Feedback / Why are there so many on here, who do not like Poland [150]

The fact that Kaczynski has now lost elections in 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2010 (three times) - as well as being on track to losing in 2011, it would suggest that Poles do not want to empower him. Losing seven elections in a row is quite spectacular by any standards.

If you want to go back further, Jaroslaw Kaczynski has led parties to defeat in 1991, 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2006 too.

In fact, you can see that Jaroslaw Kaczynski's leadership has won 2 elections and lost 11. That's pretty conclusive that the Polish people do not wish to empower him.

Study / Is there racism in Poznan and hate crime against coloured people (students)? [59]


Ahahaha. Actually, one problem in Poland is that many devout "Catholics" treat women quite badly.


If anything, your only problem is that you're going to find the local guys will be interested in you.

Poznan is a safe place - even the areas mentioned by alex (Zawady/Wilda) are nothing compared to many American districts.

What should be more of a concern for you is the school itself - what one do you plan to attend? I'll let you know yay or nay when it comes to decent education :)

(for what it's worth : plenty of Asians and black people here)

Feedback / Why are there so many on here, who do not like Poland [150]

Actually, there's plenty of foreigners doing just fine here.

Off the top of my head, I know of several journalists, some university teachers, several self employed people who do something lucrative - in fact, the vast majority of people in Poland for the long haul are doing just fine for themselves. And then there's some who do very interesting jobs (in terms of cash and influence) for Polish companies, too.

Funnily enough, I haven't met many North Americans in the same position. In fact, all I seem to read is ******** and whining from them.

Life / Expats, are you happy with your life in Poland? [43]

I'm actually of the opinion that some parts are becoming shitholes, rather than being shitholes. Bieszczady comes to mind - I've seen pictures of the place during PRL times, and nowadays, it's just being ruined through excessive development.

Life / Expats, are you happy with your life in Poland? [43]


I live here because I like it - it's pretty simple :)

I'd be gone tomorrow if I started to hate the place.

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


It's not a great career path for a couple - the hours are often unsociable. For all the experience and qualifications that your husband has, he'll still be seen as a "year 1" newbie with absolutely no clout whatsoever.

State teaching just isn't worth thinking about as a non-Polish national as you'll enter at the lowest level irrespective of UK experience/position. Poland doesn't have anything similar to the UK system - rather teachers are at a certain "level" - and all new teachers in Poland will enter at the lowest level.

My only advice would be to try and find a university job. But the vast majority of these go to people "in the know".

UK, Ireland / Do Poles and EU Citizens exploit the British welfare state [129]

It was pretty much the NUM's fault - their leader had openly declared that he intended to bring the Government down, the workers themselves did no-one any favours by resorting to violence towards "scabs" and so on.

What people seem to forget is the power that the union had over politics - this is what Thatcher declared war on, not the industry itself. Exactly the same battle will be had with Solidarność in years to come.

News / Poland's Lost Generation [172]


Problem is, many of the lower end workers are still stuck in the Communist mentality - I've heard from more than a few people that these workers simply cannot understand that higher productivity = higher salary.

UK, Ireland / Do Poles and EU Citizens exploit the British welfare state [129]


Not all unions are evil - there are some out there that genuinely do a good job without getting involved in politics, but they're sadly in the minority. When you see the salaries of some unionmen, you really do have to wonder if they're more interested in their own pockets than worker rights.

But yes, with the mining industry, both the NUM and Thatcher combined to destroy the business. If they had sat down from the very beginning and negotiated the closure of unprofitable mines as well as the selling of profitable mines, they'd still be here today. But as they were ideological enemies of Thatcher, they got drawn into a battle that they just couldn't win.

UK, Ireland / Do Poles and EU Citizens exploit the British welfare state [129]


Thatcher was hellbent on privatising everything and destroying the unions - it was somewhat of a personal obsession with her. You can see her single minded, stubborn approach with things such as British Airways and the sell off of many nationalised companies - however, because of the militant attitude of the NUM (national union of miners) and especially their leader - it turned into a personal mission to destroy them once and for all.

I don't recall what provoked her into closing even profitable mines - but there was definitely one incident where she "lost" to the Unions, only to come back stronger and more determined to defeat them.

Nowadays of course, it's far cheaper to import subsidised Polish coal than it is to mine the stuff in the UK.

UK, Ireland / Do Poles and EU Citizens exploit the British welfare state [129]


Actually, some of them were profitable and yet closed as part of a political agenda.

Study / AFRICAN STUDENTS INVASION in Krakow [197]

I don't have any issue with black people - but, let's be realistic - they were given plenty of opportunity in Africa, yet chose to waste it by fighting each other instead of cooperating. We already know that a vast amount of "aid" ends up in the pockets of corrupt officials - and it's about time that the tap was stopped until they sort themselves out.

Look at Zimbabwe - under white rule, it was quite a prosporous place up until UDI. Even during UDI, they were still producing a hell of a lot of food - the "breadbasket of Africa" as it was called. Now, 30 years after real independence - what have they got except being in the middle of a very uneasy ceasefire with the country ready to explode in further political violence soon?

Blaming the colonial past is Africa's favourite excuse - but just like Poland, you cannot go blaming the past for all of today's problems.

History / The smallest Poland ever? [115]


Only to swiftly get your ass kicked by a bunch of Lithuanians who are no stranger to fighting a bigger occupying force.

Or have you forgotten 1991 already?

Also - why in the world would you invade an ally against Russia just for the sake of some city that no-one regards as being Polish anyway?

Gotta love the concept of a Pole using Russian planes to invade a sovereign country.

Life / How do you celebrate Easter in Poland? [29]


Didn't you know that this forum is run by a Brit?

News / Poland's Lost Generation [172]


No.

The current economic-political situation is just fine. People have money in their pockets, the political situation is stable (after all, the people just elected one of the vice-Presidents of PO to the Presidency by more than 1 million votes over his opponent) and generally, there's an air of optimism in the air.

History / The smallest Poland ever? [115]


....

Wow.

Not for me to judge, but just - wow.

By the way Torq - is there an official name these days for the Recovered Territories? I've been using "Western and Northern Territories", but I'm not sure if this is right?

Life / How do you celebrate Easter in Poland? [29]

I'd argue that the vast majority of those things are done for reasons of tradition, not religion.

History / The smallest Poland ever? [115]


Kyiv is more Russian. The language of the streets there is Russian, not Ukrainian.

As for "what culture", perhaps you could aquaint yourself with the works of Taras Shevchenko to start with?


Wait, are there really no German graveyards in Wroclaw?

History / The smallest Poland ever? [115]


Necessity? Poland doesn't need Western Ukraine, with its many problems. Even if you walk from Medyka to Shegyni, you can see the vast difference in living standards. Heck, Germany struggled to integrate East Germany - what hope does Poland have?

The area has absolutely nothing to offer Poland except memories.


What kind of peaceful solution do you envisage the Ukrainians willingly giving up their heartland (don't forget - the L'viv oblast is the home of Ukrainian nationalism and identity) to Poland?

About the only situation I can imagine is when Ukraine breaks into two and the Western part approaches Poland. But that's not going to happen - most Ukrainians would rather starve than give up their country.


I imagine, seeing as they consider L'viv to be the home of Ukrainan culture, that they would fight to the last man to keep the territory Ukrainian. They struggled for so long and so hard for it - wouldn't it just be best to buy everything there rather than trying to forcibly annex the territory?

News / Poland's Lost Generation [172]


Actually, this isn't true. Grades in school aren't really meaningful - even university grades hardly matter. I know several directors of large companies in Poland - and many of them didn't do particularly well in university.

But what all of them have in common is an incredible ability to network with other people - Poland still has the "nomeklatura" system, just in a different guise - and I don't think it's any surprise that well-connected parents tend to produce children who get ahead in life. Heck, even I'm benefitting - I've received several offers of work based on reputation alone.

History / The smallest Poland ever? [115]


Indeed - if you didn't know the history, you wouldn't know the difference. Even for me, it's always surprising to realise that places like Klodzko were very much German market towns at one time.

For me, there's no argument - the Western and Northern territories (to use the hyper-correct name...) are very firmly Polish these days. I imagine Kaliningrad is very much Russian, too.

Still, I wonder how these expansionists would pay for the reconstruction of the L'viv oblast? The infrastructure is falling to bits - many villages don't even have properly paved roads - heck, just compare the road from Sanok to Kroscienko granica, then compare from there to Lwów. Nightmare.

History / The smallest Poland ever? [115]


Is it?

Plenty of ruined looking German buildings here. I went for a walk today from Ostrow Tumski to the Dworzec PKS, then back round via Galeria Dominikanska - and I'm not impressed.

Work / South Americans living in Poland, what are my chances of teaching English and Spanish there? [23]


Sure, and they'll pay them in accordance with the payscale - which is pathetic for a newbie teacher.

History / The smallest Poland ever? [115]


Obsessed again with Russians, I see.


Perhaps, but Albanians were in the majority within the Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo - and this gave them the legal grounds for seccession. Like it or hate it - Tito created the conditions for seccession.


If you actually lived in Poland, you'd know that the vast majority of Poles have the attitude that any ally of Russia is no ally of Poland. You'd also know that the vast majority of Poles have far more in common with Croats (being both Slavic and Catholic) than Serbs (being Slavic, but Orthodox).


Or perhaps they recognised Kosovar independence because it was the de facto reality on the ground?


Who is my favourite Polish president?

Incidentally, those "pro-Serbian" demonstrations are, as I've told you before, organised by far right groups who see some sort of twisted parallel between what happened to Poland and what happened to Serbia. You simply cannot compare Poland being forcibly reshaped with Serbian actions in the late 80's to 1999 - the two have absolutely nothing in common.

Poles are *not* divided on Kosovo. In fact - again - if you lived here, you'd know that in general, people tend to support whatever Russia opposes. There's your big clue as to why Poland recognised Kosovo.


Russia's not my favourite country (so far, Italy is), but it's certainly something that appears to keep you awake at night.


HAHAHAHAHA. What a great act of trolling that would be - giving Poland an economically ruined area with a huge black economy under the guise of "repatriations". Poland can just about afford to look after the poor Eastern areas - what hope does she have of looking after Kaliningrad?


Poles are definitely welcome - although getting residency there is difficult if you don't have a totally legal reason for doing so, anyone who actually *wants* to will find a way ;)


I'd rather Poland concentrated on building up Poland first rather than trying to retake incredibly poor areas. Heck, Poland is struggling to deal with the problems of Eastern Poland - what hope does she have with places like Chyrow?

(reminds me, Torq - I have a video to send you)

News / Drug Policy Reform in Poland [29]

Most prosecutors wouldn't entertain bribes for such trivial things - why risk being caught for it and your career ruined?

News / Drug Policy Reform in Poland [29]


So - in theory - we should see prosecutors offering deals in exchange for not being prosecuted - which should lead them to the dealers.

Quite sensible, I'd say.

Real Estate / Poland house prices recovered faster - Summary of 2010 [89]


Has it got something to do with flashcards?

History / Poland's 1945 - 1989 under communism or during socialism? [65]

Interestingly, many of those enterprises are now either defunct or struggling - while many post-89 enterprises set up by non-Communists are flourishing.

Language / "Gdybym" - meanings and a grammar question about the letters 'z' and 'i [5]


That's new for me (the usage in the military/police) - good to know :)

Study / AFRICAN STUDENTS INVASION in Krakow [197]


I think so too - I can't imagine much racial violence happening in a place like Klodzko, but Gorzow Wlkp. (for instance) has a really nasty reputation for violence towards outsiders.