USA, Canada / I now have a USA and Polish passport - How to behave at the border? [18]

No, the law depends very much on the country. Most countries require their citizens to identify themselves using an identity document from that country - Poland and the USA both require this, so two passports are needed.

As for starting and finishing trips on one passport - this is however a myth. The USA doesn't have exit controls, so there's no issue here. Poland also doesn't use any form of API, so again - no issue.

USA, Canada / I now have a USA and Polish passport - How to behave at the border? [18]

It is true - it is an offence for a Polish citizen to identify himself to the Polish authorities using foreign documents.

Work / Salary Expectations Question (Krakow, Fund Accounting) [19]


No, it's utter rubbish. What kind of law would stop them from offering you a salary?

I'd have just gone to 5.9k, 5.8k and so on until they agreed, and also ask for a "favoured nations" clause to ensure that they aren't stiffing you.

Travel / What to do in Poznan for 3 days? [21]


If you're here on a Thursday, you should come to our weekly mee...excuse for drinking ;)

News / Y Shaped high speed rail line Poland [78]


What's crucial is that they don't abandon the work to prepare the route - if everything is completed as it's planned to be, minus the trains/tracks - then it will be a formality to build the line in the future. As far as I know - all existing work should go ahead, so no issue there.


Actually, Polish expressways aren't worse than German highways. I was driving on the German A12 yesterday - it's worse than your average S-class road in Poland.

300km/h would be enough - it would mean 90 minute (at most) connections to Warsaw, which would radically change things in terms of transportation. The train still wins for now, but when the A2 is complete - the train will lose out massively to the car.

And yes, we laugh at those peasants, because they had exactly the same opportunity as we had. And they blew it.

News / Polish Domination by Germany [69]


Actually - I think the opposite might happen. The Deutsche Mark will be extremely strong - and they would be able to pour money into buying (what would be) exceptionally cheap Polish products by their standards.

The Euro falling might not be such a terrible thing for Poland, apart from causing even more problems with the stability of the Zloty.

News / Y Shaped high speed rail line Poland [78]

Most of France didn't have access to the TGV when it was first launched, and now most of the major cities do. What's your point?

Let's face it - you don't like it because your people wouldn't be able to afford it. It's that simple.


A mess and slow. There's absolutely no need for anyone to fly Warsaw-Wroclaw - but when the train takes 5.5 hours, then you start to see why they do.


Connecting Warsaw/Lodz/Poznan/Wroclaw with high speed rail would kill much of the domestic flight market. No bad thing.


Be fair. There's a reason why - the existing infrastructure is falling apart due to worker/trade union incompetence (the sheer incompetence of almost everyone involved is staggering) - and they want to focus on fixing this before spending a massive amount of money on something new. The infrastructure really is crumbling - a journey of 30km that I make regularly takes over 40 minutes in one direction - and this is on a mainline! But with the Y line - everything will be in place, the only thing that will need built will be the physical lines.

And something else to bear in mind - HSR isn't that common in Europe. The goal right now is to get all the lines up to around 125mph, which is where most European countries are at in the West. The UK for instance - that's the top speed.

News / Y Shaped high speed rail line Poland [78]


And? It's exactly this communist mentality that holds Poland back.

The line is for those who need access to high speed rail. That means those who are travelling between big cities, not those who live in PGR-hellhole in Polska B.


Nice way to avoid the point.

Still, the fact remains that your opposition is based on the fact that you don't want people to travel. Easier to control them that way, isn't it?


The "experts" will say whatever their political masters tell them to say. You just need to read some of the rubbish about Smolensk to see that ;)

It doesn't make sense because Poland hasn't got the money to pay for it. It's that simple - nothing to do with "sense" or "nonsense" - but everything to do with cash and the fact that HSR costs a lot of money - that they don't have. The existing network needs the money - and you can't build a high speed line if your "lignes classiques" are in a hell of a mess. If they were fine, then high speed rail would be a no-brainer.

Tell you what, Mr village-expert - go away and look at what the TGV did for France. Go on. Then look at what the ICE lines have done for Germany, especially Hamburg-Berlin. While you're at it, you can also look at HSL-Zuid in Holland.

Thankfully, this new minister seems to be far more capable than the last one - and actually seems to be the first one in a long time who seems able to deal with Polish railways.

Love / Amount of money for gift (I have a girlfriend in Poland) [56]


Of course she's using him.

But he's a racist idiot, so it all equals out. Can't say I feel sorry for Poles reliving dumb racist Americans of their $7/hour salary.

Life / Please recommend - shopping in Warsaw [30]


Wow, Auchan in Poznan is a totally different place - funny how cities differ.

Such scum should be thrown out and permanently banned though.

News / Y Shaped high speed rail line Poland [78]


Would be better for Polish ones to handle most of it. It's just an issue of cost - the locomotives would have to be equipped with German equipment.

As far as I can see, it does serve one purpose - it allows the border guards to check suspicious people out during the stop.

News / Y Shaped high speed rail line Poland [78]


From my latest observations :

PKP Intercity is on the right track with the "luxury" offerings - EIC trains and sleeper trains (okay, it's WARS, but schematics) are doing pretty well. They never wanted the TLK trains, and it shows - privatisation makes sense for them, because they'll be able to get rid of those trains without Governmental interference.

Przewozy Regionalne is a disaster. An utter disaster - the provinces are all setting up their own train operators, PR is ridiculously overstaffed (3 conductors for a 4 carriage train is normal - ridiculous) and their whole operation shows exactly what the "PKP mentality" is.

The best solution for Poland is to privatise PKP Intercity, let it run as it wants, sort out PKP PLK's idiotic track access charges (2nd highest in Europe - why?!) and continue with the infrastructure projects. Let Przewozy Regionalne go bankrupt and leave it for the provinces to sort out amongst themselves. However, there should be a very clear prohibition on publicly-owned companies running inter-provincial trains. The situation where two state owned companies are competing is absolutely ridiculous, especially as they're using public funds to pay for this battle!

As for the high speed lines - at the very least, make sure that it's ready to be built. No harm in that - it can come when there's money for it to come.


Oh yes. But he voted Nowa Prawica, not PiS! Honest! HE TOTALLY DID!

Love / Amount of money for gift (I have a girlfriend in Poland) [56]

Man, someone really has a lot to learn.

News / Y Shaped high speed rail line Poland [78]


I think you should start by looking at what the project would offer Poland. But then again, your type doesn't want "high speed" - you want everyone to have their flat, their crap job in the crap factory and not to consider any notions of actually doing anything with their lives.


Perhaps. But it's tried, tested and thoroughly proven technology and comes without having to pay for development costs.

Poland is somewhat perfect for such high speed lines - most connections between major cities are on the flat (not much hills between Warsaw/Lodz/Poznan/Wroclaw/Krakow) and there are plenty of people willing to pay a lot of money to travel quickly.

Of course, first, you have to get rid of the dinosaurs with their archiac working practices - which is why buying in foreign expertise makes far more sense than the "alternative" of developing a Polish TGV system or sticking with the current system.

Perhaps you should leave the discussions about such systems to people who actually leave their PGR village once in a while.

News / Y Shaped high speed rail line Poland [78]


Was he?

I seem to remember reading that he was frequently locked up and prohibited from travelling. You know, totally unlike many of those now opposing, who spent their time not protesting, getting arrested or locked up. Easy to be a hero in today's political environment, isn't it?


Really?

That would be why LOT makes a lot of money on internal Polish flights, then?


Nonsense? I suggest you start by looking at the French example as to what can be done with high speed railways. Anyway, Poland hasn't got a hope in hell of modernising the railways without Western involvement.

Interestingly, I see that the criticism of the railway workers wasn't mentioned - he completely laid into them for not caring less about the customers, not caring less about anyone except their own cushy job and conditions.

Work / 47zl net - good for teaching in Lodz? [9]


Depends on how many hours a week they can offer. 47zl net isn't that bad in itself (means a minimum gross of what, around 52zl/45min?) - but I'd try and bump them up to 50zl net.


I've found that in Poland, salaries depend more on "how desperate are they" than "qualifications/experience".

Case in point : blagging 80zl/hour from a desperate school, but only being offered 45zl/hour from a school that everyone wanted to work for.

Travel / Differences between trains in Poland? [15]


Could have been a special promotion - there are some TLK fares for certain routes that are cheaper than the usual kilometer-based fares - but they won't show up in the normal planner. Actually - as I remember - there is definitely special fares between big cities on the Przemysl-Wroclaw line.

Travel / What to do in Warsaw at Christmas? [21]

Alas, one was banned then, but I will send her an invite now :)

Work / Any english call centres in Poland? Salary? [6]

They tend to frown upon people who can't even do a simple forum search.

Travel / Would I have to worry about organ thieves when traveling into Poland alone? [36]


HAHAHAHA. Not this old story again - IKEA is usually the place mentioned, but now I see Auchan has joined the list.

How did they know the kidnappers were after the organs? :)

They're joking about it because there has never been a single documented case of this happening in Poland.

Work / Job prospects in Poland (Poznan)? Good academic background, bilingual. [7]


And the fact that you're a non-EU citizen who requires a work permit. And the fact that you're competing with many well qualified Polish graduates who know the system.

Honestly, if you don't have the initative to come and see for yourself, then there are no opportunities for you except in Kebabistan.

(I also wonder why someone with an ACCA level 2 certificate couldn't find work in the UK...)

Language / Polish language immersion, time, fluency [14]


Ridiculous.

I even had a row today with a woman in the post office in Polish - which was impressive.

Interestingly, I can't hold a conversation in a social context in Polish - everything is "functional". It's a bit ridiculous, but I find it difficult to talk about myself - only about situations and what's going on, what I need. It's probably related to where I'm using it most - work related reasons.

News / Polands new class of immigrant. [60]


Yep, I've seen two or three cases where someone has moved here, only to discover that their girlfriend (who was previously happy to let them booze) suddenly doesn't want them out on the ****. And of course, the tension rises.

I wouldn't be shocked to see a spate of divorces in the coming years in Poland, especially when they realise that they're far worse off than a Polish man in the same position. What self respecting Polish woman is going to stick with a British loser earning 4k when she can have a Polish man who earns 10k AND who has a nice car?

Love / How many Polish men are Violent how much is domestic abuse reported. [129]

War on boys in schools?

More like : lack of male role models.

News / Polands new class of immigrant. [60]


Indeed, I realised today how much you need Polish for ordinary things. I was buying a hole-punch - now - if I didn't know the Polish word for this, I would've never got what I wanted. As it stood, I didn't actually know the word - but I could describe it in Polish.

News / Polands new class of immigrant. [60]


Yup, agreed.

I mean, take a look on this forum - almost every week, we see some joker saying "hi ive just moved to poznan looking 2 giv english lessons or grammer thanx contact me". They haven't got a hope in hell, Poland is going to eat them up - it's simply not the place for someone who doesn't have two brain cells to rub together. I suspect a lot of them also aren't ready for the shock that their partner is going to be earning crap wages as she'll probably have to start at the bottom, especially if she was working in a crap job in the UK.

I look at my current job - it effectively took three years of ridiculous hours, a great deal of crap from people I worked with and a lot of broken sleep before I got into a good position work-wise. And that same position pays what - I think about half of what it would pay in the UK. It does have perks, but there's still plenty of ball-busting ahead of me.

But what shocks me is that most of them seem to have put absolutely no thought into their move. I can understand it when you've got a flat, a car, health insurance and so on paid for - but when you're just moving because there's nothing for you in the UK (or more accurately, some woman refuses to stay there any longer...) - insane.


Speak Polish, have cash OR be willing to work hard and have something that they want. And be willing to network like mad.

Polonia / How would an American Pole be treated while studying in Germany? [25]

There's everything dumb about it. I mean, you have the insane system of accreditation that makes absolutely no sense to anyone else in the world - "regionally accredited", anyone?

Polonia / How would an American Pole be treated while studying in Germany? [25]

That's nothing to do with the system, but rather the American system of accreditation. Polish universities are accredited in the EU just like all the rest - if America is dumb enough to refuse a Polish degree because they didn't bribe some accreditation agency, it's America's problem, not Poland's.


You can retake exams as much as you want in most EU countries, provided you pay. In the UK, it's standard to have two attempts - the third attempt is paid for. Just like in Poland, in fact.

News / Polands new class of immigrant. [60]


Still plenty of wealthy Brits and Irish turning up, though the ones who were here to make a quick buck have mostly vanished after getting their fingers burnt.

But yes, you're actually right. There's quite a few Brits turning up who can't string a sentence together, who wonder why they're unemployable and why it's much harder than they expected to make a living. There was one clown on here who was living in the middle of nowhere, who was ******** and whining about his living situation - but he actually turned down 2500PLN a month to drive a bus. He couldn't use English properly, he was absolutely skill-less - etc.

I'd say that anyone that moves here with a wife and baby hoping for a "better life" without plans or ability to make something of themselves is doomed to a miserable, pathetic existence.

Polonia / How would an American Pole be treated while studying in Germany? [25]


So, please, don't call yourself "Polish" if you can't even speak the language.


Wrong. EU countries and quite a few more have all followed the Bologna Process, so one Bologna diploma is much the same as another in terms of how the system works.


You'd think so, but I know plenty of them that don't.


You can't speak Polish, what makes you think they'll treat you as anything but just another American who went abroad to buy her education?