Life / Do you think a smoking ban would be a good thing in Polish restaurants and Bars? [217]

Had bars and restaurants installed something called a ventilation system it wouldnt be that bad.

Work / Working in Poland in a Non-Polish Speaking Job? - How? What? (no teachers!) [16]

I started working in PR but quit shortly because being a teacher was so much better. The choice was

fun PR job but hard work with 40-50 hour workweeks and make 3500zl
or
work 3 days a week teaching and make 4500zl

Love / Polish Girls vs Russian Girls [813]

for some reason i got the feeling that a young russians girls life goal, if she looked good, was to find a rich ass husband. and thats it.

USA, Canada / Traveling from US to Poland with maiden name in my passport and renewing it there [16]

More important is:
will your visa still be valid to the US since its in a different name
will you get the passport back in time when youre in poland

stop complicating your life and just do it in LA

USA, Canada / Traveling from US to Poland with maiden name in my passport and renewing it there [16]

ah ha. its up to you, but the plane ticket needs to be in the name you have on the passport and you must have your marriage certificate and green card with you on exit and reentry.

News / The Economist: time to rethink old notions about Poland [67]

I think the answer is quite clear if you live in Poland, things ARE becoming better and better and life certainly has changed in the past 2 years, massively changed in the past 5 years, and light years ahead from 10 years ago... IF you hold a consumerist/materialistic economy something "better". I do.

Genealogy / How hard is it to get a Polish passport? [74]


Nothing you said is true. I know because I hold 3 citizenships, USA, PL, and DE.

Poland and the USA allow dual or multiple citizenships, and I was naturalized as a Polish citizen after being a US citizen, and later recieved my german citizenship. I hold all 3 citizenships and never had any problems.

And you CAN enter Poland on a US passport even if you hold a polish passport, but why would you, since your American passport would get stamped with a schengen visa limited to what, 90 days? So convex, why would you spout ******** like this?

Work / Working in Poland in a Non-Polish Speaking Job? - How? What? (no teachers!) [16]


Oh sure I know that but Im hoping to open up my own business in the near future, and teaching gives me plenty of time to do whats good in life for now. Uni jobs are good if you crave authority and love paradoxes, besides that its pretty measly, and the BC jobs are for dudes who take themselves way too seriously.

If you set yourself up as a competent teacher I see 6k PLN no problem for "average teaching". If your lucky and land yourself a sweet corporate contract 10-15k can be had, but those are few and far between.

Law / Child support in Poland:is the income of the father's spouse taken into account? [34]


2000zl isnt high, its stratospherically high, but 400zl is quite low. Ie, Im guessing she doesnt want to work anymore (if she even does) and hopes she can freeload off your salary.

Work / Is it normal for companies/schools in Poland to be rude? [116]

Follow through here ranges from nil to 'maybe a vague email'. Big on talk little on action that kind of thing. I remember sending out job applications when looking for corporate work and got only 1 response from 30 applications.

But the lack of response pretty much means that no one is interested in you, esp since its Feb and the crisis is getting a bit worse.

Work / Is it normal for companies/schools in Poland to be rude? [116]


Phonetics? Youre not taking the **** here are you? I havent met a single student who is interested in learning phonetics... and I refuse to teach it because its pretty much useless

And I see some people here have got some serious beef against native English teachers. Understandably, Ive heard my share of horror stories, but just the same Ive met a alot of devoted and good teachers who absolutely kill polish teachers, not in terms of methodology or teaching grammar, but in liveliness, passion, and a knack for getting the language across. Just see how much attention a native speaker garners vs a polish speaker, with a NS youve have 9/10 attentive awake students, with a polish teacher maybe 5/10.

I would say a native speaker with a CELTA at least shows an inclination towards taking their job seriously, and quite honestly how the hell an attitude of "show up, do my job, go home" is somehow wrong is beyond me.

Its what 99% of people in the world do, and then consider the Polish angle...is pitching in and helping around with admin work going to get you some bonus points or something? Everyone who has ever worked in Poland should know that any extra work or hours is NEVER appreciated or rewarded. Never. In fact just the opposite, for employers its a great way of seeing whos a doormat in squeezing out few hundreds zlotys of free labor and then maybe buy them some cookies as a token of thanks. BS

Work / Is it normal for companies/schools in Poland to be rude? [116]


No really, different sounds!?! No wonder my students have problems with 'earth' and 'world'!! Thanks professor.
You are talking about pronunciation, not phonetics. Im talking about learning the stupid phonetic chart with Bre and Ame, and whether to say the 'r' like Americans, and wait, what if the teacher is an American, should they change their entire vocab/accent just to be a posh recieved pronounciation w4nker? Should it be said dawg or dog? You see where this is going. And then how many of them are going to be speaking to brits? I say better to have great intonation in your voice and speak a flat accent-less international english that would be understood by the germans, spandiards and greeks their 100% likely to encounter. You may call it McDonaldization of english or something, and I say thats a good thing.

Thats what Im talking about. Of course I do pronunciation exercises, just yesterday I spent an hour on hard and soft /c/ and /g/. And you know what, nobody was impressed or cared, but I had to do it. The biggest plus I see with these exercsies is that students are bombarded with 200 words and its a decent vocab/pronounciation review, not remembering that there is a soft sound if e i and y follow, because again who cares.

Phonetics and phonology are compulsory in english language programes because they are studying the language, thats no surprise. What average ESL student wants to master english or become fluent? Few, if any, for them its pointless. They want vocabulary, grammar, and communnication exercises, not theory and a bunch of strange looking letters and then another huge chart pointing out irregularities they have to memorize.

Work / Is it normal for companies/schools in Poland to be rude? [116]


oy mate, fooor having some bug up yer jacksie ye are alreet in my book torq. sure me mit be abrasive and i me dont fancy brits or rosie and crumpets or de olde hag queen, ey? oy dis lorry is out of petrol me thinks, mights well stop on er motorway, fancy takin a lift to de top guvnor?

... ah f this. that was lame for invoking some kind of country bumpkin ruse.

thats what i found that works, my students are satisified and have excellent pronunciation. and i dont have to be all high and mighty about it. so you can cram your fine line with walnuts, sir.

Travel / Ski and Snowboard - Poland 09/10 season (updated: 10/11 season) [84]

Ive been everywhere. In Dolnoslask only Zieleniec I would mention for beginners, but its improved over the past 2 years. Czarna Gora used to be a favorite but there are just way to many people there, waiting in line for 30 minutes is not fun, and evidently the concept of grooming ALL of the slopes seems to be missing.

Do not go to Karpacz or Sklarska Poreba, its a total f'ing nightmare. And if you're already going in that far just drive the extra 20km into the Czech Rep where the conditions are superb like in Splinderovy Mlyn or Harrachov, you have high speed quads, you arent treated as ****, and theres at least a decorum of civility there. Though czechs apprently believe straightlining down a mountaing doing 100kmh is considered 'good skiing'.

Honestly theres very few places that have 'good skiing', Zakopane sucks, Korbielow sucks, I was in Chopok in Slovakia and liked it, never had a problem at any place in the Czech Rep, but nonetheless I say forget all of this and go to the Alps.

Life / Do you really have to pay for your dogs to live in Poland [15]

andrewwright are you a native english speaker because your english is terrible, or are you drunk all the time? Probably the second.

Real Estate / Options for dealing with dishonest landlord in Poland [36]


Does he not have them or something? I only keep bills for a year, but Im a bit more tidy and have all numbers on a spreadsheet.

But honestly heating bills this winter were through the roof, my tenants had to pay 250% over what I projected because it was so cold. The choice was clear for almost everyone, freeze and wear jackets indoors and be sick every week, or pay boatloads just for having a warm apartment in the morning and nights.

And he may not have 'financial difficulties' at all, I refused to pay a bill from TP SA for NOT having a phone line and am blacklisted from them.

Life / COMBATING "POLACK" JOKES [460]

Mexican jokes? Russian jokes? Irish jokes? All of them make fun of a nationality for being dump, alcoholics, poor etc etc. Why are Poles any special? Oh yea, the infamous Polish complex.

I was driving in my car with another Polish guy talking about this very thing. He said a lot of the same things mentioned here but I had to cut him off because I had a feeling my turn signals werent working since a few people honked when I changed lanes.

I stopped the car and asked him to get out and let me know if they were working, 'no spoks bez problemu', he gets out, I turn them on and ask "so are they working?"

He says, 'Yes theyre working, wait wait, no theyre not working, now theyre working, now theyre not working.

Law / To know about the Jatux company in Poland? [33]

Wow its this easy to scam people???

Work / Teaching English in Krakow -- how to find students? [52]

If its just for 2 months its makes no sense to get any teaching credentials, as a CELTA course itself takes a solid month to do.

The problem is that Krakow is filled with so called 'English teachers', most of which have fallen into disrepute and have depressed wages across the board. If you feel you have a knack for teaching, understand how an English lesson should look like, and have a good personality/sense of humor etc, then teaching lessons regularly should be easy. If youre some kind of troll, well...

A few places to advertise are gumtree.pl, gratka.pl, ang.pl etc etc

Life / Polish "Mall Girl" Culture? [125]

I think this goes far far deeper than a simple moniker of 'prostitution', but more in the way relationships and sex is so strictly structured in Poland, how the entire dating scene works, on the difficulty in meeting partners, and on the materialistic wants of the yonger generation obviously not being met by their own salaries or of their parents.

Its a disappointment though that articles like these rarely take into account the other side, ie, all these 21st century woes, those poor girls, capitalism/materialism, lets find fault in the parents, etc etc, but nothing is mentioned on the guys who bang these girls?

I think any foreigner who has dated Poles in Poland was maybe a few times taken aback at certain behavior, those infamous polskie kompleksy, and its a shame that the newer generation evidently is being raised to be something far worse than the older communist generation IMHO.

Life / Polish "Mall Girl" Culture? [125]


I know what you mean, but I think there are. Just the differences in upbringing are astoundingly different. The missing father just didnt exist in communist times, nowadays its all I hear, and the gap between what you really had (money, possessions, friends, relationships) and what you wanted to have grew by 100000x, many people have expectations that go above and beyond what I would say are grounded or even normal. Im getting sick of 20 something year olds complaing they cant afford an apartment a new car and vacations in the Caribbean... no 23 year old without rich parents could afford that.

Kind of off topic, I think the best generation of Polish women quite frankly is in their 30s right now and a surprising amount are single, quite different from the 'must have boyfriend every waking moment of life' thing most Polish girls and woman have.


Also dont know what you mean, like its any different in Lithuania or the Ukraine? And if it is then wait another two years or so. The growing pains of very poor country trying to be rich.

Life / Polish "Mall Girl" Culture? [125]


You really think thats what Im trying to say??? Of course not. Im not talking about the 80s generation, but the 50/60s. Almost 1/4 to 1/3 of girls Ive met born after the 1980s had no fathers, or who were present but shouldnt have been (alcoholics etc), for a 'traditional Catholic' family mindset that must be quite a blow to children.


Sure its not defacto prostitution, in a way it actually seems like a good deal, she gets what she wants, he gets what he wants, there is some relationship involved, neat and simple. Just that these are 16 year old girls who are still incredibly insecure and immature, go ask them how a baby is made, I doubt 1/2 would be able to answer the question. I doubt any of them are self aware enough to understand what theyre doing and how badly theyre damaging their self esteem.

Btw, why did the girls call their sponsers 'frajer' then? Sure they chose, but not somebody they actually would want to be with. If these girls will ever be able to enter into a normal relationship is another thing, Im guessing no.

Real Estate / Just by gauging the interest in this forum says all about property in PL [36]

Its nowhere close to rosey, its a downright toilet, and this concept of real estate 'investment' is going to take a lot of Poles to the poor house.


With hopes at still selling their flat at a profit? I have no agenda in this, Im not involved in the real estate market that much, but god damn most property was and still is severely overvalued. What I would be even more alarming are the serious demographic changes that are so obvious in Poland. In 10-15 all of Poland will be one giant Berlin.

Real Estate / Just by gauging the interest in this forum says all about property in PL [36]

Not just price wise, as in totally flat for years and years, but that there will be a huge surplus of apartments on the market, the only active buyers/renters will be dominated by those in their 20s/30s and therefore will largely be a renters market.

Look, the older generation is dying in droves, few Poles can make it past 75, almost all live in communist blocs or spacious prewar apartments by themselves, one of the benefits of communist 'housing for all'. Most will be inherited and, boom, a substantial part of the population will have their housing taken care of. Why drown in a sea of loans when your grandparents left your family 2 apartments to choose from?

I guess it also goes without saying that most parents that had or will have children at most 2 children, but the single child is predominant. So when those grandparents die and their parents in 20 years, that single child will have anywhere from 3-4 pieces of real estate in their name Not bad.

But thats not even that important, the problem in Poland is that the population peaked in 1995 and has been dropping since, the birth rate is now at a 1:1 ratio with the death rate, but that the birth rate in Poland is dropping like a rock. In 10 years all studies point to the 1:2 ratio at the minimum.

So whats that mean? In 10-15 years, when those who went crazy are only halfway through paying their mortgages at 10k zl/m2, there will be very little demand on property ownership.

I have no idea how this could shape up, but you can see its not looking good. Coupled with the fact that there are very few migrants coming into Poland which did in fact save a few Western european countries, that a lot of Poles want to leave Poland, and that Polish society, culture, and language isnt exactly 'open' and easily accessible, and that government policies on economic growth/poverty reduction/improving quality of life are at best a joke, well...

edit:


No, like I said I dont have any real interest in or connections with real estate, no mortgage, just an inherited house.

USA, Canada / Finding a job without work permission in the US [32]

In todays economy you dont have a chance. Most manual jobs are taken up by South Americans and every other service related job is in the hands of college grads that cant find work or others who are underemployed.

Of course there are regions and certain professions in the US that are unaffected, parts of the Midwest come to mind and for example skilled jobs like nursing/biomed/computer networks/scientists, but untrained/black market jobs, no chance.

USA, Canada / Dual citizenship - US doesn't care if you don't give up Polish passport [103]


Yes, they are. I have dual citizenship/passports and am working on a third.

Real Estate / Just by gauging the interest in this forum says all about property in PL [36]


I know its bleak, but for me those are serious fundamental issues that require long term planning and a tremendous amount of time and money to correct. I dont think a single person in Poland seriously considered what life will look like in 10 years in this country. Of course I wish it was otherwise. And anyway, so what, most people in 10-20 years will want to dump their old commie apartment for something new, then who will buy the old apartments that are falling apart? Theyll have no value, and look at how many could come onto the market.

Most of the communist buildings were built with an life span of 30-40 years, most build in the 70s. Some are already approaching 50. The problem is, how do you destroy a bloc owned by 100 people and then build a new one? And I doubt those who took on 30/40 year mortgages to buy a flat in one of those buildings are considering leaving any time soon.

edit:
I know about the quality issues on new projects, my cousins 5 year old flat has severe structural and plumbing issues, which make you wonder how long they will actually last. Which goes right back to the question, whos going to buy this crap in 10-30 years? Sure some of the communist blocs were built rock solid, using quality bricks and concrete and overengineered. But not all.

Real Estate / Just by gauging the interest in this forum says all about property in PL [36]


How is that even possible when an average home costs about 1000e/m2, attainable for lots of Germans. I think you read that wrong, they probably change mortgage lenders 3 times or more seeking better rates.

Work / Teaching English in Krakow -- how to find students? [52]


Does it make a difference? I would say it does if you really are bilingual. How common is it? Very rare. Im one of them, born and bred American but speak fluent Polish since my parents were Poles. A decent wage? Well if thats all you can offer than maybe. If you have a uni degree, some TEFL certification, have a knack for teaching, are amiable and generally fun to be around with, and can put together a decent lesson, youre golden.