Maddogs and Englishmen.

I've noticed over the past year more and more English, Irish, Scottish guys moving over to Poland with their new Polish wifes. What do you think the stereotype is.

Are their similiar traits amongst us new British immigrants.
i.e Age, social group, education, career etc

TEFL teacher who got qualified in order to pull foreign women. Probably middle class, no real ambition, no prospect of an increase in income in either the short or long term.

Am I close?

The TEFL teacher thing was last decade. This decade TEFL teachers are going more to Spain, China and Turkey.

I think you're right Buddy, I do see a lot more Brits/Irish moving to Poland to live with Polish wives met while the girls were living in the UK. Pretty much the exact reverse of what we saw here 12 years ago!

I dont think thats quite right

Probably a few like that, I know there are a lot of us teaching English over here, but there is also another group of people (such as myself) who are self-employed or who have started businesses here with a view to taking advantage of the growing economy. I hope I don't therefore fall in to the category of no real ambition and no prospect of an increase in income!

But you are trying to pull foreign women? ;)

Whilst many expats undeniably fall into Kilkline's category, there is also a growing number who are extremely ambitious and whose earning capabilities have the potential to be significantly greater than they would back in the UK.

Not wanting to steroetype, but characteristics of this group might inculde: educated, married to Pole, left good job in UK and sold house to relocate, significant finacial resources at their disposal, creative, ambitious and innovative, comfortable integrating, positive efforts to learn Polish

Very perceptive posting by VF. Although I didn't leave a good job in the UK, I left from advanced study and 2 years exp in Japan.

I have made inroads into Polish and am fairly innovative. Where for thou art VF?

Errr don,t think that quite fits me then.....skint , got an old broken down farm in Poland , no current girlfriend , got a Harley motorcycle , a couple of ratty Landrovers and Rangerovers , ten cats , a dog.....and no job at the moment....still loving it here in the forest tho....

Yeah, but you are a bit older, right wildrover?

Which part of Poland do you live in btw?

But not wiser i think.... I live in what was once called Pomerania....on the 173 route between Drawsko pomorskie and Polczyn zdroj , just north of lake Scieno....forest across the road from me , wild pigs in the garden , deer on the lawn , eagles in my trees.....the house is falling down , but hey , you cant have everything...life ain,t so bad....

What made you set up shop there? A love of nature? Scotland has many such beautiful places, I'd love to retire to forest life one day. Do you feel reclusive out in the sticks or are you kept busy?

Yeah , that was part of it....My first visit to Polska was in 1997 during a long journey to Belarus and Russia via all the Baltic states....Poland was just some place to rest a few days on route , the halfway point between UK and Belarus...but during a walk in the forest at 4am in the morning ( yep after driving 48 hours nonstop i could not sleep) i looked up at the millions of stars in the sky and felt a feeling of belonging i had not felt before....all very romantic , but thats how it was...i decided i would come back one day to live here....and despite the odds being against it...here i am...Yes i feel a bit of a recluse , but i can cope with that....I remember when that guy walked alone across the arctic , some body said to me how can anyone do such a thing completly alone for all those weeks....well i knew how...i could do such a thing,,,its not being a loner , i guess its being able to talk to yourself a lot....

Stare decisis, quite right ma man. Here's a late-night song for you, written by Englishmen. England has so much that I like in the musical sphere.

one of my favourite songs for melody and message.

There's a few Brits involved in industry, I think the boss of the local MACRO in Olsztyn is a Brit (so I've heard). The long term TEFL guys might get into a decent position and into higher levels of TEFL... earning more than they would in UK, ironically, or maybe into academia.

I think a few of the TEFL crowd, like myself, got into EFL because they got married and had to find a job where speaking Polish wasn't a priority. I met one lad on my CELTA course who'd come to Poland to work in an engineering firm and then the firm went bust leaving him jobless, with a flat and a girlfriend... EFL was his lifeline.

There are lots of Expats in Poland for lots of different reasons... just have a nosey around the website of the British Polish Chamber of Commerce to see what I mean.

not all of us expats are brits....

Maybe we fall in to the Maddog category? :)