Life / I was cursing Poland daily, then returned home, but now thinking of going back.. [39]

The majority of people I know are well above the poverty line. Perhaps you chose to spend your entire time in poverty-stricken former PGR areas, but that's not how most people live.


Have you used the health care system in Poland? I doubt it, otherwise you'd know that the system does work - with the usual problems that universal healthcare has.


Impossibly high? My taxation is 32% plus 850zl a month - and that's as high as it can go. On average, with deductions, it comes to around 25% plus 850zl - not a bad deal by any standard. It's certainly far lower than many other countries. Again - clearly basing it on what you've read on some forum, not the truth.

Violence-ruled orphanages? Clearly fantasizing again. The system here actually does try to keep families together - orphanages are very much a "last resort" in a country which can't afford to pay hundreds of zloty a week to professional 'foster' parents.

So, in other words, you worked for some Callan school in the middle of nowhere and are now exceptionally bitter because you agreed to a terrible contract?

News / Citizen-led Initiative on Abortion Law in Poland [50]


Nope. It's the same old, same old - Poland is exactly like America in this respect - a constant struggle between "ban" and "no ban". The current law is the compromise that most people agree with - and the majority of the Sejm supports it.

News / €80 billion for Poland new EU budget [166]


No no - basically, each project requires Poland to put up their own contribution to the project. Usually, projects are funded 2/3rds by the country (for example, Poland) and the European Union will pay for the remaining 1/3rd. It does vary - I've seen 50-50% projects in Poland, but most common is for the first option.

It's actually quite a fair system - especially as the funds have an expiry date, so they can't simply take the cash and do nothing with it - they must start construction or lose the cash. I recall that the railways actually lost quite a bit of cash in this way.


Paying 35 billion? I think not. Poland's contribution is around 2 billion a year, no more.

PennBoy - something that's worth pointing out is that Poland stands to massively gain in the coming years from the Common Agricultural Policy - basically, subsidies to farmers. Expect the agricultural areas to massively boom in years to come.

News / €80 billion for Poland new EU budget [166]


Worth pointing out though, that the cohesion funds normally require Poland to put up 2/3rds of the money themselves - so it's not as if the EU is simply handing out free cash. Poland actually has had quite a few problems spending the cash.


Hmm. It's probably more correct to say that Poland is somewhat addicted to EU funds in order to get stuff built - very little investment is happening without EU money. But as I say above - it's only 1/3rd of the money that comes from the EU.

Without that money, the country wouldn't grind to a halt, but there definitely wouldn't be as much roads getting built, things getting renovated, etc etc.

News / €80 billion for Poland new EU budget [166]


Barely anything - around 2 billion a year, or around 12 billion over this timescale. Bear in mind that this is just cohesion funds - in other words, stuff designed to bring Poland in line with the West. It doesn't include all the other parts of EU funding.


This money simply helps Poland to build stuff, really. If the money wasn't there, it's unlikely that many things would get built - especially giant works like water.

News / Poland's Kaczynski blames Russia for brother's death [30]


I think so too - he probably doesn't realise that his party will be sharpening the knives for him - PiS simply cannot survive another 3 years in opposition with Kaczynski as leader. He's already driven them downwards and lost a few talented members - one more defeat is going to really hurt them.


Yep, agreed. The SLD have been behaving like a real opposition party, including pulling PO up on several issues that PiS really should have been shouting about - it's my opinion that another 4 years of credible opposition will see them returned to power in 2015. The courting of the SLD by PiS is nothing short of laughable.

News / €80 billion for Poland new EU budget [166]


Ugh, far too much.

The cohesion policy makes sense when there's money to pay for things - but right now?

News / Poland's Kaczynski blames Russia for brother's death [30]

It's not going to work. People don't like it - in fact, it's almost certain to end in yet another electoral humiliation.

Seems to me as if he has simply run out of ideas - either that, or the obsession with revenge has finally boiled over.

Travel / Plusbus Poznan-Lodz [8]


Not surprised - PKP hammered them with a 3 hour connection from centre-to-centre, and PolskiBus has heavy marketing behind it.

Travel / Off to Poznan in July - what the beer prices are like? [24]


Others answered better than me ;)

Anyway, the cheapest at the minute is 4.50zl, but not in any pub that he will come across. 5-6zl in many places off-Rynek, going right up to 13zl in a hotel bar (but who drinks there?). For a tourist, I'd say to budget between 6-9zl for a beer.


What weekend?

I'd be happy to show you a few bars if I'm here.

Work / The Goal: 3000pln a month, Lets make it happen! [13]


Ah, the life of an American with fantasies about being a sex god SOMEWHERE.


I've never known Polish women to go crazy over a guy with a net worth of less than $100,000. Given that an average sized flat here goes for more than $100k...


Generally speaking, ladies aren't impressed by a bedroom in a student flat.


You aren't qualified. To give tours to more than 9 people in many Polish cities, you need a licence - and the city guards are very, very quick to ask for one. The loophole of 'tips, please' won't work here - and you'll land yourself a criminal record. Ladies certainly won't be impressed with a petty criminal, that's for sure. Incidentally, I know several qualified guides - and all of them openly admit to reporting illegal guides.

Good luck to you - you'll certainly need it.

News / Wal-Mart coming to Poland? [146]


Yet more wrong information from you. After all, alcoholics shouldn't be considered to be any sort of authority on Polish law.

Polish laws about sexual harrassment are actually very strong - I know several cases where companies have had to pay out a lot of money for such events.

Travel / Driving from UK to Ukraine via Poland - need car insurance [46]


There's no need - UA is now in the Green Card scheme, so no need for separate insurance.

News / Lithuanian reality show - lost Polish sponsorship, criticized by Lithuanian Army [20]

The rest are fine - I wonder why they're reducing their credibility by printing articles from ND, then?

Then again - for a Polish news source, that's remarkably unbiased!

News / Lithuanian reality show - lost Polish sponsorship, criticized by Lithuanian Army [20]


But certainly, Sikorski could have gone a long way by engaging in diplomacy with Lithuania (perhaps by signing some sort of "no-sale of Orlen Lietuva without consent" agreement) in exchange for something for the Poles there. Instead, he deliberately chose to over-emphasise some things while almost completely denying that anything was going on with the Lithuanians residing in Poland.


It's not as bad as it's made out to be. I have quite a few Lithuanian friends, and none of them have any issues with Poles - although they do express utter annoyance at the way that the Polish minority has been reporting things - often trivial things are blown up to be huge ANTI-POLISH events.


The problem is that the Polish minority isn't helping itself - provocative acts, deliberately breaking the law of the Republic of Lithuania and generally acting as if they'd break Lithuania apart tomorrow if they could isn't endearing themselves to Lithuania. The Polish government should ignore them (it's political, and there's nothing to be gained from interfering in domestic Lithuanian politics).


That's exactly the kind of behaviour that I'd expect from right-wing Poles. The same nonsense was seen recently with two PiS members attempting to recruit help from America - which was more-or-less totally ignored. As I keep saying - the problem in Lithuania isn't with ordinary Poles and ordinary Lithuanians - it's with extremists on both sides tormenting the normal majority. Picketing the American embassy does nothing except make them look even more stupid - and causes Lithuanians to get mad that the Poles are trying to get "big brother" to help them.


Alas - any site that happily republishes "Nasz Dziennik" immediately betrays its true political leanings. It's not a newspaper that can be associated with moderate leanings - indeed, if they wish to bring credibility to their cause, they'd steer well clear of such stuff.

Bear one thing in mind - as long as Poland discriminates against the Lithuanian minority, there's nothing Poland can say about the treatment of Poles in Lithuania.

Life / How many Jewish people live in Poland? [145]

Do you live in Poland? If so, how many Jewish people do you know?

So, inspired by the many threads on this forum by PolishAmericans claiming that Poland is full of Jewish people - let's have it.

How many of you actually know real (as in practising) Jewish people in Poland?

I'll start with me. I know absolutely none, despite trying my hardest to find one.

Life / The day Poland ran out of artists. [40]


Where can I meet these "leftish Jews" in Poland?

I've tried my hardest to find some, and never found any. I found one who had a Jewish great-great-grandmother, but that hardly counts.

News / Germany provoke Poland using Silesian question. Poland's attitude ? [124]


He doesn't know this though, because he's never been to Poland and knows nothing about it.

I wonder if he even knows what Lemkos are.

News / Lithuanian reality show - lost Polish sponsorship, criticized by Lithuanian Army [20]

Radosław Sikorski, the Lithuanian education minister and right wing Poles in Lithuania, mainly.

UK, Ireland / Poles top the UK's EU crime figures [78]


Which counts for jack **** these days - come on, Poland is mostly known in the West for exporting two things - cheap labour and crime.

Law / The Zlotych v the Swiss Franc [16]

I'd be inclined to leave it alone. While it's hovering around the historical average for the Euro (around 1.95DM/3.9EUR) - the Swiss Franc is a different story - and if you listen to the experts, they'll say that the CHF is now ridiculously overpriced. But given the massive gains that the CHF has made against other currencies - it might collapse, it might not.

In general though, the Zloty is quite an unstable currency - and not something that I'd gamble with. I can't see it falling much further against the CHF - but then again, who would have seen one Swiss Franc being worth more than a dollar?

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

I can tell you now - if there are complications, Poland could get expensive very, very quickly - especially if you're looking for private Western standards of care.

USA, Canada / Thinking about visiting America? Skip it or get molested and arrested for nothing. [79]


Generally speaking, doesn't America have quite a decent reputation for policing? The respect shown to the local police (especially in small towns) far surpasses anything I've seen in Europe.

The TSA is another thing, but heck, enough Americans lay into them.

USA, Canada / Thinking about visiting America? Skip it or get molested and arrested for nothing. [79]


Won't work nowadays - there's been so many stings on uniformed services that many of them simply won't take the risk.

Law / Polish Visa, Work Permit, Residency for Spouse of Polish Citizen [69]


You only have permission once the residence permit is granted - not before.


Job leads? Forget it - Poland works very much on being seen in-person. The demand? As in any other European country, except those with a great command of English. Going rates? Incredibly variable - however, I have my doubts that you'll be treated as anything other than a first-year teacher. [


Neither is easier - both are demanding. Salary difference? Impossible to say - I was once dealing with an offer of 100PLN/hour to teach a 2 year old child. Can you teach children? Only you know.

UK, Ireland / Poles top the UK's EU crime figures [78]


So, a forum which caters to Germanic/Russophile racists has more intelligent people than a forum dedicated to Poland?

Well, well, well. True feelings, and all that.

Life / What is the reason for POLISH jokes ? [486]


Now now, he has to take offence on behalf of Polish people, even when the Poles don't want him to take offence!

Life / Forged parking ticket received in Poland [33]

Well, what's done is done - can't change the past.

I'm more wondering what exactly was forged - was it just a usual ticket from the machine, or something like a pass?

UK, Ireland / Poles top the UK's EU crime figures [78]


You jest, but it's not exactly a big secret that Poland exported a lot of the lowlife trash West.

Life / Forged parking ticket received in Poland [33]


It's actually one thing that I like here - they are far, far more worried about making sure that documents are correct than the UK. I'm pretty sure this is why identity theft is almost unknown here - with so many humans involved in the process, it's much harder to slip through the net.


If you were trying to pass it off as a real copy of the newspaper and selling it (or somehow financially gaining) - they, like in any other country, would prosecute you. No different in the USA, toilet-cleaning chump.


Monia - any idea what the offence would be for forging a parking ticket?

One rule on PF : do not take advice from people who clean toilets for a living.