anna77
20 Apr 2013
USA, Canada / American family moving to Poland - looking for advice! [44]
Hello,
My husband is being offered to move to his company's Warsaw office for 2-4 years. We currently live in New York area but we used to live in London for his work for 3 years a few years back so the expat thing is not completely new to us. However, neither of us speak Polish so this move would probably prove to be a bit more challenging... I am planning to start learning Polish as soon as this whole thing is confirmed but it's unlikely that I'd have any command of the language soon....
We have two kids, 3 and 7 yo. I have my own business which I will try to run remotely from Poland...
Here are my questions:
1. How easy/difficult is it to get around and get by in Warsaw without being able to speak Polish?
2. Are there English speaking doctors/hospitals?
3. What are the best/safest/convenient to the American school areas to live in? Preferably, with not too bad of a commute to Srod-Miescie (city center) area for my husband's job... How much should we expect to pay for a 3 bedroom apartment there?
4. Do most apartments for rent come furnished or unfinished?
5. Would we need to buy a car to get around?
And lastly, to be able to afford a decent size apartment in a nice area and to pay 2 private school tuitions plus obviously have enough left for everyday purchases, groceries, enough left for travel and kids activities, what would you estimate the monthly income should be? Would 20,000 PLN be enough? 30,000? I understand of course that it's all relative for different people but i am just trying to understand the cost of living in Warsaw and to ballpark the amount necessary for us to maintain the same lifestyle as in NY...
Sorry for so many questions, this has just came up and I am feeling a bit overwhelmed by all this... Would really appreciate any help, especially from those with kids who had to make the similar expatriation recently...
Thank you!
Hello,
My husband is being offered to move to his company's Warsaw office for 2-4 years. We currently live in New York area but we used to live in London for his work for 3 years a few years back so the expat thing is not completely new to us. However, neither of us speak Polish so this move would probably prove to be a bit more challenging... I am planning to start learning Polish as soon as this whole thing is confirmed but it's unlikely that I'd have any command of the language soon....
We have two kids, 3 and 7 yo. I have my own business which I will try to run remotely from Poland...
Here are my questions:
1. How easy/difficult is it to get around and get by in Warsaw without being able to speak Polish?
2. Are there English speaking doctors/hospitals?
3. What are the best/safest/convenient to the American school areas to live in? Preferably, with not too bad of a commute to Srod-Miescie (city center) area for my husband's job... How much should we expect to pay for a 3 bedroom apartment there?
4. Do most apartments for rent come furnished or unfinished?
5. Would we need to buy a car to get around?
And lastly, to be able to afford a decent size apartment in a nice area and to pay 2 private school tuitions plus obviously have enough left for everyday purchases, groceries, enough left for travel and kids activities, what would you estimate the monthly income should be? Would 20,000 PLN be enough? 30,000? I understand of course that it's all relative for different people but i am just trying to understand the cost of living in Warsaw and to ballpark the amount necessary for us to maintain the same lifestyle as in NY...
Sorry for so many questions, this has just came up and I am feeling a bit overwhelmed by all this... Would really appreciate any help, especially from those with kids who had to make the similar expatriation recently...
Thank you!