News / Gangland-style shooting in Wrocław? [12]

Thank you for summarising the news article.

Love / What differences is there among Polish girls and British girls as girlfriends? [102]


Yes, you're right of course, probably the only Polish women who don't cook are those who moved to Britain and just buy pizzas and frozen chips now like many of the natives - vast range of TV dinners/ready-meals in Britain must be quite a novelty for them too

Love / What differences is there among Polish girls and British girls as girlfriends? [102]


You have transposed the nationalities in that section of the post.

Real Estate / Poland's apartment prices continue to fall [1844]

Brief article today about prices at what appear to be newsworthy lower levels in Wrocław and a part of Krakow. Of course only certain neighborhoods are at that price currently (4000zl / m2).

Real Estate / Poland's apartment prices continue to fall [1844]

There are between 5 and 7 ad boards that I saw at Biskupin, 4 at the tram loop.
Here near Skytower there are no actual ad boards that I am aware of for quite a radius. I saw a man with a clipboard tearing home made ads off a bus shelter today but he didn't look like an official. The ads were for transport and English lessons. Very few property ads here - perhaps they do use the web more here for their ads, as you suggest.

News / Gangland-style shooting in Wrocław? [12]

I suspect the statistics on the UK Police website map of reported crimes is just part of the story. My home town in Essex has also become a pit in the last few years.

I might be reading it wrong, but sounds like they were fighting with machetes quite close to where I am

wroclaw.gazeta.pl/wroclaw/1,35771,12343233,Przestepcy_walcza_na _ulicach__To_sprawa_honoru_policji.html

If anyone can translate it properly, even in summary, please do. My read of it says gangland style problems, shooting in broad daylight, machetes used, etc etc.

News / Gangland-style shooting in Wrocław? [12]

Manchester, you mean? Still got those problems there? I recall it from years ago, police not on top of it by now then?

Language / Counting hundreds in Polish - "set" from 500 [11]

Thanks for the comparison and info, Boletus

Language / Counting hundreds in Polish - "set" from 500 [11]

Thanks Pam, that was really a fast reply!

I thought it might be that, but Google Translate says juz differently. Anyway, will take your word for it :o)

Travel / Predicting the Summer 2012 weather in Poland [6]

34C for Wroclaw forecast for next week.

The trams and buses will be miserable (although a few have aircon)

Real Estate / Poland's apartment prices continue to fall [1844]


Thanks, fwiw I was in a fairly well-to-do area of Wroc earlier today (Biskupin). There are 4 or 5 very large noticeboards outside the shop at the tram loop around. I estimate more than half of the notices and home made ads stuck there is were properties for sale. Two of the boards are jammed and people have stuck fresh ads over some of the neighbouring ads. This suggests the higher end of property might be under pressure right now. Perhaps a Biskupin local could say whether there are usually so many hand bills and ads with properties for sale on those noticeboards? Where I am (nr Skytower), far fewer such ads (near Skytower is a cheaper but not cheap part of the city). Unfortunately for me - there were very few ads offering flats to rent, most were for sale. They did not put the prices on most of the ads!

Real Estate / Poland's apartment prices continue to fall [1844]

Well it is a discussion forum, that's the whole point of it - discussion and revenue from (ads? and) premium memberships. You may call it repetitive or boring in which case just don't read it and enjoy the threads which have more appeal. Easily solved case. Next!

Real Estate / Poland's apartment prices continue to fall [1844]

I think I'm right in saying they are down on what was being asked when I was here in 2010, just not enough to tempt me.

Law / August bank holiday in Poland? [5]

August 15th was a Polish national holiday to commerorate Polish Armed Forces Day and the Christian religion's Feast of Assumption

thenews/1/9/Artykul/109267,Poland-marks-Armed-Forces-Day-and-Assumption


All the big shops were closed but the city centre had lots of tourists and crowds, so the cafes and bars there were probably open.

Real Estate / Poland's apartment prices continue to fall [1844]

wroclaw.gazeta.pl/wroclaw/1,36743,12313765,Ile_jest_Krzykow_w_Krzykach__czyli_sztuczki_deweloperow.html

The above seems to be an article in Polish about how developers are saying their plots are in a sought-after area, when as the reality may be that they are not in that area exactly or at all - allegedly!

More interestingly than that, which will make a lot of you say NSS at me, is that they seem to be saying Wroc has 2 years of unsold flats available.

Now, I don't speak Polish, so I'm not sure the translation was correct, but it seems to be saying that.

If it is, we may get proper discounts soon.

Food / Where to buy British mature Cheddar Cheese and salted butter in Poland? [289]

Not a bad stand-by and only moderately more pricey than C/City. I assume Arkadia is in Warsaw.

Tesco at Wroclaw's Marino don't have any mature cheddar at the moment. (I believe that Tesco is a 24 hour apart from public holidays, btw.)

Aisle 43 at Tesco Wroclaw Bielany is where you'll find C/City mature at the moment. (Above the bargain bin items.)
The cheese counter also has some as well as the mild.

Unfortunately, the decent tea is sold out (Tesco Fair Trade Finest).

Tesco in Wroclaw's Bielany has Cathedral City in the cheese counter area now, stacked near the off-the-block cheeses. It is prepacked in 3 varieties - Mild, Mature, Extra Mature. I might try the EM, just hope it's not farmhousey as that can be gritty-like (it's the milk crystals I think) and too strong. Pigrims Choice Farmhouse is like that, not to my taste.

News / Poland's Economy Is Booming! The EU's Success Story? [711]

I don't speak Polish but understand a few words so I could be wrong - seems TVP Wroclaw is letting part of its offices out (renting space in its building to third parties). That seems to be the ad on TV I just saw. Never seen that before. Also noticing more empty shops in Wroc recently, with signs saying To Let usually just in Polish but occasionally also in English.

That said, got stuck at a bus stop for 35 mins today and saw brand new car after car whizzing past - Range Rovers, VWs, Audis. Plenty of money here or plenty bought with those "lower" value loans.

News / Poland's Economy Is Booming! The EU's Success Story? [711]


How about the mods merge it rather than delete this thread. Thanks.

News / Poland's Economy Is Booming! The EU's Success Story? [711]

I suppose I used the word "booming" as that is the word the press tend to use. "Expanding its offering, building for future employment and enterprise, and generally prospering" might've been better. That's how it can seem, but taking a closer look a lot of it might also be based on consumer-driven demand which can't be sustained if unemployment rises and demand slumps. IF. Not sure yet,


I have had a struggle to buy Polish while I am here. It costs a fair bit more usually, but I have wherever possible bought Polish shoes and Polish kitchen electricals. Shop staff will remember me as I always ask. Occasionally I have to buy non Polish as in the item mentioned on my consumer rights thread.

News / Poland's Economy Is Booming! The EU's Success Story? [711]


I see some people dressed up as cartoon characters here giving out loan leaflets outside the banks. I also saw a loan company with a couple of red FIat 125s (the smallest one Fiat made) in livery, with people handing out loan leaflets at a market here, in fact they give out loan leaflets a lot here, and hang those tear off strip ads at bus stops and around street lighting posts,

News / Poland's Economy Is Booming! The EU's Success Story? [711]


Yes, that tends to be my experience when I ask around.

But I have to say I do see a lot of money here - very new cars and people in smart clothes, pretty full shopping malls in the afternoons, coffee shops patronised (if that's the term), high prices for goods at the secondhand markets, nothing much for sale at the pawn shops (lombards) and quite high prices in the classified ads and auction site (ie no one that desperate to sell anything).

Even the people selling some tomatoes and other produce in the street are not selling cheaply, which means they are confident of demand, surely?

I am not an economist, these are just my casual observations and I could be under a false impression - but it seems buzzy, affluent and busy here in Wroc. For now, anyway.

News / Poland's Economy Is Booming! The EU's Success Story? [711]

Is Poland booming as this article seems to suggest?


Wow! (£oł!)

Work / Teaching English in Wrocław - TEFL, fair pay? [40]

"Does anyone speak English?"

"Nie."

"Damn, anyone got Google Translate?"

"Tak. Tutaj."

[bangs keys]

"OK, understand?...."

[shows screen to cashier]

To przyklejania powyżej, taniec
nikt i nikt nie będzie się nieszczęśliwy,
pobyt w mieście. Czy dokładnie to,
co kaznodzieja mówi - otworzyć
swoje pieniądze i dać mi swój sejf.

(This is a sticking above, nobody dance and nobody will get miserable, stay in your town. Do exactly what I the preacher says - open your money and give me your safe.)

Work / Teaching English in Wrocław - TEFL, fair pay? [40]

My tuppence worth -

not sure there's that much a person can bring here tbh.

The average Pole working in the supermarket speaks pretty good English once they realise that's your language - they have a better education than most people working in a high paid UK office job.

Sorry, but it's true. I am a complete thicko compared to most Poles that may serve me in a shoe shop. My knowledge of everything from maths to science to language grammar and history is probably less than someone making the coffee here in Starbucks.

Getting work here is probably more about chutzpah and perseverance than it is in the UK, network and try again when you fail. Or you could get tremendous beginner's luck, like this chap: polishforums.com/work/poland-working-speaking-60962/#msg1290993

If you discover the secret to 8000zl a month working 2 days a week - let me know! I'm burning through my savings money at an alarming rate now, and haven't earned a penny here ever.

Real Estate / Poland's apartment prices continue to fall [1844]

Long article at Reuters about the now well-known debate on whether gardens in Warsaw etc should be sold to developers.

Article says
In the years since the Berlin Wall fell, Poland has embraced the market so enthusiastically that it is now more capitalist than some countries in western Europe.

It worked. Poland's economy has grown uninterrupted since 1992, and last year was still growing at 4.3 percent, even while growth slumped in the rest of the European Union.

and
Twenty years of economic growth have left real estate developers with a dwindling supply of prime sites where they can profitably build.

If this is so, then property prices might not fall much more where there is such a level of demand. Obviously! Although fairly hard to see demand if Poland suffers a slump. The article suggests Poland is growing, not slumping, however, if it has its facts straight.

But on the other hand, the article suggests it may be offices or shops the developers want to build, not apartments:
"They (businessmen) want to build supermarkets and malls here. It is about money and nothing else.

More: uk.reuters.com/article/2012/08/03/uk-poland-allotments-idUKLNE87201220120803

Work / Finding work in Warsaw / Poland as an English private tutor [63]


Beyond mortal or incredibly lucky ;o)

Very interested to read your insight, Nightglade.

Anecdotes from others I know of suggest similar. I am guessing you have to offer to teach for a very modest sum to get started, I'd guess at 10zl an hour, maybe 20zl in a city. Because the wages here are typically low. I even offered to teach some friendly local people for absolutely free but they just weren't interested. At bus stops you see different ads for English teaching at regular intervals as someone else tries their hand at teaching for an income. More often than not the strips with the phone numbers aren't getting torn off. These were ads offering it at 30zl for 2 or 3 people sharing a tutor and 40 or 50zl an hour for individual tuition. Lots of different ads like this from various people or "schools" appear regularly and as I have the misfortune to need the buses I see them a lot. Unless it's just a blip, piecing together the evidence locally I'd say those looking to learn English are already well catered for and it takes a lot of perseverance and maybe that magic thing called luck to find some students. It probably can be done but a person should not rely on it when they come here, certainly not in Wroc anyway. I know, I know, some of you will know teachers in Wroc doing a great trade - but for newcomers Papieza needs to start a company to hire out his lucky charm.

Work / Finding work in Warsaw / Poland as an English private tutor [63]


Contacted a couple at random near here a short while ago and all but one said no vacancies, best response was- "Well, we do need a native speaker but must be experienced. No experience? Well, hmm, [sigh], send your CV in just in case. Bye." Nothing ever heard of course,

Work / Finding work in Warsaw / Poland as an English private tutor [63]

Papieza suggests he makes a breezy 5000-7000 a month, I don't recall any talk of CELTA or degrees there!! - https://polishforums.com/work/poland-working-speaking-60962/#msg1290993