Travel / Live cameras over Poland [21]

Doesn't work on iPads so I can't check these right now however there are quite a few very good webcams showing views from Poland. Some a official ones and some are ones that people have rigged up on their windowsill.

Travel / Warsaw next week - ideas? [5]

Lots to see - try wikitravel for suggestions. What sort of things do you like doing?

Btw, it will still be warm enough to sit outside in September.

News / PO-PiS again neck and neck [248]


Plenty of classics there - including ones he removed. I wonder what he had against Ferdydurke?

News / PO-PiS again neck and neck [248]

Don't forget TKM, the acronym for a particularly crude expression of Lech Kaczynski's when he took office and was talking about corruption. Translating into English as "now it's our f***ing turn"...

Life / Polish way of life? [34]

You assume anyone who isn't of Polish ethnicity is an expat. Many are not and some with Polish roots are.

Life / Polish way of life? [34]

That thumbnail sketch is a bit like cutting up body parts from various American morgues, sewing them together and calling the grisly result a typical American. A kind of cultural Frankenstein's Monster.

Imagery is not a way of life.

Life / Polish way of life? [34]


Any such 'synthetic encapsulation' would be at best subjective and reduction all, no matter where it came from. Trying to create something that isn't there.


I wouldn't know. Though I doubt it, since there are many 'alternatives' in Polish culture.


Likewise since I'm not an expat. However you yourself have lived here for some time while, if most of your posts here are an accurate reflection of your views, developing a fairly limited understanding of what's around you.

Life / Polish way of life? [34]

There are many. It is a plural society.

News / PO-PiS again neck and neck [248]


Would that be some of the books he removed from the school curriculum?

News / PO-PiS again neck and neck [248]

Giertych was a disaster. And as you know, PiS without the coalition was thrown out by the voters I a huge turnout. The chances of them ever getting back are remote.

News / PO-PiS again neck and neck [248]

I doubt that will ever happen. PIS and SLD have more in common politically - not that they'll ever make a coalition, and we should take note of what happens on the political landscape before the next election. One thing is clear though - other parties will make sure that PiS don't get in through the back door again.

News / The sack for 7,000 teachers in Poland? [8]


You're talking about this again? That's quite often that it pops into your thoughts, isn't it?

News / The sack for 7,000 teachers in Poland? [8]


More a 'spin-off' of half a million people emigrating plus the kids from the population spike of a few years ago no longer being of school age.

USA, Canada / Would like to move back to Poland from New York after living in USA for 20 years. [155]

Yes, that's exactly the problem. When they make about the same as a semi-qualified English teacher per hour (and less in some hospitals and clinics) they need to work a lot of hours to get a good income.

I know one doctor who was doing massage and another 'iridology' because it was an extra income stream, plus another doing Amway.

News / PO-PiS again neck and neck [248]

They'll certainly get in bed with anyone, but will in the end take the better deal. I doubt they'll touch the electorally toxic PiS.

Life / Etiquette in a Store and Market Queues in Poland [146]

Exactly. Just the same. Long queues of teenagers to the 'night shop' and those little glass pipes in shops everywhere.

Hopefully it'll make them a bit more chilled out than some of their forebears, but perhaps that's optimistic.

USA, Canada / Would like to move back to Poland from New York after living in USA for 20 years. [155]

I know one who earns a pretty poor wage - quite hardworking too. I also know others who are working as pharmaceutical salespeople because they can earn more from the commission than they can treating patients. It isn't so much about poverty - it's about their years of training and skill level of their work in relation to their income.

USA, Canada / Would like to move back to Poland from New York after living in USA for 20 years. [155]

It's quite a big matter for those who've trained for years as a doctor and have to do three jobs while still scrimping and saving.

USA, Canada / Would like to move back to Poland from New York after living in USA for 20 years. [155]

15000 is a decent middle-class salary, but what about the other 50%. At 80 to 100 pln for an hour's consultation with a big chunk of that paid to the clinic for office space/receptionist and then tax taken off some of them are not doing that well at all.

Life / Etiquette in a Store and Market Queues in Poland [146]

That just shows how out of touch you are.

News / Anti-atheisation institute in Poland emerging [110]


No. Each of those massacres was condoned (and in some cases directly ordered) by the Vatican and the perpetrators absolved.

News / PO-PiS again neck and neck [248]

Not a chance. No other party is likely to go into coalition with them, and worth remembering that sat time they were ousted as soon as there was a chance in an ouster with an unprecedented turnout.

USA, Canada / Would like to move back to Poland from New York after living in USA for 20 years. [155]

Doctors here have to work extremely long hours and have more than one job here if they want to make decent money - and even then, the pay isn't that good.

Quite simply, there are far too many doctors here all chasing the same work.

Life / Etiquette in a Store and Market Queues in Poland [146]


You think it's different here in PL?

News / Anti-atheisation institute in Poland emerging [110]


The Catharsis, Bogumils, Albigensians wold not share your inane giggling. Nor would the French Protestants on St Bartholomew's Day or the Templars.

News / Anti-atheisation institute in Poland emerging [110]

Nonsense. It was a result of many things over a long time.

Study / Public dorms in Warsaw for students [26]

Still expensive for a shared room in a place like that.

Study / Public dorms in Warsaw for students [26]

That looks much more expensive than renting privately.

USA, Canada / Prayer, relgious symbols OK in public in Québec! Poland watches. [99]


Why not? Who are we to judge the validity of someone else's belief system.


You're mistaking it for something else.

Life / Etiquette in a Store and Market Queues in Poland [146]

Magdalena, why not go on a forum for Poles in the UK and tell them they're whining when they talk about what they see around them?

Mind you, whining is far from unknown here in PL...