Travel / Driving to Poland from England - any tips? [264]


I can just see you now, looking after your cows and growing crops... :P

News / US shouldn't interfere in Polish election (Polish-American Advocacy Initiative) [60]


"dood", he lost to Komorowski almost everywhere but in the USA and in Belarus. Belarus I understand, but the USA vote proves that they're completely out of touch.

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Exactly. Most Polonia don't have a bloody clue, especially if they have never lived in Poland post 1989. Most American Polonia couldn't tell you about the exact role of the President. In fact, some of them seem to believe that he heads the Government!

Work / International House - Kracow school - any chances of being offered a job there [59]


Oh yes it is. I've just recently applied for a work permit for someone, and the bureaucracy involved is unbelievable.

For a work permit to be granted, the employer must -

Place an advert in the Urząd Pracy. This must be placed on the EU-wide job offer system, and you must consider any applicant for the job. They will only grant the paper saying that they couldn't find anyone after the search is completed - so this is a good month.

Then, they must take the paper and go to the relevant office with copies (all translated by a sworn translator) of any relevant documents such as diplomas, along with copies of your passport and some other things.

Then you must wait - it can easily take a decent amount of time. They can also refuse it on many grounds!

Obtaining a work permit is *not* a formality for schools - which is why most of them don't bother. It's the reason I can't give an American friend of mine a job - I could do with him to give a few classes, but as he needs a work permit, it's not worth it for 4 hours a week.

Or of course, they can hire a EU citizen who can turn up and work. Who gets the job?

History / Give back Lwow to Poland and Kaliningrad to Germany - is it possible? [198]


The English name is Lviv. I can understand Poles using the Polish name (it's natural) - but it's Lviv to me.


Bloody hell - thank you for that. I must take a closer look this summer!

History / Give back Lwow to Poland and Kaliningrad to Germany - is it possible? [198]


Well - to be fair, Russia has been somewhat stable in terms of being consistently ruled with an iron fist and not being subject to partitions/etc. :) But I only mean it in terms of territorial integrity - the change in the map of Poland over the last 1000 years is incredible.


I don't even want to imagine the nightmare of attempting to integrate the Lviv Oblast into Poland. It could only realistically be done by giving the territory a huge amount of autonomy.

Poland is actually very fortunate in that she has a large country with a vastly dominant Polish majority. What would be the sense in incorporating a huge, poor territory with dreadful infrastructure and irritated minorities?

Sure, it's romantic to think of Lwów being Polish once more - but it's just not practical. The far more sensible option for Poland would be to do exactly as the Germans have done in Poland - buy everything in sight.


Do you really think Ukranians, after so long being held down and occupied by Russians, Poles and Austrians are suddenly going to be happy to give up their independence? Don't be ridiculous.

I wonder just how much Polish-era infrastructure is still in place in Lviv though?

History / Give back Lwow to Poland and Kaliningrad to Germany - is it possible? [198]


Not much to explain - post 1989, Poland joined the "West" way of doing things very very quickly. In fact, as early as September 1989, Western experts were being brought to Poland to advise and consult on the best way forward. This didn't happen in Russia/Ukraine.


They like strong leadership, that much is certain. I think the Russian character also prefers stability over freedom - look at the chaotic instability of the Polish State versus the somewhat stable Russian State. And to be fair - a strong centre is what keeps Russia together - after all, "Russia" is really made up of so many different components and nationalities.


Bit of an oversimplification, don't you think?


Actually, Poles were crushed very easily on several occasions in history.


Actually, I wouldn't say that the majority of people in Russia and the Russian sphere of influence are living in poverty. It may not be the high life, but the vast majority of them are clothed, housed, watered and fed. Poverty is when you don't have at least one of those things - and they do.

And let's not forget that there is a lot of money floating around those countries too.

History / Give back Lwow to Poland and Kaliningrad to Germany - is it possible? [198]

Probably the age old problem in Ukraine - the street was due to be renovated, but the money went walkies and nothing got finished.

History / Give back Lwow to Poland and Kaliningrad to Germany - is it possible? [198]


It would cost, at least in the sense of the Lviv Oblast - a huge problem with a large minority that doesn't want to be in Poland and a huge amount of money to bring Western Ukraine to anything approaching Polish standards. Anyone that's actually been and compared SE Poland to Western Ukraine will know just how crushingly large the differences are. Bear in mind that Poland can hardly afford to deal with her own blackspots - she doesn't have a chance in hell of managing to afford to incorporate the Lviv Oblast too.


I've seen it with my own eyes last summer - it's literally 5 minutes walk from the Opera and 10 minutes from the Rynok. And yes, my reaction was along the lines of "what in the ****...?". Plenty of stray dogs going about, too.


Why? Poland was given access to the West very quickly and wasn't so badly neglected as the outposts of the USSR were. If you knew your history, you'd understand this ;) And to be fair - that street is by far the worst thing in the centre of Lviv.

News / US shouldn't interfere in Polish election (Polish-American Advocacy Initiative) [60]


Actually - contrary to what most Americans think, the Lisbon Treaty formally set out the conditions for EU withdrawal for the first time. Of course - any country that wishes to withdraw could simply repeal the act of parliament which allowed EU accession in the first place - therefore, they still are sovereign.

Of course, there's the whole other argument about no country really being sovereign these days, but ;)


Dying? I wouldn't call a language spoken by over 40 million people "dying" - a language which also provides a gateway into other languages!

News / US shouldn't interfere in Polish election (Polish-American Advocacy Initiative) [60]


Once again, you show that you have absolutely no manners or consideration towards users of this forum. I say it again - give the money back.


How else can you explain the phenomenon that Kaczynski won in America, but not elsewhere? It's simple - they don't know a damn thing that's going on in Poland, apart from what they read in the newspapers. And those American newspapers gladly call Kaczynski "conservative".


It's not me that took a considerable sum of money from an internet forum, only to then go around abusing the members constantly for no apparent reason.


The thing with this is - I'd be in favour of stripping it from *all* of the Polonia. But the easiest, most practical way to do it is simply to strip the ones without an ID card of their right to vote. Anyone without one has no tie to Poland! I mean, if you can't be bothered to visit the motherland once every 10 years to pick up a new ID card...


No, the truth is that you're incredibly ungrateful for what this forum has given you.


Alas MG, these people have a right to vote. And they know nothing about Polish politics or the consequences of their vote.


I think they also see a very narrow view of things - for instance, Kaczynski criticises Russia and they're all "yaaay!" without knowing a damn thing about how it effects Poland. I don't blame them - they don't speak the language and the English press doesn't do a good job of reporting on things - but they really have no concept of just what influence they have.


Met a few. One of them has shedloads of integrity and refuses to vote in the elections despite holding a Polish ID card because he doesn't want to influence the next 5 years here when he has no intention of living here permanently. The others - sadly fall for all the nonsense about Kaczynski standing up for Poland and being against the evil EU. None of them, unsurprisingly, answered my question as to why Kaczynski didn't pass a bill to exit the EU when he had the parliamentary majority to do so. In fact - one of them was so badly informed that he thought Poland joined the EU during the Tusk government!


The strange thing for me - and this applies to the Polonia everywhere - WHY do they do such a terrible job of teaching the language to their children? I know several British and Australian 2nd generation Polonia who don't speak Polish.

News / US shouldn't interfere in Polish election (Polish-American Advocacy Initiative) [60]

This latest release proves beyond all doubts that the American Polonia are in fact complete numbskulls.


Who? There's no trace of them online.


I'm sure this meeting was arranged long before Lech died. Komorowski is the Acting President of Poland - therefore, what's the problem?


Undercut America's friendship with Poland? A PO Government and a President sympathetic to the Government isn't going to do that.

Polish American voters? Well, bearing in mind that many of them voted for some guy who couldn't even pronounce his own Polish name, they're frankly idiots and not worth bothering with. And anyway, the ones voting for Kaczynski will be voting Republican anyway, so again, no problem.

Quite amusing to watch a PiS cover group criticise America, though.


Because they know nothing apart from what the English media reports. The Polonia elsewhere tend to be better educated and able to read the language - thus they know how things really are in Poland.

It's nothing to do with who likes who (for a start : Komorowski is hardly an America-hater) - but all to do with the fact that Kaczynski makes them think of the homeland that Babcia talks about, even though they've never visited and would never dream of paying taxes to the country which they so proudly claim to be citizens of.

Quite a few of them only discovered their Polish roots after 2004 as well.

Law / Advice please - Getting monies from a Poland employer who refuses to pay [41]


I gave up trying to do that with one of the schools I work for at the minute, the latest nonsense from them is "we can't pay you in accordance with the date on the contract because we don't get paid on time" :D

News / Russia, Poland ready agreement on visa-free travel [71]


Out of interest, what is using such fuel? I've seen it in Ukraine and wondered...

News / Lech Walesa gives warning over 'dangerous' Polish candidate [60]


Typical hysteria from a typical PiS voter.

No-one is saying that everything is false. But what they're saying is that the accuracy and reliability of the SB records are questionable - yes, they're of interest from a historical perspective, but can hardly be relied upon to provide accurate evidence.

But then again, perhaps you might want to tell us more about Kaczynski's father - rather strange that an AK soldier got his kids on television in the 60's, isn't it?

Law / Advice please - Getting monies from a Poland employer who refuses to pay [41]


Of course, when your friend (me) has a pet lawyer who is going to deal with it, things become much easier. :)

Part of the problem is that foreigners just aren't brutal enough towards employers.

USA, Canada / US Polonia 70% for Kaczyński [343]


Komorowski. Essentially, Komorowski is pro-business, whereas Kaczynski is pro-welfare.

The Polonia doesn't understand that the position of President is largely ceremonial, despite Lech Kaczynski's attempts to pretend that he actually held some influence or power.

Love / Why do Polish women prefer foreigners for boyfriends and husbands? [418]


Rubbish. You can get a room in the centre of Poznan for 400zl a month. Minimum wage is around the 850zl mark - if you can't survive on 450zl a month, something is really wrong. Think about it - 850zl a month for full time work, plus say 80zl for a day of handing out flyers on a Saturday - so you can easily take home in the region of 1100zl a month. Rent of 400zl, leaves you with around 700zl a month - which is more than enough to live.

Then again, anyone stupid enough to go with a woman who requires "maintenance" deserves to pay lots of money.

USA, Canada / US Polonia 70% for Kaczyński [343]

Sure, they have many Catholic policies too. Really, Catholicism lends itself well to socialism - and I think the level of support for PiS in Poland (about 30-ish percent, give or take 5%) is about right.

Really, I think the problem with PiS is that they've allowed a cult of personality to grow up around the Kaczynski twins. That's why Kaczynski losing may be no bad thing for them - they may just go into the 2011 elections with fresh new blood. They're in the difficult situation that they're always going to struggle to find people to enter a coalition with now, as Kaczynski is certainly not going to attract any support from the SLD or PO.

USA, Canada / US Polonia 70% for Kaczyński [343]


Well - they share the same view as many social democratic parties in Europe. I mean, all the pro family, pro welfare policies - these are all fundamentally socialist. It's no bad thing!

Law / What is the quickest and cheapest way to send money to a bank account in Poland? [37]

To be fair, their high charges subsidise their extensive branch network. Look at Bieszczady for instance - they're the only bank to be found anywhere there.

News / Lech Walesa gives warning over 'dangerous' Polish candidate [60]


Yup. This is the major problem with lustration - we can't be certain that what's actually contained in these files is in any way accurate or truthful. One of the only reliable things is what actually happened to the person in question.

It is very strange that Kaczynski, for all his anti-communism, never found himself in serious trouble with the authorities.

Law / Advice please - Getting monies from a Poland employer who refuses to pay [41]

Either way, the testicles get squeezed, just in different ways ;)

Law / Advice please - Getting monies from a Poland employer who refuses to pay [41]


If he does, then it's testicle squeezing time, my favourite sport :D

USA, Canada / US Polonia 70% for Kaczyński [343]


Because I pay taxes here and run a small business, unlike the American "TRUE POLISH" Polonia who are so patriotic that they don't pay a thing to Poland. Bit like the PiS voters who claim disability benefits from the Polish State and who then work "black" too. Obviously, the election of Komorowski would threaten them.

But I actually think that once Kaczynski goes, we might see PiS finally transform into a proper modern Catholic-socialist party. And there's nothing wrong with that - Catholic social teaching and socialist economy views mixed together could be quite popular in Poland, and certainly credible if they toned down the hysteria.

One thing is certain - I have a vote in the local elections this year, and the party that gets my vote will be the one that makes the most sense to me at the time. I'm very much politically neutral here - there's no natural centre-left party along the lines of the Nordic model, so I will vote very, very carefully. Most unlike the Polonia, that's for certain!

Law / Poland driving licence, non EU, non resident (Poland) [20]


No you don't. Many test centres have the test available in English, and the materials are available in English too - I've got the CD sitting right here. But you will need a sworn translator for the test - I'm not sure how it works if your native language isn't one that can be translated to/from by a sworn translator.

Law / Poland driving licence, non EU, non resident (Poland) [20]

You need to be resident legally in Poland for 185 days in order to do so. As you're non-EU, that means you must possess a valid Karta Pobytu (residence permit).

Not impossible, but probably more hassle than it's worth.

News / Minsk threatens to take gas destined for Poland and EU [16]


As they should. It's a business, and businesses should demand prompt payment of the agreed terms.

If someone doesn't pay me for my services, then I turn off the tap too. Where's the logic, or indeed sense in continuing to supply someone who isn't paying you?

If I don't pay the electricity company, they cut off my supply.

USA, Canada / US Polonia 70% for Kaczyński [343]

I find it rather ironic that the only person posting throughout the day on here happens to be a strong PiS supporter - yet another one of the unemployed PiS keyboard warriors?

Law / Advice please - Getting monies from a Poland employer who refuses to pay [41]

AJ, I should be able to give you a hand with this...throw me a copy of your contract, I have two lawyers for students :)

News / Lech Walesa gives warning over 'dangerous' Polish candidate [60]


One book written by someone who was doing it plainly for political points, too.


And you trust those files as being accurate? The Stasi and KGB were notorious for faking documents - and you trust the SB as being genuine? Please. If he had genuinely cooperated, why didn't they destroy him in the early 80's with the proof?