Travel / Traveling to spend Christmas in Poland [17]

I was in Poland for XMAS this year with my in-laws.

It was enjoyable and I saw a lot of traditions that no longer exist in my home country, such as wren boys

Travel / Traveling to Poland: Tips for First-Timers [47]

I couldn't find anybody that spoke English in Poland (even in Warsaw), but thats part of what I love about it - it hasn't been spoilt by American bull.

Most of western Europe, particularily Ireland and the UK are very badly americanized, sometimes like the 51st and 52nd states.

Until you go to Rome or Warsaw, you wouldn't realise there is a different way of doing things.

Travel / Krakow/Zakopane vs Gdansk - where to spend my time? [27]

Zakopane is good for 4days, I wouldn't go for longer unless you are an expert skiier as you would be bored.

Some of the resteraunts are great and very cheap, Polish food as you probably know is delicious.

Train from Warsaw to Zakopane passes through Krakow, its about 9hours long but you can sleep in the carraige, relatively cheap also

Travel / Rail travel in Poland [5]

Buy 'em before you go, the train station in Warsaw is a nightmare to follow if your a foreigner. It looks like stocks and shares system.

I only figured out they system the last time I was there, with a lot of help from my partner.

The toilets in Warsaw train station are hillarious also, you have to pay 1zloty and they are filthy and cramped.

Life / Having a Baby in Poland [28]

Don't let looks deceive you.

The Polish hospitals LOOK dirty and old fashioned, but in reality they are quite clean and many of the doctors are excellent.

UK, Ireland / No more double taxation for Poles working in the UK [6]

Merged: Double Taxation Rules regarding Polish working in Ireland

Hi,

This is specificially relevant to Polish people employed in Ireland.

I noticed on 1 or 2 threads on this site that people believe the double taxation rule between Ireland & Poland has expired.

I would like to state that this is incorrect.

If you are unsure, please view the following links:

citizensinformation.ie/index/LANGUAGE/pl

revenue.ie/index.htm?/services/tax_info/taxes12.htm

revenue.ie/index.htm?/services/tax_info/taxes12.htm

citizensinformation.ie/index/LANGUAGE/pl

Work / Average Polish Income is 2700zl per month [65]

The average wage among polish immigrants in Ireland is 1500zl per week or 6000zl per month.

For polish people in the construction industry, the minimum wage is 500zl per day.

Real Estate / New Polish Property Tax January 2007 [8]

So it seems to be a 'slap on the wrist' for people thinking of investing in property instead of long term ownership.

Its stupid. It will stifle growth and keep Poland in the Dark Ages, although the government will recoup a lot of tax in the short term.

Countries like Poland should be reducing taxes to allow investment, instead they are effectively discouraging it.

Work / Average Polish Income is 2700zl per month [65]

Thats true.

My partner who is Polish is self employed and makes about 1.5 times what I make per month, but she couldn't even get a job in a pizza shop in Poland.

She has said she is never going back (well unless we move there for a short while after we get married)

Life / Polish Driving Licence. [314]


Would that be a legit license ?

Life / Polish Driving Licence. [314]

Is there some driving instructor I could bribe to give me a polish driving license?
It will be used in Ireland only.

I could supply dates of recent times I have been in Poland if necessary

The waiting time for an exam in Ireland is now between 10months to a year, and I missed my last test so I have been waiting over 1.5 years now to sit a test.

Life / Polish Driving Licence. [314]

:)
Looks like I'm too late, thats a pity. hmmm, maybe I should check out LithuanianForums.com

UK, Ireland / A blog of a Polish man in Ireland [5]

Surprised to see how clued up he was about everything, even speaking cupla focal as gaeilge, ana mhaith ar fad!

UK, Ireland / Poland saves Irish way of life on island! [16]

LMAO, to apply this logic, then the world is either English or chinese.
And there are no Polish, only Russian.

Surprised to see a welshman ignorantly saying "the celtic countries of the UK". Last time I checked, there was an uprising in 1916 and a free state since 1921, republic since 1923.

The british love to act like they still have an empire, lol.

Babylon, if the English are not germanic, then please explain to me who is. The english royalty are German in origin, go have a free history lesson over at wikipedia.

As regards the English language, why not check out French, half the English language is derived from French (given the French influence over England since 1066)

Also, ever noticed the similarities between Russian and Polish (I sure have, by learning Polish, I've learned well over half the Russian language)

'In my experience the whole Celtic/Anglo divide is very confusing for most Poles, they were brought up thinking we are all English'
You must have been drinking hemlock or something mate.
In my experience, Polish peope are not only among the best educated people in Europe, they are fully aware of the political divide, and also extremely sensitive to it.

Poland has similar issues with GDANSK (free city of danzig) or LWOW, KIEV, and a whole lot more to boot.

Last but not least, I'm always a little surprised that people find it such a big deal that Irish people speak English. I'm proud and extremely grateful that English is my first language, it means that I can go get a job in nearly any country in the world faster than a non-native speaker.

Polish people would not suffer the trials and tribulations they have to suffer today if they spoke English as a first language.
I can communicate with "somebody" in any country I travel in the world.
I speak the language of business, the lingua franca.
I also speak and like Irish, but its a non-essential language.
I love to learn and speak Polish, but I know apart from speaking to my inlaws and some of my friends,its just a hobby.

I don't remember French and German very well but I enjoyed speaking those also, but again they're non essential.

UK, Ireland / Integration with our new Polish neighbours in Ireland [12]


Only in the north, I don't know any religious people in the republic younger than 60

Polonia / Germans: Do Poles like them or dislike them? [217]

Nationalisim is a stupid concept. You cannot classify people by the country they live in.
The offspring of Nationalisim is Racisim.

News / Poland over the next 10 years? [79]

IMO, Poland has a very bright future. Countries such as Slovakia and the Czech Republic are currently ahead of Poland finanically and they have a stronger manufacturing base, but this is certain to change.

My home county in Ireland has recently lost a lot of manufacturing jobs to Poland.

Its estimated that the Polish people are sending in the region of E2-4 Billion Euro back to Poland every year from Ireland alone.

Regarding natural resources, Poland is rich in coal.
Agricultural land is some of the best in Europe, very flat, good drainage and miles of it.
Above all, Polish has a well educated population who are now begining to speak English on a wider scale.
When the current imigrant workers return to Poland in the future, there will be a highly experienced richer workforce who speak English, with the capactiy to invest in property and will attract some large companies to Poland.

Much of the land is underdevlopeld. Property is still relatively cheap. Wages are very low, cost of living is high but low relative to Western Europe.

Infrastructure is rapidly being developed throughout Poland at the moment and there is already a good foundation in Public transport from the communist era.

Poland will be experiencing in the next 10years what Ireland experienced over the last 10 years, with the difference

The only big problems I see at the moment are
[1] the current government , who are stifiling growth and their overbearing links to the Catholic Church. They are also making investment more difficult.
Some of the laws they currently have in place violate EU rules and will need to be changed. I look forward to this government being ousted.

[2] The still relative lack of people who speak fluent English - this is already changing.

(P.S 1 thing I've noticed from this site is that the Polish people still at home believe that migrant Polish workers are all cleaning toilets. Couldn't be more wrong. You should see how many Polish accountants or IT workers we have over here, not to mention construction workers.)

Life / Thinking of Moving to Warsaw...can you help, give advice? [9]

Hey DunneStores, what prompted the move if you don't mind me asking?

what you do miss/regret about home (and don't say taytos!)

I would like to move over in the future, too early yet as I've my career to think about

Language / Polish Case System [32]

thats exactly the kind of thing I was looking for,

fantastic, dziekuje bardzo

Love / Foreigners in relationships with Poles - do your in-laws accept you? [66]

Well, I'm the opposite.

They make me feel like 100% part of the family. I have better acceptance than any of my partner's previous partners had including her ex husband. All of her previous partners were polish. All of them cheated on her.

In case you didn't know, Polish men have a terrible reputation for drinking & cheating.
Irishmen just have a terrible reputation for drinking:)

Jokes aside though, I can't say I ever had a problem with any elderly polish people. They are extremely well mannered and highly cultured in my experience. The only poles I've had a problem with have been aged 30-45 (around 15-20 during the breakup of the USSR I suppose), involved in crime and I would guess they didn't have much 'choice' in leaving Poland and coming to Ireland.

Her family always make me feel very welcome and often make me feel like I'm a big success. Also, they are thrilled that I make such hard effort to learn Polish, but above all I suppose they are just glad that their daughter has someone who loves her and looks after her, no matter what country shes in.

Life / Internet access in Lodz [18]

Haven't been to Lodz so I can't comment, but nobody ever said to me that it was the best city.

I was told its a 'closed city'.
Unless your well connected, your business will not survive in the city, if you even get one started. Lots of corruption, backhanders, brown envelopes, and mafia.

Only repeating what I was told but nobody ever said this about any other city in Poland.

Life / Non-verbal communication of Polish people? [10]


Wro, this must be common only in wroclaw because this is a very popular custom in ireland, often also accompanied by people raising their eyebrows at you..... yet I've explained it to Polish people from all areas of Poland from Zakopane to Gdansk.

People get used to it, but at first they misunderstand and think they have been snubbed.

UK, Ireland / The un-acceptable side of new entrant countries coming to the UK [56]

That article was such trash that I don't think i'll bother to buy the ST anymore.

It claimed all the Poles were going home, then throughout the article provided evidence to prove that the poles were NOT going home. This was the root of their problems. Completely self contradictory.

It was poorly written, based on rare exceptions rather than common occurances, and even had such trashy quotes as 'If the Germans and the Italians are allowed in here after what they did during the war, then why shouldn't the Poles who fought and died for us be?'

That last comment sounds like the argument an 11 year old boy would conjure up.

Probably the most blatantly obvious thing was that the article had nothing to say.
How are the homeless polish any different from the homeless english, pakistani, indian, east african, irish or any other?

It made no mention of the poles involved in crime, car theft, drugs and money laundering.
It made no mention of the polish on polish crime such as job selling, protection etc.

It tried to establish a class barrier between post-war poles and new arrivals.

I can't go on, i feel sick

Travel / Anyone been to Zakopane? [36]

Unless your a skiing fanatic, its good for a few days, anything more and you get quite bored.

I was there for 6 days and tbh, 3 was enough for me.
Only for the fact that I was with my family, I would have left.

Language / I told my friends that I was polish and i speak polish but i'm not [24]

strange request, why not pretend to be from a different english speaking country,

Life / CAN NON-POLISH UNDERSTAND POLAND? [17]

Daffy,

I think maybe she must mean WITHIN Poland, otherwise its a bizzare comment and Poland is not that important a country to warrant the effort it would require.

My partner sometimes says things similar to this, because in a lot of ways Poland is still a very backward country and the vatican/catholic church have such a strong influence on media and public affairs. (Poland is like a replica of ireland except 20 years in the past)

Sometimes there can be bizzare loopholes in the stores that are reported in the press.
The BBC usually report the big events wheter the Polish government like it or not, but obviously they are not going to report the small events because Poland is not that important on a world stage compared to the US/China etc. (again similar to Ireland)

Take for example the recent scandal with kaczinski.
It was reported all over the Irish and English media that kaczinski had said:
A) Homosexuals are a threat to the existence of the human race
B) Polish people who work in Ireland or the UK are 'Feckless' or 'Born Losers'

My girlfriend took personal offence to his second comment (as the majority of the Poles over here did) so she went looking through the Polish Media to see what people were saying.

Guess what???
In the Polish media they said everything went smoothly, everyone was impressed, LOL.

They never mentioned anything about all the Irish ministers who were saying he was uncivilised and backward and damaging the good reputation the polish people had established in Ireland.

rte.ie/news/2007/0220/gay.html
drakkart.com/eire2/category/polish-comm/
dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=4 15147&in_page_id=1770