News / "Poles want cut on foreign workers" - (in Poland obviously) [47]

OK so I have come here from the UK. I was born in the UK, and I know no Polish - yet (see later). I am going to be earning half of what I could in the UK. However, my late dad was Polish and would have been proud as punch that I have gone back to his homeland and am now trying to learn what is, it must be said, a difficult language (for those about to say "why didn't he teach you" let me say that it is hard to teach one's child from the afterlife).

What I tend to get usually is a pleased and supportive reaction, as I am here to help people learn English. Occasionally I have encountered casual racism, including "Russki" when I can't understand immediately and couldn't speak well.

Just a thought!

Work / What jobs pay 10,000 zlotych per month? and Where can i find one? :o) [101]

Have every intention of being off my face tonight, and that will be the only night I do because it's my birthday. It would be so easy to get drunk all the time, so many people do. However, getting enough hours worries me slightly, as I am new to teaching per se - this month (first week I was relocating, there was also Easter) I can expect to make only 2400 before tax in my new job - this is not enough for me to live on with set up costs and thankfully I have a little money in reserve. I think the situation will improve when I am more experienced (new to teaching from being a trainer, with emphasis on Customer Services - I am trying to see if there's any way to make use of my experiences in the UK troubleshooting to board level for a multinational as if I could speak Polish I'd consider freelance CS training here too :) Lord knows a lot of places need it!)

Life / Driving test, English speaking driving school in Warsaw? [95]

What's the average cost for lessons, and is it worth the cost? I know I can get a parking space with my apartment but there's so much transport out there it seems kind of pointless (EXACTLY why I have not as yet passed my driving test!)

Law / English-speaking bank in Warsaw ? [33]

Welcome! Why not register an actual account so we can talk to you properly?

Life / Reasons for moving to Poland [291]

Radicals being the operative word, thanks Seamus.

The advice about coming over a few times NOT in a "holiday" frame of mind is excellent. Here's something to consider about Warsaw (and I actually consider this a plus of the city): it is not like lots of Western European cities where everything is out on a plate. You have to seek and find for things here, which is actually good for us as people.

Plus even with an excellent public transport system (others may disagree but I think Warsaw has great transport links even mid-Remont) you still have to walk a lot - stairs, crossings etc. For someone who had a life which was quite sedentary in the UK this has come as a rude biological shock, and is helping me drop weight I've wanted to lose for years :)

Life / Reasons for moving to Poland [291]

Yay Cardno, good for you. Where you going to go?

Love / Are Polish Women cold and aloof? [249]


Funny, smessenger, you could almost be talking about a man in Chicago who did the same to me (though at least I didn't MOVE out there for him).

However, there are plenty more riby in the sea ... and lots more really lovely warm women in Warsaw waiting with ... oh ok I ran out of alliteration :)

Love / Are Polish Women cold and aloof? [249]

That's one very good way of looking at it :)

Love / Are Polish Women cold and aloof? [249]

Arlene, I am English/Polish and brought up in England. In my time I have been the "voice" of many companies and have a very clear speaking voice. When talking to Americans I very often have to speak slowly and carefully because otherwise they simply can't understand what I am saying. As slow, in fact, as I often have to speak to Polish people who are learning English at a more Basic or Intermediate level - and far far slower and more carefully than I generally have to speak to Advanced level students who are Polish.

Just a thought, there, my dear.

Love / Are Polish Women cold and aloof? [249]

Exactly Seamus ...

For the benefit of the off-topic posters and those who were having personal arguments:
50 off topic messages removed to random chat from the end of this thread.

Life / 80% of Polish people are boring or can't party, why? [179]

I know lots of interesting, intelligent and witty Polish people and also lots of "halfies" - I think the OP was just maybe unlucky.

Life / 80% of Polish people are boring or can't party, why? [179]


How cold was it at the time? :)

Travel / First Impressions About Warsaw & A small guide [7]

Piotr i Paweł is great. They had Benedict Aioli, which is something I always wanted in the UK and could rarely get where I lived, so I was extra delighted to find it in Warsaw.

I find the chicken here in restaurants lovely but the chicken bought in supermarkets often not so nice.

Love / Polish guys who have never had girlfriends [71]

I'd like to defend English girls but in all honesty I can't, other than to say that some of us were never like that in the first place. (Yeah, and the one who aren't like that aren't the ones who had all the fun of course).

Life / Which brand of Mosquito repellant would you recommend (Warsaw), or... [22]

LMAO thanks Sean. I did do a search but I can't spell today, durrrrrr ...

Life / Which brand of Mosquito repellant would you recommend (Warsaw), or... [22]

I'm going to try rubbing garlic on my feet so if you meet someone in a bar tonight with garlic-foot it might be me!!!!

Life / Which brand of Mosquito repellant would you recommend (Warsaw), or... [22]

Why they can't stay on holiday in Mazury with the rest of Warsaw each weekend I just don't know :)

Life / Do expats living in Poland speak Polish? [233]

Not so well as I would like yet, but that's possibly cos I have no patience and want to be fluent in a day. I try to learn a couple of words every day and that's by osmosis of listening, reading and trying to use it.

I agree that it is rude not to try to speak the local language: I want to learn one that I should have learned normally as a child if my Mum had let my Dad teach me.

Classifieds / English cuisine week in Lidl shops in Poland [203]

ShawnH, if you go to the Carrefore in Arkadia they usually stock Wyke Farms Cheddar which is the real deal and is a brand I often was pleased to see in the UK - GOBSMACKED to see it here. Kuchnia Swiat often have it too.

As to anything else ... I can't bring myself to want to go to Lidl (though some of their GERMAN stuff can be very good).

OK OK I can see a reason now maybe, Millionaire Shortbread (the caramel cakes) and MAYBE the roast spuds cos they are very handy for making bubble and squeak (which is basically potatoes, cabbage and onion fried until they form a "cake" in the pan - MUCH nicer than it sounds).

Classifieds / English cuisine week in Lidl shops in Poland [203]

Actually Seanus yes I can :) Eww!

(And it's a prejudice hangover from the UK and the Lidl in Bletchley which was manky as hell)

Classifieds / English cuisine week in Lidl shops in Poland [203]

Never mind that! Can someone explain some of the items on this page:
lidl.pl/pl/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20091022.index

Particularly what is going on with the picture top right?

I might have to get some of those bootees though ... they are well sexy!

Classifieds / English cuisine week in Lidl shops in Poland [203]

Bless Gumishu - about the bootees I was just joking, my granny used to wear them.

Travel / What should I wear in winter in Poland? [29]

Wear everything!!!!!!!!!

Law / Polish Citizenship for a foreigner whose parents was born in Poland [174]

What actual benefits are there to, say, a UK born person who definitely has eligibility? I know for sure that I have, as I've got my Dad's documents with me, he did not renounce his Polish nationality.

I can see the benefit for non EU people, is there anything I would gain from going through the process?

Life / Lack of Spacial Acuity in Poland [69]

People actively home in on me, never mind don't understand that people are objects which can impact.

My pet peeve, though, is people who keep walking forward while looking BEHIND themselves then scowl at you when they manage to take some strange trajectory right into you. Eyes are on the front of the head for a reason you know!!!

Law / Polish Citizenship for a foreigner whose parents was born in Poland [174]


Well technically it is the other way around, on paper at least I am British but I am as much Polish as British and I've never felt "British" ... you can have an ID card anyway as far as I know without actually renouncing your passport, but I guess more than anything I should do this so then I can make sense of feeling like I "belong" here, which I definitely do feel :)

UK, Ireland / Polish people in the UK using the English version of their name? [56]


Beautiful :)

I know various Agas, not anyone who would call themselves Agnus, there was an Aggy in the UK which is so ugly - Agnieszka is a pretty name (just as well considering how many of them are around).

I tell my students that unless they desperately want to be called an English name for personal reasons I'm going to call them by their actual name that most people would use (Kasia is a million times nicer than Kate, which is just as well considering how many of them are around!).

To the OP: please don't judge a nation by one person. There's lots of lovely Polish people, I am sure there are also plenty of ******** who are Polish as well as ones who are Irish: the attitude of your recent girlfriend is the way of the world these days not reason to dump someone (was the husband a decent guy? how can one know a whole story). Just saying this to point out that high expectations are the fastest way to disappointment...

Life / Why do people think that I'm Polish ? [92]


Yep. Tho personally I see my mother's side of the family in a lot of that description (nominally Yorkashire, and my Polish dad was a total shortarse!).