Your Polish friends - why do you regard them as such?

Well, this should please some posters who only want to hear positive things about life here. It should also stop buffoons (you know who you are) who focus on 38 million people as one homogeneous group. I don't want to hear any comments about 'Poles' as a collective here. I want specific stories of your Polish friends and how they came to be your friend.

OK, I want launch in with all my stories/experiences at once so I'll start with my friend Daniel (Danny). I first met him in my first school here and I noticed straight away how light-hearted he was. He invited me to a football match and that started my short adventure of watching Piast Gliwice. He always offered to buy me sth to eat or drink before the match and went out of his way to pick me up. He was/is great company and introduced me to some Polish swear words. He threw them in a lighter way than some of the hardcore fans who didn't hold back. To this day, he has taken me to different locations to play football and has organised it all despite being a busy manager. He has also offered to help with DIY jobs and to pass on some of his music collection. I know he'd look out for me in hard situations and he really values closeness. Friends like him don't come along too often.

So, this is mainly for non-natives but native Poles, of course, are free to submit their stories of their friends and what makes them a person worth their weight in gold. It will hopefully encourage more positive posting and less generalising.

Come on, DE, step up to the plate. We are all ears! You can use all the nice adjectives you know to describe your friends.

I have two Polish mates, I would class as real friends, I would certainly go down the river with them, I was introduced to them in the early days by my wife, as husbands of my wife's friends, they took me under their wing and made sure I understood the rules of the game here in Poland.My life was made easier by their friendship and many situations were sorted by a simple phone call. Top blokes, they happen to be Polish, friendship has no nationality.

Good topic Seanus.

Thanks, war :) I hope to tease out positive vibes with this one. Those closest to me are absolute gems and I will show that progressively throughout the thread. Superb statement, war! I might continue 'my friend Roman, who happens to be Polish, ....'. I hope nobody snipes here as we are all humans at the end of the day. Let's see the positive side of folk here :)

Who next? Well, friend is not the best description but my parents in law are very dear to me indeed. My father in law did a sterling job of renovating the whole flat, repaired my binoculars and is very generous when pouring Soplica or Lubelska cytrynowa :) :) He is a truly dear man with a great heart! I can't help but look up to such a person. He is a jack of all trades, relaxed and open minded. May God protect him and keep him on the planet for a lot longer!

My mother in law is also a gem. She makes the best food and I know for sure that she'd help out if I needed anything. She is a great listener and very fair when it comes to things 'some' other Poles have a dig at, e.g Jews. She is always smiling and is highly perceptive. May God be with her and I'll be sure to help her out in any which way I can. Family is family!

Please please please, let nobody elaborate on that tangential Jewish reference. I will go nuts if so. Let's keep it all good!

Most of my Polish friends are women. Hallf of them are married, so their husbands are also my friends. For four years they've shown me around trojmisato, taken me shopping and to the forest to look for mushrooms, and spent many wonderful hours at dinner parties at my place or theirs. One made me climb pacholek in Oliwa and she knows that I'm afraid of heigths.

Maybe it's because they're half my age and they wujek Scottie is harmless, but they've made my life far richer. They're truly worth their weight in bigos. :)

Why? Loyal, open, non-judgemental, funny, perceptive, great hosts and if necessary, would drop everything to come to my aid and often at considerable inconvenience to themselves. Great couple.

Some positives here, super! Let's ask DE. Please tell us about your friends in California.

Does our other half count? cos she's my best freind as well as being by far my better half :)

I assume you want stories about my Polish friends in California Seanus. Well one of my friends at University, whose mother is from Poland, came from the San Jose area, which has a large Polish population, he has long since moved back up there, but when he was here he used to do a funny character, named "Skully" or something, in which he would get his mouth really dry so that he could stick his lips up above and below his teeth and then he would bite a lit cigarette and try to inhale it, which was of course impossible, but hilarious. There is another Polish-American I know from the frisbee golf course who I wouldn't call a friend as he is a bit of a pill, but I saw him in a nightclub once and he told the girls I was hitting on that I am an "Olympic athlete" which I appreciated because I did end up banging one of them and perhaps his testament to my athletic prowess helped in that endeavor. As for Poles from Poland I recently met one through a mutual friend and he had an immense amout of cocaine. Our mutual friend, who is of Mexican and Finnish ancestry, told the Pole that I am a Polish-American and the Pole looked at me and said "oh really? let's do some lines." He proceeded to pour out, and chop up, two gargantuan lines of cocaine, but one of them was just ridiculously huge, and then, handing me the straw, he looked my in the eye and said "Pick one." I took up the straw and I inhaled that ridiculously huge line in one gasp much to the amazement of the other people watching, some of whom expected me to be felled by a heart attack. The Pole then smiled at me and said "You are truly Polish."

lol you're lucky it was coke!

DE, most Poles tend not to do coke. I think he was Americanised. Most tend to like beer, quite a few like vodka and some go in for amphetamines.

None of my friends do drugs but a few of them are keen on alcohol though not to any significant extent. This is more a response post but more posts from exp with friends will come tomorrow. Some Poles are often great people to hang out with.

Nice story, Des - you really have a talent for creative writing.

Hey, one of my best friends is now a lecturer in Creative Writing at CSU Fresno - perhaps you could take her class? I'm sure she'd be delighted with such an imagination.

Great post (Se)anus!NOT.What else can you tell us, genius?That some Poles smoke pot and some don't,or maybe that some wear red socks but most don't?How long did it take you to figure that out?


You think?Well,think again genius because guess what,most Americans don't do coke either.And for your information,snorting coke has nothing to do with being "Americanized".You are funny,dude.

So Seanus you begged me, in two seperate posts, to come on your thread and share my stories, which I did despite your OP's extremely boring account of your friendship with "Danny" and my thus being loathe to even appear on such a thread, and now you tell me that my Polish friend isn't really Polish anymore but rather "Americanised", but hey you're the Scotsman, and on this forum it seems its the Scots who think they know what's Polish and what isn't. Seanus, my stories about my friends making me laugh, helping me to score trim, and getting me loaded, are truly Polish, and your stories about how your friends curse, but not too loudly, and drink, but not too much, are un-Polish.

That kind of behaviour is the kind of thing you'd expect from village peasants, like Busha.

Me and Seanus prefer a more noble kind of associate.

Grubas, stop sidetracking things. I'm just speaking the truth here.

Sorry that I'm not gay and don't have gay sex with him, DE. I'm sure that's what you wanted to here. If you consider my OP to be boring then that's just you not appreciating the simpler things in life. It's you that can't keep things positive with your mudslinging. You don't have a clue about life here and you show it time and again. I have 7 years exp of living here. You? Keep reading the back of matchboxes if that's what does it for you.

You are simply clutching for identity and that's perfectly clear to me. Your 'stories' would go well in a book of fables. Mine square with reality.

Grubas "sidetracked" nothing. He was absolutely correct to point out that your "response post" was laughably superficial.


You actually do sound rather fruity in the OP, but that is not what I wanted to "here" from you, Seanus, the English teacher.


You asked me about my friends in California.


You obviously have no clue as to what life is like here in California. You begged me for some stories and now you are calling me a fabulist. You, Seanus, lack honor.

its true seanus you did beg him for a story and he obliged in quite a friendly way ........so whats the problem?? Who are u to doubt or question his tale? You said you wanted "positive vibes" or something?????

The reason I love my bf is cos he such a great cook and kind to me, among other things..;)

I have to say that to date my Polish friends have been far more supportive and helpful than my English or foreign friends. I have a few Polish friends who I have known since getting here. One in Particular is called Marek and he is always there to help me out. Whenever I have a problem he is always there to help me out. I dropped my iphone 4 and broke the glass on the back. So, because he is in Telecommunications, I gave him a call to see if he knew of anyway of getting the phone fixed. He said give me half and hour to check it out. Sure enough, half and hour later he was back on the phone to me telling me to meet him at a certain place where he would take me to get my phone repaired. We arrived at the place where I could get it repaired and he did all the negotiations in Polish and even ended up paying some money towards the cost of repairs as I hadn't taken enough money with me. That's just one story of the kind of guy he is.

I have other Polish friends who take have always been there to give a helping hand when needed, even though my wife is Polish.

Tell us about your associate then or better yet, your Polish friends, if you have any. Surely you have an antifa buddy or a queer rights activist friend.

DE, if you want to be pedantic then fine but know that insults will only result in a suspension for you. It was a mistake, not an error.

So when do you plan to come to Poland so you can meet Poles who have lived here most of their lives?

Seanus and DE should become friends. They have lot's in common. Who agrees? :)

He's probably a really decent guy but he falls for wind-ups and doesn't answer the thread too often.

I hope he starts doing so with his next post.

Probably because they were borned and raised in Poland. They still pronounce words in English with a nice Polish accent. I especially like hearing when they pronounce the letter W, with the sound of the letter V. They may say, "Vee are coming over." Sounds much cuter instead of saying, We are coming over:)

Another reason I like my Polish friends is for their educated and balanced views. Every one of my students is in an elevated position in society and I can see why. One is a PhD graduate who is now a CEO of a large auditing corporation. His name is Roman. He is a really cool guy, likes MMA and is clearly a family man. Jan is also a CEO of a corporation which specialises in speed camera technology for the police. I have other PhD graduates, a senior lecturer (PhD from Oxford) and a doctor too. Where some Brits can be stuffy when they receive a top education, quite a few Poles have a thirst for knowledge and really value CPD.

Another major plus is an extension of what we have in Scotland. Namely, great hospitality. In Scotland, it tends to be confined to the west coast but it's quite universal here in Poland. My friends spare no expense when entertaining and that is a great way to be. This is one of the major attractions of having friendly relations with people.

Great atmos at the bar last night. The barman was on top form. Very easy to chat with most of the locals in that pub.

There was a football game today. It's great to see people come alive there. My friend takes me there and back for free. It's so easy to feel a sense of togetherness. That's what it's all about.

my polish friends( and neighbours ) lukasz and dominika are worth their weight in placki po bieszczadzku, or dominikas pancakes as i affectionately call them. the first time i met dominika was just before xmas last year. my doorbell rang, so i answered it to find a santa claus and carol singers on my doorstep. they had obviously rung dominikas bell at the same time, so both of us were standing outside with dominika looking slightly puzzled. didnt take long to click she was polish and new to england. had quick chat and we have been mates ever since. i help quite alot with forms etc because she cant read english, but she and lukasz are so happy to have someone that can help them. no way is this one-sided friendship. i am always invited to bbq etc and lukasz has mended my car so many times...free obviously. he has tiled my bathroom, lent me his car, and dominika has spent loads of her free time teaching me how to cook polish food.dominika is now pregnant and has asked me if i would like to be at the birth with lukasz. of course i have said yes!!they are just really nice genuine people and i am so glad to have them as my friends.very uplifting topic seanus..we could do with more of this

I find Polish people to be more 'genuine' and more focused on forming real relationships and just living, as opposed to the pursuit of material wealth.

Have you ever actually met a Pole???? I suppose it was an interest in forming genuine relationships that dragged 1 million plus of them to this sceptered isle then......

scottish highlander afraid of heights? what a funny story...

I just reread this thread and my posts. Either I couldn't type or I had had too many beers. Sorry all.

And I'm not a Scottish highlander. I'm a California boy.

Oh I missed that one, I guess I wasn't around here at the time, hilarious. Sorry Seanus but the guy is right, your flower-power Polish kumbaya friendship stories are way too cloying... lol I'd take a Pole with a massive amount of coke anytime over a Danny The Coffee Bearer