UK, Ireland / Polish wedding music/bands in the UK [10]

it will be a lot easier to bring in a Polish band that can play lady in red on the bontempi organ than try and find an English band able to play Polish tunes

either try cruising round the catholic churches and Polish community centres in the area or bite the bullet and fly in a kotlet band to stansted and pick them up

UK, Ireland / Polish wedding music/bands in the UK [10]

whereabouts in the UK are you based?

not being disrespectful I assure you but have you heard the typical 'muzyka do kotleta' that they play at Polish weddings?

Travel / Which train in Poland am I less likely to get shanked on? [30]


not really. the worst thing that can happen to you on a train is that you might get a kicking, driving on Polish roads is far more dangerous due to accidents. you can be killed relatively easiliy if you are not paying attention and driving accordingly.

when travelling on the sleeper trains the guards always advise you to keep the windows closed as thieves can climb in through the window when it stops at stations and rob you blind

in fairness this was on the Warsaw Prague route. I have never taken a sleeper anywhere else

travelling from Warsaw to Lodz by train two weeks ago with some colleagues, some drunken f*ckwits tried to roll us. they saw the suits and thought we would be an easy mark. we weren't

Work / The qualifications of a Polish doctor [10]


when you say general practitioner do you mean doctor of medicine or do you mean
primary care physician/family doctor?

USA, Canada / A Canadian citizen overstayed Visa in Poland [35]


oh now you have opened Pandora's box :-)

prepare to be flamed by the forum's resident racist f*ckwits

Life / Children in Krakow Apartment Playgrounds [21]

what I really love is that everytime we make a comment about maiming children with a homemade booby trap, this advertisement pops up advertising playground equipment

oh the delicious irony

Life / Children in Krakow Apartment Playgrounds [21]

the VietCong has a version of this which the American GIs christened the bouncing Betty

it used to go off at waist height with devastating effect

how about just digging a panji trap in the sand pit?
it is relatively low tech solution

5rar.asn.au/weapons/boobytraps.htm

rather than lining the hole with sharpened bamboo spikes, you could use sharpened coloured pencils so that another small child is suspected and not you

bear traps work well too, I have been told

History / The Grunwald Battle: Today is 600th anniversary of the greatest medieval battle. [66]


tunneling under the walls, packing pitch and pig carcasses around your pit props and then setting the whole lot alight before retiring to a safe distance tended to work in most cases

hurling rotten animal carcasses over the walls in order to spread disease was another option if you had the time

and don't forget leaving a huge wooden horse outside the gates as an offering from the Gods. that one works every time :-)

Life / Children in Krakow Apartment Playgrounds [21]

the forum has been very valuable for you to gauge what would be the opinion of your neighbours should you complain. they will not give a damn and they will laugh at you or worse still hold you in utter contempt for attempting to get their children to play more quietly.

short of burying doggie doo dah in the sandpit your options are limited

Life / Children in Krakow Apartment Playgrounds [21]


is there sand on the floor of the playground?

Work / International House - Kracow school - any chances of being offered a job there [59]


it is rather unrelated but still amusing

back in 94 there was a guy from New Zealand who was the DOS over at IH in Wroclaw. nice enough guy but dyslexic.
He ordered several thousand leaflets to promote the school and took responsibility for proof reading them

they all said International Horse

how I laughed

Work / Advice on Teaching English in Poland [709]


a good point. I have a friend setting up a school in Krosno where there is not much competition. I spent a weekend with the American dude who set up the schools in Nowy Targ and he was doing quite well.

not only is it easier to find work but you become some sort of local celeb. what is more business people seek you out and ask you for your advice, which is rather flattering however once they find out that you are not related to royalty and do not know dozens of would-be strategic investors then the novelty wears off

' it is big fish in a little puddle' syndrome so milk it for all you can

USA, Canada / A Canadian citizen overstayed Visa in Poland [35]


I would much rather light a candle than curse at the darkness

how are you going to support yourself whilst volunteering at a dental clinic?

have you thought about repping for a year?
you can detail dental clinics and pimp pharmaceutical products
it is well paid and you get the chance to meet lots of people
you could do it part time and still volunteer at a clinic

much better than leaning on a broom in a dental clinic for an entire year kicking yourself for screwing up

I have to admire you for flaunting the rules so brazenly for such a long time and not getting caught earlier. in fact my concern is how on earth can a medical university let you study without checking to see that you were entitled to stay in Poland legally. they probably don't give a hoot at the end of the day though

USA, Canada / A Canadian citizen overstayed Visa in Poland [35]

what are your options in Canada?
what were you studying in Poland?
would you be able to get a year's practical experience in your field of study?

lots of students take courses with a gap year where they have to work in industry in order to get some practical experience before completing their studies

if you treat the next 12 months as an opportunity to develop your career and knowledge rather than berating yourself for screwing up, the time will just fly by

Eye of the tiger, Mr Ruff Ryder, eye of the tiger

Work / Whats the job and school market like in Warsaw? [27]

please contact them directly. they can only say no, but as it is no win, no fee they would be silly to do so. particularly if you call from their offices and they can keep an eye on what you are saying. no publisher wants someone misrepresenting their product.

it is a great start out job in Poland, you meet loads of people and no one takes themselves too seriously. the underlying thing to remember is that not many Poles can sell. they either undersell or they try and ram the bl**dy product down your throat.

as for commission, I am not sure but I would have thought 12,5% would be acceptable.
you are never going to get rich doing this but it is a proven stepping stone in building a career in Poland

Work / Whats the job and school market like in Warsaw? [27]

contacts are quite important in Warsaw too. the nice thing about teaching is that you have a bid wedge of time in the middle of the day to dedicate to other things.

the warsaw voice, the warsaw insider, warsaw in your pocket all need content and you could create content for them. this is how friends of mine who work for Reuters started out. every magazine is desperate for ad sales people, all your prospective clients speak English. You would get commission only however i have met many people who started this way then landed jobs at advertising agencies.

it makes your CV look far more marketable. early hours teaching business English and afternoon/evening work teaching students will stop you from starving to death.

Travel / Pawiak Museum in Warsaw [14]

Mila 18 is simply a mound where the rubble was overgrown after the bunker containing Mordacai Anieliewicz and colleagues was blown up. I used to live just round the corner on Andersa. there is not much to see apart from a mound. For a afternoon stroll go to the Jewish cemetary and walk around. it is very moving. There used to be a really good WWII section in the history museum in the old town. haven't been there in years though

News / Decoded talks inside Poland's president's plane are released in Internet [337]

due to Kaczynski's habit of attempting to prosecute pilots who refuse to land irrespective of the circumstances, these two young pilots would have been willing to risk landing the plane in far from ideal conditions. their folly caused the deaths of the passengers on the plane along with their own. Kaczynski was instrumental in his own death and that of his wife and cabinet by choosing pilots who could be manipulated by him.

I cannot conceive a worse time to 'off' the Polish president than whilst he was commemorating the murder of thousands of Poles during WWII by the Russians.

It does rather draw worldwide attention to the antics of the Soviets during the war

naturally Grassy Knoll conspiracy theorists will be disappointed by this rather mundane interpretation of events, however, I do not believe the Russians to be stupid enough to murder a Polish President who was on the way out in any case and bring world attention to Katyn.

just my two cents worth

Law / Setting up small business in Poland? [191]


it is over a million euros and the waiting list is full

News / Illegal drugs in the EU - Polish gangs are top sellers [56]

28 grams to an ounce
so an eighth is 3.5 grams

History / Polish armored trains form I and II World War [32]


well said Sir

News / Illegal drugs in the EU - Polish gangs are top sellers [56]


in that case it is about two and a half times more expensive in Poland than in the UK

History / Polish armored trains form I and II World War [32]


they were intended to be used as mobile bunkers however their high profile meant that they could be seen from miles away and avoided.

in the second world war, developments in air warfare made them a liability
still if you don't have anything else they are better than nothing

there was one at the Warsaw rail museum if I remember well

Real Estate / Where to sell a land in Poland,100Ha, with all the permissions to build? [9]

she is looking for four million euros

Study / Is there a lot of racism in Warsaw (Brazilian student's question) [83]

there is so much interest in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in Warsaw at the moment, that it would be very cool to be seen to hang out with a Brazilian guy if you are a Polish hard nut.

i would play up the Brazilian angle as much as possible wearing Brazilian football shirts as much as possible. if you speak Spanish there are a lot of Spanish speakers in Warsaw and they used to throw really good parties.

as for racism, it is quite bad. if you were african, indian or vietnamese you would have a lot to worry about particularly in small towns however the Poles tend to have a good vibe about Brazilians, so you will be OK. call the Brazilian embassy in Warsaw and ask them for their advice

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


I stand corrected. thank you for the comment

what I do not understand is when I have attended large dinner parties, the caterers have used the host's oven and kitchen. these caterers came from top class hotels and restaurants. I assume that they were breaking the law.

the pub idea would work better

sinking all your money into a niche restaurant without testing the local market is madness

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


think about offering catering services for business meetings/conferences. you do not need to have any premises other than your home kitchen. that way you get the business people of Rzeszow to sample your food without you having to fork out renting restaurant space.

see if you cannot do a deal with a hotel where you use their kitchen space to reheat the food you have earlier prepared, as long as the hotel is providing the conference space, they may be agreeable as hotels as they are not so busy for lunch.

remember you are cooking for the Polish market but don't take out all the spices from the dishes and expect to receive racist comments.

alternatively find a pub and offer to run some curry nights for them. test the market well before sinking all your life savings into a restaurant. Rzeszow might not be ready for Indian food yet.

good luck

Real Estate / Substantial amount of agricultural land in Poland - what to do with it [23]

Hi. How many hectares is the land? are there any farm buildings with it?

Law / Tax on Vietnam trade to Poland [4]

what are the handmade products?