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Posts by jon357  

Joined: 15 Mar 2012 / Male ♂
Last Post: 24 Aug 2025
Threads: Total: 74 / In This Archive: 51
Posts: Total: 24896 / In This Archive: 10045
From: In the Heart of Darkness
Speaks Polish?: Tak

Displayed posts: 10096 / page 227 of 337
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jon357   
23 May 2014
Food / Can i buy Worcester sauce here in Wroclaw? [4]

Worcester, not wochester. Kuchnie Swiata in Magnolia Park should stock it, however if the Rynek is nearer for you, have a look in the Kuchnia Swiata branch in Renoma first, just in case.
jon357   
23 May 2014
News / Polish Pope, John Paul II has been canonized today [with John 23rd] [85]

But how old and decrepit was he when the RCC became aware of the problem?

Perhaps the whole thing was just beyond his abilities and understanding.

There's a danger (look at PL) of seeing him as some sort of superman (the claims of infallibility don't help here), but he was basically very ordinary, banal and as Cardinal Winning's biography tells us, an extremely boring person. His very ordinariness (human touch??) is part of his (outside PL) appeal.
jon357   
23 May 2014
Law / How can I check the status of my Pesel number? [19]

how do I check to see if it is still active or if the number is no longer like in the system?

I may be wrong (it does actually happen sometimes, unbelievable but true) but I think it stays active as long as the person is alive. There was something in the papers about a poor old lady whose pesel had been cancelled because they though she was dead and she couldn't get it back again.
jon357   
22 May 2014
Genealogy / ELECTORAL REGISTER IN POLAND [6]

like here in the uk we can use a service like 192, is a similar equivalent in Poland does anyone know?

No. It would be illegal in Poland under data protection laws. Facebook or Nasza Klasa is your best bet. If they aren't a social network user you don't have much chance unless you know the name of a family member who is.

192 by the way isn't comprehensive. There's the closed electoral roll and the open one. People who choose to opt out of the open one don't show up on 192.
jon357   
22 May 2014
News / Polish Pope, John Paul II has been canonized today [with John 23rd] [85]

Statstically speaking priest are the last gruop likaly to abuse children

That is far from true.

Very often people in some sort of position of authority. Mind you, most abusers don't have a rich and powerful network to help them evade justice.

As far as JPII's role in this goes, by the time the scandal hit, he was too old and decrepit to tackle the problem effectively or to stand up to elements in the Curia that didn't want to address it and as we know was determined to stay in the role until he died.
jon357   
22 May 2014
Law / Any advantage to citizenship of Poland if already have EU residency? [20]

Who 's twisting. You don't mention in this thread that you don't live or work in Poland.

In which case it makes sense to buy a car where you actually do live and pretty strange of you to imagine that a Polish bank would give you a mortgage here.
jon357   
22 May 2014
Law / Any advantage to citizenship of Poland if already have EU residency? [20]

NONE of the banks would lend without Polish citizenship.

Plenty of people without citizenship (but with their EU resident's card, several years here and a decent income/deposit) have got mortgages here. Was it during the height of the credit crunch that you applied?
jon357   
22 May 2014
Law / Any advantage to citizenship of Poland if already have EU residency? [20]

Mercedes in Katowice would not order my new car without a Polish passport.

I think you were unlucky there. I don't blame you for not buying from that shop. maybe he was holding out for a bribe. I must say I've never had such problems in Warsaw though. Usually I buy from Media Saturn or Euro RTV. I bought a new car (not a Merc though) with no problems from a main dealer.

only 4 were prepared to offer a mortgage

conflicts a bit with you saying you couldn't:

Get a mortgage.

jon357   
22 May 2014
Law / Any advantage to citizenship of Poland if already have EU residency? [20]

Buy a house and land of our choice,

You can buy a house and land. Only farms/forests are restricted and that restriction is temporary (and not hard to get round).

Buy a new car,

I did.

Buy a subsciption to recieve all the channels we wanted and the satelite reciever.

I did.

Get a mortgage.

I know at least a dozen people who aren't citizens who have Polish mortgages.
jon357   
22 May 2014
UK, Ireland / "Polska. Spring into" billboards - more of the taxpayers' money has been wasted [5]

I should have said "was". It seems he died of shame after creating this monstrosity... He literally died a month ago.

Agred. He probably died of shame and if he didn't, he should have. I remember we had a rather animated discussion about some graffiti I'd seen that you couldn't believe a native Pole wrote, and I feel a bit the same about this. It's absolutely bizarre that native Brit could have written this. Perhaps some people just don't respect language as much as we do.

"Poland is the most important"? This was a classic transliteration

Like that putrid banner that used to be on Emilii Plater "There is only One. Wilanow One".

Why don't these people go into a hotel and ask a passing tourist? It would only cost them the price of a coffee, if that.

If that same passing tourist had strolled up Krakowskie Przedmieście they'd have noticed (and probably scared off by, since the bad grammar makes it look like a seaside tourist trap) the very expensively produced display that was advertising "The Chopin's Parlour". Probably not a Massage Parlour.

I think they've taken it away now and hopefully burnt it.
jon357   
22 May 2014
Food / Which Polish milk brand is closest to UK supermarket style milk? [31]

I used to drink non-pasteurised milk tout au long de my childhood and adolescence, so I know what you are talking about.

Indeed. In the developing world people often have little choice. A shame when people risk theirs or their children's lives by doing it when there are better alternatives.

In Poland, although dairy products are generally of poorer quality than most Brits are used to, the milk in most shops is at least treated to prevent infection.

Worth a read if anyone's thinking about buying unpasteurised milk in this day and age:

Raw or unpasteurised milk is milk that comes directly from a cow's, goat's, sheep or other animal's udder, and has not been treated to kill bacteria... Consuming raw milk can cause severe illness due to the possible presence of harmful bacteria such as Salmonella, E. coli O157, Campylobacter and Listeria monocytogenes. Pregnant women, children, the elderly, and people with weakened immune systems are at greatest risk of getting sick and the consequences for them can be more severe....

Pathogenic bacteria can pass into milk directly from an infected udder or milk can get contaminated from the dairy farm environment during milking e.g. from unseen faecal contamination of the teat...

foodsmart.govt.nz/food-safety/high-risk-foods/raw-milk/rawmilk.htm
jon357   
21 May 2014
Real Estate / Where can foreigners get financing in Poland? I will be purchasing a small home. [12]

This is them: oppen-kredyt.pl/strony/kredyty_hipoteczne_1.html

Worth mentioning that my only knowledge of them was a. second hand and b. a few years ago before the credit crunch, but they were OK with a very non-standard mortgage they got with a bank that had previously refused the applicant directly.
jon357   
21 May 2014
Work / Teaching at a Polish University - PHD required? or being a foreigner enough ;) [45]

Google says that there is some "DOM PRACOWNIKA NAUKOWEGO UNIWERSYTETU WARSZAWSKIEGO" Phd students can live there:

I've been there (near Sluzew market) a few times and it isn't very nice. One tatty room, shared bathroom and primitive kitchen. The Belwederska one is better, but it's students not staff.
jon357   
21 May 2014
Genealogy / Relatives' Pictures: Do They Look Polish? [44]

Do they look Polish or Russian, or Ukranian/Belorussian

Could be any of those, however your if your granny said she was Ukrainian, nobody would disbelieve her. Nice pictures!
jon357   
21 May 2014
Real Estate / Where can foreigners get financing in Poland? I will be purchasing a small home. [12]

Are there any small banks or businesses that might finance this, even at a higher than normal interest rate?

Many, but some of them are ones you wouldn't want to deal with. One reputable one is Oppenheim Kredit on Gornoslaska in Warsaw who used to be very good about sourcing credit for people without Polish citizenship who want to buy real estate. The amount you want might be a bit small and I'm not sure how the credit crunch has affected them, however they might be worth checking out.

Why not raise the finance in your home country? Or just rent in Poland?
jon357   
20 May 2014
UK, Ireland / "Polska. Spring into" billboards - more of the taxpayers' money has been wasted [5]

It looks like more of the taxpayers' money has been wasted. The MSZ has paid for billboards (150 in London) and a planned rollout across Europe advertising Poland. The slogan is "Polska. Spring into". Another meaningless phrase even worse than the "Feel like at home" banner that they covered Dworzec Centralny with during the football championships.

I wonder if it actually occurred to them, before spending all that money, to ask an educated person from the UK (or Australia, NZ, US, Canada)...

Polska. Spring in two
jon357   
20 May 2014
Work / Teaching at a Polish University - PHD required? or being a foreigner enough ;) [45]

I haven't heard of a case for a long time, at least not at my university.

Good that it's changing. It doesn't seem that long ago that admissions tutors always used to buy a nice new car mid-autumn.

One other way that academics up their salaries (in some universities anyway) is by also holding nominal roles as senior administrators. The actual work is done by real administrators (on less than 2000zl netto) whose jobs have become dead end because of this. Not a very sustainable way to do things.
jon357   
20 May 2014
Work / Teaching at a Polish University - PHD required? or being a foreigner enough ;) [45]

I wonder how a McDonald Caschier can manage...

With plenty of overtime and all their salary in the lowest tax bracket they don't earn that much less.

Remember that figure is probably gross meaning most of your salary will be in the lowest tax bracket but some (it hits you later in the year, just in the run-up to Christmas) will be taxed at a higher rate.

Many academics have other jobs. I know one who is also a security guard at a factory. Also bribery is normal in the education system, partly due to the low wages.

The people I really feel sorry for are the honest ones who end up retiring with a 1000zl pension and nothing else to live on.
jon357   
20 May 2014
Study / Learning Polish in Warsaw - good school recommendation? [47]

They're called CLIL but do they actually do CLIL? It's certainly used in some English language private secondary schools and a few university courses in PL but it seems unusual (not to say unique) in some walk-in language school.
jon357   
20 May 2014
Food / Hi! Looking for some help with my grandmothers recipes! [12]

or zacierki.

Delicious.

I remember the first time I had them back in the 90s (in Barszcz Bialy), I spent the whole day trying to figure out what they were.

kluski lane

In parts of Germany they do something similar, poured through a colander into very fast boiling soup.
jon357   
19 May 2014
Food / Hi! Looking for some help with my grandmothers recipes! [12]

Kluski śląskie are made with potato starch and never go into soup.

A friend (though from the south-east rather than from Śląsk) often serves them in a thick soup or sometimes with sauce.

opalaniec? could be a local name

That's what I though. The name suggests they're well cooked!
jon357   
19 May 2014
Polonia / TRAVEL TO DUBAI - VISA for a POLE? [29]

You still need a visa, however it is given automatically on arrival. You get 30 days, however if you're just passing through or are on business for a few days, they just stamp your passport. This may not be the case if you stay longer in the UAE or they think you're working there without a residence visa.

By the way, the new(ish) daily Emirates flight WAW-DBX is usually half empty so there should be a few bargain tickets if you buy at the right time.

emirates.com/english/plan_book/essential_information/visa_passport_information/uae_visas.aspx
jon357   
19 May 2014
Food / Hi! Looking for some help with my grandmothers recipes! [12]

there is a savory pie called Knish or Kuynish, certainly of Jewish origin though.

They also bake pierogi sometimes in Russia regardless of Jewish or not. Rather nice, and larger than normal Polish ones.
jon357   
19 May 2014
Law / Registration of right hand drive cars in Poland - possible? [82]

I very much doubt that. The landscape is nice enough as it is. Mind you, since we all have the right to live wherever we want in the EU, there will be movement in all directions. And the attendant issues of local restrictions on motoring and car registration.