Food / Miracle Whip availability in Poland? [43]

It *might* be available in a Kuchnia Swiata shop -- if you're close to one -- but I can't say for certain. I know I'm still hunting for Heinz Salad Cream ...

Life / "Protestant" or Non Catholic communities in Poland [18]

There are other faiths around - but not so very obvious.
I used to attend a regular Anglican service in Gdansk, but that's about .. um ... 7 or 8 years ago now. Not sure what happens now, if anything.

The services were in Wrzeszcz originally, in rooms owned by .. I believe a Baptist church (not sure of the details, now, I must admit)
Just before I stopped going they were having services in a Polish not-Roman Catholic church up behind Gdansk Glowny railway station. (near Urz M.)
I've seen a few 7th Day Adventist churches -- there's one on Jaskowa Dolina in Gdansk, and I'm sure I"ve seen others.

I've met Mormans in Urz M. while getting my karta pobytu, had JWs at my door even 12 years ago
And for sure I've met other missionary types from time to time at e.g. language classes.
I know of a few other more evangelical churches, not necessarily in the city -- even with followers na wsi.

Life / British Population in Trojmiasto [10]

you can count me too

Real Estate / Gdańsk - Safe and decent residential areas? [14]

Did you have any luck with finding employment?
Thomson Reuters/Lipper are in Gdynia.

jobs.thomsonreuters.com/search?q=gdynia&search=&startrow=1

Real Estate / Gdańsk - Safe and decent residential areas? [14]

It really depends on where you're going and at what time of day.
When I worked in Wrzeszcz I heard complaints from a colleague about coming from Zaspa by public transport ...
Avoid anything west of the forest.

Study / Shocking! Test standards in Polish schools. [165]


9/10 ?
A result like this could encourage me to try harder, or train me that the details didn't matter.
I could work hard, learn well and turn out a perfect piece of text ... to get 1 more point. Be still, my beating heart.

Life / Poles don't know that baby seat should be in back only? [16]

PiP - you sound as if you have particular people in mind? Otherwise, how can you tell whether or not the airbag is still active?

For sure, deactivation of the airbag is essential if the baby is in the front seat -- unless a parent is content to take risks in situations where the outcome can be quite tragic indeed (internal decapitation)

As for the safest here ... or there ... debate. You don't have to get baby into the car for that -- start a conversation on sleeping positions :)

/cjj

Law / Difference between an expat and a immigrant (or permanet resident) in Poland [41]

I reckon I'm an immigrant by definition but an ex-pat emotionally. Very hard to let go of emotional ties to the oul' sod.
I lived for a while in Canada (intending to settle there for ever) and as soon as I got through official-dom in the airport I was officially a "landed immigrant". Noone seemed to care if I'd got into the country because I'd proved my worth or because I was a refugee -- the focus was on the future : what you could help to build (together with so many other immigrants over the years) in one's new country. I'm happy to contribute to the building of Poland's future.

Life / Cost of raising a child in Poland [21]


I would guess this means the hours that the pre-school is open - and you pay the fee regardless of when your child is 'present'.

Someone who goes to work for 0700 is hooped in our local area because the pre-school doesn't open until 0700 -- 0600 would be much better. Correspondingly, someone with an office job and leaving work at 1700 might hope it was open until 1800. There's 12 hours with hopefully a range of meals depending on when the little darlings are around.

I think anyone who has combined a job with pre-school is happy to see some 'extra' time around the hours they need it. Nothing worse than sitting in a traffic-jam behind an accident knowing Pani is sucking her teeth as she checks her watch every 2 minutes.

Life / Cost of raising a child in Poland [21]

From my memories with pre-schools ... the Place of Abode registration address mattered for cost. When your registered address was outside the catchment area the costs went up quite steeply.

And the meals ... oh my goodness :D

Food / Where can you buy a crockpot aka slow cooker, in Krakow? [38]

Real : I looked last night and couldn't see anything of the sort :( Now I wonder if the previous sighting was like BigFoot or something ".. I swear .. I saw it ... it was <this> big". At the time this particular store was trying to sell some strange things -- nearly as if they were emptying a warehouse somewhere of stuff (no better word for it). Now they've been Reorganised ... aisles moved around and back to the usual offerings of more meat grinders, meat slicers, vegetable driers and expensive coffee machines than you could shake a stick at.

My slow cooker (I speak UK) came in a suitcase from Ireland ... but that was before the luggage allowance clampdown.

Food / Where can you buy a crockpot aka slow cooker, in Krakow? [38]

i saw crock pots in Real recently -- within the last 2 months, for sure...

Food / Are there any real kebab shops in Gdansk? [20]


I expect most Poles up here in the sticks believe they already have the 'real' type of kebab ... so wouldn't hold my breath for lamb appearing on the spits.

I was back in Ireland last week and it was a treat to walk into a butchers and see a wide selection of everything from lamb cuts to decent beef. sigh.

Work / Salary, holidays - questions to employer during a job interview in Poland [47]


Yes, I believe I do, thanks for asking.

They're also "yearly, gross" values rather than the Polish habit of "monthly, net"... or sometimes "monthly, gross" which I also find endlessly confusing :)

I would like to advertise with a range. When I have laid out the requirements of the post it seems only fair to state the remuneration range on offer. Then a job-seeker can decide if it's worth their while, and after the interview I can decide where they land within the range with respect to their experience and interview.

Life / Cost of delivering a child in Poland [30]

I suspect with Medicover the key question is "do you have a hospital or must I use an NFZ one?"
My pregnancy and birth was with Medicover all the way .. but they don't have a hospital of their own where I live so had to contract out to local institutions.

Same with the cancer treatment I received through them -- all contracted out to the local NFZ. While I obviously got a scan/diagnosis much faster I ended up an ordinary user "in the system" once I got on to my chemo and rads treatment.

Work / Salary, holidays - questions to employer during a job interview in Poland [47]

'Here' is US ? (had a quick look at your profile)
That's interesting - there was me thinking it was just Poland.
I was used to the sort of situation you can see in the link below - ok some of them are saying silly words like "excellent" or "competitive", but by and large $'s are mentioned clearly.

totaljobs.com/JobSeeking/(Software%20Development).html

Seems up-front and sensible.

Work / Salary, holidays - questions to employer during a job interview in Poland [47]

Why would they, when an advertisement will say up front what the salary is?

Life / Cost of delivering a child in Poland [30]

Oh no ... don't. Stay in the US, please -- somewhere your wife will be treated with dignity.
I had a baby in Poland - apparently covered by private health care which was ok for my monthly visits to the private clinic.
Then came the hospital and off I was tipped into NFZ.
I"ll accept this was 8 years ago - and possibly things have changed *dramatically* (hah!) but for me the high points were ..
Unhygenic and Dirty wards. My room was mopped twice a day but there was only a single (nearly broken) shower/toilet which was shared between all the ladies and therefore continuously blood-stained.

Forget the birth-partner concept. I needed a section and my husband was only allowed with me because I couldn't speak English.
No English-speaking doctors. Of course the nurses didn't either
Beds from the middle ages. This might sound absurd, but when you've had major abdominal surgery it's nice to think the bed might adjust.

Food worse than in prisons. Milk soup every morning and the other 2 meals *every day* were bread, butter and garlic sausage. I was in for a week and never saw fibre or any fruit/vegetables.

An understanding of newborns that insisted I give my child to the nursery nurses to be fed glucose after he was born.
This was the regional 'acute-care' hospital in a large city ... not some forgotten place in the back-woods.

cjj
p.s. i wonder if they still wash babes by holding them upside down by their heels under the running tap in the rooms ... that was a sight to behold ;)

Travel / Going to Tricity (Trojmiasto) soon. What to see, where to go - not so obvious but interesting places [14]

i seem to remember a thread like this before :)

but on reflection (and a little searching) the idea was a little different ...

What to do when it's raining in Gdansk

Food / Expats' Polish food favourites [140]

my favourites?
beetroot salad and chlodnik
everything else is pretty much 'eat to live'

Law / Interesting Phenomenon with used cars in Poland [17]


you mean someone is too lazy to type the data into the form? ("Why should I bother no one will believe it anyway")

or maybe it's quite true ... the car that now exists has come fresh from the "make 1 car from n" workshop. an e pluribus unum moment.

Life / $3,000-$4,000 a month - would we have enough money to live in Poland? [273]


email sent :)

Language / What's a Polish equivalent of hardware store? [9]

try Obi or Castorama ... bound to work in the same way as Hoover :D

Work / Some cold, hard facts about teaching in Poland for newbies [101]


was the class made up of kids actually from K4 and K5 - or did they simply have a range of ages that covered expected ages for K4 and K5 ?

in my experience - from my daughter's class -- there can be a very wide range of ages in the same class year. Right now, my daughter is 13 - not 14 until July - but some children in her class have already turned 15.

Travel / Warsaw, Wroclaw, Poznan, Gdansk and Krakow - Five Polish Cities in Google Street View [17]

"next year" is the key information for anyone intent on heading over to google right now.

Study / When will Polish schools start to recruit for September 2011? [23]

There's an American School in Gdynia

americanschool.pl/index.php?lang=us

Also some schools with some of the teaching in English

gdynia
ww2.lo3.gdynia.pl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=378 &Itemid=153

gdansk

gla.gfo.pl/component/content/article/128.html

Probably one in Sopot too (private) but can't remember its name just now.

Life / $3,000-$4,000 a month - would we have enough money to live in Poland? [273]

Let's try again with added references for Gdynia (why did my last post end up in the random thread)

There are a number of native-english speaking ex-pats in the area - but most I know have families and jobs so catching up with them is difficult sometimes.

Anyway - this swimming pool in Gdynia does swimming lessons as well as 'free' swimming - so maybe your son would like to attend? It's not a leisure pool because it's marked out in lanes and everyone obediently swims up and down.

We're down there around 9am on Saturdays. Leave shortly after 11am usually - sometimes up to Swietojanska for brunch :)

/cjj

Life / $3,000-$4,000 a month - would we have enough money to live in Poland? [273]


Well yes -- I think I have dropped a few comments to that effect in earlier posts!
Right now I'm sitting in Gdansk, but my daughter goes to school in Gdynia and we're down at the swimming pool (think "opposite the pirate ship and beside the aquarium") every saturday morning.

c
i'm irish - but i've lived in vancouver b.c. so i can do north american too :)

Life / $3,000-$4,000 a month - would we have enough money to live in Poland? [273]

Hi
I was down there on Saturday morning (pirate ship was all tied up :) )
There's a swimming pool just beside the aquarium building. it's part of the Akademia Morska but open to the public on saturday morning (at least). not a US leisure centre by any stretch of the imagination, but perfectly adequate for swimming lengths and for kids' swimming lessons.

am.gdynia.pl/html/aktualnosci/basen/

/cjj

Life / $3,000-$4,000 a month - would we have enough money to live in Poland? [273]

In the beginning everything takes a lot of time - but routines will develop, things will get easier.
And it doesn't rain all the time :)
/cjj