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Posts by Jars777  

Joined: 27 Feb 2011 / Female ♀ 		Last Post: 26 Jun 2013
Threads: Total: 20 / In This Archive: 17
Posts: Total: 70 / In This Archive: 54 		From: Gdansk
Speaks Polish?: trochę
Interests: Photography

Displayed posts: 71 / page 2 of 3
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Jars777   
6 Sep 2012
Language / What do you say in a doctors surgery to ask "Who is next in line?" [19]

Hi

So I have made the experience of going to a doctor in Poland and I was "warned" that although you have an appointment you still have to ask, who the last person is in line for the doctor.

What is the phrase you have to use? Is it "Kto będzie następny?"?

Thanks
Jars777   
18 Jun 2012
Travel / Ryanair travel by air - subtle scams to be wary of [98]

Ok... I'll take it back regarding the "struggling financially"... I just heard something somewhere but haven't got the source. Apologies... Gosh! Harsh...

I understand their strategy and totally see the point. BUT I still don't like it how they treat you... especially certain things are not working/back firing:

- Parents with children don't go on first unless they pay priority boarding. BUT parents really should sit with their toddler, so they are making people move in order to have parents sit with their children. Why not let them go on first?!

- They are encouraging people to just take hand luggage BUT their plans can actually not handle the load. If every passenger would take one bag within their allowed measurements, it would not fit into the overhead compartments. That's just physics. :-)

Anyway... I am out.. too many rather strong communicators here. O.o.
Jars777   
18 Jun 2012
Travel / Ryanair travel by air - subtle scams to be wary of [98]

Oh my favourite topic.... join the group "I hate Ryanair" on facebook. :-)

I think the society (all of us a bit) created companies like Ryanair. Everyone just wants cheap cheap cheap... this is the result. Ryanair is actually struggling financially and therefore they have to trick people into paying those little hidden things.

Flying from Stansted airport is particually annoying.... it used to be that at the security check the airport staff would check the weight of your hand luggage... that only happens occasionally now... at that point you might still be able to give someone the exess load. But they have now changed it, so be careful what you buy in the duty free area. It ALL has to go into your one bag and it must not be heavier than 10kg. They now have another check at the gates and you will have to pay something like 45€ to get a little tag onto your bag and drop it off at the bottom of the steps on the roll field. Love it... not!

I would much rather pay that little bit more and still be treated like a human, but sadly Ryanair flies to the required destinations.
Jars777   
12 Jun 2012
Law / PESEL urgently need - Current order of applications? [10]

Hi all

I am currently in the process of getting registered in Poland and I was wondering if someone has information on the most up-to-date process of getting a PESEL?

So far we have done:

1) Gone to Urząd Miejski with our landlord to apply for meldunek (We were told that this first one would be for 1 month stay)

We didn't get a meldunek but a self-written A4 piece of paper confirming that we live at the address we live at.

2) With this piece of paper we went to the foreign office (@ Urząd Wojewódzki) and filled in a 'wniosek o zarejestrowanie pobytu'

We have now waited for 1 month and have been told that our papers are ready for collection. So what's next?

Previously we were told that we would get a PESEL at the foreign office together with the application done on 2). But they said we would not and that we would have to

go to the city hall with the confirmation we will get back from 2).

Also we were told that we would have to go back to 1) and cancel the first piece of confirmation and then go back with our landlady the next day and do the same thing again.

Any idea on the latest process here? It seems it keeps changing and no one really knows what's going on. We really need our PESEL in order to register our self-employment.

Thanks a lot
Jars
Jars777   
11 May 2012
Life / UPC phone line in Poland [7]

[Moved from]: How to withhold the number when calling? - UPC phone line (Gdansk, Poland)

Hi there

I have just moved to beautiful Gdansk and we have a landline with UPC. Has anyone an idea how to withhold the number when calling? I need to do that for certain business calls.

Would be grateful for any reply.

Cheers
Janine
Jars777   
15 Mar 2012
Work / International Schools in Poland - the average high school teacher salary? [11]

Hi

I cannot give you exact figures but I heard that 21k Pounds (equivalent in PLN) would be quite good and only available in senior management. Maybe others have a different figure.

Teaching at international schools is not a well paid job.... and I think you don't even get paid during the holidays. At least that's what I understand.

Cheers
j
Jars777   
14 Feb 2012
Law / Banking in Poland - foreign currency? [14]

Ok, brilliant. Will consider them but I suppose in order to open an account I have to have my Polish address. Won't have that until nearer the time when we sign the letting agreement. :-)

Thank you for your help!
Appreciated.
Jars
Jars777   
14 Feb 2012
Law / Banking in Poland - foreign currency? [14]

Thank you Harry! Brilliant. I will definitely do the Polish bank account run in GBP. Thank you for your recommendation. I might consider Citibank. Have you heard of mileniumbank? They seem to do a great deal on an internet bank account without hefty charges.
Jars777   
14 Feb 2012
Law / Banking in Poland - foreign currency? [14]

Hmmm... I suppose I am stuck then. I might give the Walutomat.pl a shot with smaller amounts. This FX rate business sucks!
Jars777   
14 Feb 2012
Law / Banking in Poland - foreign currency? [14]

I am not sure if people understand. I cannot wait to exchange when the rate is favourable... I need the money in Polish Zloty as it is our main income every month and we have to pay our rent and bills with it.

As example: We paid 1231 PLN to a hotel with our debit card in June and got the FX rate of 4.314 from our bank but the actual rate was 4.4378 which makes 8 Pounds difference plus a 3 Pounds foreign usage charge.

That's 10 Pounds loss. And this is a small-ish amount of money. If we sum that up to a bigger amount (which my salary will hopefully be! :-)!) we are talking quite a bit of loss EVERY month!
Jars777   
14 Feb 2012
Law / Banking in Poland - foreign currency? [14]

@Jacus: Because we will be living in Poland and all bills (rent etc) will have to be paid from a Polish bank account. Thank you... will explore Western union. Paypal gives bad FX rates too.

Thanks
Jars
Jars777   
13 Feb 2012
Law / Social money exchange services in Poland? [5]

Ok Thanks a lot. I will just be hammered with FX rate losses every single month and trying to work out the best alternative.
Cheers.
Jars777   
13 Feb 2012
Law / Social money exchange services in Poland? [5]

Hi all

Have you heard of or even used walutomat.pl? Is it any good and safe? I am wondering if it would be a good thing to use to avoid FX rate losses.

Thanks
Jars
Jars777   
13 Feb 2012
Law / Banking in Poland - foreign currency? [14]

Good morning all.

I was wondering if anyone here had any advice on banking in Poland. I will be paid my earnings in GBP but all main bills will have to be paid in PLN. Do you have any tips on how to avoid major losses every month. I know that the FX rate will always affect my income but I would like to cut down the losses to a minimum. The bank we are currently using in the UK always gives a far worse FX rate and therefore I would like to ask my customer to pay directly into a Polish account.

Thanks
Jars
Jars777   
11 Feb 2012
Law / Taxes (and national insurance contribution) for self-employment in Poland? [11]

Hi there

I am moving to Gdansk in May and are currently in negotiations with my UK employer to continue working from Poland as self-employed consultant.

Could anyone please help me with the current salary deductions i.e. what cost will I have to calculate into my business plan?

Thanks
Jars
Jars777   
12 Jan 2012
Life / Telephone - Is there a similar offer to the UK O2 international favourites in Poland? [2]

Good evening.

I was wondering if anyone has heard of a similar service being offered in Poland. Currently I live in the UK and the mobile phone provider O2 offers a service called 'international favourites'. I pay GBP9.99 per month and have a telephone number in Germany (Berlin) which gets forwarded to my UK mobile phone and the caller only pays the call to Berlin. In return I have 3 numbers in Germany that I can ring without any extra charge.

Do you know if there is anything like this in Poland? I would need a number that someone from the UK could ring without paying the extra charge for a call to Poland.

Thanks
Jars
Jars777   
27 Dec 2011
Life / Good books or sites for preparation for life in Poland? [7]

Hello all.

I was just wondering if you know of any good books (or websites) to read before moving to Poland. Maybe to prepare for the culture, the do's and dont's etc?! Maybe with a background about the history etc. Michael Palin did something about Eastern Europe but not much about Poland.

Thanks
Jars
Jars777   
15 Nov 2011
Work / Working from Poland for company abroad or being employed locally better? [6]

Merged: Being employed in the UK but living in Poland - Possible/Allowed?

Good morning.

Does anyone know if it would be possible to be employed by a company in the UK and pay taxes etc. in the UK but live in Poland? I looked into working for a German company but living in the UK at some point and I was told that it is not possible as you have to live in Germany for at least 90 days per year (or something like that). Is there a different rule for the UK?

Thanks
Jars

Merged: Which employment law - Working for UK company, living in Poland

Hi all

Does anyone know which employment law I would fall under if I would work for a UK company but live in Poland. So work remotely. Would I still fall under UK law or would I then fall under Polish law. Which one is more relaxed/strict?

Hope anyone can share some thoughts/experience/knowledge.

Thanks
Jars
Jars777   
3 Nov 2011
UK, Ireland / Moving cost from UK to Poland (Gdansk) - Anyone heard of IMove International? [16]

Hi guys

Wooohooo. What a lovely debate. :-)!

The guy from the company actually admited his error. He initially quoted me for 156 cu ft and not for a container. When I then asked him further questions he got himself confused and went from road to shipping. So he is now going away to check his pricing again. Haven't heard anything since. I don't need a container anyway but I think 156 cu ft might be a little tight even if I leave my corner sofa and white goods behind. I am only planning to take our king size bed incl. matress and possible a sofa bed + personal stuff etc. So nothing to fill an entire container! :-)

But maybe the new rail freight will make it slighly cheaper. Will get a quote from DB Schenker.

Thanks guys.... and I don't want to put any coles in the fire but I am acutally really excited about moving to Poland. So, no negative feelings here!
Jars777   
1 Nov 2011
UK, Ireland / Moving cost from UK to Poland (Gdansk) - Anyone heard of IMove International? [16]

Hi there

I have received some quotes regarding our move from the UK to Gdansk and the one I just received today varies so much from the one I got the previously. IMove International are quoting £874.80 incl. VAT for a 40' container filled to capacity. Can this be correct or are they dodgy?

If anyone has any experience in costings and can recommend a removal company, please let me know.

Thanks
Jars
Jars777   
28 Sep 2011
Travel / Poland in photo riddles [3134]

do you come from Germany pgtx??? you have a very German sense of humour :P

I had to laugh and I am from Germany, so might be German sense of humour..... Did the person not mean "blow a raspberry" instead of actually farting? :-)
Jars777   
28 Sep 2011
Food / What a typical Polish family eats. How do they prepare food and who cooks at home? [37]

Can I ask another question along the topic line? Traditionally in Germany we would eat bread and all sorts of cold meat, cheese, salads (i.e. meat salad) from the butchers in the evening and the main (hot) meal would be had at lunch time. Obviously we more and more people working the main meal gets now eaten in the evening. But the British sandwich culture for lunch is not really done in Germany either..

sorry if this is hijacking the topic slightly.
Jars777   
28 Sep 2011
UK, Ireland / Culture shock (my neighbours in the UK are Polish and Slovak) [88]

I've noticed too that proszę which has a wide range of usage is used in almost exactly the same way as bitte - i.e. as please or you're welcome or after you, etc etc would you agree?

Yes I agree... and a lot more straight forward I think. Why use too many different words/phrases. :-)

On topic, the funny thing is OP, that it's the Anglophones who are unusual - it's not a Polish or Slovak thing, as Jars777 has hinted.

Oh yes... After 7 years of living in the UK I have adapted quite a few of those. My mum always gets a bit annoyed if I ask if I can have hey car and she says yes and I then ask again "Are you sure?". She said yes and meant

it, why ask again?!
I hope I can adjust again quickly when moving to Poland. :-)
Jars777   
28 Sep 2011
UK, Ireland / Culture shock (my neighbours in the UK are Polish and Slovak) [88]

Germans say "Angenehm" which is the same as miło mi... but it is slightly less binding that "nice to meet you".

Germans are just a little bit more hesitant to overwhelm someone with superficial friendliness. My experience with Polish people is similar...
Jars777   
28 Sep 2011
UK, Ireland / Culture shock (my neighbours in the UK are Polish and Slovak) [88]

I was upset when I said nice to meet you and he said OK as it seemed well rude .

Hi there.... I can give you another European (by the way England is Europe too... always amuses me. Sorry!) example. I am German and I am married to an Englishman. When he first visited my home town in Germany he asked me for the translation of: "Nice to meet you". Totally oblivious to the culture difference I told him the German phrase. He kept saying it to people and they hardly ever replied or just nodded which made him felt awkward. It then dawned on me that Germans do not say this at the time of introduction... because they don't know yet if it is nice to meet you... Germans might say this after spending an evening together with someone... It was nice to have met you... but not before.

The English are suuuper friendly and always worried to offend someone... if I may say this, without wanting to offend... it is often slightly over the top and maybe sometimes not true. Superficial.

So... I cannot speak for the Polish but I am assuming that it might be similar/the same.

Don't expect them to say the whole Excuse me, please, would you, could you.... which are so embedded in the English language/culture. It might not be part of their culture and if they haven't been in the country for long or haven't mixed with British people, then how should they know?!

Hope this explains it a little.