Life / The strangest things in Poland [468]

Doors that don't close behind you. And open *inward*. Can't tell you how many times I've walked into a shop and left the door open behind me because they don't seem to know what an automatic door-closer is.

That raspberry juice so many Poles get a squirt of in their beer. Ugh!

Carp in a bathtub. 'nuff said.

Washing machines with no hot water hookup.

No screens (skeeters, I think they call 'em here) in the windows.

Shops where you have to tell someone behind the counter what you want. Everywhere.

No 24 hour convenience stores.

Roads made of patio bricks (paving stones). Hell, the entire (large) M1 shopping mall in Warsaw is paved that way. Then again, seeing the quality of the asphalt (tarmac) on the roads (too much tar, not enough stone) I can see why.

Rental cars with manual transmissions (although that's actually cool, impossible to find in the States).

Paying your bills at the post office.

Everyone seems to have a uniform *except* the postman.

It is impossible to buy a simple two-by-four (dunno if the Brits would know that one). Stud and drywall construction is nearly unknown.

People living in half-finished houses.

Cereal only in bags, never in a box.

The thinness of the aluminum foil.

An entire supermarket aisle dedicated to ketchup (catsup, whatever).

Hearing English names for goods or companies, spoken by a Pole who doesn't speak English, and who puts the emphasis on an 'odd' syllable. Most noticeable on things with 4 syllables. PENtium versus penTIum. MARLboro versus marlBORo. MIcrosoft versus 'meeKROsoft'. The Microsoft one always makes me grin, sounds like "me grow soft" to my angielski ears.

Fences everywhere.

The near absence of, or extreme prices for stainless steel kitchen utensils.

Air conditioning in a house is unknown. Freezers and ovens seem optional in kitchens, as do ?washing machines?.

Maluchs(Maluchy?), those little Fiats.

Parking on the sidewalk.

Buying milk at room temperature, that doesn't expire for 3 months.

Paying 22% tax on YEAST (drozde), for crying out loud.

A KFC in a building whose window headers have comminust labor propaganda sculpting on them.

Stop lights that seem more suited to a drag strip than public roads.

No "brewed" coffee in the coffee shops.

It's preferable to dig around your pockets and spend a minute and a half giving the cashier exact change, instead of them making change for you to speed the line along.

Bribing your doctor.

The fact that it starts to get light out at 4:00 AM in the summer. Then again, Stockholm is worse that way. Then again, you're never walking out of a bar at 4:00 AM in Stockholm, either.

The black market in Reeses' peanut butter cups.

Food / Help with baking ingrediants. [18]

Oh cool, another baker in Poland :-)

You can't get real vanilla extract in Poland like you can in the States. However, you *can* make your own easily enough. Just buy a very small bottle of rum or vodka and some whole vanilla beans. Cut the beans the long way into quarters to expose the insides and put them in the bottle of alcohol. Be sure you get all the little black vanilla seeds in there too! Approximately 1 bean per 75ml of alcohol. Recap the bottle and let sit for a week or two, *or* cheat a bit and put the bottle into some boiling water to heat it up for an hour. I used an old soy sauce bottle for mine, and really packed it with beans, which lets me replace the extract I use with fresh rum to make even more extract (although I think it's time for new beans).

If the cream of tartar is for whipping up egg whites, just use 4 or 5 drops of regular white vinegar to get the same fluffiness as you'd get using cream of tartar. You *might* be able to find cream of tartar at a Kuchnia Swiata store on occasion, but it's a longshot. Just have someone send you a care package from the States. In Polish, cream of tartar would be Winny kamień (kwaśny winian potasu or *possibly* tartarus also). But you won't find it, as it's generally regarded as a 'commercial' food additive. Get to know your local bakery owner well enough though, and you may be able to get a bit from them.

Travel / How do i stay in poland longer than 90 days if im already in poland [37]

jkn and Valmoe, please post any info on the process you can. I found the same as you, that clear and concise information about moving to Poland from the US (or any non EU or UK country for that matter) is hard to find.

As far as I can tell, in order to work in Poland, it goes something like this:

-Potential employer applies for and obtains a 'promissory decision' (authorized work promise) from the local Govt.
-Potential employee takes that work promise *back* to their home country, and applies for a 'work visa' (work promise is needed as part of application).

-Potential employee then brings work visa back to Poland and then he and the employer apply for a 'work permit'.

I'm really interested in hearing from anyone who has recently gone through, or is currently going through that process. I'm especially interested in how long it took, unexpected complications, timing and all the gritty details they *don't* tell you on the official websites.