Life / Life in Poland - feeling lonely and don't want to socialize much! (anyone feeling same?) [93]

Thanks mate, I really hope so, for some reason I can see people who are not exactly polite pretty much everywhere, I hope I'm not going into depression loop, never been there tho and not sure how I would live with it...

Life / Life in Poland - feeling lonely and don't want to socialize much! (anyone feeling same?) [93]

I do live in Chrzanow, it is a small town between Krakow and Katowice, I work remotely in UK so I have some contact but only with clients... Don't have any folks here tho...

Life / Life in Poland - feeling lonely and don't want to socialize much! (anyone feeling same?) [93]

I'm only here for 1 month, but we moved here with my wife and little one, I don't get back to UK as we sold house there to buy house here and have some savings, however I don't think that was a good idea... I feel very weird already, prices here are not super cheap either...

Life / Life in Poland - feeling lonely and don't want to socialize much! (anyone feeling same?) [93]

Hi Jon,

Czech Republic sounds nice but as a holiday, we already bought a house in Poland, my wife moved into that house 9 months ago and I followed here. Today postman brought a letter from UK with my pension scheme to sign, funny enough envelope was empty :( so another fantastic experience... I already told wife on why we don't compromise (she didn't like UK to start with) and not buy a place in US (maybe OHIO)instead where the weather is good and people are nice and friendly. Here you have this feeling that everyone is talking about you, when you ask help in shop they feel like they don't need to help you, I don't know - I hope it's only my experience and no one else feels that way. With hobbies I'm trying to find one :) I work a lot, I'm a programmer so this is my hobby in a way. I bought PS4 console but with little one around I was able to switch that on twice :), in UK I had many friends so was attending some events quite often... Here I don't know anyone and have this feeling that people don't like me, never felt this way in UK, even my in laws are not my fans :) I found a place close to Krakow - there is little golf club (maybe not little:) - quite huge) and I'm thinking to join the club, but I never played golf in my life, perhaps I need to try it first... I'm only 31 and feeling like my life is already gone...


You are probably right, what you can suggest to someone like me? Do you live in Poland as well? How are you finding it? I can speak polish, maybe not as people in TV :)

Life / Life in Poland - feeling lonely and don't want to socialize much! (anyone feeling same?) [93]

Thanks Kamaz, how do you watch BBC? Do you have some VPN as I'm unable to connect to UK tv, I really like your reply - you are so optimistic, 5 years is a long time and you made it, so what is your hobby? you drive 4x4 off-road? I have 4x4 (bought for wife and little one) but I'm scared to take it for that purpose :) it's one of those soft 4x4's even if it's seems huge and unbreakable. What other hobbies do you have? Have you got any kids?

Thanks Dougpol1, I need to look at my options, I do like cycling as well... Krakow is very expensive tho, have been in small restaurant, had nothing on the plate and bill come close to £30 (that doesn't include any alcohol)

Life / Life in Poland - feeling lonely and don't want to socialize much! (anyone feeling same?) [93]

Oh wow, so I need to be really careful with that, Do you know any restaurants, places which you can recommend? I don't really want to live like a king, I want some quality life for my little one (she is almost 1 year old now), I know we have time but I'm now thinking about some private education for her, again I don't need much from life, is OK on what I achieved so far, I'm glad I can work remotely and I have some savings, I'm happy with my life overall. My wife is really trying hard to make my life easier here, but I think the problem and fear is within me, somewhere inside, I don't have especially big problems with language, de facto - my polish is OK, I can go to shop, buy whatever I want, I can go to post office, restaurant, I can start the conversation with random people but I just feel very isolated. I don't know if that is this culture shock! I had some polish friends back in UK, and all of them were saying - if you have job and money, don't have mortgage and you do have your own place to live you are sorted. I don't feel sorted, I feel isolated like a stranger. I do like fresh air, I do like these all quiet nights you can just walk in your garden, I love food here, fresh fruits, etc etc Only social part of my life is sacrificing, I never though that element will have such a big impact on my entire life :) I like that forum, I registered only today, and I can see there is so many friendly people who I can talk about some crap I would never mention when I was living in UK :)

Thanks to everyone on that forum for that.

Life / Life in Poland - feeling lonely and don't want to socialize much! (anyone feeling same?) [93]

I didn't know that you cannot buy them here, I'm too new :) already see what I will be missing but I need to concentrate on good sides of my existence perhaps :) yummy - that picture really talk to my belly! So far I had 4x take away kebabs and about dozen of pizza's delivered to my home... Another month to go and I will be on "must have" diet!

On other token my friend runs butcher firm is Surrey and they do sell pasties and other stuff, I can ask him and perhaps I can organize something if you guys are interested? Do let me know, they really have quality stuff...

Thanks again guys

Life / Life in Poland - feeling lonely and don't want to socialize much! (anyone feeling same?) [93]

Hi, I was living in UK for 20 years, before that I was living in Sweden for 10 years! I do have loads of friends in UK...

Life / Life in Poland - feeling lonely and don't want to socialize much! (anyone feeling same?) [93]

Hi Atch, no problem at all, please let me know how many and what sort of filling and I will check everything with Clive - the butcher:) I have spent some time before but never more than couple of weeks for short holidays, we were always busy with shopping, etc etc, now there is completely different angle of life :)

Life / Life in Poland - feeling lonely and don't want to socialize much! (anyone feeling same?) [93]

Hi befranklin,

Big city life is so different, the time spin faster there, here you can almost here your hear beat. When we went for a walk in town centre I have seen people walking by and I thought they must not have any worries, they were walking so slow, even with little dog :) I felt like the time is about to stop!

Anyway that was one of the experiences I had! In UK we have loads of rain in general so I must admit that weather is Poland is very good, there is no middle ground tho, you have all but cold days or all but hot days, nothing on the middle... She is talking to me in Polish so that helps a lot, I can communicate in that language quite well, obviously not like a TV star, may not be enough if I wanted to work here as some Poles (if not all young Poles) mastered the language beautifully! For example you are going to Play store - they sell mobile phones, sim cards etc, people will be talking like they have doctor's degree! My wife is supporting me everyday, I can see that is not very easy task for her but she wants me to feel here like in my own house (in theory that is indeed our house as we paid for it!) but just doesn't feel like it, again I'm here for just over one month! That is right, Poles have very strong character, it's like do what I want you to do or do how I want this to be done by you :) same thing!

Do you have kids? this I think is very important as once you have your family you cannot risk in life anymore, if you do have kids - how old they are? are they in pre-school age? If so - you will be fine! Other thing to ask yourself and check is: do you both have enough savings to keep you going for couple of years, what is your/her profession, where about in Poland you want to settle, is it difficult to find a job in what you do, how your salary will compare to expenses, have you got somewhere to stay? We were very lucky as house I had in UK, I bought for only 170K, and my mortgage was paid off within 7 years, when we sold the house in UK we got over 350K for we had fair amount of money to get us started here, also I was lucky to take 80% of my work to Poland which again helps a lot. My wife doesn't work at the moment as she is looking after little one and house, however she wants to have her own money at some point so maybe by next summer she will be looking for some job.

If you will have any questions about anything, please do drop me a line, I'm happy to share what I can :)

Life / Life in Poland - feeling lonely and don't want to socialize much! (anyone feeling same?) [93]

Thank you Kamaz and Roger,

I have to admit this forum helps a lot, look on how many connections I have made so far, that was all by writing some miserable stuff :)

What I noticed since yesterday is you can feel nice in Poland if you have your English speaking mates, even if they are sitting in different towns or countries, that really helps. What would be good and what I found missing on this site (or maybe I'm just blind) is chat room and some listings for goods if you want to buy/sell stuff or organize/attend an event. I'm a programmer myself and I can make functionality like that, I may email our Admin and ask him if there is a way I can help in my spare time... Site like that is really needed! He have a full credit for that! Excellent idea.

Going to cycling which I like, what is the best bike to go for? I have an old Specialized bike but it's a rockhopper, apparently very good bike, but only if you are planning to jump over the mountains!!! I want a road bike which is not heavy and not with very slim tyres, I just never tried the bike like that before.

Other thing is food! I can help getting some proper English stuff through my friend who runs butcher's shop, they do supply loads of pubs/restaurants/schools etc, so I'm sure I can help getting some English made stuff but it's good to see you can buy some stuff here as well!

What I'm missing here (again don't know maybe they are places like that) is a proper Indian Takeaway, I had two favourite ones back in UK...

Can you get them here? Also never seen a lamb kebab in Poland...

Life / Life in Poland - feeling lonely and don't want to socialize much! (anyone feeling same?) [93]

how about Indian take away and some seafood such as big prawns, cockles or calamari?

Life / Life in Poland - feeling lonely and don't want to socialize much! (anyone feeling same?) [93]

Hi Ziemowit,

I'm sure you are right, however I love what I do for living and I won't be able to opt-out from it, also this is giving a fair income to help maintaining my family needs, at the moment I'm saving but when education for little one will knock onto my doors, I would have to cough up some money! Also I don't know for how long my wife will be out of work, but probably she would be doing some courses to start with... Again future is very unknown, I'm glad that I can work from home, I have special room dedicated for that so I can work in piece for 8+hours per day...

Hi Marsupial,

With the sport - I used to play tennis and cycle but now I'm approaching 18.5 stones and I'm 5.97" so that is a good sign where I need to start doing some exercises... There is loads of these personal fitness people in here but I never used them, I guess I need to work this out myself :) Not easy to lose some weight as I have asthma and I love "crap" food such as pizza or other similar stuff, also I do drink coca-cola constantly! I'm attached to it!

I want to try golf as well...

Need to change my bad habits first!

Life / Life in Poland - feeling lonely and don't want to socialize much! (anyone feeling same?) [93]

Hi tictactoe,

It is easy to setup Skype but how much fuss you will get is unbelievable, here you have mostly mature people with I would say confirmed pedigree, in skype or other chats you will find all of these from grey side of internet, I'm talking on behalf of my experience here:) At least this is old fashioned but proved to be working for 10 (maybe more) years...

Cheers

Life / Life in Poland - feeling lonely and don't want to socialize much! (anyone feeling same?) [93]

Thanks Krakow Expats,

Sounds really interesting, I will certainly look at these once everything here is sorted/covered... Thank you for pointing me onto those right directions.

If you need any help with business from technical site, some ideas, programming etc etc do let me know. If it is non-profit organisation it may need some professional help which I can offer in my spare time for fun :)

Life / Life in Poland - feeling lonely and don't want to socialize much! (anyone feeling same?) [93]

Thanks befranklin,

I will PM you :)

This weekend we are planing to go to ZOO, never being in Polish ZOO before, are there many places like that close to Krakow? One better than the other?

Life / Life in Poland - feeling lonely and don't want to socialize much! (anyone feeling same?) [93]

Hi Dougpol1, dinosaurs? come on :) What I be able to see a cave man too?

Life / Indian Stores In Warsaw [139]

Hello Everyone, have seen lidl advert in tv, they sell some asian souces in jars: curry, tikka masala, etc! Never tried them but i will give it a go!

Work / New business start-up in Poland - opinions and ideas [32]

Thank you InPolska, that was my worry, I should say that budget for this business would be up to 150k PLN, ideally however around 100K PLN so not a chance getting any luxury at that price... I don't expect massive income, I would like around 1k-2k PLN after all expenses paid per month... I don't mind if that would kick in after 3-6 months and not straight away... Was also thinking about some transport company with buses, start with one bus and offer services to companies in 30-50km radius so can offer transport for employees, schools - for trips, weeding/funeral or even place to place... I know that is rather expensive to start, good 16-19 seater is 70K PLN, on top of that you need license which cost about 4K PLN and some advertising done... Other idea was a little coffee shop, something we seen in UK, with good coffee, sandwiches, Polish Zapiekanka, maybe jacked potatoes as never seen them here, etc... Again there is loads of places like that around and I'm not sure if my budget is enough. Any other ideas? :) I'm trying to get my head round it.

Work / New business start-up in Poland - opinions and ideas [32]

Thanks Sparks11, I would consider that, but when I did some research, if I by a place let say in Chrzanow or any similar small town for up to 150K PLN I would be looking to get 500PLN per month, is that right? Plus 20% of tax from it... This is what I discovered looking at olx site. Again I don't think I want a lot in return - 1K PLN per month I would consider fair from 150K PLN investment, that is 12.5years to have your money back :) With Coffee shop - I always liked the idea but I must admit I don't have any experience in that and I don't know the subject. Maybe you can have some ideas on what my wife can do, what course she can attend? She is 30 and I'm 31... We don't have any mortgages or loans, we do have some small savings and I work, plus I get salary from UK every month - that may finish one day so I thought is sensible to start up something...

Smurf - I'm not great in sport - I'm sure if you have a good knowledge you can make some money that way. Back in UK I used to go to places like William Hill or Coral and play roulette, I was quite successful by putting some money on blacks :) however I cannot see myself as a gambler so I would like to avoid that way of making money - this is purely luck base these days, also house always win :)

@InPolska thanks for that, I will avoid the subject, I have to admit that I like to know on what my money do and where they sit, I also never put my eggs in one basket, therefor I'm trying to find out some idea. I do appreciate that people who has these sort of golden ideas already do their businesses but I don't think I could be a competition for many of them, specially if business is locally oriented and I'm in different part of Poland, if anything that may only work for good!

Work / New business start-up in Poland - opinions and ideas [32]

Delphiandomine - she finished some marketing school back in Poland only because that was "trendy" back in the old days - if I could summarize it that was waste of time as she never wanted to work in it. That is why she wants to do some courses, she finished photo course but there is so much competency around, also equipment you need to change quite often etc, she doesn't feel strong in that, she likes fitness, but she cannot teach any of it! It's difficult... I was thinking of a course for some sort of insurance broker for her, not many people like that in Poland, you work for yourself and you need to obtain the license, course price is around 1.5k-2k pln so not bad... Any other ideas are more than welcome;)

Hi tictactoe, that was an idea but to make it successful, shop would have to be in Krakow, Warsaw, Poznan etc - big towns where there is many of us, Polish people seems to hate our food (that is a feedback got from many Poles I know), You can buy UK food in many stores like LIDL or Biedronka so there is no point importing anything, plus food there is more expensive - especially meat! With e-commerce, I was thinking about something but food wouldn't be great - we don't have Saturday delivery in Poland, also deliveries are pretty slow, it will cost premium (if that would be possible) to deliver for next day... :)

Work / New business start-up in Poland - opinions and ideas [32]

Thanks cms, I would consider that but I would need to check on what sort of return I will be looking at... Professional couples are always the best, specially in big cities! Transport company - my father in law had something like that, small local firm, he had two buses, but he retired and he didn't wanted to carry on with this, however he is walking encyclopedia when it's coming to know-how for that business, also he knows loads of people within that business - from both ends - customers and other companies + drivers... Again I can already see a risk in that sort of business as the investment is quite big, the bus itself it would be something for 70K PLN with probably 400K KM on the clock!!! so you can imagine on how many things can go wrong!

Coffee shop - nice but more on shelf with dreams, gambling - nope, thanks.

That is a very interesting thing, is book-keeping very popular in Poland, I wonder on how many weeks you need to learn to be trustworthy and educated book-keeper... I would think about that surely!

Hello again everyone!

How about other idea, again something with a minimal profit each month...

Work / New business start-up in Poland - opinions and ideas [32]

Thank you very much delphiandomine , that look descent, we have couple of macs in home, we have nice camera (was nice when we purchased it) Nikon 5100 with two lenses and proper flash, she finished a course as well in Krakow... I may need to talk to wife about that as she has no idea on what she wants to do...

Work / New business start-up in Poland - opinions and ideas [32]

Hi BasPK,

If you are planning to move here you need to have somewhere to stay, obviously if you want to do business in here that would be pricey - you need to pay around 1K PLN only for having a company (regardless if you make a profit or not), then obviously tax of 20% - from your income,

for your business you need good internet connection and backup - I have two lines, one with Orange - that is 80mb/s for 90PLN and mobile internet with play (in my location I cannot get over 20mb/s) for another 90PLN, as you are from outside of EU you cannot buy property in Poland, so you need to rent - you don't want to live in small villages as they may suffer from electricity cut, luck of internet etc = so no business, you need to rent in the city - you should be able to find something for you and your family for around 3.5K PLN, you will have maintenance cost like electricity, water, heating etc, that should cost you about 1K per month, you need food - we are family of three with small baby (10 months old) so we spend about 2.5K PLN per month (I would say we are saving and not really going out), now car and insurance, perhaps you will buy a car, I don't know what sort of car you want but something reliable can be purchased for 10K PLN-30K PLN as a one off payment (cars are much more expensive here than in UK) on petrol you will spend (going shopping etc) I'm guessing 200-300PLN per month, insurance for it and other costs would be probably about 200-300PLN per month, life insurance for you and your missus - 300-500PLN per month (if you want something descent), private school - in my area they cost about 350PLN but they are not English schools - they are expensive..., for Gym you shouldn't spend more than 200PLN per month, mobile phone - if you will be calling your family probably from 100PLN, these are averages, everyone has a different lifestyle, but from what I have calculated you need around 10K to survive... so you need to earn around 12K+ there is no saving to be made... Of course if you want to rent office or something - these prices are going dramatically up! I think you will be better of going to UK, if you can work anywhere you can get nice house in Bristol for 900pounds per month (that is 3 bedroom! ) you can still work from home, visit some potential customers etc etc, food will cost you less, kid can go to good school etc. I don't want to put you off but this is as realistic as it can get...

Work / New business start-up in Poland - opinions and ideas [32]

@delphiandomine,

I thought that only Poles will pay smaller ZUS and this is not a subject to immigrants... Again I don't know 100%, that might be some deductions etc.

With food, you made me worried... Do I spent a lot? Baby milk (Bebilon 2 thing) is about 100PLN per month, then you have nappies and other baby stuff, baby cost us about 1K PLN in general, dog (cocker spaniel) about 400 PLN, take aways roughly 500PLN per month, then you have sweets, fizzy drinks, regular food and we really need to spend 2.5K per month....

Study / Studying in university of Warsaw or Lodz and part-time for Computer Science (Programmers) - POLAND [6]

Hi Bukhari,

If you really want to live & study in Poland - think about Krakow or Wroclaw as they are more friendly to foreign people. On other token - you are young man and if programming is something you want to do - why not go to UK - London perhaps. Quality of education is very good indeed and I'm sure you will be able to meet loads of friends there. I'm not saying that Poland is a place where you are not welcomed but recently there is loads of incidents happening towards foreign people. Today I read that some Sikh was attacked in nightclub, again every story like a stick has two ends. I would be more careful with choices... UK will be safer and better. Again this is only my opinion, I live here (Poland) and moved from UK. Was it a right move? Not sure, it's ok to live here, country in beautiful, people are not open minded like in UK but I don't blame them. They can see on what is happening in western Europe....

Law / A Polish company have not paid me [13]

Hi butterflybrit79,

I would suggest you make an invoice and send the email to them with the attachment and please make sure you cc that email to some legit law firm (if principal matters) or made up email address which looks like a law firm (scare tactic), please also make sure they are receiving the email from you, this could as well end up in their junk mail so maybe it's worth giving them a buzz to check that they actually received your email.

Good luck with your recovery!

Life / Eating out in Poland, is it expensive? [28]

Hi Chrison2wheels,

Poland is not a heaven, I have noticed that people here are trying to make as much as they can every time they deal with you, doesn't matter if that is a builder, electrician, programmer, or pizza place. They just don't think long term so you have two groups of people here:

- the competition killers - who will offer lowest possible rate so no one else can do it cheaper
- people who wants to become rich immediately...

Please do bear in mind that if you are planning to retire here, food would be the last concern, you will more likely have to deal with other tradesman too!

Coming back to food subject - yes there are some cheap places but unfortunately most people would not enjoy that sort of quality (quality of food and quality of service).

If I will have that choice of moving to Poland or Thailand, I would pick Thailand immediately (couldn't do that as my wife is attached to Poland so much hence I just need to pick all the best from this choice! )

Good luck to you anyway