News / Crucifixes to stay in Polish schools [364]

Correction to my post: There are crucifixes in our Pre-school. The shipment of crosses just arrived and they are now hanging on the wall along with the crowned eagle and the children's art projects.

Real Estate / Septic systems in Poland [11]

We have a so-called ecological septic system. I was freaked out when the seller/installer asked us if we wanted a tank with a bottom or without. Yes, please, without so all the sewage can seep into my basement. That is illegal by the way. We have a very large piece of land so our system takes up a lot of space (underground) and required a lot of digging and installing. It cost 3000 PLN and we have never needed to empty yet.

And about mistakes made as in the posts above-Our installer connected tank 3 to the system and connected tank 2 to tank 3. He also connected tank 1 to the house but he didn't connect tank 1 to tank 2. Unfortunately for him, he had to return to do it after we had started to use the system.

kielbasastories.blogspot.com

Real Estate / Foreigners can now buy houses in Poland [55]

Hmmm, if you think it would improve my business...

Real Estate / Foreigners can now buy houses in Poland [55]

My company offers about the same service but in a different region and we also provide language lessons. We don't have office space anymore as it hardly ever got used. Everybody wanted us to come to them. I think these are reasonable combinations of business activities and they do not detract from each other as some here have suggested.

I am also not Polish (but my Polish is on a good enough level to, for ex, take my client to the bank and open an account, arrange to lease a vehicle, those types of things) and I don't find that it is a problem in this business. Many of my clients feel good knowing that I have been through the same process that they have and can live here happily and that Poland is a "normal" country. Some of my clients feel that it is a green light to bad mouth Polish people which is not cool, but I try to nip that in the bud.

I've rented a flat, bought a flat, bought a house, got married, leased a car, sold a car, bought a car, taken a mortgage, been to court, been to hospital, been attacked on the street, and much, much more here in Poland and for those reasons I feel that I can offer valuable advice to my clients. It was said that the gentleman above has not lived in Poland long enough to give such advice, but he can always hire someone who can assist in areas he is lacking.

I do not have a mini-skirt, however ;)

Good luck!

kielbasastories.blogspot.com

News / Crucifixes to stay in Polish schools [364]

I can give you the perspective of a parent with a child in school in Poland.

First, I feel that church and state should be separate. My parents wanted me to receive a Catholic education so they sent me to private Catholic school and to catechism at church. I think those were the proper places for my religious instruction.

My daughter has just started "school". It is pre-school which starts from age 3. At the 1st parents/teachers meeting, we were informed that if we wanted our kids to attend Religia that we would have to sign them up. We didn't. Later on, we were asked by the Dyrektorka to write a declaration that we DO NOT want our child to attend. We did it. This week, we were told that the classroom teacher also needs an original declaration that we do not want our child to attend Religia. I think that they are trying to pressure us into allowing our child to attend because they have to do something with her during that lesson...or maybe they want to save her soul ;)

For those readers who may still be unaware, Religia in Polish schools is Catechism not Religions (of the world). Even though the teachers insist the lessons are very fun and general, it is still Catechism. At the first lesson they were taught the sign of the cross (the father, son, holy spirit, amen) and that good little boys and girls go to church.

It is true that Religia is optional. She does not have to go and she is not the only one who does not attend. In fact, a lot of kids do not attend. But someone said this is a majority/minority issue - I don't agree. This is a separation of church and state issue and even further a separate but equal issue. My daughter and the other children are given care during the Religia equal to the kids who attend Religia, but already the opt-outs are showing signs of feeling worse than the other kids. Some readers may not care, saying kids have to toughen up and learn about real life, but when it is your kid and it is about such a personal issue as religion, you may understand me a little better.

As a note, many parents who want their children to have religious instruction at school have decided not to send their children as the school could not provide any information about the person providing the instruction nor could they provide a program of instruction for the year.

There are not any crucifixes in the pre-school.

kielbasastories.blogspot.com

Love / I'm getting married to a Polish guy and need advice before visit his family; gifts, topics, customs [82]

It should be noted that in Poland direct eye contact with strangers can be held for a longer time than is acceptable or comfortable for some visitors. I also get the sense that some people expect you to give them a stare and that it would be rude not to- I'm thinking about a woman dressed for an evening out- so I always oblige. (I heard that women dress to impress other women anyhow)

We have a house in the village too and we get our fair share of staring (I call it gap-ing). At the same time we bought our house, a German/Polish lady bought an old mill to turn it into a restaurant. The local gossip was that I was that lady (not true) and that I planned to make a brothel (not true). When confronted by one very brave neighbor, I cleared up the confusion and joked that if a brothel was moving in at least there'd be jobs in the area. My joke didn't go over too well.

kielbasastories.blogspot.com

Love / I'm getting married to a Polish guy and need advice before visit his family; gifts, topics, customs [82]

Good luck with your visit. From my experience the "in-laws" will probably try to feed you a lot and will often give you a second (or third) helping without asking. My advice: Bring some trousers with an elastic waistline.

Food / Pierogi Dough [30]

In my experience freezing raw pierogi dough does not give good results. Anyhow, the dough is not so difficult to make that it warrants preparation ahead of time. I know that you have a lot of dough to make but we just quadruple our recipe and get the person with the strongest hands to mix it up. I often freeze pierogi after they are cooked and cooled and they are still pretty good after thawing.

One tip from my mother-in-law: She (and now I can say we 'cause I have successfully learned how to make pierogi) always uses freshly boiled water in her dough and then mixes it with a wooden spoon until it is cool enough to use your hands. It reduces stickiness. I have experimented with the hot water and regular water and it really does make a difference esp. when you are just learning how to make them and stickiness can be a big problem.

Another tip about the blueberry pierogi- When I made them from my google recipe, I had a problem with excess juice from the blueberries and also bursting and squirting blueberries when eating. My m-i-l suggested not adding sugar to the filling but instead adding sugar and cream or sweet cream to the top when serving. It really reduced the mess and my white tablecloth is very grateful.

Now if I could only get my gołąbki rolling technique down. They come undone every time!

Good luck with your pierogi!

kielbasastories.blogspot.com

Life / Which Polish product you can easily do without? [51]

Sidolux grave cleaner to make your grave stone super shiney. And the sweet condensed milk....in a tube. I don't get it???

USA, Canada / Hopeless case for a US tourist visa or fiancee visa? [6]

If you are planning to get married in the US, I would just apply for the fiance visa. It is true that they are meticulous but it is worth a try. After receiving the fiance visa there is a time limit to get married in though and then after that you have to apply for a residence visa and so on and so on. I don't remember the fees for the visas but I don't recall that they were financially burdensome. The burdensome part may be in collecting all the paperwork that you need esp proving that your finances are sufficient to support your spouse.

Good luck and keep us posted!

USA, Canada / Use of Polish language at work in the US [11]

You are right Sledz that Spanish would be more useful when looking for a job. It's a pity I didn't realize during my 4 years of Spanish classes in high school.

My husband speaks English very well so that's not an issue for us.

Thanks again everyone for your input.

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USA, Canada / Use of Polish language at work in the US [11]

You all have pretty much confirmed for me what I suspected - that knowing Polish is not particularly useful when looking for a job in the US for a couple of reasons. One reason being that Polish people in the US can speak English too. Another that US companies which need a person who speaks Polish have a lot of people to choose from (Polish-speaking folks in the US). Also those companies which need a person who speaks Polish are quite few.

I am American and I live in Poland. I can speak Polish moderately well and my husband is Polish so he can obviously speak well ;) My husband was offered 2 jobs in the US where he could use his Polish. One job required 2 languages besides English on an intermediate level and another job didn't require Polish but they did find it useful as the company has a major client in Poland. What's the problem? Health insurance :(

USA, Canada / Use of Polish language at work in the US [11]

Maybe an American woman speaking Polish?
;)