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Posts by mafketis  

Joined: 31 Mar 2008 / Male ♂
Warnings: 1 - O		 Last Post: 18 Jul 2025
Threads: Total: 42 / In This Archive: 19
Posts: Total: 11605 / In This Archive: 4201 		From: tez nie
Speaks Polish?: tak
Interests: tez nie

Displayed posts: 4220 / page 87 of 141
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mafketis   
8 Aug 2016
Language / Learn Polish or Russian [86]

Thats why the language should be eradicated, because a fascist state have used the Russian language to claim ownership of Russian speakers

That's deranged and kind of inaccurate. What should Russians speak instead?
mafketis   
7 Aug 2016
News / Poland's President-Elect Duda leads in public trust - CBOS poll [185]

support for Duda?

The key to a president's popularity in Poland mostly involved not doing anything. Duda is very good at not doing anything.

As one Polish commenter put it (at onet some time ago). "Does it matter which puppet is used? We know whose hand is up their dvpa."
mafketis   
6 Aug 2016
Life / The miserable life of retired old pensioners in Poland [10]

I suspect it's far more to do with making sure that the flat is left to them than anything else.

Yeah, communism led people to actively wish for the elderly so they'll stop taking up so much prime real estate. Sadly, that mentality has not disappeared. Lessened, but not disappeared.
mafketis   
3 Aug 2016
Life / The miserable life of retired old pensioners in Poland [10]

my father used to tell me how neighbors would always step up and help if someones crop has failed or the breadwinner of a family was sick

This is probably rose-colored nostalgia. Though I'm sure it happened more than in the 1990s (for example)

the church did help out in the old days , what has happened to change all this.

A little thing called the PRL. Communism poisoned all human relationships. In addition, the church was in a delicate position and for the protection of all there was kind of a .... wall maintained between priests and the faithful (esp in cities, things were a litlle more relaxed in the countryside). A Polish friend who emigrated to the states was amazed to see priests casually talking to parishoners after mass (she'd never seen anything remotely like it in Poland). A friend attends church where the priest in charge spent years in Canada and he's tried hard to make the church more of a social center than just a place to go for mass, but.... it's a long hard haul.

One thing that saddens me in modern Poland is the lack of basic sympathy at the suffering of others, especially the elderly. Anytime I read an article about an old person in trouble, half the commenters are gloating about how it's their own damn fault and how they have no sympathy for them. Not sentiments they should be flashing around in public.
mafketis   
3 Aug 2016
Life / The miserable life of retired old pensioners in Poland [10]

Yes, and not only that but there is no culture of volunteering or helping the elderly unless they're your own relatives.

Virtually all aspects of civic non-governmental organization were co-opted by the communists and simply dumped and forgotten when communism fell.

For various reasons the catholic church did not really step in to fill the gap either. I remember back in the late 1990s a friend was moving back to the US and wanted to donate a bunch of stuff she had acquired to some charity. She asked a very devout catholic friend about doing so and the friend had no idea what she was talking about. Charity? Tha'ts not what the church is for!

For various other reasons no political party encourages civic engagement either. PiS especially instinctively distrusts any citizen endeavor that they're not in control of.

It seems that unless it's organised by the local priest, there's nothing here in the way of support for the needy elderly in the community.

Polish priests seem to be only concerned with regulating people's church experience and their sex lives, making life outside church better is a very low priority.

This is the biggest flaw of Poland (from my perspective) the big gaping hole where "concern for other people" should be.
mafketis   
1 Aug 2016
Life / Polish people and racism. [943]

Fair enough, it's true she wasn't liked around here and she looked down her nose at everyone.

Are you obsessed ;)

I think she really left because she realized real world events were going to be showing that she was wrong about almost everything....

However, Polly digging up and old comment to fuel his racism

stopped reading.

please focus on the thread only
mafketis   
1 Aug 2016
Work / What you do not know about work & life in Poland. [7]

my question is, how difficult it is to move to Germany or Netherland from Poland?

Informally, easy. To do so legally (as in pay taxes and not worry about being deported) is another question entirely and you would need to contact the immigration authorities in those countries to find out.

if things doesn't work out in Poland and I find it racist.

Your best option if Poland doesn't please you (and it probably won't) would be to return to the country you arrived from. If you regard Poland as an entry point to richer countries then you're probably not welcome in Europe.
mafketis   
29 Jul 2016
Love / Different relationship... can it work with Pakistani girl and Polish guy? [129]

eventually my husband reverted to islam

Converted, the term to use with non-muslims is "converted". Many non-muslims find the term "revert to Islam" highly offensive and supremist (except in the case of someone being muslim, leaving islam and then returning to it)
mafketis   
27 Jul 2016
Study / Is there an elementary school with English as a main language in Poland? [14]

There is so much wrong with this.

You have four kids and want to _study_? In a country whose language you are ignorant of?

You have kids who speak a language and you want to put them into a school to be educated in a language which

a) they dont' speak,
b) you're not especially fluent in,
c) is not the language of the country you're going to "study" in....

Is there any way your plans could be less realistic? Answer is..... la.
mafketis   
26 Jul 2016
Life / Polish people and Politeness [84]

Germans could not be any more ignorant about life in America, yet they see it as their duty to constantly state their opinion about it.

Poles or more reflexively pro-US than Germans (who have a complicated worship-despise relationship with the US and complicated superiority-inferiority complex vis a vis the US as well).

Also, generally Polish people dont know much of how things actually work in the US but they're more likely to realize this and accept information that conflicts with what they thought.

They also have their backward views about air conditioning or moving air making people sick.

Poland has that too, open a window on a hot day and people are scrambling to close it on the grounds that you're creating a "draft". I KNOW! That's the whole point!

but I don't see the point in arguing about politics or current events with every person I meet

Not every person, but be prepared to take sides (vocally) in any disagreement going on around you. Actually that's not as common as it used to be but I always enjoyed some old lady getting in an argument with the cashier in a grocery store and everyone else taking some side or other....
mafketis   
25 Jul 2016
News / Streets closed in Warsaw during NATO summit [146]

like Georgia for example or Baltic states, parts of Ukraine)

none of those are Russian "defensive zones" they are separate countries whose populations want to be free of Russian domination and interference. Get your facts straight.
mafketis   
25 Jul 2016
Life / Polish people and Politeness [84]

Everyone I've ever met from Poland has been friendly and down to earth and has not attempted to instigate a political argument

That means they don't take you seriously. Political (and every other possible type of) arguments are the national sport of Poland.

Where are you from originally? Living in Poland (really living, not doing the isolated expat ghetto thing) is a real life course in assertiveness training. Don't fear or avoid political arguments, tell you interlocutor how stupid and misguided they are for thinking such stupid things that any idiot knows are wrong.

Short story : If you're shy or have delicate feelings - stay away from Poland (and stay in the expat womb) if you're not afraid to mix it up verbally then you'll love it.
mafketis   
24 Jul 2016
Real Estate / Best residential areas in Wroclaw to live in? [27]

s there such a thing in Poland as a non-smoking apartment building

I have never heard of such a thing and doubt very much that it would exist (though I think Poles are now a little more polite about their smoking than Germans are).
mafketis   
22 Jul 2016
Work / Are there plenty of job (computer science major) in Poland [4]

Here are a couple links I could find in a hurry about Vietnamese people in Poland, you can probably find much better information from them than from this forum. I'm very pro Vietnamese in Poland, but many on this forum..... not so much.

Anh bat dau hoc noi tieng Ba lan chua? (that's probably wrong)

Good luck!

queviet.eu

facebook.com/CONGDONGVIETNAMTAIBALAN
mafketis   
21 Jul 2016
News / Observance of Warsaw Uprising [17]

apologize for using the term 'Smolensk torture porn fetish' in relation to the 96 victims of the Smoleńsk crash, will you?

No. The term was used in relation to Macierewicz's sick and perverted obsession and not the victims themselves. If you can't read well enough to understand that then that is not my problem.
mafketis   
21 Jul 2016
News / Good-change government raising minimum wage in Poland, cutting SB pensions [213]

Every time you enter a Tesco, Carrefour, Leroy, Leclerc, Lidl or Biedronka in Poland, ask youself:

why Poles would rather work for foreign companies than Polish ones. The answer is the foreign owned companies are more liable to have fair merit-based promotion policies and Polish employers have a terrible reputation for ripping off their employees and promoting on the basis of who-you-know and nepotism.

That's the problem that no government program can fix. It has to be the decision of Polish employers to start treating employees better.
mafketis   
21 Jul 2016
News / Observance of Warsaw Uprising [17]

Plus he should be banned on the PF for using such a disrespectful term for at least a week.

Well aren't you the little kapuś?

And to make things very clear. I have no respect whatsoever for Macierewicz. He's dangerously unhinged and I'm thoroughly tired of his deathgasm fixation (yeah.... I went there). The more he rants about a crime the more I think he himself has something to hide.

And yeah, I'm sorry the plan crashed but ....

There was no excuse for allowing the heads of the armed services on the same plane. None. Anyone who allowed or encouraged that was/is dangerously incompetent. That's the real scandal. That and the fact that LK was playing the Katyn memorial for cheap - wanting to fly in and fly out ASAP rather than say go by train or fly into a safer airport and be driven there. No it was all about wanting to one up trump and he didn't care who he endangered to do that and he and the country paid a high price for his hubris and blatant disregard for the security of the country.

I'm done holding my tongue if AM wants dredge up the past let's dredge it up - but it doesn't make anyone in the presidential palace look good.

Go run to your handler now to report me!
mafketis   
21 Jul 2016
News / Good-change government raising minimum wage in Poland, cutting SB pensions [213]

When do you suggest such a plan should be launched? In 2092?

Why "launch" a plan. Create conditions that allow Polish entrepreneurs to get ahead and it will happen (after a while).

Franco tried to do the same thing during his long reign - create an international Spanish brand and it failed spectacularly. It was only long after he kicked the bucket that Spanish products like Hello magazine or Zara achieved prominence. In other words, it was only after the Sapnish government stopped tyring to "kickstart" things that things began to happen.

Those who favor centralized authority in everything will never understand that....
mafketis   
20 Jul 2016
News / Good-change government raising minimum wage in Poland, cutting SB pensions [213]

Spoken like a true defender of the post-commie status quo!

Spoken like someone who is still stuck in 1992.... and bvtt hurt about it.

No one cares about the "post-commie roundtable elite" or whatever except antiquated old fossils like you (and defenseless children whose minds have been poisoned).
mafketis   
19 Jul 2016
Classifieds / Can any Polish (Muslim) girl help me ? [30]

it's not my fault that people want to change your religion

be sure to not gloss over the part where it's okay for men to beat their wives....
mafketis   
19 Jul 2016
News / Observance of Warsaw Uprising [17]

The Warsaw Uprising (Powstanie warszawskie) was, from the Polish perspective, one of the key events of WWII and one of the defining events of the modern Polish nation (wiki link below).*

This year's observance is being marred by an ugly dispute between veterans of the uprising and the military. The head of the military wants to distract attention away from the fallen and the survivors of the uprising and make the obswervance about his Smolensk torture porn fetish.

The veterans themselves have disinvited the military and now the military is calling them in to discuss/force/brutalize them into giving in.

Even M Kaczyńska is siding with the veterans against the head of the military and his bizarre death cult obsessions (or is it a distraction away form his own guilt?)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Uprising

Mods: Do not move this to some other Sm----nsk thread, this is a separate topic that deserves its own thread. moving it to another thread would be a blatant act of disrespect against those who should be honored.
mafketis   
16 Jul 2016
USA, Canada / Polish mother in law wants to move in - what can we do?? [10]

when the baby is born she'll be more determined to meddle

True, but when the baby is born the chances of her not moving in "temporarily" in order "to help with the baby" are less than zero. The wife needs a plan to stop that from happening now.
mafketis   
16 Jul 2016
USA, Canada / Polish mother in law wants to move in - what can we do?? [10]

In Poland, parents usually feel completely justified in meddling in their adult childrens' marriages (parent meddling is one of the most frequent causes of divorce in Poland).

Your wife knows this (maybe not consciously but I'm sure she knows of couples driven apart by one or more parents not letting a young couple sort out their problems on their own). This is the dark side of family values - your family is always up in your business.

My suspicion is that your MIL wants to break your marriage up (how much clearer could she be - barging in on your _wedding night_????!???!) and sees moving in as a way of expediting you moving out.

Oddly, one of the ways out might be for your wife to get pregnant ASAP before letting you r MIL in. This might dull your MIL's desire to wreck her daughter's marriage (no guarentees though - perverted Polish parental passion takes many irrational forms)

As for her being lonely - most lonely people worked long and hard to get that way.....