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Posts by jon357  

Joined: 15 Mar 2012 / Male ♂ 		Last Post: 21 Aug 2025
Threads: Total: 74 / In This Archive: 51
Posts: Total: 24855 / In This Archive: 10045 		From: In the Heart of Darkness
Speaks Polish?: Tak

Displayed posts: 10096 / page 250 of 337
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jon357   
1 Nov 2013
Food / Hot food in Warsaw - where to buy hot sauce? [7]

Likewise - is it any good? If so I'll visit.

BTW, I make my own hot sauce (including a VERY hot one from Scotch bonnets). Very easy to make, a 2 stage process is all - just takes a bit of time in the first stage.
jon357   
1 Nov 2013
Law / Moving to Poland - How do I get the Polish Identity Card [17]

Just use your passport. If you're worried about carrying it or it has visas you need for elsewhere, it isn't hard to get a second UK one.

I am a British passport holder. Does this stop me obtaining a Polish ID card?

Depends what you mean by ID card. If you mean a Dowód Osobisty, that's for the locals. As a citizen of an EU country other than PL you can get a different type which functions as ID. Plenty of threads on here about that.
jon357   
31 Oct 2013
Polonia / Looking for Polish Teacher in Abu Dhabi [6]

How much???

That's expensive, especially since they aren't even lessons - just something over Skype done by someone sitting at home.

And 'taxes imposed by the European Union'. What's that about? The European Union doesn't collect tax.
jon357   
29 Oct 2013
Love / Younger Polish girl 24 dating old man [21]

- They failed raising a normal women with values

How would you know about her 'values'? Perhaps she prefers more mature men.

Your dad is on his death bed

Where does the OP say anything about his health?
jon357   
28 Oct 2013
Food / PIZZA & KETCHUP served only in Poland? [159]

A fried pizza

A fried pizza?

Surely the base would be greasy on the bottom and raw in the middle and you'd have to finish it off under a grill to melt the cheese and cook the topping.

I just googled 'fried pizza' and take my hat off to you guys north of the border!

That's impressive!
jon357   
28 Oct 2013
Food / PIZZA & KETCHUP served only in Poland? [159]

No. They don't really do gravy in Poland - at least not nearly as much as in the US or UK. It exists as a sauce for roasts (not that they do roasts much either). How do you serve gravy with pizza? It actually sounds quite interesting - a bit like British cheesy chips.
jon357   
28 Oct 2013
Law / U.S. Citizen Moving to Poland - opening business? [36]

Location, location, location! Choose it carefully, in a known tourist area. The Jura Krakowsko-Częstochowska is not too far from the area you mention.

And don't be tempted to buy a zjazd by a big main road - most of them don't make much if any money.
jon357   
28 Oct 2013
Language / Is Polish an easy language to learn and is there a way of learning it easily? [105]

I understand pretty well what you feel.

Apart from the Middle East bit, you'll find much the same in Poland. Especially the politicians which are far worse than in the UK. They have Jeremy Kyle chavs too - it's just that they tend to live in very small towns and villages so are are less visible. Nevertheless, in PL I find the things I dislike easier to ignore and hope you will too.

Just don't set your expectations too high - remember, there are less of the things you dislike about 'home', but other bad things instead.
jon357   
28 Oct 2013
Language / Is Polish an easy language to learn and is there a way of learning it easily? [105]

I'm not interested in keeping my English identity,

Living permanently abroad changes you anyway, whether you like it or not. Your identity will change less than you expect though.

You'll find though that when you become fluent and maybe suddenly realise you have spoken only Polish for a few months then something about you will change. You'll still have some of your English identity though.

Out of interest, why are you so keen to lose it?
jon357   
28 Oct 2013
Food / PIZZA & KETCHUP served only in Poland? [159]

Eating pizza is tacky.

Tell that to a Neapolitan! It isn't just ham and pineapple, you know.

I'm making Pizza tonight, I may add ketchup.

Likewise, but no sugary sauce slathered near it.
jon357   
28 Oct 2013
Food / PIZZA & KETCHUP served only in Poland? [159]

Or buying a Pizza instead of making it yourself?

Not exactly rocket science. A bit of dough, a smear of passata and some good cheese.

.The issue is adding ketchup to Pizza, not whether your body can magically detect something that is probably not in the ketchup or sauces that Poles put on their Pizza.

Maybe you deliberately misunderstand or maybe you genuinely don't get it. If you put too many chemicals in your body you get sick. Maybe now or maybe the abnormal cell growth comes in a few years. maybe the crap someone feeds their kids when young doesn't cause the carcinoma until decades later.

If Poles like to put tomato sauce on their Pizza (home made or industrial ketchup) then let them,

If people like to wear socks with sandals or a black bra under a white blouse, have mooning garden gnomes, a blue plastic roof, drink alcopops or smoke in the bus stop, let them. That doesn't mean one can't say on a discussion forum that they think it's tacky. Or perhaps you think poor taste is beyond criticism...
jon357   
28 Oct 2013
Law / Bank commissions in Poland - are there some standard fees, and where can I find them [10]

It's the fault of your card issuer rather than the Polish bank. Some Polish ATM's are to be avoided for certain transactions - Euronet is one of them , but most are much of a muchness. The card issuer sets their own rates.

You don't say which country you're from, however: moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-travel-money publish a list of the best ones and the worst offenders among the UK card issuers.

If you pick up cash in the UK and change it at a kantor, that's often the best way. Just be careful to know the day's rate and make sure they don't pull some stunt like giving you therate for dollars otr euros instead of pounds hoping you won't notice. A Warsaw kantor did that to a lady of my acquaintance recently.
jon357   
28 Oct 2013
Food / PIZZA & KETCHUP served only in Poland? [159]

Can you differential E211 in tomato products?

Who needs to? Your body 'differentials' for you whether you want it to or not.

My local pizza shop make their tomato sauce fresh every day.

As long as it stays under the cheese, that's fine.

Cheese and Tomato on Toast,

That ain't pizza. Or rarebit. Or croque monsieur.

You are picking and choosing what you don't like

Outside a famine zone, that's what people do. And I choose to think - as a fair few other posters in this thread do and doubtless many more in real life, that ketchup on pizza is trashy and on a par with instant coffee (people buy that?), readymade mayonnaise (buy an egg and some oil), artificial 'non-dairy cream substitute', pasta salad and 'mild cheddar'.
jon357   
28 Oct 2013
Food / PIZZA & KETCHUP served only in Poland? [159]

Here's a popular mid-price Polish brand:

Ketchup KOTLIN łagodny (w plastiku) - skład: pomidory (136g na 100g produktu), woda, cukier, acetylowany adypinian diskrobiowy - substancja zagęszczająca, sól, kwas octowy - regulator kwasowości, naturalny aromat (zawiera seler), benzoesan sodu - substancja konserwująca.

wieszcozjesz.blogspot.it/2013/07/co-z-tym-ketchupem-kotlin-ciag-dalszy.html

Enjoy the benzoesan sodu.
jon357   
28 Oct 2013
Food / PIZZA & KETCHUP served only in Poland? [159]

Its almost the same as the tomato sauce base mixture.

It's nothing like. Check out what goes into ketchup. The image below is one of the better ones - the cheapest of the stuff in PL (and you didn't think your local pizza shop get it from Waitrose, did you?) is far worse.


  • condiments_ketchup_i.jpg
jon357   
28 Oct 2013
Food / PIZZA & KETCHUP served only in Poland? [159]

It has puzzled me ever since I have been here.

It's considered a little unsophisticated by many (in the capital anyway), but still persists. Some waiters/waitresses (more accurately students waiting table) are surprised when people don't want the sauce.

That together with the big burgers that are filled with grated cabbage.

An ingrained habit, sadly.

Considering that most of the popular ketchup brands in the country contain little to no real tomato puree in them-
this says a lot about the quality of food in Poland. With pizzeria's and most restaurants it is right to say that if you don't know much about them, cosidering the
rampant use of substandard ingredients, just walk away.

Spot on.

A particular bugbear of mine is frozen chips. They're so rife that a lot of the post-89 generation don't know that real ones can exist.
jon357   
28 Oct 2013
News / RIP Tadeusz Mazowiecki - Poland's first prime minister after the fall of communism [7]

Opinions differ about his legacy, however his heart was in the right place and he did more for his vision of Poland than most..

Poland's first prime minister after the fall of communism, Tadeusz Mazowiecki, has died aged 86, Polish media report. He was one of the architects of the "Round Table" talks, between communist leaders and opposition, paving the way for elections in 1989. The Solidarity party victory set a precedent for the toppling of communist governments across Eastern Europe. Mr Mazowiecki held office until 1990, and was a strong advocate of Poland joining the European Union. Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski paid tribute to the country's former leader, describing him as "one of the fathers of Polish liberty and independence".

bbc/news/world-europe-24700801
jon357   
27 Oct 2013
Law / U.S. Citizen Moving to Poland - opening business? [36]

1) Will I have to relinquish my US Citizenship in order to operate my own business in Poland?

No

2) If no, is it possible to maintain dual citizenship? (The United States recognizes a dual citizenship, does Poland?)

Yes, however you should use your Polish ID while entering or leaving Poland.

3) Is it a "must" to speak fluent Polish, or will any fluency work?

You will find it easier if you have a decent degree of fluency in Polish. Not being able to speak comfortably (with or without the usual 2nd language mistakes) would put you at a disadvantage and Polish passport or not, you would be very much the outsider, not at all considered Polish.

4) How difficult is it to establish a business in Poland?

Establish in what sense? Actually setting up the legal entity is a pain in the ass as is most of the bureaucracy of running one.

5) What are the steps, that you would recommend, to be taken to establish a business in Poland?

The answer to that depends on so many factors - many to do with money.

Have you spent much time in Poland?