Life / Are there Bank Cheques and checkbooks in Poland? Do people use cheques? [8]


I should clarify that the cheques was received from a company in ireland and not poland. I have never seen a cheque being used to transact in poland, either on a small or large scale. A lot of large scale transactions are by money transfer between bank accounts. This is actually one area that poland are miles ahead on i.e. no cheques in the payments system unlike ireland and UK which still have a large (though decreasing) reliance on the cheque book.

Life / Are there Bank Cheques and checkbooks in Poland? Do people use cheques? [8]

Not sure if this is any help..but last year i received a cheque for some work done from an irish company. I went into the bank to lodge it and it had to be sent for collection i.e. the cheque is sent by post to the bank that it is drawn on and the bank sends on cleared funds. The process took about 7 weeks. Somewhat painful. Best if you have a bank account to transfer the money into. By the way there was a charge for sending the cheques for collection.

Real Estate / How to get out of a Preliminary Purchase Contract? [8]


Just following on from this suggestion, can you check to see if there are still apartments available in the development that you bought. And if Yes, can you see what prices they are now going for? There has definately been a decrease in prices since your initial purchase, and while the level of decrease may differ from city to city, I dont think it would be extreme to think that prices have gone down by at lease 5 % in Katowice. Try and check with some estate agents to see what has happened. Maybe then you can go back to the developer and re-negoatiate i.e. get out of paying the final 5%. Of course, this is totally dependent on your desire to keep the apartment in the first place.

If you are looking for the return on your investment, it will be an uphill struggle. There has been such a change in the property market over the past 2 years, that developers will be very unwilling to give back money especially if they have a lot of unsold stock on their hands.

Best of luck with whatever you decide.

Regards,
vincent

Life / Receiving a order from Amazon.com in Poland [11]

I think that once it comes from the EU i.e. amazon.co.uk, you dont have to pay anything extra (so far i have not had to pay anything but that has only been for books).

Life / UK expat recently moved to Warsaw - lots of ongoing questions :) [27]

I know M & S sell Quniea (Not sure if is spelt that right). I think that is a vegitarian protien supplement. It is in there food section(where else would it be, you might ask). There is one in the Zlote Zarasy i.e. Golden centre, shopping centre. I was able to buy it in the M & S in Poznan so i would think they would also have it in the warsaw store.

Life / When on a Polish street you can see... [19]


hairdresser/beauty salon added in here as well

Life / Has your move to Poland been successful??? [15]

i moved here over 3 years ago and have never regretted it. When i first intended to move over, i did not have a job. Luckily, i have been working on and off remotely for my old company back in ireland so that has kept me going financially. Would i feel different if i had to go looking for a job here, i am not sure.

There has been many challenges, between work/business, and for a lot of last year, i had some very nice challenges on the medical side.... However, if you face these with a positive way, i do think it makes you a stronger person.

I still dont know how much longer I will be here, but i do think my stay here will be a very valuable part of my life.

Vincent

Life / Buying a laptop in Poland with English O/S [11]

I bought a HP PC some time ago in poland and I had the option to select Polish or English at the initial configuration of the PC. I was told that if i selected the wrong one, i would have to reformat and start again.(Not sure how true that is).

Point is...you can get come PCs with English OS...just ask in the shops.

It might be an idea to wait a few weeks and get the new version of Windows...think it is release the end of this month/start of next month.

Regards,

Vincent

Study / Schools to learn Polish in Warsaw [29]

Irishinpoland...words of wishdom about carrying around a pocket book. I have finally picked up my teach yourself books again...and was listening to a few conversations from 'Polish in 4 weeks' CD this morning on my way to work on the tram.

ONe of the most important things is, to actually listen. I tended to switch off when a conversation in polish is going on. But now i am trying to listen in to converstaion even to get a few words. With time, i hope it will get better.....

Study / Dormitories for students in Poznan [5]

HAVe you checked directly with the university? I would assume dormitories are managed by the respective universities.

Study / Schools to learn Polish in Warsaw [29]

No. Any good?

Not sure if you saw it but there is a link on their 'Links' page to an article in a magazine. It does read well, taking into consideration that they are promoting themselves. Might look them up at some stage. Would definitely be interested in sitting down with someone for that amount of time on certain subjects...Need to try and get back into it.

vincent

Study / Schools to learn Polish in Warsaw [29]

I did 2 courses (A0 and A1) in IKO, and i found them good. totally agree with Irishinpoland about the photcopies..but that is just a minor point. I would have continued on there, but i live in poznan so it was not practical.

In relation to grammar books, i would recommend 'Polish in 4 weeks'. Ignore the claim of the title....it wont happen. But it is a very good grammar book and explains it very simply. They essentially have 28 chapters hitting bits of grammar in each chapter along with a conversation. They have the polsih converstaion and also the english transalation. Very user friendly.

Just read the rest of mail from Irishinpoland and totally agree with Irishinpoland advice on learning polish(i just have to adopt it...). Starting off is the hardest bit but doing the course in IKO got me over the hump/fear at looking at the huge task of learning polish. After the course, i was surprised that, even though you dont know that many words, how much you can then pick up when listeneing to people talk.

Life / Allergies in Poland [7]

Hi BLS, I developed a bit of an allergy since moving to Poland. Nothing serious, but it does involve a bit of sneezing, running nose etc. it normally happens when it is sunny, which leads me to assume it has something to do with the pollen levels. I never suffered from it before, but then again, i am from ireland, and we never had the sun that much. Not sure where you are from, but the differneces in climat might affect it.

Life / Pre Paid Visa cards [27]

I got a prepaid Visa Card from BZWBK some time back. I dont know if they still do them but i think they do.

Law / iTunes in Poland [11]

There are also 'ispot' shops opening up all over the place.

Travel / Polish Zoos and their animals [27]


Yeah. I think he is there.

Law / iTunes in Poland [11]

I live in poznan but have an irish credit card so i can download from iturnes in ireland. dont have any problem accessing it from here. Not a MAC user.

By the way, why wont they sell to the polish market?

Travel / Polish Zoos and their animals [27]

I have never been to it, even though it is very near, but i hear that the Poznan new zoo is suppose to be very nice and modern. That is whre they ahve the famous elephant.

Work / Do I Need To Speak Polish To Get Around for 5 Weeks in Krakow [23]

Krakow is probably the most touristy place in poland so they cater well for the english speaker. You will be fine. I have live in poland for 3 years and still cant speak polish..and i have made it from the airport and have not starved.

Life / Expensive brand retail outlets in Poland - how do they survive? [19]


Yeah. I was down in wroclaw once with a friend. A friend of hers joined us after buying 3 pairs of shoes which came to a total of about 1200 EUR (about 5000 pln...) so there does seem to be people out there that can do the big purchases and as pointed out, the margin is probably very nice.

(As an aside....The woman who bought the shoes, then proceeded to tell us how she could not afford to bring her children away on holidays...but that is a totally different subject...)

Life / Expensive brand retail outlets in Poland - how do they survive? [19]

The leather goods shops always has me wondering how they survive. A new shopping centre has opened near me in poznan and there are about 3 of those shops....is there really that much of a demand for leather goos and suitcases!!??

Yeah, can well understand the biatch fest..!!

Life / Expensive brand retail outlets in Poland - how do they survive? [19]

This subject has always amazed me as well from the very first time i came to poland 2 years ago. In poznan, its the same, expecially in Browar shopping centre. Most of the shops in there cater for the upper end of the market and as you say, they are always empty. I know there is a monied class in poland but it does not strike me as being sufficiently large enough to keep all the shops going.

Of course, there is a cynical side to me that thinks a lot of them are used for cash laundering but that is based on no material facts whatsoever.

Life / Are there any expat Neighbourhoods in Poznan? [16]

I think there are about 3 irish bars in poznan. Clientele seems to be more on the Student side. (Nothing against students). Not really like the Guinees bar in wroclaw where you would get a lot of EXPats.

Life / Are there any expat Neighbourhoods in Poznan? [16]

Hi Alena...Check out the Event forum. A group of expats are meeting up next friday for a drink. You are more than welcome.
vincent

Real Estate / How Much for an apartment to buy in poland? [10]

sorry, I just realised i never included the web address. ober-haus.com. They have an english version.

Work / English pre-schools in Warsaw Poland? [10]

I live in poznan but do be up that direction a bit. I will see if i can dig out some info or some contacts.

vincent

Work / English pre-schools in Warsaw Poland? [10]

Hi Kizo, i am no expert on this, but i have seen advertisements for pre-shools which seem to be done in english so maybe that might be something that she could look into. It probably depends on where you are going i.e. what city. I expect warsw would have more opportunities in this area.

vincent

Work / Advice for Job hunting in Poznan [7]

Hi Valio. Welcome to Poznan. Not exactly work related but there are a few of us getting together Friday week 18th for a few drinks. it is a group of Expats with a few polish. check out the EVENTS forum fo details.

Regards,
Vncent

Real Estate / How Much for an apartment to buy in poland? [10]

Hi NvMySi, Yes, i would be inclined to believe that you would not get an apartment for 32,000... this is one estate agents website which has properties in the area you are looking for. Have a look to compare prices.

Regards,
vincen