PolishForums LIVE  /  Archives [3]    
   
Posts by Trixity  

Joined: 26 Sep 2009 / Male ♂
Last Post: 17 Sep 2011
Threads: Total: 8 / In This Archive: 6
Posts: Total: 30 / In This Archive: 19
From: Poland, Gdansk
Speaks Polish?: A little

Displayed posts: 25
sort: Latest first   Oldest first   |
Trixity   
2 Aug 2010
Travel / Short break in Gdansk, need advice on the best area to stay [7]

Have a look at: https://polishforums.com/travel/visiting-sopot-week-late-may-start-june-42934/

for some info on Sopot.

If you're after cheap accommodation, why don't you stay in a hostel? I can recommend the Happy 7 hostel if you want to stay in Gdansk Old Town. It's 40zl per person per night (for a dorm room) and the location couldn't be better, it's smack bang in the centre of the old town - it's across the road from the Radisson so you can imagine the location is a good one! I can't tell you about hostels in Sopot but I'm sure you'll be able to find something nice.

There's no train station at the airport. If you can afford 50-60zl, take a taxi from Sopot to the airport. If you're flying out at 6am, you should aim to get to the airport for 5am which means you should leave Sopot at 4.30 (just to be on the safe side).

Enjoy your stay!
Trixity   
4 May 2010
Life / Praktiker vs. Castorama [6]

Any experiences on which one offers better quality and better value for money?

Or maybe there's an alternative?
Trixity   
26 Mar 2010
Travel / Visiting Sopot for a week in late May/start of June looking for restaurants/pubs [17]

You'll have a great time when you come to visit I'm sure.

Anywhere along the Montecasino street down to the pier will give you a great chance to sit outside and take in Sopot (not sure about "traditional" music though - not even sure what you mean by tradtional.) Look up Montecasino, Sopot on Google Maps and you'll see exactly where I mean.

I can't really help you with cakes (not my thing).

Regarding ferries, I'd suggest you take a trip to Gdansk Old Town on one of your days and head down to the old town and make your way to the Rybackie Pobrzeże (again look it up on Google Maps). There are nice ferries to Hel from here and you get the added bonus of going through the old shipyard on your way out. It's a great day out.

While your in Gdansk, go to the nowy port lighthouse and westerplatte for a bit of WWII history and definitely spend some time in the old town making sure you take in the old crane and dlugy street.

As far as beaches go if the weather's nice when you're here expect all the beaches to be busy but you should be able to find enough room to sunbathe if you don't mind being elbow to elbow with the rest of the world. If you want quiet beaches (and you have a car) head over to the beaches at Sobieszewo heading east out of Gdansk.

If you want any more info just PM me.
Trixity   
16 Mar 2010
Travel / What to do when it's raining in Gdansk [33]

A snowdrop or a drop of snow? :-)

From what I've seen, the go-karting is done on Grunwaldzka Street in life sized go-karts.
Trixity   
14 Mar 2010
Travel / What to do when it's raining in Gdansk [33]

You're right. I was thinking that the other day - the last time it rained here was back in November I think. At least the hot orangey thing in the sky has come back.

No pub outings for me at the moment - I'm grounded.
Trixity   
29 Jan 2010
Law / Does the government regularly monitor people's bank accounts in Poland? [3]

Someone said this to me the other day in the pub that the government monitors people's bank accounts in Poland for strange/unaccounted deposits and that if they see what they consider to be strange transactions they will investigate the account holder.

It all sounded a bit ridiculous to me, but he was so emphatic that it was true and I don't think he was drunk so that now I'm wondering if he was right or just crazy and should be put in a home.

Any thoughts?
Trixity   
29 Jan 2010
Law / How will the Zloty be against the British Pound over the next 6-12 Months [45]

Jan 29, 10, 22:32 - Thread attached on merging:
Any meaningful insights in Euro/Zloty exchange rate for the next 6-12 months?

I have a feeling that there might not be any point in asking this question, but I'm feeling brave and lucky (and depending on the kinds of answers received, in need of entertainment). Does anyone have any thoughts and/or articles on what's likely to happen with the euro vs the zloty exchange rate in the next 6-12 months?
Trixity   
25 Jan 2010
Love / Getting married - registry office in Gdansk - any experiences? [6]

Hi everyone,

I'm in the process of getting all the paperwork sorted for my upcoming wedding here in Gdansk.

I've got more or less everything ready - basically the certificate of no impediment and birth certificate ready to be translated.

I had understood that all I need was these two documents translated into Polish by a sworn translater + my passport. I also understood that the translator DOES NOT need to be present at the registry office when we go to get whatever piece of paper we need from them.

Then I made the mistake of calling the local register office in Gdansk to double check...

In a nutshell the lady there seemed to think it was a lot more involved than just the three documents I mentioned and involved more paperwork than it is realistically possible for one human being ever to complete in his or her lifetime.

I've already got everything sorted with the church and they're happy with everything, it's just this last and apparently spectacularly high hurdle of the registry office that I have to negotiate now.

So my question is does anyone have experience of doing the paperwork for marriage here in Gdansk and how did it go?

For my sanity I hope that someone has a nice experience to share.

Thanks!

Oh and one more thing. Does the copy of the birth certificate need to have an apostille stamp?

Many Thanks!
Trixity   
25 Jan 2010
Travel / Gdansk transport for 25 people from hotel to church and back to hotel-any ideas? [5]

I need some (hopefully sensible) ideas for wedding transportation in Gdansk.

I've got to get 25 people from the Novotel in the centre of Gdansk to a church about 5 KM away and then back again 2 hours later.

Taxis? Minibuses? Hire a coach?

Does anyone have any contacts of a company that could do this, or alternative ideas?

Thanks.
Trixity   
19 Jan 2010
Work / Working in Poland in a Non-Polish Speaking Job? - How? What? (no teachers!) [16]

So I'm wondering who on here is working in Poland but doesn't speak Polish (not including teachers)

What do you do? How did you get the job? How much do you get paid?

I'll start with me -

What? I'm doing some freelance work for a polish software company on a (very) temporary basis.
How? Through LinkedIn
How much? Not prepared to say.
Trixity   
7 Jan 2010
Work / Will it be easy to find a job within 6-10 months of moving to Poland? [41]

Hi all,

Speaking from my very real experience (I can only speak for Gdansk where I've been living for the last 6 months) here's my take:

Finding work is difficult for non poles who don't speak Polish because:

1. You don't speak Polish - you may be learning (as I am), but that's not going to make any difference unless your level is advanced already.

2. We're in very tough economic times - companies are simply not hiring or are hiring much less. That's less jobs to go round

3. There's a huge resource pool of people who do speak Polish - so why would they hire me or you? (also see point 2).

4. The system seems to work differently here to what you may be used to - for example, the way you should contact companies, the language and cultural differences etc, etc.

There are two caveats here. Firstly, if you're seconded by a foreign company to Poland, or you have a very specialised skill that can't be sourced locally then the above doesn't apply because you've probably already got a very well paid job. In which case why would you be reading this post anyway?! Secondly, if you're prepared to do something that wasn't in your prior job remit, i.e. making use of your native language skills, then you may also be able to find some kind of work relatively easily (probably with far less pay than you're used to, but I'm going to assume that you you didn't come to Poland to get rich).

In my case, the net result of the above 4 points is that after 6 months of almost full time effort looking for work I've built up a network of contacts, I have some bits and pieces of contract work (somewhat related to my skills and also some English language stuff) that will keep the wolf from the door for a bit and I'm hopeful that with continued efforts I'll land the "big fish" job within the next 3 months BUT I still don't have a full time, stable, permanent job which is my goal.

I'm extremely talented (I've been told I'm overqualified for a few roles so you can't win!), but the bottom line is that points 1-4 above are the reasons why, despite my wealth of skills and experience, I am where I am. That, plus mistakes and distractions on my part - there are always better ways of doing things and I think I spent the first three months of my search doing things the wrong way (oh that and my daughter being born at the end of September was and continues to be a constant but beautiful distraction!). I'm constantly trying to improve the way I look for and do work.

Despite the difficulties I've experienced looking for work I've gained some very valuable things in the last 6 months and these shouldn't be discounted. I'm much more motivated, determined and driven now than I was before I came here and I've surprised myself at how resilient and resourceful I am. I also very much more aware now where my strengths and weaknesses lie - something which by the way, employers are very keen to hear - tests of character don't get much bigger than this! I also had it very easy before I came here and now it's not so easy, so I've been able to re-evaluate what's important to me and to appreciate what I have right now as well as what I had before I came here. I also appreciate much more now than I ever did before the value (or lack thereof) of money! :-)

So to reiterate what others have written, and from my experience, my advice would be:

* Knowing people definitely helps - build a network, preferably before you arrive, but keep the network focussed as well - don't just add everyone that you can think of because you'll be wasting valuable energy on low (career) value contacts.

* Be prepared for a lot of hard work, frustration, knock backs and at times feeling lost and hopeless.
* Before you commit yourself to moving here, ask yourself why you are coming here, do you really want to be here and can you handle (and afford) the distinct possibility of being out of work in 6 months time and if not are you prepared to do something else in the meantime (i.e. native speaking for example).

* Don't just send emails to companies when looking for work, the chances are that you won't get a response (especially if the email is written in English) - find out the names of the person who recruits for the work you want to do and call them up. Be brave. Sending emails will get you almost nowhere.

* Get online and get signed up to the various jobsites (I'm not going to list them here, see other posts for that).
* Consider going it alone - as one friend who started his own business here told me, "If you can't join 'em, beat 'em!".

* Find ways to keep your skills up to date while you're looking for work - it's no good if you do spend 6 months here looking for work only to get an interview and then realise you've forgotten everything you do or the only answer to the question "So what have you been doing for the last 6 months?" is "Looking for work." (even if it's true!)

Well I've gone on long enough I think, but I do have more ideas and advice, so feel free to message me for more info and or if you want to just connect with me for job leads, general chit chat or meeting up and the final piece of advice I'd give you is that if you find a job, put in a good word for me eh? ;-)

Good luck to all you job seekers and apologies for what turned out to be a long post.
Trixity   
20 Nov 2009
Travel / What to do when it's raining in Gdansk [33]

Scottie,

For the first time in my life I was so disappointed to wake up to glorious sunshine this morning!

Damn it! :-)
Trixity   
19 Nov 2009
Travel / What to do when it's raining in Gdansk [33]

Hi everyone,

I'm writing an article about things to do when the weather is rubbish in Gdansk and I need inspiration.

So far I've only got as far as the climbing wall at the climbing wall at the Alfa Centre in Przymorze!

So come on and inspire me! The whackier the better!

How can I entertain myself when it rains in Gdansk?!