Don't get me wrong, I love mingling with the Poles, I really get along well with them.I was just curious because of the reaction that I get when I tell people I'm from RPA. I'm teaching here and my students are always very surprised to hear that I've I'm from SA and now live here! (I do agree with you though, I don't think there's many South Africans here.)
I'm not sure why people are still surprised. How do they react? (when I was in school and we met a native English teacher, we were rather intimidated by her as we felt she was from another planet :). I know there are many Poles working in RPA too.
I think they see RPA as rather exotic and they always have loads of questions about it. Some of them do feel that I'm from a different planet and they're intrigued by my accent as it is so different from other native english speakers. Lots of students ask if I don't miss the weather(as it was over 30 degrees when I left). I think a lot of them see my country as a nice, warm holiday destination and find it odd that I would leave such a climate. Their knowledge about RPA is pretty good though and it's really interesting for them to actually be able to ask a South African about the reality of living there. It was also very cool for me to find out that many Poles are now working there.
Certain occupations can have a similar pay, but I think the cost of living is more expensive there. The tricky thing is to try and find a job first, unemployment is a huge issue at the moment.
Yes, that's interesting since in Poland it is said unemployment is also high (about 15% I think), so many people migrate to other countries in the hopes to find a job.
I havn't been on this forum for ages and was so surprised to see your post. Didn't believe that there were any South Africans in Poland up untill now. Write again, I'd love to hear from you too...
Poland is pretty and great in the summer, but i cant stand the winters.The ways the Poles think in business term is also different and i miss lamb and beef meat . :-(
i dont know what colour you are but i have got a black friend. his wife is from poland but they tell me that they dont want to live in poland because there are too many racist people. is true that ??
So there is at least two of us ;-) I can't stand them either... and I'm from Poland :P Maybe somewhen... in the future i will move to Sydney/Australia - i hope so :)