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Posts by FUZZYWICKETS  

Joined: 3 Nov 2009 / Male ♂ 		Last Post: 31 May 2014
Threads: Total: 8 / In This Archive: 5
Posts: Total: 1878 / In This Archive: 1410

Displayed posts: 1415 / page 25 of 48
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FUZZYWICKETS   
13 Jun 2011
News / U.S., Poland sign military aviation accord [24]

PennBoy wrote:

Poland, a NATO member since 1999, has long lobbied for "American boots on the ground" to counter what it perceives as a more assertive Russian stance in central and eastern Europe.

this statement sticks out the most for me.

Serious question: why does Poland want "American boots" on the ground? Why not other countries' boots? What's so special about the USA?
FUZZYWICKETS   
13 Jun 2011
News / For all Americans worried about Schengen in Poland, dont worry about it. [142]

ShortHairThug wrote:

Now expanding this concept even further given that US population is roughly 300,000,000 and the number of Americans of Polish ancestry is roughly 10,000,000 as stated earlier by someone then what do you think of 811 visas in this category that would be granted to Americans? I wonder how many rejects this category alone would generate?

What is the correlation between 300,000,000, 10,000,000 and 811. Also, you said, "in this category". What category?

Still trying to get to the bottom of this.....
FUZZYWICKETS   
12 Jun 2011
Food / Expats' Polish food favourites [140]

Antek_Stalich, I honestly have no idea what your last post is supposed to mean.....but please fix your quote, it looks like I said "You need fat to survive heavy winters, for instance" when in fact you said that.

teflcat wrote:

A couple of winters ago, sitting on the 0630 bus on my way to work, I counted the items of clothing I was wearing. Twenty. I don't know where you live but winters here (Poland) can get extremely cold, and a salad for lunch just ain't enough!

Yet somehow, thousands and thousands of super skinny Polish girls "survive" Polish winters....every year.

Are we seriously having this conversation.
FUZZYWICKETS   
12 Jun 2011
Life / What is the reason for POLISH jokes ? [486]

delphiandomine wrote:

ugly women, terrible food, terrible weather

ha, i think you just described the worst place on earth.
FUZZYWICKETS   
12 Jun 2011
Food / Expats' Polish food favourites [140]

Antek_Stalich wrote:

Yeah, it's the cultural difference.

No, it's the food difference. I don't understand what you're talking about.

Antek_Stalich wrote:

You need to eat fat to survive heavy winters, for instance.

It's the year 2011. People have cars, heated houses, high quality jackets.......when do you need to eat fatty foods "to survive"? Do you live in a cave?

Antek_Stalich wrote:

Have you tried the chłodnik soup, the ice-soup?

Yeah, not for me.
FUZZYWICKETS   
11 Jun 2011
Food / Expats' Polish food favourites [140]

polish food from time to time is OK but i can't eat it every day, waaay too heavy, everything is either fried, full of butter, loaded with salt or all of the above and it's just waaaay too much.

it's especially difficult to have a steady diet of polish food if you're an athlete or just a very active person. as an avid runner, i had to avoid a lot of polish cuisine because it destroys my stomach and makes me feel too weighed down.

i also found most traditional Polish food to be.....well.....not really polish per say. nothing uniquely polish about schabowy or sausage, rosol z kury, tomato soup, even stuffed cabbage is debateable.
FUZZYWICKETS   
9 Jun 2011
Life / Struggling young Polish couple - try to solve their problem [176]

warszawski wrote:

It makes no financial sense to be sitting on a property worth 1 mil PLN when you can't afford your living expenses, with prices being high, there are more people cashing out and buying small flats.

I guess if they inherited the house, sure. Turn a profit, get a flat closer to work. Makes sense.

As for a 2+2 that can actually afford a 1 mil PLN house, I don't think they're going to downgrade to a 50m2 shoebox unless real financial tragedy occured.
FUZZYWICKETS   
9 Jun 2011
Genealogy / Polish nationality? Which of the following (if any) determine being Polish. [231]

Des Essientes wrote:

So what?

but you gotta admit....it gets a bit annoying when you see the Italian kid from Staten Island, driving his Mitsubishi Eclipse with the Italian sticker on the back bumper, wearing a wifey and the big gold chain, slicked back hair, tawkin' wit dat New Yawk accent, going to clubs and pumping his fists, talking about how he's sooo Italian, dropping the vowel at the end of every Italian food name (pepperon, mozzerell) on top of saying words that he thinks is Italian but they're really just made up words like "gabbagool".

I mean.....I get it Des Essientes, people in the USA, especially in the tri-state area (where I'm from) have a bit of an identity crisis and at some point you see it necessary to at least mention that you aren't the descendent of a family of pilgrims from the 1600's so you tell people where your parents or grandparents or great grandparents came from "so I'm 25% X, 25% Y and 50% Z" but at times Des Essientes, Americans sound a bit ridiculous talking about their heritage......which they generally know nothing about in the first place.

It's a weird topic in the USA because you grow up in a country that basically has no true blood line.....unless you're American Indian. Everything traces back to another country.

When I'm abroad, I tell people I'm American. When I'm in America, I wouldn't say "I'm American" because like DE already said, that part is obvious....so I give people the "percentage" speech because there's really no other way to explain it.
FUZZYWICKETS   
9 Jun 2011
Life / Struggling young Polish couple - try to solve their problem [176]

warszawski wrote:

There are people with house, who want to cash out their 200 m2 house and buy a small apartment

i find it hard to believe that a couple with even 1 kid, let alone 2 or more could sell their 200m2 house and move into a 50m2 apartment. let me think.....i guess if they were somehow given grandma's house that is 100 years old and didn't want to live in the place so they just sold it and moved to the city to find work and live in something clean and newer....

but if you say so, man.
FUZZYWICKETS   
9 Jun 2011
Life / Struggling young Polish couple - try to solve their problem [176]

al111 wrote:

Well fuzzy you need to move around more if you live in Polska. Good simply means it's equipped with all the modern fittings and don't use coal for heating. There are many families who live in squalid conditions as for the small sizes like i mentioned i knew of a guy who grew up and still lived in a 38M2 flat together with his parents and sharing the only bedroom with his sister.

i was just thinking outloud. it's just kinda sad, that's all.
FUZZYWICKETS   
8 Jun 2011
Life / Struggling young Polish couple - try to solve their problem [176]

al111 wrote:

he tells me but they live in a good apartment 42m2.....

i'm sorry but i simply cannot undertand how a 42m2 apartment is "good".......unless your last apartment was 32m2.

just awful. i can't imagine raising children in that shoebox.
FUZZYWICKETS   
8 Jun 2011
Life / Struggling young Polish couple - try to solve their problem [176]

kasica wrote:

My advice is to clench one's teeth and wait for oportunity or for better time :)

OK.....so what kinds of opportunities should they look out for? How long should they wait for "a better time"?

asik wrote:

Who in their right mind would agree to such a low income, especially after graduating from University?

The university degree, as you should know, doesn't mean a whole heck of a lot. It's a me too in Poland. I knew plenty of Poles in Wroclaw who had their 5 year degree, netting well under 2000 zl. a month. Take a walk over to the Renoma building in Wroclaw and ask all the recent college grads slaving at Hewlitt Packard what they're earning. When I was teaching them 2 years ago, it was around 1600 net for new hires and English was required. They used to always joke and say, "at least we get the HP sandwich" (HP used to have little sandwiches delivered every morning for them to eat).

Some people just take what they can get in order to start the paychecks rolling in and then find themselves stuck there. As for moving to another city to find work, that would mean they'd have to start paying rent which they obviously can't afford.

It sounds to me like they're the victims of bad planning.
FUZZYWICKETS   
8 Jun 2011
Travel / Attractions in Wrocław: a Must-See List [117]

rybnik wrote:

I'm ashamed to say that despite living in Wroclaw for 6 years I haven't see everything on your list. I'll have to catch up this September when I visit.

geeze, I probably saw half of it.

I saw the inside of probably every bar though ;)

Anyone mention the Katyn memorial across the street from the museum?
FUZZYWICKETS   
7 Jun 2011
Travel / Attractions in Wrocław: a Must-See List [117]

in all honesty, Hala Ludowa isn't the most exciting place but it's worth a visit at night to see the fountains if you got kids. also, if you roam around there during the day, you can always go get yourself some grilled meat at the food spot there, they're always grilling up kielbasa and szaszlyk, beer is always flowing as well if you're into that.

the botanical gardens was always one of my favorites as well.

i guess if you got kids you wouldn't be interested in nightlife recommendations? actually, Abram's Tower might be cool for the kids to go to. small, really different looking restaurant inside an old little tower, eclectic/funky interior, no riff raff there, the owner is american so you can chat it up with him (I'm assuming you and your children are english speakers) and the food is very different than what you'll find in the rynek. also, he has a great wine selection if you're into that. just make sure you know how to get there, it's easy to walk right by the place.
FUZZYWICKETS   
7 Jun 2011
Love / Iron Maiden on Wedding party? Only in Poland (in 1984 :-) [9]

this totally blew me away when i first came to poland.....the number of metal heads.

i mean, metal bands and big hair bands from the 80's and early 90's, they got the T-shirts, grow their hair long....i never expected it.
FUZZYWICKETS   
6 Jun 2011
News / For all Americans worried about Schengen in Poland, dont worry about it. [142]

SHT wrote:

Simple percentage based quota....

Just to make sure I understand what you're saying.......

A percentage based quota.....so the same percentage of people from each country will have the opportunity to get a visa to each country, correct? So, if it's say 1%...........1% of the USA is 3 million so 3 million visas to go to Poland and 1% of Poland.....400,000 visas to go to the USA.....yes?

SHT wrote:

Now I’ll bet that the number of rejects for US nationals summed up from all those categories on yearly bases would be quiet high.....

I'll have to wait and see how you answer my question.....
FUZZYWICKETS   
6 Jun 2011
News / For all Americans worried about Schengen in Poland, dont worry about it. [142]

ShortHairThug wrote:

I'm curious as to the level of reciprocity. For example, if all an American needs to do is fill out a form and mail it in with a check for $140 to get a tourist visa to the PRC, that's obviously nothing in comparison to the assache a Pole needs to go through in order to get a USA tourist visa. I don't know what it takes to get a PRC tourist visa as an American but I'm curious about the degree of "reciprocity" here you speak of. Holla atcha boy, polacy.

Ironside wrote:

Now, tell me why US is extracting a fee (100$) not for visas to US, but for applications for visa?

State Department employees need to do background checks on all applicants, a lot of paper gets pushed around, the visa itself needs to be created and manufactured, etc. etc. Somebody has to pay them to do the work.

Ironside wrote:

I see no problem in paying for actual visa say 500$, but for an application ? - it is ridiculous.

Hey Ironside, do you have an American passport?
FUZZYWICKETS   
4 Jun 2011
News / For all Americans worried about Schengen in Poland, dont worry about it. [142]

guesswho wrote:

very good point. I strongly assume that about 38000 (if not more) of them are Polish-Americans.

absolutely. Americans living in Poland with no connection to Poland otherwise, i.e. no family ties or dual citizenship, do not speak Polish.....easily under 1,000.
FUZZYWICKETS   
4 Jun 2011
News / For all Americans worried about Schengen in Poland, dont worry about it. [142]

guesswho wrote:

39.000 Americans in Poland

I'm not quite sure what you're getting at with this number but I'd like to point something out that I think is worth mentioning:

"American Citizens Living in Poland" means that 39,000 people live in Poland that also have an American passport. I'd be curious as to how many of that 39,000 are simply Polish Americans with dual citizenship and are living in Poland at the moment for reasons X, Y and Z.

Without question, if you eliminate said population from the 39,000, you are left with a very very small number.
FUZZYWICKETS   
3 Jun 2011
Life / Struggling young Polish couple - try to solve their problem [176]

delphiandomine wrote:

Granted, it was in a cellar, with no windows - but a property is a property.

so is a Tee Pee. mother of god, are you serious? come on, Delph.

delphiandomine wrote:

Likewise, I know people earning 2500zl brutto - but they all have one thing in common - they do their set hours and not a thing more in their spare time.

plenty of truth in this but a lot of the time, i see failure coming from people that choose course studies in poland that simply make no sense. if you are going to go to college for 5 years so that you can teach in a little public school in your hometown of 30,000, get used to 1400 netto a month, it's as simple as that. want to get a Phd in Polish??? go ahead, just accept the consequences. the world isn't exactly starving for people that know Polish really really really well.

for every pole, they should learn a 2nd language and learn it damn good. secondly, they gotta learn to eliminate dead end degrees. don't do either of those, well, you're probably going to be.....what was it....27 years old, living with mom and pop, unable to get a loan for a flat.

all i'm saying is, often times it's not lack of effort, just bad planning.

ItsAllAboutMe wrote:

tourists are a good source of money, Krakow is a great city, people would pay a local to show them around, point them to the right restaurants, etc. Or, they can do more of a concierge-type of business - make restaurant reservations, scope organized tours, help foreigners with getting train tickets, or whatever a person not from Poland would find difficult when visiting. minimal initial investment, decent profit if you know how to get the word out and make the experience entertaining.

very, very good. this is very similar to what I had in mind after a couple years in Wroclaw. right on.
FUZZYWICKETS   
3 Jun 2011
News / For all Americans worried about Schengen in Poland, dont worry about it. [142]

upolska wrote:

this is back in 2003 and there must have been at least 20 or so in the City and they used to congregate in a pub in Chopina Street off Lipowa Street. ;0)

and it could have just as well been a sports team doing some training there or something for a short while and then they were off to new horizons.

20 is hardly "overrun" in any case.

back to reality, folks.

Wroclaw Boy:

I dont know about you mate but when i lived in Wroclaw most of the guys i drank with were Yanks. They may have made up only a small portion of the population in terms of Brits vs Yanks but you guys were always in the bars.

In 4 years, I could count the number of yanks I met in bars on one hand. just sayin'.

guesswho wrote:

I don't know how many Americans live in Lublin right now but when we lived there, there where maybe 3 or 4

3 or 4??? It's an endemic!!!

WroclawBoy wrote:

If thats the case which it clearly isnt i knew at least 15 of them at any one time.

Because you were finding fish in a very small barrel.

You're a native speaker and you worked in an industry that, if any americans existed in Wroclaw, were also in aside from the random american or 2 working at Google or the middle aged guy doing a 2-3 year contract at some other American firm like HP. You knew 15. How many Americans do you think the avg. Pole knows that lived in Wroclaw for 3-4 years? I'd pose this question to all the poles on this forum but people would lie about it out of spite.

With all that said, ukpolska, if you got beef with the USA, fine, just make sure that when you decide to talk smack, you got your facts straight.

michaelmansun wrote:

If they did, the Poles, would come and go as they pleased and wouldnt overstay in the USA. Lots if illegal Poles in the USA anyway. I know some been here for 10 to 15 years.

Is anyone else out there not completely and utterly amazed at these two sentences!!!!!!!!!!
FUZZYWICKETS   
3 Jun 2011
News / For all Americans worried about Schengen in Poland, dont worry about it. [142]

upolska wrote:

I would say the same thing about the yanks in Lublin....

haha, this is just too funny. I lived in Wroclaw where there was an American population of 50, GORA.

Lublin is overrun with what....the 4 yanks you actually saw that night?

come on. put the bull$hit away and bring out the real stuff, partner.
FUZZYWICKETS   
3 Jun 2011
Life / Struggling young Polish couple - try to solve their problem [176]

PennBoy wrote:

so 2400 is still far more than their 1500zl a month.....

but the national avg. is propped up by bloated salaries. take away the millionaires and you get a much more, and realistic, number.
FUZZYWICKETS   
3 Jun 2011
Life / Struggling young Polish couple - try to solve their problem [176]

i can't understand buying real estate at this stage in their lives.

rent.

avoid a high monthly payment along with paying interest on a huge number till their salaries go up. you don't like how that sounds? your bed, lie in it.

I say go abroad....but then they'd be turning their backs on Poland!.........eeeeeeeehhhhaaa!...........what would Walesa say to that?!!!

ItsAllAboutMe wrote:

at the end of the day, they need to figure out how to make more money.

why didn't I think of that! that's it! make....more....money!!!!

BTW, can we tie this thread into the "Who is Poor in Poland" thread? ;)
FUZZYWICKETS   
31 May 2011
Work / Some cold, hard facts about teaching in Poland for newbies [101]

gdj67 wrote:

Wages are not as high as western Europe I grant you, but then againprices are lower and more importantly the weather is better!

I'd just like to point out that this is, quite simply, a horribly inaccurate statement.
FUZZYWICKETS   
28 May 2011
Life / Is Lady Gaga popular in Poland? [47]

Let me guess Homophobius3, she came out with that last music video "Judas" and it struck a nerve.
FUZZYWICKETS   
26 May 2011
Work / Some cold, hard facts about teaching in Poland for newbies [101]

Seanus wrote:

FUZZY, it was 840PLN but ZUS decided that wasn't enough :( :(

hmmm.....maybe my sketchy accountant out there was finagling the numbers somehow to get me down to 800.

the ZUS payments are just sick. i mean, i can understand charging for a universal healthcare system (assuming it's effective and the citizens are happy with what they're getting for the money) but all the money that gets raked out of that 840 to pay for someone that hasn't worked since they were 50.....it's unamerican ;)