Life / Withdraw Europe money in Poznan [16]

You don't even need to use transfer, a normal SEPA transfer will work if it's Euro-Euro within the EU.

Law / PESEL or NIP in Poland for an American married to Polish citizen [22]


You don't need the PESEL. The system uses national ID numbers as a replacement, and all insured people are accessible at the touch of a button to them. Ask them to search for you by name, or if not, by national ID number (that ZUS has on file).

It's a common problem as they're simply used to searching by PESEL, but since they 'turned off' the PESEL for foreigners, all government systems (with the exception of one very important one...) use the national ID number instead.

The problem is that like in most countries, medical receptionists are usually power tripping mrons who aren't willing to do a second of work to establish whether or not you have insurance. If you cannot be found on the system, then you should ask your employer for the ZUS RUMA document, which will prove your insurance status.

News / Poland leads in child well-being -- UNICEF [75]


You mean the nearly 10% of voters that saw their votes disqualified, or the other 50% that didn't vote?

When you think that PiS only got 18% of the vote, it really puts the numbers in perspective.

Work / Teaching Chinese in Poland [3]

Two main options -

1. Universities. There are Chinese departments in many of the main universities - search for "filologia chińska" or "Sinologia" on Google and you'll find it. That's the best hope, as they tend to hire a lot of native speakers.

2. Schools. Harder to find, and jobs tend to go to those "in the know" - but it's worth searching Google for "języka chińskiego" and seeing what comes up.

News / Monthly Smolensk Commemorations in Poland! [34]


Given that Macierewicz has already demanded it on several entirely inappropriate occasions, it's hard to see how this could be a hoax.

Law / Contract to pay professional football in Poland. Work permit required? [5]

Get him to finish high school and obtain a valid certificate of qualifications (whatever your system is). He can apply for a student visa in Poland and play football during his downtime - it will give him the chance to play football in Poland.

If you send me a private message, I'll give you the contact to a Nigerian football agent based here in Poznan.

News / Monthly Smolensk Commemorations in Poland! [34]


There is no reason at all. President Jaśkowiak has stood up to Macierewicz, and made it clear that if the Army doesn't want to come, then the real heroes of Poznan '56 - tram drivers and nurses - will form a guard of honour instead.

People in Poznań are absolutely furious over this - they see it not only as Macierewicz hijacking the memorial, but also an attempt by Warsaw to dictate a historical policy over Wielkopolska.

News / Poland leads in child well-being -- UNICEF [75]


The truth is that many people don't want to do just that. There's the example of Amazon in Wroclaw and Poznan where they would employ anyone with a pulse. Yet 100km away from Poznań, there's some horrific unemployment - but people simply don't want to move because they're from the village and they want to stay in the village.

News / PM Szydło support a bill to rebuild Polish shipping and ship-building [29]


The entire industry that was built on workers being treated badly (you were around, you should remember the complaints of the shipyard workers that they didn't even have basic safety equipment), built on cheap coal being extracted at huge human cost (again, you'll remember the shocking conditions that miners worked in!) and a huge amount of debt in order to produce the steel needed for the shipyards. The shipyards themselves were only viable as long as they could use cheap coal, cheap steel and cheap iron ore imports - all of which no longer exists.

There was nothing proud about shipbuilding in Poland - it was an industry that came at immense human cost. Poland is doing a fantastic job with producing smaller ships, and it should be encouraged as much as possible. But we don't need or want to return to the days of heavy shipbuilding.

It's PiSonomics, which means that the taxpayer will have to fund unprofitable shipyards so that they can provide plenty of non-jobs for people with no ambition.

News / Poland leads in child well-being -- UNICEF [75]


Many of them are suffering with self inflicted illnesses. They need help - yes - but you also have to remember that many of them don't want help, or they got in a mess because they wanted to have the best and latest things without having the means to pay for it.


A start? You call a sixfold increase in police interventions since April to be a start?

The shocking reality that PiS have acted as enablers by providing pathology with cash to be spent on alcohol is exactly that - shocking.

News / Poland's Sejm passes anti-terrorist act; opposition negate [86]


You mean the same polls that show Polish society to be split pretty much straight down the middle?

News / Poland's Sejm passes anti-terrorist act; opposition negate [86]

The funniest thing is that anyone that's attended a KOD demonstration knows that they police themselves very effectively. The police are only needed to stop the "nationalist" thugs from attacking KOD demonstrations.

News / Poland leads in child well-being -- UNICEF [75]


Starting by looking at the real problem - that many children are condemned to a miserable life because of the attitude of their parents - is a good place to start. The negativity starts from day 1 - 18 years later, the kids have no hope in life because they grew up in a negative, hopeless environment.


It's not really a big secret that the PO/PSL government was a great government for those that wanted to get up and do something. It wasn't a good government for those that needed their hand held, and PO were apathetic at best towards pathology in society.

Unfortunately in Poland, the problems are caused by culture. Someone drinking their entire income down the drain will tend to be ignored by neighbours, rather than reported - so children end up growing up in an environment where they have nothing and society is desperately unwilling to do anything about it. People don't volunteer with such kids, and the middle classes in particular have a deep rooted loathing towards such children.

PiS won't change anything - society needs to change as a whole for something to change. Breakfast clubs are easy and simple to set up, but I know from first hand experience that school directors are often completely unwilling to entertain ideas because 'it might be a problem'.

And don't get me started on the way that private schools receive public funding. Just don't.

News / Poland's Sejm passes anti-terrorist act; opposition negate [86]


It's likely to flee even more since the plans were announced to forcibly take control of private companies if the government suspects 'wrongdoing'. It's pretty clear that the plan is to fund these large state-controlled companies by taxing the hell out of ordinary Poles.

The end result is pretty obvious.

News / PM Szydło support a bill to rebuild Polish shipping and ship-building [29]


Poland already is a major player. The problem is that PiS have dreams of Poland producing large ships again, when experience tells us that Poland's strength is in producing smaller boats that are in huge demand.

PiS are just making their grand declarations again while being desperately short on substance. They simply don't have the money to invest into shipyards and all the rest of it - they'll pretend that it's available, there'll be some token investments, then silence. Of course, PiS will start printing money sooner rather than later, which will help to pay for this at the expense of the savings of ordinary Poles. Economic ruin soon follows, as Serbia in the 1990's showed.

News / Poland leads in child well-being -- UNICEF [75]


There's a huge problem with it. I wish I could give more concrete examples, but I've seen it time and time again with outwardly 'happy' families actually being horrific behind closed doors. It's not just poor people - often rich lawyers, doctors, etc are also inflicting harm on their families.


Eye-opener, isn't it?

News / Poland leads in child well-being -- UNICEF [75]


Actually, the biggest problem in Poland is none of those things. It's rather the fact that kids are going to school hungry. Not a single government in Poland has done anything about this - 500zł doesn't help with pathological families that just see it as an excuse to drink even more, and every government has completely failed to deal with it. Poor families from normal backgrounds find ways to feed kids - but it doesn't help with the families where the parents are flat out drunk day after day.

I'm working on an initiative to try and bring breakfast clubs into schools so that these kids have a chance to at least start the day with a hot meal. Easier said than done, but we'll see.

UK, Ireland / How might Britain`s withdrawal from EU affect Poles there and here? [474]


Surely there are no citizens of the Republic of Ireland, only of Ireland? :P

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]


The truth is that many of them understand the PRL way far better than they understand democratic Poland. For them, people being promoted on the basis of loyalty to the Party and to the Chairman is absolutely normal, as is the system of patronage. The latest proposed laws, including seizing control of private businesses if a crime is suspected (!) is straight out of the PRL playbook.

You can see it with the comments that "in 2007, there were 1500 businesses owned by the Treasury and now there's only 500" - even though most of these businesses had no right to be run by the State.

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]


Have you seen the demonstrations organised in support of the government? Barely 200 people in Warsaw, and PiS have backed off from organising any sort of mass rally because they know that they can't attract the numbers that KOD do.

Study / Pedagogical studies taught in English within Poland? [22]


pedagogika24.pl - might this do the trick?

Study / Pedagogical studies taught in English within Poland? [22]


In this case, the best bet is to look for a course (a lot of them are EU funded and free) where they'll turn a blind eye to your limited Polish schools. A lot of it is 'by negotiation' - it's just a matter of finding someone to agree. A lot of the standalone courses are provided by people that couldn't care less as long as they get the money, so it's not that difficult to pull off.


Hmm, a lot depends on how they've previously been taught. If they've had native speakers since 6-7, it's a doddle to teach older kids. But if this is their first contact with a native speaker, it can be rough going, as they simply won't be used to being spoken to constantly in English as most Polish teachers will instinctively fall back into using Polish.

I used to (before changing career : got offered a job with a salary that I couldn't say no to!) specialise in teaching kids of 6-9 - it's not difficult at all, because they're very open once they get past the initial "what the hell..." stage. Older kids though are a nightmare!

Study / Pedagogical studies taught in English within Poland? [22]

CELTA doesn't qualify anyone to teach in public schools (or schools with full public rights) - it's a 4 week course and doesn't replace the need for proper pedagogical training.

Study / Pedagogical studies taught in English within Poland? [22]


Two routes are currently accepted :

Complete a degree with pedagogical training included (most degrees in Poland include teacher training if it's in a school subject)
Complete a pedagogical preparation course and combine it with a degree (in any subject) plus a recognised certificate at B2 level or above.

As it stands, a BA (or equal) is good for primary and gimnazjum-level education, while an MA (or equal) is required to teach in high schools.

However, the rules can be bent - but those are the basic requirements for everyone to hire you. A good route is to do an MA in English - it's not difficult for native speakers, you won't have to attend the bulk of the classes and it'll give you the full right to teach, including at universities. An MA also opens doors to doing a PhD at a university while working there.

Travel / Driving UK - Poland (breaks) [3]


It's a common theme in Germany - I haven't stopped at one service area that didn't scream "food poisoning". Most of the Polish truckstops are far better!

Best one I've ever been to was a large Marche close to Vienna Airport on the S1. A large, beautiful restaurant that wasn't terribly expensive with a huge selection of fresh products - it was the perfect place to stop and eat breakfast. Never seen anything like it elsewhere...

I would try and get closer to Hanover if you can - driving through NRW is annoying because it's so packed, and you won't want to start your journey having to deal with the traffic around Essen/Dortmund in the morning. it'll be much easier to get through at night, and you'll be fresh to deal with the mess that is the A2 between Berlin and Hanover. Hanover to Kostrzyn is an easy drive the next day, though a useful piece of advice is to cross the border at Świecko and head up to Kostrzyn that way rather than going through Seelow.

Law / Child maintenance - at what age can I stop paying child support in Poland? [9]

There's such a thing as a post-secondary school institution that goes by the name of "szkoła policealna" - pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Szko%C5%82a_policealna -


It's basically equal to our post-16 FE education, more or less.

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]

Except the picnics all over Poland, concerts, meetings and more.


You could come up with a better source than someone who lives in Kaczyński's back pocket, really.


If they were, why did KOD receive far higher approval ratings than the government in a recent poll? ;)

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]


Well, this is exactly what is changing on the 1st July, nothing else. I don't know where PiS got the 15 billion number from - nothing else is changing in terms of tax law. I'd personally expect a bit more than 200-300 million, but we'll see.


You do realise that the festival is controlled and organised by TVP, which is controlled by the government? They aren't exactly going to openly admit to banning symbols of freedom because they don't want it on public TV, are they?


That's such a poor excuse that it's not even funny. The symbol of Polish freedom being banned during the weekend in which we celebrate Polish freedom is just...hilarious.

Law / Child maintenance - at what age can I stop paying child support in Poland? [9]

Till 26 if he's in full time higher education, or 24 if he's in school-level education. If he isn't, no need to pay.

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]

Sure.

ksiegowosc.infor.pl/rachunkowosc/zasady-ogolne/736074,Jednolity-Plik-Kontrolny-JPK-od-1-lipca-2016-r.html


PiS will claim credit for it, but the project was started by PO and the law was passed by PO/PSL.

A lot of people are unhappy with this, and it may have cost PO quite a few votes to Nowoczesna among business owners. The problem with the JPK is that it means the tax office will have access to complete financial records of a business. For instance - let's say that in a small town, Paweł the director of the US is friends with the boss of company A that is selling tiles. He looks into the JPK for company B that also sells tiles, and discovers that they've been selling huge amounts of tiles to company C in Germany. He tells company A about it, and company A is then able to approach Company C with a better offer based on the confidential information from company B.

It's potentially open to a huge amount of abuse.