Life / Polish Christmas Movies [9]

Hahaha that's so a part of lives of Poles during Christmas. It cracks me up, I remember every damn Christmas "Home alone".. a classic I think it's more of a Polish movie now because of that. Polish tv couldn't afford anything beside that stuff ehh..

Language / Need affectionate terms for Ania.. [23]

My girlfriend's name's Ania, she likes when I call her the mentioned "Aniołek"/"Ania" she doesn't like "Anka" and "Anna"... and she doesn't like Anula, Aniula, Anusia and others, she thinks they sound peasantlike ; )

UK, Ireland / Its strange that there arent many Poles who live in the UK on this Forum [102]



Just to straighten it up, enkidu didn't speak for all of us Poles in here ;) I'm participating in the forums because I like the language and there's not much place to train writing/reading skills in this manner anywhere else. I can always catch some new words and I'm always curious about what foreigners think about Poland.

UK, Ireland / Its strange that there arent many Poles who live in the UK on this Forum [102]


I wouldn't be so sure poop, from the threads I've read on other forums (for instance emito) most were about recent events in their home cities, upcomming events, and casual chat about these cities - many of them indicated that some of them are interested in the country and culture. It is much more complicated then you put it, lots of different people with different outlooks. The only thread I've read about what do you hate in UK was if I remember correctly in here. And there's a big number of pole hating threads in here too.

And you know why there are not so many UK hating threads on other polish forums? Because they speak polish there, so there's no one to attack or nobody to retaliate and have a quarrel. If this forums were only for brits they would have got bored after the first week of Pole bashing without no goal to achieve with their driveling.

UK, Ireland / Its strange that there arent many Poles who live in the UK on this Forum [102]

I just skimmed through few google queries and looking just at first page listings there was around 30 different polish forums about Poles living abroad there's probably much more of them. I used just one of them earlier emito. Pretty big forum focused mainly on people living in uk/ireland.

When people stay at their homes sobbing their sorry assess on polish forums here over somebody fooling them over cutting a pile of wood they don't have time for doing interesting stuff outside.

Life / Polish Messengers/Communicators [5]

Tlen uses besides its own also a gg protocol and gg network. Has got a better encryption message plus locally stored passwords.

Food / Traditional Candy/Food to give for Xmas to a Polish/Ukrainian native [4]

hmm I'd say krówki, Prince Polo, torcik wedlowski, ptasie mleczko - all these sweets still function but not in the same form they did in the 80's, flavour have also changed and companies that sell them. During the time of communism there wasn't much choice like there is now so I don't think that food from the old days can match what you can find on shelves nowadays. Maybe the flavour of childhood can measure up to to new brands..

Let me know if you need more guidance..

Life / Warsaw restaurant for Wigilia [14]


About this one I actually heard from my mate who was there on 24th a few years ago ( I think 2). Sorry for misleading if it is closed.


Yeah, you get a McWafer and a beetroot soup with 2 extra refills in a 2L coke cup.


mhm, they probably can't update it immediately after they get the number of free tables or the info about the restaurant being closed. If not then indeed it sounds dodgy. But it is possible that many restaurants are already full.

Life / Share your Polish Christmas experiences. [20]

In my house it goes like that:

After all the food has been prepared, some a day earlier some a few, on 24th around 17:00 all the family that lives close by arrives, we all get a christmas wafer and we exchange it around while wishing each other various things, good health, good year and so on. After it we seat down and eat the christmas dinner. Following the christmas dinner is the carol singing with piano or guitar accompaniment. Because I've never been too fond of training carols playing on piano or guitar it usually ends up in a little bit of mess and cacophony. While we are singing somebody sneaks to the christmas tree room and distributes all the goodies and presents under it than he ring the doorbell and sneaks back. Everyone go to check what happaned and check ( in their amazement ) that presents appeared - we keep on doing this little play even though my sis is already 18 not mentioning me. I'll probably do the same thing with my kids, I remember it was always a magic moment for me when I was a kid :)

Life / Warsaw restaurant for Wigilia [14]

I have no idea which of them might be good but following most probably will be offering a Wigilia feast ;) :

Sheraton hotel's restaurant,
Sobieski hotel's restaurant,
Bristol hotel's "Malinowa" restaurant,
Europejski hotel's restaurant,
Restauracja Browarmia,
just a quick google scan, I'd say most restaurants will hold some kind of an event on 24th but you'd need to reserve a table much earlier.

Check this site: erestauracja.pl/erestauracja/index.php?p=1

You can switch to english and make a search for restaurants in Warsaw opened on 24th. All opened ones will have a green token next to them on the list.

Good luck.

Love / Are expensive gifts offensive to polish guys? [30]

I think that giving an expensive gift could hint that you want something in return, or it could hint that when he will be giving you a present he'll have to buy something equally expensive - and if he can't afford it - it might be kind of offensive. I'd refuse taking a present from a girl that I'm not in some sort of relationship in and can't efford giving her a similar one, I'd also do the same if I knew that the girl isn't particularly rich. Even if he looks like he is in need of the object for instance moving to a new house and has lack of certain house wares it could be embarassing to get anything if it was really pricey.. ( if you guys are not long term friends )

Food / Pierogi (polish Dumpling) Lovers Here???? [76]


No worries, Ive been just wondering what's wrong, good luck with your cooking!

Food / Pierogi (polish Dumpling) Lovers Here???? [76]

"uszka" - "little ears" it's from polish "ucho" ( ear ) "uszko" ( little ear ), it can be used in normal talk like "look at this toddler's uszka, so cute". Because they reassamble an ear that's how they had been called. It's not a slang just a name like ravioli or pizza :) You usually called a foreign meal by it's original name don't you? You don't translate Ravioli or Pizza and when you google it you look for the original name ( most of the times ).

I also wonder why did you say "uzka" come on, I just said it at least few times in this thread properly that is "uszka" not "uzka" :O Copy and paste mate if you have such a short term memory :P

Food / Pierogi (polish Dumpling) Lovers Here???? [76]

I googled "recipe for polish uszka" and got few recipes try yourself :p

This looks sensible.

easteuropeanfood.about.com/od/uszka/r/uszka1.htm

I think they haven't mentioned that you should boil them in a water with few pinches of salt added. Altough for safety you can always put a salt cellar on the table so every person can have as much salt as he likes (that's what we do in here)

I'm just gonna add another step for getting them fried:

You DEEP fry them all in oil until they'll get a golden colour. (instead of cooking in a boiling water)

There's another recipe here: inmamaskitchen.com/RECIPES/RECIPES/horsdouevres/uszka_dummplings.html

Food / Pierogi (polish Dumpling) Lovers Here???? [76]

I think they are a little bigger than ravioli on the other hand I only had experience with ravioli we have in our supermarkets here.


Only proper ones are with mushrooms !! :) Just joking but in my home we only eat "little ears" during Christmas and only with mushrooms. I also advice to try them fried, they are much better fried..

Life / Polish books that have English translation [7]

Yeah and it's good to read them before reading Blood of Elves...
I'm really curious how did you like his books? Any interesting comments : > ?

Life / Polish books that have English translation [7]

Some books of Andrzej Sapkowski have English translations, being more precise there are 3 books with short stories, they are a prolog to the 5 book saga, these stories are called (after wikipedia) The Last Wish, A Sword of Destiny and The Time of Contempt.

As for the saga only the first tome was translated until now : "Blood of the Elves".

I can recommend Sapkowski's books, he's world is not as black and white as it is in Tolkien and many other writers and there's much more politics and scheming (not in these 3 first novels though). A great read.

Life / Consider going back to Poland? [90]


I'm not that angry, but indeed it is frustrating. It's partially my fault If I had planned everything much much earlier I would have chosen a crew recommended by somebody I know. And they are hurting themselves because nobody gonna recommend them if they are gonna slack off and make the employer loose money. Yeach it is like that everywhere if it wasn't there would be so many jokes about these repairing and renovating teams.


It's really a matter of luck and stubbornness to look for something better after you stumble upon a job with bad vibes. There are places where they'll tell you we are a family, you know everyone by name and after work you go to a pub. And there are some over formal ones when you don't talk to anyone you have your own personal space, you tick for 8 hours and go home without saying a word...

Life / Consider going back to Poland? [90]

I can only speak for teamwork in IT, and from my knowledge it's pretty good, in student projects at my uni and at my work I had a pretty good atmosphere around, good management. For some reason all the geeks at work have always really good sense of humour so if there's a moment of not working we you usually joke at ourselves. And if there's work there's no oppresion, people are helpful. I know it's not like that in every company I heard about lots of scary stories about companies that are being called "biedronka for programmers" ;)

On the other hand I'm just renovating a flat in a block of flats before moving there in few months and the "team of builders" that we hired is working on my nerves most of the time - they do such stupid things I would have never suspect anyone to do. For instance they have made wholes for wires for lamps that will be on each side of the mirror in the bathroom one 30 cm lower than the other, now how stupid can somebody be to not notice that usually lamps are parallel on the wall. They didn't even bother to ask. It's good we have noticed that before lying the tiles.. many more such situations and they are slow as hell.

Life / Consider going back to Poland? [90]


Oh, I didn't get it outright. Anyways, sorry if I sounded rude. I know what you mean with students, at least I think I do - people here sometimes are all cheerful, good hearted until "the man" grinds them into the other shape - a vicious circle, sort of. I never like the very man for himself way of living and working.

Travel / Visiting Krakow in December, what do you think? [24]

Yesterday they said it's gonna be -20 celsius degrees in the night in few days. It's still a lot of time until Christmas so a lot might change.. you should wait until few days before going and check the forecasts. If it's gonna be under -10 it's good to have some tights ready to put under trousers. What customs are asking about precisely? Visting a polish household ? Christmas eve? Or just sauntering and commuting through Krakow?

Life / Consider going back to Poland? [90]


Ain't you taking it a little bit over the top? The country is growing, slowly but surely in some places, and pretty fast in others. I rarely see you generalizing at all. Had a bad day eh?

Food / Pierogi (polish Dumpling) Lovers Here???? [76]


Yup, in Polish they are called "Uszka" which means "little ears".
Here's an example:



There's here are the boiled kind, I prefer the fried kind more. I said which means pierogi earlier stupid me, what's in my head ehh

Feedback / How about adding country flag to the user profile ? [34]

I don't like the idea, and I think neither will admin, it's same thing as it was with gender signs.. what will you try to add next, skin colour? On the other hand many people labeled me as "not polish" because I'm pretty neutral in most of the "anti-polish" threads. Some people can't get through the idea that someone from their own country can have unbiased, neutral outlook

Life / Do Poles Lack in Social Skills and Etiquette? [74]

Always guard your place in the queue, ALWAYS Seanus, always... it's the law of the jungle out there, in these supermarkets, dog eat dog.

Travel / What To Do In Gliwice Poland [37]

There's also an Ice rink near Politechnika, pretty close to Sośnica too, nice place to spend some time. Have to go there sometime, talk my girlfriend into some skating first..

Travel / What To Do In Gliwice Poland [37]


Why are you advertising this jailbait crawling place? Full of power pumped dresiarze, lovely place for foreign visitors indeed.


There's a nice "salsoteka" every week in PRL.. pretty neat place.

I don't think somebody who's afraid to put his foot outside the door in Sośnica would go as far as Tarnowskie Góry or Katowice ;) I'm not saying I wouldn't be scared living in such a nook as Sośnica... beside that I think our friend mikeyst25 ain't in Poland anymore.

UK, Ireland / Poland vs. UK - how the manners differ [48]


It's usually the other way around. I've seen it many times, girls trying to keep up and falling badly. Girls in here are too proud not to take the challenge, which is pretty strange taking into consideration that always, anywhere, outdrinking effords are childish and stupid.

Life / Do Poles Lack in Social Skills and Etiquette? [74]


Although I probably can't take side in this discussion I have to agree, looking at myself I have as many pet hates as there are stars in the sky ; )

UK, Ireland / Poland vs. UK - how the manners differ [48]

I noticed that in Poland, it changes with age, "lyceum" girl students tend to drink a lot of beer, and when they "grow up" they slowly switch to cocktails. Same thing happens to some lads, but even then they fancy a beer from time to time. On the other hand I never noticed girls burping - maybe gymnasium girls.