Life / Why are Polish so conservative and religious? [240]

Ah come on now Obiwandonnelly, with a name like that you must be Irish. Going to mass every day hasn't been common practice in Ireland (or in Poland either I would wager) for many years. My grandmother certainly went to daily mass but she was a stay-at-home mother and lived about 5 mins walk from the church. Can you imagine the average person trying to squeeze mass into their daily commute/half hour lunch break? I don't think anyone would go that far unless they're trying to get beatified.

Life / Why are Polish so conservative and religious? [240]

The Catholic church permits Catholics to decide for themselves whether they wish to believe in creationism or the theory of evolution. For those Catholics who wish to teach evolution to their children yet acknowledge God, a wonderful way is through the story of 'God With No Hands' by Dr Maria Montessori, a great educator, a Catholic and a scientist.

UK, Ireland / Question for UK Poles who voted in the last British elections - what party and why? [5]

Ok, this is how it works. Any Pole living in the UK can vote in European elections, so they can have a say in which MEPS represent Britain in the EU parliament. They can also vote in local elections for town councils. They can't vote in general/national elections unless they are British citizens. There were a number of local elections held at the same time as the recent general election so all Poles living in the UK could vote in those.

History / Give Poland back it's lost land ! [132]

Well Szeliga the problem with that is,that if you look at Belarus for example, the majority of the population is not Polish. They're Belarussian. Why would they want to be governed by a foreign power?? Just because Belarus was once a Polish territory doesn't mean it should be again. People have a right to govern themselves, however badly they do it.

And I think you'll find that when it comes to the crunch, however sentimental Poles may be about their Polish brothers in the borderlands, when it comes to sharing the Polish money pot with them it would be a different story. Poland itself is a developing nation which cannot afford to take on the problems of places like Ukraine and Belarus. Also even if Poland were rich enough to do it, life would not be better for those people. They would be a minority in Poland, probably flooding to the large towns and cities, competing for jobs and being intensely disliked by Poles.

UK, Ireland / Best location to open Polish shop in the UK [3]

Hi Agnieszka. You should have a look at the UK Office of National Statistics website and see if you can find the breakdown of figures by region so you can identify where the most Poles are located. Basically any large urban centre will be likely to have a sizeable Polish community. If there's a Polish community there will be business for a Polish shop but you'll face a lot of competition as there are many Polish shops that have been established for several years.

Life / Why are Polish so conservative and religious? [240]

84% of the population of Ireland identify themselves as Catholics. So clearly it was the Catholics of Ireland who voted in favour of equal marriage rights for gay people. Even in the most conservatve counties in Ireland the 'yes' vote was over 50%.

This discussion shall be about Poland

News / Does democratic Poland guarantee it's LGBT citizens respect for human and civil rights? [1169]


Do you mean charity, in the sense of fund raising for the whole community or for the LGBT community. The latter would be frankly ridiculous. As for general fund raising gay people just take part in charitable works alongside their hetro peers. They don't set up their own charities such as 'Gays For Cancer Research'. Why would they??

Life / Why are Polish so conservative and religious? [240]


You sound a little affronted. I'm not criticizing you. I just wondered. The Dominicans are a nice order, generally very reflective and intelligent in their approach. It's very interesting that you went to a Catholic school. How long were you there?

Life / Why are Polish so conservative and religious? [240]

I think what they meant was assist in the sense of bringing up the offertory gifts or doing one of the readings. Did you attend religion classes in the school Harry?

Life / Why are Polish so conservative and religious? [240]

Harry, I'm afraid the term to assist used in the context of mass, means the same as attend. We learned about this in secondary school. Assisting at the mass means that you don't just sitting there, admiring the stained glass windows or making up your shopping list in your head while the priest rambles on. It means that you pay attention, perhaps follow the rite in a missal (that practice gradually became discouraged but a lot of older people still carried it on). With respect to you and indeed to everyone else we're all somewhat out of our depth here. Canon law and liturgy are incredibly complex and none of us are really sufficiently educated in it to be having a debate on it. But I think particularly if you weren't raised as a Catholic it's very hard to understand the weird and wonderful nuances of how Catholicism is actually practised and how the Canon is interpreted in the real world.

Life / Why are Polish so conservative and religious? [240]

The local priest certainly would be happy to see even a half full church on a Saturday evening, rather than an empty one on a Sunday, whatever Canon law says. And of course God doesn't care whether people go to church on a Saturday instead of a Sunday. It's the job of middle management ie the Vatican to worry about that.

Life / Why are Polish so conservative and religious? [240]

Harry, have a look at this:

Question:

What does the Church say exactly about the Saturday evening Mass? - J.G., Arras, France

Answered by Legionary of Christ Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum university.

'The norms permitting the celebration of Sunday Mass on a Saturday evening are not overly detailed and thus different practices and notions have arisen around the world.

Even though this practice is relatively recent with respect to the Sunday Mass, the Church had long maintained the custom of beginning the celebration of important feasts the evening before, with first vespers. This was inspired by the concept of a day in the ancient world which divided our 24 hours into four nocturnal vigils and four daylight hours, the day commencing at first vigil.

The general law does not specify the precise time after which Sunday Mass is possible. However, 5 p.m. is the common rule in the Diocese of Rome and in many other places. Any time much earlier is hard to conceive as being Saturday evening in any meaningful sense of the term.'

ewtn.com/library/Liturgy/zlitur242.htm

Life / Why are Polish so conservative and religious? [240]

Harry, just to let you know I checked it out and apparently the Saturday evening mass is actually the Sunday mass. It's a bit loosely defined but it's generally agreed within the church that if mass takes place from 5pm onwards on Saturday evening, it is classified as Sunday mass. As Father Ted said 'that's the great thing about Catholicism, it's all so vague and nobody really knows what it's all about'.

Just to add, when you go to mass on a weekday it only takes about half an hour, but the Sunday mass takes around forty five mins because you get the sermon and a few little extras. So Sunday mass is a different more elaborate one than an ordinary one. So if you go on Saturday evening and get the sermon you're sorted.

Life / Why are Polish so conservative and religious? [240]

Harry, the simple truth is that like most things in life, the theory and the actual practise of Catholicism are two very different things. First of all the average Catholic knows nothing at all about Canon law or what the Vatican says and wouldn't be visiting the Vatican website to check on it either I can tell you! Going to mass on a Saturday evening instead of a Sunday has become common practice and no sensible person, even of limited mental capacity would consider themselves to be committing a sin of any kind in doing so. Most Catholics learn their religion in primary school and from whatever practices are observed in their own home during their childhood with such practises varying from family to family. And that relatively simple form of religion is the one they practise for the remainder of their lives.

Life / Why are Polish so conservative and religious? [240]

I would like the moderators to explain why they are removing my posts. I answered a query put to me by Gosc123456 and both his query and my reply have been removed. Fifth time asking this. I would ask the moderators to exercise some basic manners and respond to the question. This is not the Soviet Union. Thank you.

Please look in the "random chat" before posting again.

Food / What is the typical expat diet while living in Poland? [42]

Harry is right. Polish cuisine itself is the combination of a number of influences. No man is an island and especially not when located in central Europe.

Food / What is the typical expat diet while living in Poland? [42]

Dry aged beef is when the whole carcass is hung for three or four weeks without any covering over it, wet aged is vacuum packed.

Life / Foreigners in Poland: migrants, immigrants and expats [13]

The problem with words is that they have can have many perceived meanings, other than the literal. People interpret them differently. There's no doubt that some people are offended at being referred to as expat in a country where they have settled permanently. It implies to them that they are perceived as opportunists or usurpers, who don't really belong. In their own eyes, they now live in their adopted country and their adopted country is as dear to them as an adopted child would be. So some people are defintely hurt by being referred to as expats.

Food / What is the typical expat diet while living in Poland? [42]

Yes, I know Poles love their spices. There was a funny incident not long after we arrived in Poland. It was a bitterly cold winter and an elderly neigbour of ours called round and gave us a little parcel of goodies including some packs of spices and a couple of bottles of piwo. I was cooking liver that day and for some reason I assumed I was supposed to sprinkle the spices on in the same way as you might with kotlety. I thought it was a bit odd but who knows the ways of Poles! So we sit down to dinner and husband asks 'do you mind me asking, what did you put in the liver?' The spices that Dziadek brought' 'Oh Boźe jedene' responds husband, 'the spices are for putting in our warm beer'.

Food / What is the typical expat diet while living in Poland? [42]

Hi Polonius. Authentic Indian recipes contain very little turmeric. I don't like it myself, but I use a little in rice to give it that nice yellow colour, much cheaper than saffron. I love Indian food and the variety is so vast, not just curries. Favourite Polish food would be golonki but I roast them in the oven, gołąbki, rosół, pasztet z śliwką, pączki, never touch kiełbasa. My Polish husband loves Indian food, Chinese, traditional British Sunday roast and fish and chips. He tries to avoid all the wędliny because of the salt and generally eats chicken, beef and fish. Like all good Poles he loves anything pickled! Oh and soups, homemade of course. Luckily I enjoy cooking!

Food / What is the typical expat diet while living in Poland? [42]

Polonius, I don't think curry is considered very exotic by Brits these days. There have been curry recipes in British cookery books for well over two hundred years and Indian restaurants for about as long as that. Brits don't generally live on a diet of shepherd's pie and fish and chips anymore. Most people eat a mixture of traditional British stuff and international. It's very common for people to whip up a a quick Thai green curry at home or basic Italian dishes for example. As for lamb chops, in the two years I lived in Warsaw I can't remember ever seeing lamb in the supermarket. I think I may have seen some weird looking frozen stuff once. Since then I've only been back for holidays but I have actually seen teeny, weeny little things that look like they came off a rack of lamb, about two bites in each. Most depressing!

Study / International Schools in Poznan Reviews - which is better for my child? [21]

Hi Kavita. I sent you an email.

Study / International Schools in Poznan Reviews - which is better for my child? [21]

Hi Kavita. I'm a teacher. I have taught many Indian children in the 3-6 year age group. Now my experience is of teaching Indian children in Ireland but they didn't speak any English so it was the same situation for the child as it would be in any country where they didn't know the language. All the children I taught, some younger than your daughter, settled in within a few weeks and were very happy. Within about six months they were communicating in very basic English. At that age children can play together without needing to use much language. However, how easily your child settles, depends to some extent on the teacher and whether they are accustomed to dealing with children who don't have the local language. The teacher needs to be kind, patient and understanding.

By the way Kavita, when you talk of school, for a child of your age in Poland, that would be pre-school and your child is unlikely to be doing any academic work in the way she might in an Indian school. I taught many Indian children of your daughter's age whose parents expected their child to be learning to write, read, do basic maths etc. As far as I know they don't do this in Polish pre-schools but it may vary. For example if you put your child in a Montessori she should be facilitated with reading and writing if she shows readiness.

As you're only going to Poland for a year, I would try her out in a Polish pre-school just for the social aspect. As I say, if she has a good teacher she should be fine there. If she's already started reading and writing, just carry on with her at home and let her enjoy playing and mixing with other children at the pre-school. Any other advice I can give you, don't hesitate to ask.

Life / Is this your Polish mamusia (mum)? [4]

I would say many of these points are true of mothers the world over! Would disagree with points 7 and 9. Polish mothers don't seem to be big on fresh air, except for Spring and Summer. As for the doctor, if anything modern Polish mothers are vastly over-protective and hypochondriac, bringing the child to the doctor for every cough and sneeze and demanding anti-biotics. Many of the the other points sound very much like my husband's Polish grandmother.

Love / My wife is Polish and it's difficult for her to open up and talk about her feelings [14]

Hi befranklin. My Polish is very basic, but my husband's English is fluent, native proficiency level.

I would say part of your problem is that many Polish couples have a very different expectation of what marriage means in terms of happiness. On the whole there are many Polish men who are 'happy' if their wife is sexually available to them when they want her, a good cook, good housekeeper and good mother if there are children. Many Polish women are content if husband is a good provider, does the heavy work around the house and brings them flowers and chocs from time to time or nice little gifts that they can show their friends. That's a happy, successful marriage in their eyes. Your wife may actually be quite happy and doesn't feel any need to talk about what you perceive as problems, because to her, nothing is wrong. Polish couples also seem to accept quite readily that there may be times when they will live apart for work reasons or family committments.

Your wife may feel that she ought to stay around for her mother but she may not want to say that outright to you. She may simply expect you to get the message......there's no denying that women can be very difficult, regardless of nationality! I hesitate to advise, not knowing you both personally, but if she's always been reserved and not emotionally open, it would seem she's just continuing an established pattern and her silence doesn't necessarily indicate that there's any crisis in the relationship.

Love / My wife is Polish and it's difficult for her to open up and talk about her feelings [14]

Hi befranklin. Just thought you might like to hear a woman's perspective. I'm not Polish, I'm Irish but married to a Pole and I lived in Poland for a couple of years. I would say that there are definite cultural differences in the way Polish couples conduct their relationships compared to Westerners.

I think the idea of a man and woman being friends and talking things through is less prevalent. Polish men tend to be accepting of the fact that their women are 'difficult' and Polish women, rather than talking about things, use a range of 'behaviours' to get their emotional needs met. They will talk to their female friends or relatives about their issues with the guy and then form some kind of convoluted plan to try to resolve it, rather than just honestly sitting down with their partner and saying 'Look, I feel this way, how do you feel, what can we do about this?' etc. I think they find it hard to talk calmly and it can end up in a full scale row if you try to engage them in a discussion, which may be why Polish men tend to just let stuff go and not bring up issues that may cause a melt-down. You say your wife has hinted she may not return to the USA. I observed this kind of thing when I was living in Poland. I think Polish women tend to use sulking or threats/emotional blackmail on their men quite a bit. Now, I'm not saying women of other nationalities never do that, but I saw a lot of it in Poland.

Anyway you've been married to her for five years so you must know her pretty well by now. I would say she certainly seems to be not happy on some level. Maybe she's always been reserved, but I'm interested to know has she become more uncommunicative lately?

Bottom line though, is that regardless of cultural differences a problem in your relationship in the end is really to do with you as people not your nationalities. All the best, befranklin.

Work / What website do you use to seek multinational job opportunities in Poland? [7]

Try Glassdoor. Lots of info there too on actual salaries, reviews by people on companies they've worked for etc. If you have an area of specialty like IT or engineering, have you tried using a specialist site/recruitment agent?

Genealogy / Why Polish aren't white?? [272]

Ok, HarriHasAbf - here's the official British line. The National Statistics Office of the UK states :

'Is a person's ethnic group self-defined? Yes. Membership of an ethnic group is something that is subjectively meaningful to the person concerned, and this is the principal basis for ethnic categorisation in the United Kingdom. So, in ethnic group questions, we are unable to base ethnic identification upon objective, quantifiable information as we would, say, for age or gender. And this means that we should rather ask people which group they see themselves as belonging to.'

So put that on your needles and knit it.

Genealogy / Why Polish aren't white?? [272]

Rozumiemnic is right. There is no such thing as British ethnicity. British is a nationality but it's not an ethnic group. You're either English, Scots, Welsh, or a mix of any of those three. Of course you can be black and British but your ethnicity is Afro-Caribbean.

Law / Advice on starting an international/British school in Warsaw, Poland [26]

Well, in Ireland where I am, and where the government is quite generous, state funded schools don't provide free books. There is a book rental scheme and children pay a contribution for art and craft materials, photocopying etc. I agree that it's most unlikely that the Polish government would contribute funds for setting up a private school but they certainly did provide captitation grants for established private schools back in 2003. If Mark contacts them he can find out if that's still the case.