News / HBO Poland withdraws film on scientology [11]

That's OT3 level which costs around $360,000 to reach. Currently it goes up to OT8 (the highest levels may have been changed after Hubbard's death) which is in any case available on Wikileaks etc

xenu.net/archive/ot
tonyortega.org/2014/06/24/up-the-bridge-we-finally-reach-ot-8-but-was-its-first-version-really-a-hoax

News / Does democratic Poland guarantee it's LGBT citizens respect for human and civil rights? [1169]

One interesting thing about equal marriage is that the government here have to recognise marriages contracted abroad and have put up no objection.

News / PO government forcing Polish companies abroad [13]


The corruption, the senseless amendments to laws and directives to the tax office and the sheer weirdness is something that all of who ran a business during those years remember.

News / PO government forcing Polish companies abroad [13]

No they don't. The business community favour the current government and always have.

News / PO government forcing Polish companies abroad [13]

None of this is new. Their predecessors did diddlysquat about it, and at least it's now being talked about

Life / Important: A Good Medical Center with English speaking doctors in Krakow [50]

You need to take him to hospital right away. If you have a friend who can translate, take them (or phone them, explain and give the phone to the doctor/nurse). If not, the hospital will do their best - they are used to everything.

News / PKP buys Alstrom Pendolino trains for € 665 million [60]

Really? Learn something new every day etc! I'm no great fan of Virgin Trains (their rolling stock sems over-specified among other issues)). I havn't been on the Pendolino yet (when we went to Wroclaw last weekend, flying on Eurolot was so close in price yet so much quicker that we did that instead) and really hope that in Poland there isn't the same move towards over-specification.

I can see why people are so pleased to get the Pendolino after years of under-investment, however I do actually like the older trains where you can open a window and which have nicer dining cars.

I suspect that the straightness of the line and the speed round the bends has a great effect on the comfort.

Work / I have a contract with a Norwegian company as a sub-contractor not an employee, I want to live in Poland [12]

It was in theory required (pre-2004, anyway) for anyone wanting residence and was a very basic test. I never heard of anyone ever taking it though.

I wonder if the OP has contacts with any companies that might offer something in Poland? A very competitive job market in the IT field, however if his specialism is in demand...

News / PKP buys Alstrom Pendolino trains for € 665 million [60]


Agreed. Remember though that during the great age of railway building, Poland was divided among three empires and even now, railway connections reflect the former borders. Changing that would require far less investment than building motorways but unfortunately that's how the government (and people) want to spend the money.

A good start would be properly maintaining existing tracks, many of which have low speed limits due to their condition as well as (this has actually started) regime tabling services to reflect the times that people are most likely to want to use a train.

The pendolinos are good, however they are in some ways a Potemkin village - the reality of the rest of the network is that it needs massive infrastructure funding to bring what they've already got to an acceptable standard.

News / Pro-Israel lobby to be formed in Polish parliament [29]

I'm not sure that lobbying for economic and cultural reasons is the same as buying politicians at all. If there are bribes or other secret payments then yes, there's a problem. If it's employing lobbyists to promote, say, exports or investment then it's fairly normal.

Work / I have a contract with a Norwegian company as a sub-contractor not an employee, I want to live in Poland [12]


You don't need any such thing.

To go to Poland to work however, the OP would need a job offer he from an employer willing to apply for a work permit. Building up contacts in Norway with a view to getting an offer there may well be a better bet.

UK, Ireland / Polish migrants provide a welcome boost for Southampton (The Polish mile) [10]

You must have missed the nice bits of Sheffield, which are very nice indeed. A lot of Poles going to the UK go to the North because the country's industrial base is still there and therefore recruitment (especially jobs that don't require much English), Crappy jobs largely, but available.

News / HBO Poland withdraws film on scientology [11]

I hadn't thought of that one! I doubt it's true, or he'd have tried to make something of it...

News / Pro-Israel lobby to be formed in Polish parliament [29]


Any organisation, state, group etc has the right to lobby politicians. Israel is not the only country to retain lobbyists and no harm at all for one country to want to build up trading and cultural links with another.

In this case especially, the two countries have very deep links. Although time and the grim reaper is reducing the number of Israelis who were born in Poland, many families there have their roots in Poland.

And Jan Paweł II's love for Israel and the Jewish people has left its mark.

News / Pro-Israel lobby to be formed in Polish parliament [29]

Quite a lot of pro-Israel feeling here - Jan Paweł II was a supporter of Israel (and hated anti-Semitism) which has had some effect.

News / HBO Poland withdraws film on scientology [11]

A lot of the Scientology stuff seems to have been made up as they go along. Interestingly, all,the secrets that their members/students have to pay (though the nose) for is available free online. Scientologists who believe in it but who don't want to be part of David Miscaivige's collection of organisations have set up something called the Scientology Free Zone. Some of it is actually quite interesting.

Travel / Polish postage stamp - how much does a single international stamp cost? [9]

Win? It isn't a contest!

Perhaps the charging thing is about envelope size?

News / Presidential elections and debates 2015 Poland [472]

Then you should take care to be more precise if you wish to comment, guest poster. Rather than suggesting that PiS got in. PO/PSL are still 'in' and long may that be true.

UK, Ireland / Lost a hard working builder to Poland - how to find other trusted co-workers in Leeds? [11]

I agree that, as you say, someone who's made the conscious decision to move abroad is a good bet as an employee. The problem is more the ones who come along for the ride.

A friend who's Polish was having some work done on his home in Warsaw. One morning he called in to check the progress and found all their tools in a pile with a note on top saying they'd all gone to London. At least he got the tools!

This isn't the best place to find Polish builders being English language, however there are a ton of websites for Poles in the UK and you'll be sure to find somebody ideal from one of those.

News / Presidential elections and debates 2015 Poland [472]


Did you use a time machine? The general election is later in the year.

Travel / Polish postage stamp - how much does a single international stamp cost? [9]


That price you quoted is for registered letters. An normal priority letter - 2 ounces, 5.20zl (a bit under a pound).
cennik.poczta-polska.pl/usluga,zagraniczny_przesylka_listowa.html

News / HBO Poland withdraws film on scientology [11]

The Church of Scientology is banned however plenty of Scientologists are members of other affiliated bodies rather than the church. There are Scientologists in Poland (fortunately only a few as far as I know) and the (I forget the correct name) Scientology Crisis Volunteers (or some such) do have a small presence in Warsaw.

Not all Scientoogists are bad people - indeed most are good, however the organisations are toxic.

Travel / Polish postage stamp - how much does a single international stamp cost? [9]

In Poland it's common to take your envelope into the post office and show it to the assistant who gives you the stamps. It's cheaper than in the UK though. As I remember, for an international letter within Europe (up to about a couple of ounces weight) it's a bit under a pound. Best to use 'priorytet' (first class post, they have the little blue stickers on or near the counter) which is only 3 or 4 pence dearer.

News / Kopacz wants PO to hire more professional PiS-bashing haters [66]


Which?

News / Kopacz wants PO to hire more professional PiS-bashing haters [66]

Far from modern; as old as the hills even - and in fact the only significant (if that's the right word) party in PL who specialise in it are the PiSuarzy.

Btw. Regarding your 'endlosung' comment, check out Godwin's Law..

News / Presidential elections and debates 2015 Poland [472]


Yes. Which is why I strongly expect that his party spin doctors have told him to keep his mouth mostly shut and avoid typical PiS flaps before the election, rather than putting his foot in his mouth every time he opened it like the last (and only) PISuar to hold presidential office

News / Kopacz wants PO to hire more professional PiS-bashing haters [66]

Chemical castration has been proved to make some criminals worse - the last thing anyone wants. The gas port is coming on at least as well as most major projects in Poland and certainly compares well to the mess PiS made when awarding contracts (teraz k**wa my) for Modlin Airport (and they'd been already kicked out of office by the time the problems left for PO/PSL to sort out had happened).

Hard to know however how the current PiS flap over a rival party's modern campaigning methods are anything to do with the two examples you erroneously introduced.

Work / Salary expectations in Poland [373]


Yes, that's a very good salary for Katowice. Try gumtree.pl for flats.


Who cares what it is in dollars - we use Euros, Pounds, Złotych, etc, nor is the average American salary even the slightest bit relevant to someone who is offered a job on a different continent. Furthermore, it's a bit of a stretch of the imagination to talk about salaries "on a global scale" when Lenion21 hasn't posted his nationality. Nor his age - for someone young, it's an excellent salary. I agree very much with @trucker on this one.

Stop being so negative and giving misleading advice. It's as if you wanted to deter people from coming to work or study in Poland, something which you have done yourself and evidently regretted your missed opportunity to do other things "on a global scale".

News / Kopacz wants PO to hire more professional PiS-bashing haters [66]

Excellent - welcome relief from the extremism that plagues the internet already.

Study / Study in Lublin - what is the student life here? Any racism? Accommodation and part time job possibilities. [17]

Well, you say you've never seen foreign students working (or didn't on your last visit). I see it more and more. Poland can be a great place to study and Lublin perhaps a good choice - especially if his other options, for visa or financial reasons or both, rule out Oxford, Princeton or Bologna.