Life / Winter in Poland? [160]

O my GOD! I have only been in Poland for two minutes…. I came in the summer for three weeks and fell in love with the place, Gdynia, Sopot, Gdansk… wow… I thought I had found paradise… SO, I moved here to live and start up a business in November, all my Polish friends told me that the winters were very cold, -15 to -20 was normal… I just thought, that’s ok, I’ve lived in Yorkshire, I know what a bleak winter is like….. BUT….. I am now in Kartuzy, and it’s been -17 all week, I promise you, you have no idea what -17 is like day in, day out until you are here living it. And now my friends are telling me just wait till January and February when it gets really cold…. REALLY COLD!!!!!!!!!! -25 can be the average…….

OK, OK, I can hear you all laughing, but it’s ok, I will survive. This afternoon I am moving to a fantastic little apartment in the Gdansk, right in the city centre. It’s brand new and it’s going to cost me just 1100 PLZ a month all in, bills included, that is around £250 for city centre living. Not bad at all.

I am going to be internet less for a while, while I wait to get connected. So merry lovelyness to everybody. Have a fabulous Christmas and everybody take care.

Language / Which is the BEST, EASIEST to learn & most helpful"POLISH FOR FOREIGNERS"course? [32]

Hi. 'COLLINS' do a really good 3 Cd set plus book audio course, it's called 'Easy Learning Polish' You should be able to order it from collinslanguage.com, it'll cost you around £10. I have been learning Polish for about 6 months using this systen and it's been good enough to get me around Gdansk and to be be able to order stuff, buy stuff and make very light polite conversation. I hope this info helps.

Work / Salary expectations in Poland [373]

My partner is looking for work at the moment in Gdansk, the average she is being offered for shop or hotel work is around 1500 PZL PER MONTH This is after tax. They do have a minimum wage here, it's 1200 PZL PER MONTH. We rent a one bed room flat (part furnished) in the city centre, it cost 850 PZL per month plus bills. The bills are around 250 PZL per month. That is quite cheap for Gdansk and we were lucky to find it, the average is around 1000 PZL PER MONTH, for one room. Food and stuff is quite cheap here, you should be able to get by on around 100 to 150 PZL per week, that's with eating out and tea, coffee's out. There are not loads of jobs around, but they say you can find one if you look hard enough!!! Time will tell. Hope this helps.

Law / LOOKING FOR HELP AND INFORMATION TO OPEN INDIAN RESTAURANT IN POLAND..... [80]

Hi my friend.

Opening a business in Poland is quite a task, I am going through the process now. The best advice I can give you is you MUST get professional help. There are many steps to opening a business in Poland and they ALL must be made in the correct order, there are no short cuts what so ever. Make sure your business plan is water tight and 100% solid as the running costs of owning a business in Poland is quite high, and the costs and taxes are paid monthly, and from the date your business is registered, even if your business has no income. I was told the easiest way to start a business is to BUY an established business that is already registered and trading. BUT do get professional help.

Love / Do you think that Polish should stick to Polish? [128]

Hi Angie, a very nice and interesting thread. Just to throw a different angle in. I'm Irish, met my Polish girlfriend (soon to be wife) in England. She had lived in England for 4 years and she really wanted to return to Poland, it was 'Polish this, and 'Polish that' her parents did push her quite a lot to return (they live in Poland) So I agreed to come with her to Poland and try and make a life here, and so far I love Poland, the cold is cold, like really, really, really cold, and it has made me think... Doh! I would like to be in a warmer country!! However, teaching English here was easy, an advert in the local free paper has me earning a good wage teaching 'conversational English' so that was not a problem at all. Flats here are very cheap and easy to find, food is fantastic. However it's my girlfriend that now regrets coming back to Poland, all the things she hated about Poland are still here and she feels very little has changed! She now wants to leave. So the best advice really is you need to come here for at least 6 months, come and see a Polish winter, because we are in Gdansk, and in the summer, Gdansk, Gdynia and Sopot are beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. But they are very different in the winter. It looks like we could be going to Italy soon, just as mad as Poland, but warmer.....

GOOD LUCK WHATEVER YOU CHOOSE

xx

UK, Ireland / Polish workers going back to Britain [14]

The minimum wage in Poland should be:- 1,317 zlotys PLN as of 01.01.2010.

fedee.com/minwage.html

News / Brown's 'Bigotgate' and the debate about Poles [63]

I love the fact that we now live in a borderless EUROPE, people should be free to come and go as they please, they should be free to choose where they want to work and live, settle and raise families. It’s so much nicer to be nice, we should just love each other and spend more time hugging and less time moaning. Let a Polish person into your life, you’ll be so much happier.

Work / Girl looking for job speaking English apart from teaching English. Ideas? [30]

Hi

If you check out the extreme South of Poland and the South West Borders, a lot of Hotel are desperate for receptionist with good English. Many of the Polish/English speakers have now gone BACK to the UK as the pay and conditions are so bad here. BUT if you are ok to work six days a week for 1000 zloty a month, then you should find it quite easy to get a job even with no Polish. The hotels main guests are German and Czech and they use English, so you should be ok. Some hotels even offer live-in accommodation to try and entice staff. HOWEVER as already pointed out on the forum, you could teach English and earn 45 zloty an hour instead!

News / Next 100 years - Poland as great power? [35]

The United States of Europe will be a super power, just give it another 20 years when Europe has one language and one currency. People will fly the European flag from their homes and talk passionately about being European. They will call Europe their home and sing traditional European songs from the European song contests of days gone by. Poland on it's own will not be a super power. Neither will any other European county on it's own, those days are long gone. Poland, France and Germany will all be major states in the United States of Europe. Then in thirty years time Russia will join the Union, a few years later Russia will devour Poland once more, then Germany, Austria, France and so on and so on, until the rebirth of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic once again rules the world!...........

O my God, I'm going to move to the Isle of Wight and keep out of it....

UK, Ireland / Why English do not like Polish? [417]

I don't hate the Polish people at all, I think they are most excellent. I love them so much that I am going to marry one...... sorted!

Love / Any English guys give me advice please. Are Polish women very different to English women? [46]

My Polish partner is fantastic, every thing you could possibly want in a woman. She is kind, thoughtful, loving and loyal.............. however.............. she didn't like England much and so took me to Poland to live........... in the cold, snowy, -25 winter that never ends .......... But at least the rain is warm in the summer.

UK, Ireland / First proper "Polish" School in the UK - The Next Stage of Ghettoisation [283]

You know, the UK is still a beautiful country. A very mixed and varied Island. Counties in England like Cornwall, Cumbria, Durham and Northumberland are truly stunning. Then when you throw in Scotland and the Scottish Highlands, the magnificent coastline along North Wales... WOW! It's easy to knock ANY country in Europe, all have good and bad areas, all have good and bad people. If anything Europe is becoming more and more........ 'European' with massive shopping centres and chain stores. If one was to be deposited in just about any large shopping centre in Europe, one would have to look twice at which country they were in as they are starting to look all the same. Starbuck's, Coffee Haven, McDonalds, Kentucky etc, etc, etc.

So why are the Polish people in the UK? So why is any body from outside the UK in the UK? It's because it's easy to start up your own business, it's easy to get a new idea from concept to production, it's easy and free to get health care for the whole family, it's very easy to find a job if you are prepared to work hard. Working conditions are generally very good. Schools are ok, colleges are ok, universities are ok. Fish & Chips on a nice warm evening in Whitby. A hot Balti down busy, bustling Brick Lane. A nice cold beer on a beautiful summer Sunday listening to the sound of leather on willow whilst watching Durham take on Sussex in the Counties league. Rugby, the Five Nations, Twickenham, The Aviva Stadium, The Millennium Stadium. They have some great football teams in Britain! Great grounds. Wembley, Old Trafford, Stanford Bridge, St James Park, Villa Park, Anfield, Hamden Park, Celtic Park, Ibrox. God save the Queen, Field of Athenry, Flower of Scotland, Hen Wald Fy Nhadau, You'll never walk alone, Glory, Glory.........

And of course if that is not enough, the motorways are good, it's very easy to get from one end of the country to the other..... Trains are ok, a but expensive, but nice and clean... good safety record. Coaches are ok, they get you just about anywhere.

And of course if that is not enough either... then when it all goes wrong and the s**t hits the fan... then you have a great benefit system too. You get £70 a week for being unemployed, plus all your rent paid for plus all your council tax paid for plus free prescription........ So you won't starve or be thrown out of your home..... Your kinds will be fed and get all the health care and medicine they need......

Not bad really for a small, wet Island in Northern Europe that nobody seems to like!