Life / American moving to Poland [34]

My husband's job has brought us to Poland (arrived Aug 4 this yr). His company would be a great one for Americans to work because even the polish speak english there. However, it is in Warszawa. The language is difficult to learn but we are working on it. What I wanted to contribute is that from what we have been able to see, unless you have a higher position at any company, you do not make enough money to pay your bills. Rent/real estate is high here (for a decent place) as is most of cost of living. Even some of the people in his office who have college degrees (and some masters) barely make enough to pay their rent and utilities.... We met a cashier in a store who speaks great english and had lived in the US for about 8 yrs or so. He came back here because his girlfriend wanted to come back. But he is planning on going back to the US as soon as possible as he is working 2-3 jobs just to pay his bills here. Maybe that's just my small scope over 3 months time, but I hope it helps!

Life / Deadly Roads - "Are polish roads really THAT dangerous?" [139]

I would agree that this. We don't drive here yet but my husband's Harley is on it's way and I'm afraid for him. He is a very safe, defensive driver, but the drivers in Warsaw are usually so fixed on their own goal of where they are trying to get that they are not considerate of other drivers or pedestrians. I've almost been hit a few times because the come flying around a corner (even in Old Town) and don't even slow down. They see me in the middle of the street and they expect me to run out of the way...... Unless maybe they can tell I'm American!!! JK Polish people have been incredibly nice, helpful, forgiving of our ignorances!!!! I am actually polish descent but this is my first time here! I am eager to find my family members still in small towns.... which means we will be on the roads!!!!

Life / Can an American in Poland renew American Passport here? [18]

Look up the US Embassy in Warsaw on line and send them an Email. I'm pretty sure they can help you and they are pretty quick to respond.

Life / Deadly Roads - "Are polish roads really THAT dangerous?" [139]

Thanks! We won't let any of these stories scare us out of traveling Europe on the bike, but we will be very careful!!

Travel / WE ARE BACK FROM POLAND AND HERE IS OUR REPORT [96]

My husband and I are both pretty smiley people. At first we would get people that would just scowl at us or give us that look like "what are you smiling at" but we refuse not to be ourselves! Now it's almost a contest when we go walking in the park to see how many people will smile back. Usually children smile, wave, say hello. Sometimes this makes the parent(s) (or nanny I guess) smile as well! If I see the same people on the street often, or even more than once, I've started saying hello to them. It catches even the old people off guard but they are usually the ones that say hello back. The first couple days we were in our apartment it was really warm. We had all the windows open to air it out. Some of the neighbors just stared for a long time. We tried waving and smiling and they just stared. But we won't give up!

Language / difficult English words for Polish speakers? [119]

Haha... my husband worked for a produce company that dealt with all kinds of produce... so I (an American) use it quite often!

Life / The Quality of Water In Poland. Should we boil and filter it? [38]

Thank you all for your help! I appreciate the feedback. After we boil, we put our drinking water in a Britta pitcher with the filter in it. It doesn't taste bad, it's just not great. I use lemon in my water a lot of times. We were really spoiled because our water came from a really clean aquifer where we lived in South Texas. I do miss that water!