Who has moved to Poland in the last year? Swap stories.

just want to talk to some people who have just moved here like me and see how you are getting on .. swap stories..

Good or bad ones?

I came from India, I make good money especially when I contract out to my British friends. IT is my business. It is easy to bribe officials, easy to fool the polish people.

Life is blessing for me.

both..

Anyone getting pissed off already and want to go home?

Im liking it at the moment (think i might stay)

what was actually the reason?

What for liking it?

there are loads of reasons but one them's people, they keep themselfs to them self's and are pretty down to earth ... Im from london a landfilled with wanabbee's so many fake ar*eholes here people just get on with thier life..... and i have met some cool people..

plus theres the nice vodka & my beautifull woman.

been here for 2 and a bit years now, but also travel a bit around europe.

cool, where abouts are you living?

and Wyspi : )

true you are pretty hot !

im living in Wroclaw

This is my 2nd school year here and I am still in love with Poland. I come from a small town in the US and can't say enough good things about the culture, food, people, and scenery of Poland. Although I won't be living here forever, I will ALWAYS come back for visits. Like hu_man, home is a depressing landfill of fake overindulgant people. Poland is more simple adn laid back. Much more appriciative of what life has to offer.

I think you guys are still in 'Phase 1' of living in Poland. 'Phase 1' is fine. I moved to Krakow four years ago and so far have been beaten up twice in the street. Once I even got frog marched to an autobank by two guys who demanded 200pln! which I ended up giving them in order to save another kicking. Have also been threatened with court and a 30 000 pln fine over not understanding a tax return form, paid 400 in the end. A phase of enormous problems about my national service status due to my parentage, that was a book in itself, believe me!.

I must admit I also got fed up of 'overindulgent, fake people' in London but now I think, at least they were entertaining, individual, great fashion sense, generally pretty nutty and made me laugh a lot. Am still here as I am married to a Polish woman whom I love dearly and she is possibly one of about 15% of the Polish population who do not want to leave Poland (we lived abroad before moving back here). This is a personal account and in no way is supposed to be a generalisation or reflect on anyone elses experience of living here!

I hate living here, at first it was great, a new experience cheap living etc.. Nothing used to phase me but after the past year of visting offices trying to get things done and the constant lies and deceptions attempted by the Poles in general doubled with the mentality I can honestly say Im looking forward to moving on.

i find it a bit disturbing reading henrykz's post about muggings and beatings I have never been on the recieving end of anything even remotely associated with crime. Oh actually some bast#rd nicked our bird bath the other day, but thats it really.

Obviously there are things which i will miss but in general i miss the standard of living i used to take for granted in the UK.

I have to agree although i am fed up with them i am a little, really little bit missing them for the points above..... but there are quite a alot of funny wierdos in poland..

a


unfortunatly my girl falls into that catagory :(


what standards.... i dont find my standards have droped since moving here

I'll just let you find out all your own.

no serious what do you find has changed the most with regards to your standards
there are a few obvious differences i.e water but it doesnt bother me i just buy bottled

Following my first year in Krakow (3.5 years ago!), I wrote an article for a local expat magazine called 'Krakout' (now since defunct) about this topic.

At the time I was an English teacher in Krakow, and I had done a class which I had downloaded from the internet about 'culture shock'.

According to research, there are four stages of culture shock experienced by expats when they move to a foreign country.

The first is positive - you are really excited to be in a new place, everything is exotic and different. You are partying, making new friends etc. It can last anywhere from a few days to a few months.

The second is negative - it's the 'shock' stage. You have the realities of life in a foreign place getting you down. Finding a job, dealing with bureaucracy, language barrier etc.

This phase can last a few months or so. Many will not get over this stage and will return home. Others will get over it by seeking out people from their own culture, finding someone to share your experience and your gripes with life in this foreign place.

The third and fourth phases are for the long term expats, the ones who decide to make this new place their home. The third, I think it was called 'acceptance' and involves you learning the language, settling down, making local friends and generally acclimitising to your new surroundings.

If you stay long enough (5 years +) then you may reach the fourth stage where you develop a dual identity. You essentially become like a local, though it's of course not possible to forego the identity/culture you grew up with.

At any point in time, you may decide to go home. It is at this point (and it depends how long you have been away) that you encounter 're-entry shock'. You have been changed by your experience, grown as a person. The only problem is that your friends and family at home haven't changed. They are more interested in what is happening in their own life and don't particularly care for your stories and experiences.

If anyone is interested, I will track down the original article and post it here when I get the chance.

sounds about right.... i'd like to read the article....cheers

so would i on the article very interested in those stages you pointed out :)

me three

We'll see how blessed you feel when you run into a group of polish skinhead-neonazis with that cocky attitude:) What goes around comes around.

Any new people in poland since i started the thread ?

Yes. I moved to Poland in August 2007, spent five weeks in Warsaw getting my CELTA, then moved to Gdansk where I'm teaching now. I love this place. I work for an excellent school which helped me get my residency card (I'm American) and I started studying Polish on my own while still in the US. I'm still learning slowly but I can get around OK and every day I get a little better.

Obviously Gdansk is very different from San Diego, which I call home after living in a lot of different places. Weather, food, language, pace of life, etc. I had visited Poland briefly the year before to see if I really liked the place or whether it was just a fantasy of mine to live in another country again. It's no fantasy and I intend to be here a long time. I doubt that I'll return to the US again except for an occasional visit.

Poland's not perfect-no place is-but I'm beginning to feel very much at home here. I don't get annoyed at the lack of customer service or things like long lines. It is what it is and I've accepted that those are just parts of my daily life. Poland's not for evryone, but it is for me.

Which method did you use to study Polish in the US? Did you enroll in a course or buy a home study guide? Was it hard to pick up basic Polish? I'm Canadian (still in Canada, quickly contemplating moving to Poland) so I think I'd be more or less in the same boat...

I am planning on an extended stay in Krakow would appreciate hearing from some one about what I all need to do paper wise. From usa was in krakow in 2004 now retired and would like to go back for several months any help is appreciated

hi guys
well im new to this forum, not quite sure how it works yet... but
im irish and still living in ireland with a great polish girl. we have been together a few years now and she has asked me to move to polska with her, but im not sure,

can you give me any advice on jobs for none skilled worker (im a sales manager here but i use english a lot in that) someone mentioned teaching english?????

also what about the language barrier is it as bad as i think. my polish is not near fluent now

cheers

A friend sent me Polish in 4 weeks. Ha! But better than nothing. It's got a CD so you can listen to dialogs and exercises to do. It helped a lot and I still study it along with a couple of other books. Just a few words at the beginning will make your life easier here.

What city/cities are you thinking about? And where in Canada are you? I think that'll make a difference in your choice. For me Gdansk was the only choice -have to be near the sea plus the Old Town is just beautiful-different from other Polish cities because of the Hanseatic League and connections with Amsterdam. You'll have to see it to understand what I mean.

Hi everyone

I am also new to this forum and want to share some experience and thoughts about PL.

I came from Lithuania, which is extremely helpful for me while living here. Lithuania and Poland were one country for 300 years, so Poles consider us as brothers and they are absolutely nice to us:). I moved to Warsaw in October 2007, because I got 2 years contract in BIG 4 company (I am auditor). The company provides me with language courses and loads of work, of course:)

I find Poland more or less the same as Lithuania with certain exceptions:

- they have absolutely horrible streets in terms of the quantity of advertisements
- in general POles are people, who save money and they will always look for the cheapest option (in majority cases)
- all Polish men are married or busy, although they are very OK:)
- all Poles are extremely polite, which makes me feel guilty most of the time, because I was not used to be over polite back home:)

- young peole are religious..many of my collegues do not drink at this moment (before Easter), go to the church every SUnday, etc. Respect!

So, I rather feel like at home...I like living in Wawa, because they have much bigger choice of everything: clubs, bars, shops, cinemas, parks, etc..

But what I lack here is friends! I have some friends - collegues, but I want to meet some more. Are there any organisatios/associations of foreigners in Wawa? I would join with pleassure

Hi. I moved to Gdansk a year ago my fiancee did not want to leave her home town(15%)! so I told her I would give it a try here for a year and so far it has had more up's than downs (Money rate is a bummer) but I work abroad on a month rotation so dont have to worry about a drop in wages just because I know live in Poland.

The life style is what you make it if you want to live like you did in the UK it just cost slightly more.