Life / About Poznan! Foreigners, Life, Crimes, Job Prospects, Expenses! [12]


It's safe to say that with an attitude like yours, you'll get your head kicked in repeatedly by the locals and they certainly won't employ you.

Poland doesn't "welcome foreigners" - they treat them like they're Polish. Some random from Mauritius isn't going to turn any heads - and you'll be another kebab slave in "Kebabistan".

Job prospects? I'll give you a job for 5zl an hour. How about it?

Real Estate / Banks in Poland selling fewer mortgages in 2011, down 49% [285]


Mine (bought recently) was 1.5 times our annual wages combined, with a 10% deposit.

When talking about Poland, it's worth pointing out that many flats and houses were/are bought with black market money - money that isn't accounted for and distorts the figures. Also worth pointing out that plenty of older people are dying and leaving flats - when I was buying mine, quite a few of them were obviously "granny-just-died-and-left-me-this-flat-and-i-want-lots-of-money".

Looking at purchase prices compared to declared wages is just silly. I know someone who earns officially 2800zl a month brutto. We don't talk about the nearly 1000zl extra in cash she gets.

Life / Molly-coddling criminals in Poland's hospitals? [6]


You do realise that the Helsinki Accords were *exceptionally* important for Poland and that they gave the country hope when they had none?

Then again, I don't expect you to understand this, being an American with no clue about Poland beyond the rantings of a deluded racist Busia.

Work / Advice to schools hiring native speakers [13]


If you actually knew a damned thing about Poland, you'd know that university life is poorly paid in Poland and you can earn far more elsewhere.


I dunno, for me, living here has lots of advantages. I can drive to Croatia on holiday, I can visit Berlin whenever I want (without having to live there), I can visit other places, you can do everything here (ski, sail, etc) - hard not to like. Sure, I could move to Switzerland and earn an insane amount of money per hour (100CHF being perfectly normal) as a teacher, but ... I can't imagine living with all the Swiss rules and customs.

As for the weather, no rain for 3 weeks, what's not to like?

Real Estate / Banks in Poland selling fewer mortgages in 2011, down 49% [285]


I own a flat and have a mortgage, and I'm on course to pay the thing off within 7 years.

But then again, we both work and don't pretend to be "internet experts" selling flashcards. Nor do I pretend to be fluent in Polish while actually making horrible mistakes in the language.

Work / Expected salary for an engineer in Poland? [24]


Then you're not going to work here.

Poland is more "open" than other countries when it comes to climbing the career ladder (your university or school doesn't matter so much here) - but the trade off is a much lower salary in the beginning.

And again - why the hell would anyone pay 9000zl for a foreigner who doesn't have significant experience and doesn't speak Polish?

I've encountered a few of your type - you expect a high salary in Poland, but you don't actually have the experience and knowledge to get it.

Work / Monthly income for family - Warsaw [71]


None - they'll be treated as a Polish child would be treated, except possibly without the threat of being sent to a special school (like what happens to Roma children).


It could very well be poorer - private schools in Poland don't have the same rigorous academic standards as their counterparts in the UK or USA.

Work / Monthly income for family - Warsaw [71]


It depends - good schools in Poland are very much able to attract the best - for instance, in Poznan, the 1st high school is well known for producing doctors/lawyers/etc, and it's very much the kind of place where your father and your grandfather went to as well.

But for foreigners, the public school system is very poorly equipped. It'll be fine for kids who aren't yet in school (they'll learn very quickly) - but anyone trying to send a kid older than 9 years old into the public system with no knowledge of Polish is going to struggle massively. Same story in many other countries - France for instance will do nothing to integrate children.


The public schooling system in the UK and France can be much worse than the worst school in Poland - for instance, when was the last time you heard of anyone bringing a knife or other weapon to a school in Poland? Bullying also isn't that much of an issue in Poland compared to other countries - France in particular has massive problems with it, often covered up.


That's what it's all about, really.

I'd say the real problem in Poland is that there's a two tier system - good schools will have very good teachers and very high standards, but bad schools will have some truly terrible teachers. It's not like the UK where good teachers will stay in bad schools.

UK, Ireland / Is moving to UK now a good idea? - antipolish prejudice of the Brits [231]


He who lives in a glass house shouldn't throw stones, or something like that.

Work / So I received an offer from a Poland language school - what's your take on this? [59]


I apologise again anyway :)


Tells you how much competition there is in the market, though I say without reservations that the school was utterly useless. I only kept the class there because the student was an absolutely brilliant guy, not because of the money. It was interesting though - they were working with three schools, and all of them were utter rubbish.


I had it from a certain chain that's on the verge of bankruptcy, and they were 24 hours away from it being taken to court. They only buckled after I pointed out that I could post online and offline to my hearts content about them being non-paying crooks after the court case. Strange, really...

Work / So I received an offer from a Poland language school - what's your take on this? [59]


Aha, I wrote that in totally the wrong way.

What I meant was that the client might not have a choice - they could have been told "you're getting a teacher from x school and that's that".

I had three classes last year that was exactly like that - schools in Warsaw (and one in Szczecin) - the company had a contract with a school, and the school simply found someone (me) locally to do the class. What was normally happening was that the school was already teaching in the company headquarters, and that the Poznan offices were just small branch offices.

To be honest though, 65zl an hour would seem to be about the going rate for this sort of thing. Sure, you could get more directly, but then all you have to do is teach and send an invoice, it's not your problem if the client doesn't pay the school.

But just to give you an idea (and I've seen the documents confirming this) - I used to teach some classes for Telekomunikacja Polska, and they were paying 66zl an hour for classes to language schools. Don't fall into the trap of believing that all companies are paying a lot and that the school is ripping you off.

Work / So I received an offer from a Poland language school - what's your take on this? [59]

Odds are that they won't be interested in him - if they're contacting a language school from "outside", chances are that they don't have a choice locally.

News / Poland Parliament elections in October 2011 [944]

Give them one piece of credit - party discipline is exceptionally strong within PiS. Not in a good way, of course - and they've lost most of the political talent who would be capable of forming a government, but...still.

I dare say that Kaczynski learnt well from his father - PZPR discipline was always quite strong.


Yup, the PO primary for the Presidential candidature was a fantastic example.

Work / So I received an offer from a Poland language school - what's your take on this? [59]

What's so unusual about it?

At one point last year, I was doing quite a few of one-class-a-week for different schools - meant I had no dependence on them and could (and did) cut ties with them very quickly for non-payment for instance.

Work / Advice on Teaching English in Poland [709]


Go with your instincts and what you're happy to charge.

But I'd recommend going to 50zl/60 minutes - it's psychologically easy for people to hand over a 50zl note, for instance.

Real Estate / Banks in Poland selling fewer mortgages in 2011, down 49% [285]

Clearly you know nothing about Poland if you think the banking sector is in any way a cartel.

Right now, it's a bloodbath in Polish retail banking. Credit Agricole are spending a fortune on advertising, WBK spend a hell of a lot, the list goes on.

Real Estate / Banks in Poland selling fewer mortgages in 2011, down 49% [285]


Not a chance - there are far, far, far too many PO voters who stretched themselves financially to buy a nice house/flat - they wouldn't be able to afford 10% a year. Not to mention the vast amount of older/retired people who own their property (and which is now worth a good bit of cash - plenty of babcias in 300-400k flats) - but who wouldn't be able to afford direct property taxation.

Just not going to happen - Poland has no culture of it and it's unlikely to happen.

I could see taxes being increased on high end property being purchased, however. I'm still mad about the 2% I had to pay...

Real Estate / Banks in Poland selling fewer mortgages in 2011, down 49% [285]


That won't happen though, there's too much competition in Poland. For instance - you've now got Multibank/mBank, Credit Agricole, Deutsche Bank, PKO, Pekao, Santander, Millenium, ING and a hell of a lot more fighting it out - they simply can't afford to increase fees.

Language / How hard is it to learn Polish? [178]


I know one Russian who learnt Polish simply by working in a bar for a year - she does speak with a strangely high pitched accent, but apart from that, her Polish is fine.

Law / The Age Old Question: Am I a Polish Citizen? (now American) [11]


Not a visa, but still restricted to the Schengen 90 out of 180 days rule. Quite a lot of them get caught (including in Poland) every year. If they want to stay longer, then they need a valid residence permit - EU citizens don't need one. Well, in law, they need a "residence certificate" - but no-one enforces that.


If he never renounced it and never obtained UK citizenship (did he always hold a Polish passport?) - then yes, you'll be a Polish citizen (unless you were born before 1962).

Law / The Age Old Question: Am I a Polish Citizen? (now American) [11]


Quite a lot - unlimited stays in the EU, no need for a work permit, etc.


Automatically stripped of Polish citizenship at this point.


Automatically US citizen, which would result in Polish citizenship being awarded and then stripped due to the law in place at the time.


Wouldn't have had Polish citizenship to begin with - and would have been stripped regardless by the 1951 law.


Ignore all these reports and look at the law. She was born a US citizen, which meant she automatically lost Polish citizenship. If you consider that at the exact moment of birth, she would have been a Polish and US citizen - but Polish law would have stripped her of the Polish citizenship at the exact same moment. The rest is irrelevant. There's no provision in the relevant law for being born abroad - the US is and was fairly uncommon for awarding citizenship based on jus soli.


As it stands with the law, you have no chance. Polish citizenship passes down from parents to children and can't skip generations - but at least 3 generations would have been stripped of any potential citizenship.

Your best hope is to find a lawyer who is well connected - but in all honesty, it would be better to simply move somewhere with easy citizenship laws (Belgium for instance) rather than spending a lot of money trying to chase something that you're likely not entitled to.


No. Polish law simply doesn't work like that - you're either eligible or you're not. They must make decisions in accordance with the relevant law - your only hope is to find someone that's 'connected' to find a way to issue a favourable decision. However, in your case, I just cannot see how you'd be eligible - bearing in mind that your grandmother AND your father would have to claim Polish citizenship first. You can't 'jump' generations.

News / Polish hero pilot lands 767 without wheels. (Warsaw) [191]


flyforless.ca/news-aircanada/air-canada-launches-into-summer-with-new-services-to-barcelona-and-athens.html

First one I found on Google. (must admit, I'd never fly a 767 across the Atlantic...)

Work / So I received an offer from a Poland language school - what's your take on this? [59]


There's no harm in taking it (as long as you can be bothered with it) - language schools do tend to build up networks of trusted partners, and I managed to get quite a lot of work last year on the basis of simply being known to one school in Warsaw - whenever they needed a native, they always checked with me first. They had absolutely no presence in Poznan, but they were getting companies signing up for classes in Warsaw - and they'd often want classes in Poznan, too.

It can't hurt you really - many big companies will only deal with big schools. I know one example where a company was forced (by their foreign bosses) to have classes with Profi-Lingua, not because they were good, but because they were nationally known. Utter idiocy to pay well over 100zl an hour (the factory was nowhere near the school) for a teacher, but so be it.

And while you might not steal the client, there's no harm in using it to promote yourself if they want extra classes. I always lived by the philosophy that the more contacts you make, the more work you can find.


Seems to be an almost universal trait - never have I met more self-important people than methodology directors. I think I've only worked with one who actually understood her job - to be available if needs be, to run training sessions and to keep up to date with things. She also understood the meaning of "light touch".

I really should get round to posting a thread about schools (and people) to avoid in Poland. One amusing story involves a certain school director paying his teachers in deserted car parks late at night in cash!

The only thing I'd be wary of is the contract - don't be afraid to tell them to remove chunks of it.

News / Polish hero pilot lands 767 without wheels. (Warsaw) [191]


Because LOT is no worse than any number of other airlines, it's just perception. You'll hear people complaining about BA, Alitalia, KLM, Air France, etc in exactly the same way - it's like a national sport to complain about flag carriers.


Perhaps cosmetically, they aren't - but LOT doesn't have a bad safety record at all post-1989.


Unlikely - they're not going to admit that they're still using planes almost 20 years old to do transcontinental flights.


You lucked out, they're still using their equally-old 767's to Europe too.


Normal for almost all airlines except perhaps Singapore Airlines.

This incident just shows one thing - no-one writes about the thousands of flights that LOT make yearly without incident, but they'll analyse and make assumptions based on one very rare incident.

Language / How hard is it to learn Polish? [178]

totalfrance.com - the vast majority of them can't write French to save their lives.

Likewise in Spain, the vast, vast majority of expats there can't speak Spanish.

Poland is no different - native English speakers simply don't learn languages very well.

News / Polish hero pilot lands 767 without wheels. (Warsaw) [191]


And two of those can be directly attributed to the Russians and not to LOT.


Well, would you want to land with more fuel than necessary?


Almost certainly would be in this case, they'd want to land with as little as possible in the tanks as the plane wouldn't be going anywhere anyway afterwards.


And you trust the delay-ridden Dreamliner (which is being rushed into service, that much is certain) over a tried and tested 767?

This sort of thing simply doesn't happen very often.

News / Polish hero pilot lands 767 without wheels. (Warsaw) [191]

You do seem to be getting mixed up with life in a rural Welsh village. Understandable.

Have you ever considered getting help for your Polish obsession?

News / Polish hero pilot lands 767 without wheels. (Warsaw) [191]


Yawn, Smolensk was pilot error, get over it already.

News / Poland Parliament elections in October 2011 [944]


Perhaps ask yourself why PiS didn't do anything about it while they were in power. Oh, hang on - they're in the pocket of the trade unions, who just so happened to benefit handsomely from the breakup.

News / Monument gets erected when a clique rules in a small Polish town [29]


He was far, far too partisan - the Presidency in Poland since 1997 has clearly been designed to be a ceremonial position, and he went against that. There was all the stuff designed to stir up tension with other countries, there was the needless vetoing of many things - the list goes on. As a President, his approval ratings were down around 20% - pathetic. Then there was the "opposing for the sake of opposing" - he had a very nasty habit of supporting the exact opposite to what the Government was doing for the sake of it. An example - Kosovo. Another example - EU meetings.

His only real success was with the Jewish community - something that often went unnoticed in Poland. It was probably the only thing that he carried on from Kwasniewski - and it was unpopular within his own party.

He was simply a very poor President who completely misunderstood what the Presidency was about.

And that's speaking as a centrist voter who is politically neutral in Poland (always voted for who was best in my area, not on the basis of national politics)

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