leaving on the 18th of this month i was hoping to have everything in place before i went.

If worst comes to worst ill just have to come back after 3 months and go out again with renewed vigour, but i also cant work until i get it so i cant earn any money.

Thanks for all the responses (the constructive ones anyway) and the advice.

Cheers
KatieKasia

Work / Just about to move to Gdynia - teaching job Help! [24]

heya,
Our flat isnt particualy in a district i dont think, its right in the town centre, about a 5 minute walk from the boulevard. seems quite nice i think....

Work / Just about to move to Gdynia - teaching job Help! [24]

yes its a word i struggle with, is it the same as the word for 'high street' or 'main road' what is it again? if you could write it phoneticly it would be fantastic!

Food / A report on certain Polish eating habits [15]

I dont know much because i have only lived here a few weeks but i live with poles and am intergrated into a polish family and it seems to be like:

Breakfast (for normal people) in the morning; cold meats, fish (smoked salmon, pickled herring etc) bread, maby some cheese. around 9-10, or for me, whenever i get up.

Lunch is a more basic affair, maby leftovers from whatever was made the night before, soup, meat and potatoes etc about 12-1 oclock.

'dinner' my (polish) boyfriend points out is the main meal of the day and is sortof 5 o'cock, thats early by british standars and its the main meal. Something like gowmki (pigdeons, i cant spell it po polsku) beef stroganof, chops etc. normaly a meat dish with some carbohydrates and some vegitables or salad.

'supper' being similar to breakfast about 10-12pm (whenever we get back from the bars) just cold stuff from the fridge, bread, spreads, cheese etc. Yummy all round. wit beer and/or wine.

In my experiance his parents also snack on cake and sweet stuff al day washed down with tea/coffee...there quite elderly though and do not much elce but cook and eat.

So thats what i know!

KatieKasia

Love / Is Poland gay friendly? [25]

I live in Gdynia and when i recently asked my boyfriend is a mutual friend of ours is gay he replied 'he might be, but you could never be openly gay here because people would beat you up' i replied that i think its a terribly old fasioned way of thinking and he agree\d but apparently thats just how it is. i think its a great shame as in london, where im from, you can be whatever you like and nobody will care or notice.

Shame.

katiekasia

Travel / Polish visa - Nightmare! [40]

Hallo,

Well i am in Poland now, and as it turns out the UK embassy where talking ****! I spoke to The town hall here in Gdynia and when i mentioned the London consulate the first word out of the blokes mouth was 'Kurwa!' so thats what he thinks of them...he told me they havnt updated there info in about 7 years and are constantly getting people coming to them with the same problem.

But just to put anyone elce that wants to come out here at ease - im here, im ok and i dont need any silly paper work!

katiekasia
x

Life / The strangest things in Poland [468]

I love this post!
I now live here perminantly but only moved from london a few weeks ago, i find the following odd:

*to give a tip at a bar, you say thanks and walk away, or tap the bar with your money as you hand it over, and you put your money in a tray, not hand it into there hand.

*there seems to be little regard for speed limits, drunk driving and street signs. in london you would be hung for the driving here!

*always turning headlights on, regarless for the time of day (only put them on in the dark in the UK)

*again, the people clapping when you land, i physicly Jumped when it happned the first time i landed in Gdansk! my boyfriend said '******* idiots' in polish (he is polish) it irritates him alot.

*people seem to be much much more superstitious here.

*HOW IS IT THAT ALL THE POLISH WOMEN LOOK LIKE SUPERMODELS? - i ask my boyfriend almost every day, there seems to be no answer.

*Iv only met about 2 people who dont smoke, and everyone drinks. I wory about the future of my health.

more to come no doubt...

Katiekasia

Travel / Polish visa - Nightmare! [40]

Fortunatly i have little intrest on gaining money from this situation, however i certainly will raise the problem through the correct channels.
But in my case, I am more than happy that i am here, happy and safe. looking for a job and looking forward to a long and happy life by the Baltic.

KatieKasia

x

Life / The strangest things in Poland [468]

I sugested i go down to the shop to buy mleko thismorning and slipped on some sandals with my rather eclectic PJ's, my boyfriend suggested i change my clothes and with the horrified look on my face (in our flat in london we would always nip to the corner shop in what we slept in) he explained the people are more formal here and have higher expectations of what people should look like

(i feel this also be why i am a source of much pointing, staring and gossiping from random strangers) when im just walking around in what i concider to be my normal london clothes....bizzare place...

p.s. where are all the coloured people?

Travel / Polish visa - Nightmare! [40]

Im from the UK and as i stated before everything is sorted and im now living and working here. end of.

x

Language / Common mistakes made by foreigners in Polish [90]

the other week i asked for a bottle of vodka after my work out, i ment a bottle of water! quite similar words...easily done. ofcorse the woman thought i was a NuTtErrrr!

x

Language / Common mistakes made by foreigners in Polish [90]


I know, i just got it wrong on that occasion, the look on her face was pricless though. And then when i told my boyfrined later he ruffled my hair and said that its probably just the first of many stupid things ill say by accident....8OD

News / What does Poland mean to you? [66]


You give brits a bad name to the point im ashamed to be one. Im british and i live here in poland now and iv never in all my travels been so warmly welcomed in any other country. Its a shame that your so ill informed on what imigration has done for the UK, without the hard working nature of the Polish imigrants the capital would be a shoddy state.

I suggest you remove yourself from this forum immediatly and possibly do a little research so you can change your, frankly discusting, ignorant behaviour.

As we say in england: Bugger off.

Food / Polish food is making me fat [49]

Ill second your statment "polish food is making me fat!"

I moved here 3 weeks ago and my boyfriends parents live in the flat above, they insist we join them for atleast one meal a day, sometimes 2, usualy Kapki (cant spell, sorry) about 10 then Dinner about 4, usualy: meat (in a million forms), potatoes (boiled), salad almost ALWAYS with mayonaise on it?! never could i have fathomed that before i got here, and then (from a long line of bakers) some sort of cake or something sweet followed by strong coffe and shwika w chocolate (dried candied plumbs in chocolate)

ordinarily i have about half the callories of this in england so my body is struggling a little but....ITS SO GOOD! its hard to turn down. Along with 'eat Kasia, eat' from his mum and dad its hard to turn down!

xxxx

News / 14 year old rape victim from Warsaw denied abortion! [348]

Wow wow wow. So, can someone just make it clear to me, is it illegal to have abortions here? and only legal in the case of a rape?

Work / Any english teachers in Poland here with tips to share? [55]

I would suggest dont start trying to find work at the begging of the summer, everyone goes on holidays and don't really want lessons!

I hadn't anticipated that one..

x

Food / Polish Milk, Just not the same [54]

I am SO pleased its not just me. I hate the milk here, it ruined my love of tea and cereal. Eventually i found fresh milk in our local shop, and PG tips and now my life is complete. Hurrah!

x

Life / Sending mail to Poland (the quickest way) [11]

Polish post in my experiance is quite terrible, my dear mother sent me a package of cheese from london and it arrived 2 weeks later. It was not edible....so to send things eg. laptop, clothes etc. They use a courier company now, DHL i think. 24hours from order to delivery.

x

Life / Is Poland cold? [40]

I feel this topic has been explored quite thoroughly by the previous posters (is that actualy a term or am i making it up?)

Im from London where it can drop to 0 degrees in the night but rarley stays that cold all day. We had a lovely summer here on the baltic coast (gdynia to be precise) but recently the cold snap has arrived, the gods from above turned our buildings heating on (HURRAH!) and i have made a small nest up against the radiator ever since. But seriously its not that cold right now, lowest in the day has been about 7degrees, but about 10-15 in the day. Its not that cold, i just have rubbish circulation so im always chilly.

My boyfriend tells me 30 years ago it used to drop to about -30ish, but apparently due to our old friend 'global warming' those days are gone.

xxxxxxxxxx

Food / Vegetarian food in Poland? [83]

Hello!

If it was up to my boyfriends mothers cooking we would eat red meat every day, shes a propper polish housewife and she cooks her socks off all day.

I however am from london and I much more partial to things like vegitable stirfry, light soup dishes from wagamama and generaly eastern flavours. I was also a vergitarian for 8 years but began eating meat when i became ill due to my diet.

My suggestions are: pierogi, the things you discribed as 'pasta things' (i know you already said you don't like them) but i find them much more palatable if there boiled and then fried because then there lovely and crisp, not all floppy and rubbery, blergh. The poles know a good soup. Soup here is awsome. Salads are great. Im lucky to live in a nice cosmopolitain city where i can get chinese, indian, thai etc but it sounds like your a bit more rural, bet you can find a nice italian? good soups, pastas, salads, side dishes. If you speek enough polish you can ask for dishes to be made without the meat...

just suggestions, hope iv helped....maby not!

x

Life / Is it safe for me and my Asian friends to come to Poland? [44]

As a brit that not only feels at home here, but feels 100% safer than living in London, im concerned by this question raised.
Why would someone ask that, due to their skin colour if its safe to go to a sophisticated European city? what do they thinks goign to happen? there going to stopped at customs and told to go home?

Ridiculous.

Everyone is free, go where you like. Stand out, blend in. It DOESNT matter....christ, it makes me angry.

Food / Top food products you'd want to see in a Polish shop [32]

I live in Poland by jsut round the corner from my parents house in London is a Polish food shop, they have a cooler counter just like there would be in any smal supermarket there is here, with kielbasa, kabinosa, cheese, some fresh meats. Loads of jars of stuff, barsch, beetroot, golomki (in a jar?!?! baffeling) ogorki, snacks. Booze, obviously!

Although in North london our nearest supermarket that had a massive isle of Polish products wich was more than adequate for our needs.

xxx

Life / Is Poland cold? [40]

I live on the northern coast and have been informed (and mocked, that im wholly unprepared) that its one of the warmer spots in the winter.

am i wrong?