News / Polish police chief removes crosses [250]


agreed. if we're going to be entirely accurate, I should have said something like "over 99%" or something like that.

some others go to prison and come out catholic ;)

Polonius3 wrote:


I don't agree and provided my reasons as to why.

News / Polish police chief removes crosses [250]

4 eigner wrote:


I mean, if we're going to have this discussion, it's gotta' maintain at least some level of accuracy.

EVERY catholic was forced to be Catholic. Do you remember the long talk you had with your parents when you were 6 weeks old, just before they baptized you, and they asked you what religion you were most interested in and why? That's right, because it never happened. It also didn't happen when you were 5 or 6 and received Communion. And how would it have gone if when you were 14 you told your parents, "yeah, you know what, I know that our entire family, extended family, friends, neighbors, co-workers....yeah pretty much everyone we know is catholic and has completed their sacraments, but after much thought, I think I'm done with this whole catholic thing, I'm just not going to do Confirmation....."

There's a reason why Saudis are not Catholic....because their parents didn't force them to be when they were young and didn't know any better. No, instead they forced them to take on another religion and to look at women as 3rd class citizens. 4th if we're counting the dog.

I mean.....if we're going to be accurate here.

This 92% I keep hearing is grossly inaccurate and you all know it. For most people that don't go to church anymore and have no attachment to the RCC at all, they're still going to check the "Catholic" box when asked what religion they are. It's that simple. They're not at the "Atheist" point, at least not yet, so when given the other choices, they're going to claim Catholic. Simples.

I guess what I'm saying is if you're not a full blown atheist or if at the very least you're not sure, you're going to put the check mark next to the religion you grew up with.

News / Polish police chief removes crosses [250]


OK, so that's a no.


I'm not banned (at least not that I know of) from any church. Am I then free to claim that I am Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, or anything else?

News / Polish police chief removes crosses [250]


I have done all sacraments including marriage in a Catholic church. I do not believe in Jesus, or any god for that matter. I do not claim there is no god because that's equal to insisting there in fact IS a god.

Am I Catholic?

News / Polish police chief removes crosses [250]

For the non-religious police officers in Poland, they probably don't care whether the crosses are up or not. If you don't believe, the cross has no significance anyhow. just like i don't care that the money in my pocket says, "In God We Trust." Start telling me that 10% of the money in my pocket needs to go to a man in a dress with a big cane and a funny hat who in turn will not pay taxes.....ever....I'd take issue.

The church problems exist when people push religious agendas onto non-believers AND believers alike. We all know there are many different levels of religiousness, some people still believe a man lived inside a whale and the talking snake and all that, others were simply baptized Catholic because they were 6 weeks old and didn't have a choice and today they believe maybe in "some" god, but whether it's a peasant jew with a beard and sandals or Zeus or Poseidon or whatever, they're not sure or don't care to recognize any personification of any kind with their god. Such believers are becoming more and more common and find the uber religious annoying and overbearing and sometimes a bit loony.

If you're a devout catholic, whether the crosses are there or not shouldn't make any difference. Your faith should be quite enough. Traditions are for the most part just old habits. They stemmed from somewhere, and before those traditions existed, there were different ones. 1,000 years ago, young Polish boys probably didn't splash water on young girls the day after easter. 1,000 years from today, Poles probably won't do that either. And the world will continue to turn, either way.

USA, Canada / Looking for Polish beer in the United States [39]


you're right. in that case, just from the list above, you should at the very least avoid Harnas, Zubr, Warka, Okocim, Tatra, Piast.....I saw "Goolman" on the list? Is that Polish?

Life / The Polish work ethic - or the lack of it [23]


Delph and I rarely agree on much, but I'm right with him on this one.

It's not an "areas of business thing", it's a Polish thing. coming from a totally different country with a totally different work ethic, I simply never understood it.

Christmas is 3 days (on the books) but extends to 5 or 6. Easter is 2 days (on the books) but geeze, how can anyone imagine working the day before the holiday or the day after the holiday for that matter....sick leave is unbelievable....a common cold lands you a week at home with a doctor's note and a prescription of antibiotics (for a virus? what?!) and people just randomly don't make it to work for whatever reason they conjure up.

on average, if you stick me in an office in Poland with 50 people for a year's worth of working, i'll be scratching my head week to week wondering why people can't seem to put in a full 5 day work week.

i could never be any sort of manager of people in Poland, I'd end up hurting a lot of people's feelings.

+1 Delph.

Life / Polish natural remedies and homeopathey better than English [84]


yeah. that and aspirin.

Life / Polish natural remedies and homeopathey better than English [84]


it is "dying out" because modern medicine wasn't an option years ago, they did with what they had. they also died of basic infections all the time because they didn't have......modern medicine.

for small things like colds and such, sure, do your homeopathy thing, but we all know everyone gets over colds and the flu regardless of what they take or don't take and there's no saying whether your whiskey and honey cocktail helped your child get over a cold in 13 days instead of 14.

agreed that things like antibiotics are delved out waaaay too frequently, poland being a huge culprit of this. if it's a virus, you're wasting your time. BUT, if you got something like strep, you better go the prescription route instead of vodka and pepper, otherwise you're simply prolonging someone's suffering.

Love / I love a Polish girl, but I don't want her to drink [37]


what they're trying to say is, if your religion prohibits it, and hers does not (obviously, priests drink wine at mass. hell, Jesus turned water into wine and all that according to the bible) then why is it HER that needs to adjust?

Work / Cost of Living, Average Salaries and Job sites in Poland [263]


better yet, flat out tell them what you earn in the UK, including any yearly bonuses and any benefits you might have like a company car, paid medical, etc. that way, whatever they were thinking of offering you will seem like a pittance. let them embarrass themselves by offering first. it puts the ball in your court because you can make your initial reaction...not counter offer, just your initial reaction convey to them, "wow, that's all you guys pay people in Poland?"

targeting business peoples' egos is a great way to negotiate.

Life / A Polka station in Poland? [27]


omfg. i couldn't even get through it. 30 seconds and my face was red with embarrassment.

holy mackerel.

haha, the worst part is the guy can't even dance! i mean he's completely off beat when he moves his body. and the glasses! OOOOHHH those glasses! and the duck faces! OOOOHHH the duck faces!

Life / A Polka station in Poland? [27]


well, it most certainly is distinct from American rap. to sie rozumie samo przez sie.

Travel / Just visited Poland - here is my random rant [154]


you've never been there which means your judgement on this topic is no better than the next guy that reads the internet. additionally, I'm not discussing "better or worse", just how different it is. so uhhmmmm.....yeah, it's different. like night and day.


Agreed. But I was talking about the "radar boxes".


"seems" huh? what are you basing that on, again? Why don't you just take my word for it. Because i know what i'm talking about.

I'm still waiting for you to make a point here. So far it's like you're typing for the sake of typing.


I traveled plenty from 2007 to 2011, in Europe, and you already know my experience.


ha! holy random information, Batman!


we do? PLEASE go ahead and let us all know.


haha! you are truly like stand up comedy. you keep typing that garbage and you have absolutely no evidence of any of it.

Piece of advice: you need to be more careful typing to people that know vs. what you're going off of, which is speculation, internet jockeying, and your own bias. You're a perfect example of that poster that wants things to be true so you type as if it is true.

The worst part is that you always insist on coming at me with personal attacks which ruins the discussion. Just stick to the topic, Delph! A rebuttal using just personal attacks is not a rebuttal. ,

You were just a young pup when you first came on this forum, telling people how much you know about the world, and apparently nothing's changed (don't worry, I won't bring up the failed website you set up after being just a few months in Poland, designed to give newcomers to Poland advice on......Poland......from a guy that didn't even speak.....Polish....who had just graduated from college, with zero work experience....the website was called lindenia.....imagine a 23 year old kid fresh out of college about to tell foreigners everything about a country he had just landed in....and charge them money for it.) oh damn, did I just type that? oops.

It doesn't have to come to this Delph if you'd just stick to the topic and stop slinging mud for no reason.

Life / A Polka station in Poland? [27]

curious.....rap is American....and 99.9999% black. how have Poles made rap their own?

Travel / Just visited Poland - here is my random rant [154]


i must have struck a nerve. in any case, yeah, where i'm from.....yep, night and day.


bull$hit.


it's been about 2 1/2 years. i'll be in the EU next month, I'll let you know if anything's changed.

Travel / Just visited Poland - here is my random rant [154]

I'm not advocating anyone's opinion on this nutty forum, but I'll throw in a few things about that last post. I left out parts of quotes to keep this post under novel size and just quoted seriously?'s responses. My apologies if it's misleading for others:


i would love to know which one YOU come from, because the western country I come from is night and day compared to Poland.


uhmm.....where I'm from? police manually run laser on the roads sporadically (mostly on highways) but radar fixed on metal poles in different locations in a town.....no.


it does nothing for the environment because, as you said, it's a "tiny amount", meaning it doesn't deter anyone from paying it. a bill of 105.40 or 105.50 has no impact on the environment.


i can honestly say I've never been asked, ever, for my plane ticket when buying anything at an airport. nope.


Polish bureaucracy is notorious. any number of people on this forum can attest to that.


i have. they offer comprehensive medical insurance to all their full time employees.


i'm becoming quite suspect myself after reading this one. suspect of you.
anyone that thinks Poland has anything but lousy weather hasn't lived anywhere else.....excluding maybe countries with colder, rainier, sloppier, snowier weather.


you've had to pay for toilet paper?

USA, Canada / General differences between Poland and the USA? [184]


Ok. Which American micro brews are being offered? I'm all ears.

USA, Canada / General differences between Poland and the USA? [184]

that's because you've only had the mass produced bull$hit American beers, the good stuff simply cannot be found in Poland.

Travel / Just visited Poland - here is my random rant [154]


if it was for ecological reasons, it would cost considerably more to discourage people from buying them. for the guy that just spent 178.20 on groceries, increasing his bill to 178.30 because he needs 2 bags to fit all his stuff he couldn't possibly carry in his bare hands.....hardly a deterrent.

charging for "lemon to tea" is for the environment too?

Law / Getting married in Poland (documentation, church) [42]


not following. you didn't address the conversation, or my statement, whatsoever.


once again, i don't know where you're going with this.


yeah....the truth stings a little sometimes.


.......and to remember that ultimately the Catholic way is the better way.

Do pay attention bethanyxx, for it is YOU that needs to explain all this to your children, and your family.

Law / Getting married in Poland (documentation, church) [42]


take a big ole' step off your high horse, bucko. so you were a virgin when you got married? did you sleep in the same bed as your fiance before you got married? how do you feel about homosexuals? what about having sex for pleasure, whenever you want? what about contraception? ever been divorced? I could go on and on, I actually remember my pre-cana in Poland. it was done in mass lecture, the church was standing room only filled with couples about to get married....and half of them were falling asleep. you know, a "foundation for failure" and all that.


for the same reason most others do it. because one of their spouses can't imagine breaking the tradition, or an even stronger influence, because they know their mother would be heartbroken if she didn't see her little girl walk down the aisle. tradition trumps the rest and if just one wants it and the other doesn't, the "other" one chalks it up as, "oh hell, it's just 45 minutes, he/she's happy, then we can leave and start the real party." don't try and make it out to be more than it is.


and hokus pokus alamagokus.

I mean, no offense dude, if you're into all that, rock on buddy, but you're romanticizing about something very few actually pay attention to.


ain't that nice? ain't it nice to know that you're "on the wrong side"? as a matter of fact, that would most likely include your entire family. it'll make you feel good walkin' down that aisle, especially because you'll finally be "on the right side".........right? look no further to see how amazingly condescending religion can be.

so bethanyxx, how do you feel about eliminating your own faith from your life, as well as your children's lives?

or do you plan on crossing your fingers behind your back.

,

Law / Getting married in Poland (documentation, church) [42]


in other words, you gotta lie.

no offense to you, but that's priceless. "yes, yes, we understand you're not catholic, but please sign here, promising that you will not raise your children to follow your religion, or be raised without religion, rather, it must follow our religion."

it's all so silly but the majority of Poles see it all as a sham as well so you'll just be another one going through the mumbo jumbo tongue in cheek, fingers crossed behind your back.

Law / Getting married in Poland (documentation, church) [42]


ding ding ding. that's the game changer. when you're already married, big a$$ache avoided.


are you suggesting that you don't have to give ANY money to the church if you're having a wedding there? i sure hope not, I've never heard of a single wedding happening in Poland without hundreds of PLN being given to the man in the dress and the big hat.

Law / Getting married in Poland (documentation, church) [42]

Bethanyxx wrote:


i'm american and got married in poland to my polish wife.....with a twist.

after looking into it and realizing how unbelievable the whole process was to do for a foreigner start to finish in poland, we went a different route.

we knew we'd be moving to the USA and having an American marriage certificate would be ideal, so we flew to the USA, had a civil marriage (which required nothing more than my wife's passport and $50 for the marriage certificate from the municipality, not to mention didn't require a K-1 VISA because we both lived in Poland), then came back to Poland and started paperwork in order to just have a wedding in a catholic church in Poland. First step is finding your church and then throwing money at the priest, then doing all the pre-wedding brainwashing classes (pre-cana) at a church where they tell you a bunch of $hit nobody actually believes in or cares about anymore because we're in the 21st century, and after that we gave our Brainwashing 101 certificate to the priest and had our wedding there. oh, and i had to provide all my documentation, translated into polish, for my baptism, communion, and confirmation because if i wasn't a true catholic (at least on paper....har-dee-har-har), he wasn't havin' it. anyway, that was enough to satisfy jesus at the time. what it would have taken to do the whole shibang in Poland, i don't even want to think about. they were talking 6 months time with the review process and whatever else.

have the wedding in Poland, though. it's awesome, assuming you got the money to do it right.

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

f stop wrote:


That's a completely different discussion.


Regardless of how much an education costs in money, it's an investment in time. A doctor goes through what.....12 years of school on average? Why put yourself through such a stringent and demanding program, missing out on all the earning and investing and networking you could have done while in your late teens, twenties, early thirties....only to come out and make crap money.

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


let's not, because you pulled from the lowest paying MD on the entire list. the 31 year old that just finished all his studies.

no matter that the average income for an MD specialist is listed at $339,738. or that anesthesiologists earn $370,500. or that an orthopedic MD takes home $688,503.

but that's ok, because you've concluded that this is all apparently an unsolved mystery.

you know how i conclude all this? now....this is just me but.....consider the fact that every single doctor in the USA lives in a big beautiful house and drives a $100,000 car.....and every single doctor in Poland......mmmmm.....does not.

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


yes. some doctors get flushed out of their private practices due to high malpractice insurance which can total $200,000/year or more. Lots of BS lawsuits for BS reasons.


i just looked at that link, it says nothing about doctor wages. and your numbers are completely off.

medscape.com/features/slideshow/compensation/2013/public

this link is from medscape and it's 2013. the lowest doctor salary is $170,000, all the way up to $400,000+ and some make even more:

healthcareers.about.com/od/compensationinformation/f/TopPayDoctors.htm

Monitor, what source did you use to get "3000pln median salary" in Poland?


indeed. the absolute bare bones minimum salary in the USA for a doctor is $170,000, a rockin' salary in anyone's eyes, and that's just their salary for their day to day job.

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


i don't understand.

as it is currently, a parent in the USA can insure their children with their insurance up to age 26. if their kids do not have insurance, it's because they chose to not give it to them.


i'd rather be treated by someone with the brains to not go through 12 years of college to make chump change. not an intelligent person's decision. doctors in the USA become doctors because they had the grades and the drive to do it and oh yeah, smarter people tend to pursue higher paying jobs because for them, it's actually an option.

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


additionally, 5 states do not have sales tax.


i think what he's trying to say is that when they receive treatment, they demand the best. nobody is going to (at least not effectively) argue that America's current healthcare system is without flaws, but the treatments and technologies offered in the USA are second to none. if you plan on getting into a terrible car wreck, best to do it on American soil, it would give you the best chance of walking out of the hospital one day.

those that are uninsured are generally the lower middle class. not educated enough to have a solid career and not poor enough to be on Medicaid, which causes lapses in insurance coverage when they're between jobs.