Life / School holidays in Poland - do 'half term hols' exist? [10]

It's evil :)
It's not a fixed 2 week period - last year my daughter was off in the middle of February, but this year the region was back 'at the beginning' again i.e. 2 weeks in the middle of January (just 7 days after the schools had gone back after the christmas break).

Life / School for 6 year olds an obligation in Poland soon? [19]

From what I understand, the idea is that attendance at *pre-school* will be required for 6 y/olds.

I think it's a good idea.
Notalotta learning happens in this class (from my memory), but at least it introduces the idea of "sit here and be quiet" :)

When my daughter entered K1 some of the children in her class were less than 6 months short of their 8th birthday and had never been in a school environment before. To say it was difficult to hold their attention would be an understatement ...

Study / AGH Studying (Computer Science) in Poland [20]

Why study in Poland?
And why a Bachelors? I ask that because in my experience in Poland everyone (but everyone) seems to have a Magister (which I understand to be 'masters' level). Very hung up on titles they are ... and that includes the name by which one calls oneself ...

Life / Angina, Polish resources needed [27]

which angina are we talking about?
it's the word for 'sore throat' here in Poland :) [yes, I lived through being told my 3 y/old had it ...]

Life / Good Garden Center in TriCity? [3]

I had pleasant customer service from that garden centre you can see from the Obwodnica between the IKEA and Osowa roundabouts. Have never bought anything there - just had questions about what would grow and what wouldn't. The lady was very helpful - even to the extent of ignoring her colleague who wondered out loud why she was giving me help when I obviously wasn't buying :)

There's a place past Weherowo on the way north ... for the life of me I can't remember the name now, but I know we always drive past it on the way to Debki ...

And memories of some place past Bojano, also on the way north.

i'm obviously a hot spot for vague information. ... apologies ... I haven't been buying in these places mostly because it would be like throwing an alcoholic into an off-licence

are you sheltered or wind-swept (we're the latter)

/addition

This is the first place I mentioned

kubscy.com.pl

You can see it between Osowa and the Selgros roundabout (on the Osowa side of the road)

If you want to buy lots of trees - consider the forestry place, again accessed from the Osowa roundabout. We bought stuff there about 3 years ago - some worked, some didn't (the spruce were ok, about 20% of the larch didn't have good root systems). They were useful for hedging sprigs.

c

Travel / Gdansk at Easter [15]

just to let you know we (Trojmiasto) had a good foot of snow this morning - more forecast for tomorrow and Friday. Total paralysis of the traffic flow of course ....

Life / Radio Gdansk contact info? [2]

This what you're looking for? It's on their home page - the Kontakt option does a pop up
(p.s. do you drive a people carrier and park on the edge of the pavement? Not stalking, just driving past ...)

Adres:
"Radio Gdańsk" S.A.
ul. Grunwaldzka 18
80-236 Gdańsk

Kontakt:
mail : biuro@radio.gdansk.pl
serwis@radio.gdansk.pl

centrala tel. : (058) 349-87-00
sekretariat tel. : (058) 341-04-19
sekretariat fax : (058) 341-81-88
red. informacji fax : (058) 341-12-17
red. publicyst. fax: (058) 349-87-44
red. w Chojnicach: (052) 396-04-45
red. w Słupsku: (059) 840-20-05

Zielony Telefon Radia Gdańsk
(dyżurny reporter):
mail : reporter@radio.gdansk.pl
tel. : /058/ 349-88-88

Reklama:
mail : reklama@radio.gdansk.pl
tel. : /058/ 34 987 23 do 27
fax. : /058/ 341 10 34

Food / No Curry in Tri-city area...damnit. [8]

and there was me with the idea i was missing something ... never having been to That Place. Have you tried the new one?
And tell me about the Wonderful Italian please...

Food / Help with baking ingrediants. [18]

lots of my recipes use it ... :)
but then again i'm struggling with a mixture of Irish, English and Canadian recipe books and it's a mystical world out there with milk vs buttermilk (not to mention stick vs oz, cup vs ml ... )

with regard to supplies of Cream of Tartar, Sodium Bicarb and Baking Powder I'm afraid I stock up on the white powders every time I go home (to the UK) and hope to goodness nothing bursts and spills as I go through baggage control.

Travel / Tips for travel with 1 year old needed [17]

Be prepared for screaming no matter what you do ... mine did. especially when it's time to put on the lapbelt and they don't want to ... There's not much you can do when they're that age - especially if they've got to the cranky stage. Appealing to their better nature can fall rather flat ...

toys .. .toys ... toys ... anything. every 5 minutes is a bonus ...

i'd put the carseat in hold luggage as it probably won't be any use on the plane (even if they let you take it on). Bassinets are only useful/provided while baby lies prone.

are you brining a pushchair? i've had horrible experiences trying to bring it to the plane steps - hoping to collect it immediately when disembarking (long story involving illness meant I couldn't carry my son). On a 3-stage flight it was lost relentlessly each time. I'd recommend a sling ... and wonder how these things all fit in with the current "very very few pieces of hand luggage" rules.

and you can't have enough wipes ...

and it's well-nigh impossible to change a baby in those toilets ... especially if there's anything evil in there. Plus, baby will remain dry *all through the flight* only to poop with rage once it's time to land :D

cluster with people who are also travelling with children - they;ve at least been there and understand the problems.

good luck

Travel / Taking a Camper (Motor-home) to Poland [16]

a couple of pieces of potentially useless information (from the north of the country)
- any campsites we've seen charge separately for everything carried/driven onto the site - x zloty extra per child, per adult, per dog ... be aware.

- were you planning on parking outsite of campsites? we tried this and found it difficult to find somewhere to stop (without the feeling we'd be moved on for illegal parking) - no convenient overnight stopping places like you might find in the UK (and no WalMarts for those familiar with their policy in the US :) ) And then there's always the matter of safety ...

- these people managed, mind ;)

landyonline.co.za/off_road/dipli/twd10.htm

/cj

USA, Canada / losing canadian citizenship at age 28 [7]

cic.gc.ca/english/citizenship/retain.asp

"Some citizens born outside Canada to a parent who was a Canadian at the time of their birth are required to make an application and meet certain requirements to keep (retain) Canadian citizenship before turning 28 years of age. This is called retention of Canadian citizenship.

"Retention applies to Canadians born outside Canada after February 14, 1977, to a Canadian parent who was also born outside Canada to a Canadian parent. The Citizenship Act says that this second generation born outside Canada will lose Canadian citizenship at age 28 unless steps are taken to retain it.

"No later than April 17, 2009 the law will change to end the need to retain citizenship for many people. However, people born outside Canada who are subject to the retention rules and who turn 28 before the new law comes into effect must still take action to retain citizenship."

USA, Canada / losing canadian citizenship at age 28 [7]

afaics it's relevant to people born outside of Canada in the 2nd generation ... or however that sentence goes. at that point you're either keeping in touch with the country (and what is needed to gain/retain citizenship) or you're not ..

Travel / No Polish villages on google earth [13]

what resolution are you expecting? i can get close enough to see our house but not the dog's kennel :D

Travel / No Polish villages on google earth [13]

as I said, i'm able to see more detail than that - in the north of Poland. I can zoom in to the penultimate level. In Gdansk itself the extra level is available.

In contrast with this, when I last zoomed home to NIreland it was very patchy indeed with many areas still like blotting paper after a boring lecture ...

Life / The strangest things in Poland [468]

>>>8) Peeople dress up to go to the store.

ah, they do that in Quebec city too ... a very strange experience for visiting vancouverites :D

Life / Polish products for sensitive skin, are they available in Poland? [17]

No sign of Aveeno here.
What suncreams do you use? My daughter needs Vichy and it's tricky to find.

Law / Do EU members need RESIDENCE CARD IN POLAND [29]

fyi
Last week I tried to use my karta pobytu in a bank in Gdansk - opening a new account type of transaction - and the bank wouldn't accept it. Passports only, said their rules...

Life / Polish products for sensitive skin, are they available in Poland? [17]

I mention suncream because there can be allergic reactions to the ingredients, especially in the brands which don't cost an arm and 2 legs. My daughter is allergic to a very widely-used compoment, and Vichy is on the short list of suncreams not containing it.

Vichy skin care products are indeed widely available, but the suncreams not necessarily so. I had choice of SPF in my local chain-style drugstore in Canada whereas here in Gdansk I really had to hunt for the single bottle I found last year.

At over 50zloty for the bottle I'm content that the rest of us don't need to share it ...

Law / Do EU members need RESIDENCE CARD IN POLAND [29]

Splendid ...

So does this mean that I should carry my passport at all times?

/hits head gently but repeatedly off desk/

Life / The Polish Flag Is White, with red tape! [32]

There's extra fun when you move house and go from one district to another - then you have to go back to the first office to 'de-register' one place of abode before driving off to the new gmina, clutching the little piece of yellowing (but stamped) paper that looks as if it was printed in 1973.

Because I'm living in my husband's house ;) I had to bring him along to provide the necessary permission for me to register - and of course he had to have the 15zillion pieces of paper forming an unbroken audit trail right back to his birth certificate.

It all feels like the traffic light issue* - so many little rules stacked one on top of the other that in the end they collapse under their own weight.

*the way it was explained to me ... the rules say you can't drive through a red light therefore they had to remove all the lights on the exit side of junctions ... just in case drivers were held up in the middle and then had no way to get out :D

Life / What and why would anyone need a PESEL Number? [6]

I think many countries have their own "magic number" - the problem for me is when lazy software designers use it to try to identify people uniquely in the programs they're writing - especially where there's a database involved. I know I overheard some analysts, a few years ago, confidently deciding "we'll use PESEL as the primary key - everyone has one".

Once that decision has been made, the end-user of the package has little choice ...

I had a spate of out-patient hospital visits about 5 years ago, and each time I went to register my visit I had to provide my "fake" PESEL so I could be entered into the computerised system. The ladies at the desk made it up for me on my first visit :) Thank heavens the programmers hadn't put in some silly detailed validation of how a PESEL should be formed because this one had a lot of zeroes. But it seemed to keep everyone happy ...

/cj

UK, Ireland / Polish homeless in the UK [42]

I understand the Barka Foundation help people back regularly ...

barka.org.pl/index_eng.htm

Language / How to learn Polish ASAP? (speaking is my priority) [22]

Reading Polish isn't so difficult actually - learn the rules for how the alphabet and a few letter combinations are pronounced and you'll be well on your way.

I've never had much luck learning Polish words out of context - stick them in a sentence and they change their endings and sound different. It often seems more useful to learn phrases - or several words stuck together in a useful and grammatically correct combination.

/c

Language / How to learn Polish ASAP? (speaking is my priority) [22]


and this is the beauty of Polish ... Learn the pronunciation rules and a great deal of what you vocalise will be pretty close*. It's not like English where you need to learn the pronunciation of word after word after ....

Unfortunately it's a bit of a two-edged sword - I can read stuff out loud that is passably-understandable to someone listening, but which I don't understand at all :D

*given the expected difficulties with some sounds - for me they represent a physical problem of delivery unrelated to my head knowledge of the sound.

Life / Cost of living in Gdansk [16]

1. What programming are you experienced in ?
2. 4.50 zloty/litre for petrol. diesel i've seen at 4,42 but our local filling station is still cheerfully hooking cars at 4,67
3. are you bringing your car here?
4. what about car insurance? car tax is in the fuel.
5. I'm not much help on food bills as I'm buying for 4 people but it's not as cheap here as you might imagine / hope. Oh, and forget buying in bulk to save a few zloty - things come in much smaller packages (often individually sized) so sometimes cost a ridiculous amount.

6. no idea about teaching salaries. will you be paying taxes? the equivalent of N.I. ?
7. are you any good at stringing words together?
8. travel in and around Trojmiasto - will you be living in the city (and which) or out in the sticks?
9. a ticket for Multikino (a cinema in Gdansk) will cost 17-20 zloty depending on the day.
10. A packet of M&Ms is 2zloty in the vending machine downstairs (and chilled, too - excellent value)

end of random thoughts.

Life / Cost of living in Gdansk [16]

i can't do the bills thing as we don't live in a blok ... we don't even have cable/sat so let's leave cost of living to someone more useful.

how were you planning on finding accomodation? where? trojmiasto is strung out sandwiched between the coast and the forest so where you live and where you work need a bit of coordination.

if your car is right hand drive it's no use here long term .. should be a good few threads about that here and there.

are you familiar with Poland in any way? how are your patience-with-bureaucracy levels?

p.s. could you PM me?

Life / Cost of living in Gdansk [16]

>because my partner and I have so much stuff

whoa.
maybe a good idea to check out the average size of a flat here ... and what people do for seasonal storage. (hint: if you're used to Vancouver-style long-term-storage arrangements there might be a problem)

Food / Is it possible to buy Live yoghurt in Polish shops? [23]

Probiotic yoghurt drinks like Actimel are available pretty much everywhere - or at least 'everywhere' in my experience (that's Gdansk urban, plus na wsi)

Yoghurt in general : very little 'low-fat' stuff available (contrast to Vancouver where it was sometimes impossible to buy 'not low-fat' versions. It's all suspiciously pleasant though - even the 'natural' versions are easy to eat ... I suspect ingredients not on the list (I still don't quite trust the lists of ingredients in Poland)

You can also get buttermilk very easily - it will have more of a zing. Homogonised (sp?) versions are commonly available so no need to learn how to drink lumps.

p.s. a Polish 'Apteka' (pharmacy) will be delighted to sell you capsules full of these little bacteria. You can swallow the pill or empty the contents into the food of your choice. It's quite a national habit here - every prescription for antibiotics will come with instructions to take bugs as well.

[I'm hoping that the evil habit of using glass phials has passed for ever - but always good to check for digestible capsules before buying]

Life / HEAT IN POLAND (with no air-condition) [26]

Stop building houses out of wood and much of the problem goes away ...
Buildings here are constructed from bricks / concrete blocks etc. Plus, most of the newer ones have a 2 or 3 inch layer of dense styrofoam on the outside.

If you're insulated to keep the cold out in the wintertime, summer is just a variation on a theme ...