Life /
Concerns of a Swede who is about to go to Poland for work [53]
@ Swedish student
You real problem, I think, is that you don't know which to choose: continue to live in comfort that Sweden provides or jump into a somewhat deep water in deciding to venture on your Polish adventure. In fact, you want both as your human nature - as in the case of almost everyone else - is opting for the comfort of life while your youth is opting for a challenge - as almost every young person who has been programmed by nature to be tempted to step onto some more or less risky paths. On top of that you feel attracted to Polish women which for a man of 23 years of age may eventually be of important concern for this may lead to finding a suitable partner for the rest of his life which in itself may be a far better investment than any of the best paying jobs together with a brilliant career in an international environment. What do you need your money for if don't have a partner with whom you share your less or more affluent life?
Your perspective is thus completely different than the one of the Uncles Good Advice who gave you their opinions of middle-aged middle-range income men who either came to live in Poland as foreigners in the old good times when teaching English was a lucrative professional activity or as Poles went to the USA and are now very near the retirement age when the financial security is prime concern.
One point in the opinions of the Uncles Good Advice is definitely false: that a foreigner must buy different products than a Pole and that he shouldn't
"eat potatoes, cucumber, onions, beets and pork like most Poles do". Of the list, I as a Pole don't eat patatoes, try not to eat pork, but I eat naturally-grown beetroot and cucumber which is healthy food really. Globalization is more than visible in Poland and you can buy whatever you want and more cheaply than in Sweden plus the quality of Polish food is often better than that of Western Europe. When someone says:
"I buy mostly foreign (for instance hygiene) products and all these cost as much as they do in the west", I can tell them that there are Rossmann chain stores where you buy hygiene products of good quality. A 10-item pack of very good three-layer German toilet paper costs 10 PLN, but if you feel your arse is far better than that and you want a special toilet paper imported from Australia, don't come to Poland to dwell on an income of 5500 PLN gros.
An important point has been raised by Lyzko. If I were you, I would look at it attentively.
but a year's an awfully long time to fiddle around trying to get by in English. OK, you do as you see fit. In your shoes though, I'd be frustrated as could be:-) Maybe a few days in blissful ignorance, after that, I'd go nuts!!
Without attempting to learn Polish, you'll soon find yourself in an environment of expats with a limited access to real life in Poland. Is that what you really want to have?
