Love / I want my Polish gf to live with me but she says life here is too hard [31]

Hey, does she practice psychology at all?

I could do with a good English speaking psychologist for my file :)

News / German legal discrimination against Polish speakers [209]


The problem in Poland is the free education of absolutely pointless things - does UAM really need to produce 120 biology graduates a year, for instance?

The amount of psychologists, filologists and many other -ists produced in Poland is far, far too high for the amount of jobs that there are in the sector.

Work / City and Guilds Pitman examinations [3]

Cambridge all the way. It's the recoginised name on everyone's lips - although to Brits, City and Guilds is well recognised, it's not very well known elsewhere.

UK, Ireland / EEA family permit from Poland to UK - time and process [60]


Poland should be quite straightforward - you have a right for her to live with you in Poland. Likewise, she's entitled to exercise her rights through you. It'll be a pain in the ass with all the paperwork, but should be quite easy and painless.

bia.homeoffice.gov.uk/visitingtheuk/gettingmarried/certificateofapproval

Doesn't seem that you have to bother in this case.


Check out what the Russians want - they might want the same nonsense "certificate of no impediment" which is possible. But no, you don't have to bother telling anyone in the UK.


She needs the EEA Family Permit, which isn't the same thing. It's possible that it will be scrapped sooner rather than later - the UK has wrongly interpreted the EU directive. But anyway, it's a painless administrative detail to get if the marriage is all above board.

UK, Ireland / EEA family permit from Poland to UK - time and process [60]


She doesn't have to be. The permit is issued to someone who intends to travel to the UK with their spouse - exercising their treaty rights. It can also be issued to someone who intends to join their spouse in the UK. Essentially, any EU/EEA/CH citizen is entitled to have their family join them in the UK.

Of course, they're perfectly entitled to refuse the granting of the EEA Family Permit if they believe it's a marriage of convenience.


Poland is quite tough on non-EU nationals though - and let's not forget, dark skin in Poland = target for passport controls. Unlike the UK, passport controls can be done *anywhere* in the country - I've seen dark skinned people pulled out on the train several times and checked.


Makes perfect sense - wasn't there quite a large industry round false students?

(the poor girl involved with this!)

UK, Ireland / EEA family permit from Poland to UK - time and process [60]

It would help him - he's entitled to it.

But as he's got 'history' in the UK, it's unlikely he'll get it now - they really are clamping down on 'fake' students. I think educational establishments now have to keep records of attendance for non-EU citizens?

Anyway, if he really loved her, he'd happily live with her in Poland!

(...)

Law / To know about the Jatux company in Poland? [33]

oklahama - if you contact me on the e-mail address above, I'll be happy to give you some advice on the matter.

Language / Too many English words in the Polish language! [709]


Quite normal for English speakers in Poland I think, I do the same despite not really knowing Polish well.

I despise the habit of translating place names though - I heard "old meadow roundabout" and "middle roundabout" being used! Old Market winds me up constantly as well.

Life / Picking up BBC television in Poland [41]


Unforunately, no. Not only are different satellites used, but the BBC channels are on Astra 2D, a so called 'narrow beam' satellite which only covers the UK and Ireland.



< this shows you the size of dishes needed.

Real Estate / Is there a Real Estate bubble in Krakow? [60]


Wasn't it me that laughed in your face on the phone, beermat?


What does an unemployed "english teacher" from Krakow know about property? Mark, you live in a rented flat in a bad part of Krakow, what do you know about property?


4 times down? Beermat, where do you get this stuff from? It's priceless...have you thought about a career in comedy?


And you claim to teach Business English, Mark Biernat?

If you knew the first thing about business, you'd know that big projects are all about spending someone else's money.


Mark, I know it's tough living in a run down flat in a run down part of Krakow with a neurotic wife and hideous child, but please try and keep up. Norway isn't a member of the EU and never has been!

As for the EU - they've made it very, very clear that 2004-2007 accesssion countries must adopt the Euro. There's no negotiation on the matter - it's stated in the accession agreement that the Euro must be adopted. The UK, Sweden and Denmark have been allowed to do so because they never agreed to it in the first place - unlike the A10+2 countries.


I'm mystified as to why you haven't been banned, Mark Biernat.

History / What British unit liberated Poland in 1945?? [445]


Pretty doubtful really - Hitler relied on speed, and if Poland was causing vast amounts of trouble for him, combined with a sudden attack on the Western border after a few weeks - then it's hard to imagine the German people really supporting yet more slaughter of their own in Poland.


It gets even worse when you consider the ethnic Germans and Ukranians - the Germans would be forced into choosing a side, so you can easily imagine carnage as they couldn't be trusted by either side - and Ukranians could easily have started fighting anyone that moved. The place would be ungovernable! It's also not so hard to imagine the Soviet Union entering the fray too - and I can't imagine Stalin helping Hitler in any way.

History / What British unit liberated Poland in 1945?? [445]


I do wonder what on earth they're teaching in schools - some bias is understandable, but the utter ignorance of most Polish people as to the cold, hard facts of what went on between 1918-1948 does make you wonder.

I can't help but think that the sentimental rubbish associated with the 2nd Polish Republic has a lot to do with it.


This is what still amazes me - Poles don't seem to accept it, but there was no way she could win any war with either the Soviet Union or Germany. Sure, Poland won in 1920 - but she was on the verge of defeat, too. Heck, the fact that it's called "Miracle at the Vistula" should tell you everything there is to know about how lucky Poland was to win that particular war.


The thing with a guerilla war would be that Russian invasion would have been by no means certain - would Russia really have wanted to get into a war where there was no clear enemy fighting clear battles? Germany would have had to commit a massive amount of troops just to secure Poland - and *then* there would have been an opportunity for an attack from the West.

Let's not forget that Poland could have inflicted carnage upon the Germans if every adult was armed - how on earth could an invading army keep their morale up if they had to regard every man and woman as being a potential aggressor? Poland was poor after independence, but by focusing a strategy based on guerilla war - they could have held out for much, much longer.

I believe Pilsudski even used a form of guerilla warfare at some point?

History / What British unit liberated Poland in 1945?? [445]


Weakly defended? Since when? Have you conveniently forgotten that Hitler remilitarised the Rhineland, which coincidentally, Poland abstained from voting on in the League of Nations?

(and how would an attack on the Western German border prevent an invasion by Russia?)

History / What British unit liberated Poland in 1945?? [445]


No. What is worse is that Poland was living off the hype of one lucky victory (Cud nad Wisłą) and Piłsudski completely failed to organise the Polish forces in any meaningful way. Perhaps the lessons he learnt in WW1 and the subsequent Soviet war were to blame - regardless, he deserves the blame for attempting to organise Poland on a conventional basis.

A guerilla Polish force might have torn chunks out of Germans and Russians.

Poles also don't seem to realise that their resistance was badly organised too. If the AK had again chosen to hold off in 1944, the Soviets would have had to attack. Let's assume the Polish were disciplined enough to simply not take sides - only to viciously chop Soviet supply lines in half as they raced towards Berlin - then Poland might have stayed independent. It's no secret that Soviet supply lines were amazingly overstretched - and if the AK hadn't been routed, they might have had a very good chance of destroying Soviet influence in Poland.

But again - no Pole will ever give a straight answer to this question -

Work / Education in Poland - system and structure [118]


The big one - what kind of sensible establishment has 7 year olds in the same school as 14 year olds? There is so much difference between the two ages that it just doesn't seem sensible at all. I know many Polish people are sentimental about the 8+4 system, but 11 is almost universally seen as the break point between schools in the world.

The 3+3 system isn't ideal either though.

Law / To know about the Jatux company in Poland? [33]

Hmm...what's going on here?

rt2009 - if you could e-mail me with full details of what's happened, I'll see if I can look into this. Same goes for anyone else affected on this thread.

Work / Education in Poland - system and structure [118]


Wait, wait - this exists in the USA too?!

I always thought this practice of allowing superiors to overrule teachers on grades was a particularly Polish problem!


Oh yes. The Polish system is very very classical - vast amounts of hard theory and very little practical knowledge. I suspect that part of the problem is due to the massive underinvestment in primary and secondary education combined with teaching being seen as a career for those unable to do anything else - as a result, talented people just won't go near teaching as a career.

The Polish educational system leaves a hell of a lot to be desired - and I suspect a large part of the problem is communist thinking combined with "how it was in the 2nd Republic" which just creates a huge mess. They did improve things by abolishing the 8+4 system, but the way that they're pushing everyone into high school is causing endless problems, too.

Work / Moving to Warsaw - any advice on my new life and job prospects? [14]


The market for a Polish teacher teaching Polish has absolutely no relevance to the job market for native English speakers teaching English!


And your opinion is based on what?

The only thing on the horizon that might lead to a drop in English teaching salaries is the introduction of VAT on educational courses. But then - students will just find it more attractive to organise small groups in their homes, and English teachers will still do just fine.

Life / Do expats living in Poland speak Polish? [233]


It's not - it strikes me that English is absurdly easy to learn and even easier to get away with making hideous mistakes in, because even the natives are destroying the language quite badly.

I suspect the ease of English is the reason why it's becoming the lingua franca.

Work / Salary for Teaching EFL in Krakow [120]

That's my advice too - Poland is a land of opportunity at the minute. My only advice is to be as sociable as you can be - I've made so many useful contacts simply by bothering to go to parties and so on.

Law / Polish Citizenship for a foreigner whose parents was born in Poland [174]


Yes, of course they can.

The list of visa restrictions is tiny - apart from the big one, the USA, there really isn't much difference. In fact, if you like to go to more obscure places, it can be argued that a Polish passport is much safer.

And it's far more convenient to carry around a small card in Europe than to have to look after a passport. As for identifying yourself in Europe, the ID card is far more convenient than having to take your passport everywhere.


Plenty of hatred towards Britain in many parts of the world.


Well, having seen the way that the EU is policing the Eastern border, I wouldn't want to be stuck in the non-EU line. They are becoming *very* thorough in checking out non-EU citizens at passport control within Schengen - and I think most Brits would be utterly appalled to learn that they have to go through thorough checks just to go for a weekend to Paris.

Britain won't leave because she gains too much from it, no matter how people would like to twist it.

Law / Proposal to make Education subject to VAT [8]

The latest proposal is (as far as I remeber off the top of my head) for accredited courses to be VAT exempt from 2011, with all other courses charged at 22% VAT. Of course, part of the system of accreditation involves actually having to run the course for a year first - which creates the nonsense of charging VAT one year and then not the next, which is absolutely absurd.

Life / Which Polish product you can easily do without? [51]


Dreadfully so - I can happily live without adding it to anything, but it seems most Poles demand it to be added, even to things such as spaghetti with a homemade sauce!

Work / Salary for Teaching EFL in Krakow [120]

For EU citizens, these clauses mean very little. For non-EU citizens, it can be much more problematic due to the work permit situation - my advice is for a non-EU citizen not to accept such a job in the first place.

But as always, don't be afraid to negotiate with schools.

Work / Salary for Teaching EFL in Krakow [120]


They aren't checking EHIC status at all - although strictly speaking, you aren't entitled to use it, the Polish state is taking the attitude that if it's valid on the card, it's valid. The whole issue is complicated further by the way that you can get the card irrespective of NI payments - so at least for a UK citizen, you can use the card free of consequences. Maybe one day, the UK will wake up and realise that it's being abused on a huge scale by expats that aren't entitled to it, but as for now, nothing is being done.


I suppose most teachers would actually refuse to take the wage decrease that would come with being hired under umowa o pracy - which is each to their own, I suppose. The problem probably partially lies with the instability of the language teaching industry - schools can hardly promise a certain amount of work if it doesn't actually come.

At the very least though, schools should be offering a choice to people. I think it's not a very wise move for foreigners to come here without health insurance - for peace of mind if nothing else.

Work / Salary for Teaching EFL in Krakow [120]


EHIC card then ;) Anyone else will need private health insurance or ZUS coverage somehow anyway to obtain residency, so it's a non-issue. Having said this, the disgrace of continuing to allow umowa o dzielo is sickening.


But it is an entirely different marketplace to those freshly in Poland - of course experienced teachers will want and demand more, but someone jumping off a plane into a nice easy Callan-esque job will hardly care or want for much.

Having said this, at the minute in Poznan, there are a few experienced teachers doing quite badly for themselves because they've priced themselves out of the market.


Warsaw isn't really a good place to go for such a thing, I think. The costs are just too high to make it worthwhile without an investment - at least from my perspective, Warsaw is the place to make money as a professional.

Work / Salary for Teaching EFL in Krakow [120]


Be careful, because you have to account for holidays. Apart from the winter holiday, there's also a two week school holiday (differs according to region) in which some schools will close.

It also depends on the kind of teaching - if it's traditional teaching, then 50PLN/net for 80 minutes works out at about 37.50 an hour - which is a really bad deal. It's not such a bad deal for 'method' (Callan/whatever) teaching however, because you have no preparation.


Yes, of course. It depends on what you expect from life - if you're quite happy to share a flat and don't live the high life, then 3000PLN/month is more than enough net. Heck, 3000/month is over 600 pounds a month net - and people manage to live just fine in the UK on 800 pounds net a month!


NFZ - free. Prescriptions can be a bastard, but let's assume 50zl for two.


How many people, starting out as teachers, really go somewhere nice though? Places like Egypt are easily done though - I've seen as low as 1200zl for two weeks in Egypt all inclusive in winter.

Weekends away -again, is this really realistic? Most Polish people would just do weekends to the mountains or whatever, as this is the done thing.


I dunno about Krakow prices, but a taxi anywhere in Poznan can be negotiated for 30zl in the evening. But then again - most Polish teachers in a comparable situation will just take the night bus or tram.


Shop around, there are some absolute bargains to be had. Of course, if you shop at shops which sell at Western prices, you'll pay Western prices - but many decent shops don't charge that much.


Tickets here - 40zl for good seats. Cheap seats to the ballet available for as little as 5zl.


A nice place - 40zl or so. Obviously there are much more expensive options, but what newbie teacher would want or afford to eat in such places?


What newbie teacher is drinking decent wine?


150zl.

You have to remeber Jonni - newbie teachers simply can't expect to wear fine clothes, drink fine wines and eat fine foods, it's not realistic and they'd be unlikely to be doing the same thing in their own country. Sure, if you're here for a while and have a family/etc, then you need to make more money and expect to take taxis, but if you're single, there's just no need to.

My view of it - Poland is a fantastic place for newbie teachers in their 20's. In Poznan, the following costs -

Room in a shared flat in ye Commie osiedle near a tram line - 550zl. It's on the high side, but.
Transport - 81zl
Bills : say 300zl (shared)
Food : 400zl

Total : 1400zl for the sake of argument. You can cut quite a bit off that, but it's reasonable.

That's all your core costs covered, leaving you another 1500zl a month to live on. It's a doddle if you go to normal pubs (beer : 7zl at most, vodka same) and visit normal restaurants and cafes. You won't have the high life, but it'll be fun and no worse than a comparable 20something in London.


The average wage in the UK is around 22k a year. It has absolutely no relevance, because high earning people drastically skew the figures. You're not going to get anywhere near 3200zl a month as an average worker in McDonalds, nor are you going to get near 22k a year in McDonalds in the UK.

Warsaw prices are skewed to hell on account of many high earning people being willing to pay stupid money for classes. It really just all depends on what you expect from life - but for someone in their 20's wanting to have fun and has no real commitments, 3000zl is more than enough money.

History / Have Poles blood on their hands? :) [496]


I love your intepretation of history - the very idea of "Jewish communists" is absolutely sidesplittingly hilarious. I'm not sure what's funnier - the idea that it was a "Jewish Communist' plot against Poland, or the fact that you seem to actually believe this nonsense.

Is it really so hard to admit to yourself that it was Poles against Poles in a de facto civil war? Or is this against your revisionist history that seeks to blame SOMEONE for the fact that some Poles decided that Communism was the best bet?

Some Jews were happy when the Germans came, this much is undeniable, historical fact. Then again, some citizens of the Polish state were happy too.

I suppose you'll tell us that Jaruzelski was a Jew, too?

Work / Will it be easy to find a job within 6-10 months of moving to Poland? [41]

valio - could you send me your CV please? I'm happy to pass it onto anyone that might be interested in you that I know - if it's the call centre I'm thinking of, your soul will be destroyed within weeks there ;)

My e-mail is office@lindenia :)

UK, Ireland / Polish people in the UK using the English version of their name? [56]


REAL Polish names for REAL POLISH women?

I can just imagine the latest campaign dreamt up by rubbish parties on the Right.