Worst aspects of living in Poland?

Monkey business, Black Market bribery and the like are certainly not limited to Poland.

Cities need more trees on the streets (look at Lublin - the greenest city in Poland). Also, the pavements used are of cheap quality and ugly. I think that's it.

1) air pollution (Southern part mostly)
2) conservative government influenced by the Church
3) very difficult language (for non-Slavic immigrants)

I agree with (1). Why would "conservative" anything be bad?
Number 3 should be cherished and celebrated. That keeps them away. Perfect. Poland doesn't need non-Slavic immigrants.

It's not as much about the conservative part, rather about the Church part..

Too many decisions and regulations the government introduces are heavily influenced by the Catholic Church lobby. Starting from the innocent niedziele niehandlowe and up to the abortion laws.

It seems that the Sunday closing hasn't had the desired effect. Large supermarkets/hypermarkets have special offers and people do their Sunday shopping during the week. The small shops which (according to the powers that be) should have benefited are now going bankrupt as people who would have bought goods/produce from them on a Sunday now do their shopping throughout the week. This was a badly thought out plan which intended for more people to go to church, but which has resulted in increased unemployment, fewer taxes being paid and ghost-towns on a Sunday. The Government are now reconsidering this decision.

And of course, as in Hungary, they will make the big announcement. "We have listened to our electorate, and we have decided to make life a little bit easier for them to do their shopping, to build their lives, to be free to earn a salary as they see fit.....etc etc..."

Wankers.

In Poland there is a word starting with a 'h', but if you say 'ch' ....meaning almost the same

Thats good - they were lucky with the excellent summer weather but now we had a couple of ugly sundays with the kids at home bored and grumpy I an sure that people are getting fed up of it

hardest part would be transporting goods and communicating with neighbouring country if you really want to make money

Practically nothing apart from dog droppings on pavements.
Also, I hate when owners let their dogs jump all over you and they think it is amusing.
Or when dogs run after a kid`s ball and smear it with their saliva.
Generally, dogs` odour is repulsive, too. They should use some deodorants or sth.
When I see those signs which ban dogs to sh.it on the grass, I get an esthetic shock.

If not for dogs, life in Poland would be really fine.

Dogs,especially big ones,roaming the streets or in a garden barking all night....real problem in Poland.

Hey, I like that barking at night. It allows me to sleep well because I feel like in my childhood when we spent each summer in the countryside. Those were happy moments and I like to relive them today on our farm. On condition the dogs are far away and I don`t have to smell them.

In The UK that only happens on some of the nastier council estates.
Most people know how to control their dogs,unlike Poles.
In Poland it drives me insane.
I would rather hear the wind,the rain or the sea....they send me to sleep.....not bloody dogs barking!

Does my head in - most of my neighbors have dogs which bark incessantly. None of them get proper exercise which is one reason they are so noisy

I actually don't think Poles really know much about dogs......

I must protest. I know all breeds and I know that they all can have fleas.

But do you know how to stop them barking at night?

From what I have seen, they are often chained up outdoors, plus there seems to be an awful lot of strays or abandoned dogs around, especially in rural areas.

Exactly,Poles don't really seem to understand dogs.....often people in multi storey blocks of flats own big dogs.
WTF?
I think it is all about a false sense of protection....

Does it mean people in GB don`t keep big dogs in small apartments or blocks? After so many years in the forums, I have already learnt Poland isn`t an isolated island and the same stupid things happen elesewhere too.

You don't see any abandoned dogs or strays in Warsaw but you do see lots of dogs in apartment blocks. I would say around a third of people own a dog and they're nearly all expensive pedigree ones.

Somebody here (maybe Ziem or Pawian) might like to care to comment on this, but according to Mr Atch, in the PRL days the puppies were a source of income to many families. It was common to buy a pedigree pup, raise it to maturity and then breed from it as you could get a substantial amount for the pups. It still goes on to some extent. Many of the dogs are toy breeds, absolutely tiny and clearly not acquired as guard or watch dogs. It seems to be a cultural thing where a dog is seen as necessary to make a proper 'family'. They're also very much a fashion accessory for some people as are certain breeds of cat. It's not enough simply to have any old mutt or moggy.

There is some bizarre law relating to apartments under communal ownership that means the residents can't vote to ban pets in the building btw. Having said that, they are less of a nuisance than dogs in the less central, leafy, residential Warsaw where it's mostly houses and the dogs are left out in the garden all day and night. If you ever go for a walk in one of those neighbourhoods you'll be barked at constantly as you pass the gateways. On the other hand dogs in apartment blocks are generally kept indoors. However, a couple of years ago, a neighbour of ours in the block next door had a dog which he left out on the balcony all day in the summer while he was at work and it barked all day, non stop. One weekend he went to a wedding and was gone overnight and the dog was out there barking the entire night. He stopped at about five in the morning and finally went asleep. The next weekend the same thing happened. Mr Atch spoke to the owner and he said he was getting rid of the dog within the month and sure enough he did, thanks be to God!

@Pawian, most private apartment blocks in the UK won't let you keep pets of any kind.

The worst is being "pan" instead of "you".

"Pan", of course, simultaneously, can mean the formal singular "you", "sir"/"Mr." + both given and family name, or (The) "Lord".
It is intended as merely a form of respect when addressing either male strangers as well as even year-long male acquaintances with whom one is not on more than

a casual footing, e.g. the postman, family physician, older neighbor etc., but certainly not friends in the most European sense:-)

Americans have always been ever so casual in contrast with Europeans, that the all-purpose "you" seems almost a component of the American DNA,
and no matter how long one has lived abroad, many (such as yourself, apparently) simply can't shake it!

There is nothing to shake off. It's the stiffs that should shake things off. Like that "pan".
In "America", at 9 am at McDonald's, I can walk up to a bunch of retired guys I never met, say, hi, guys, can I join you, with zero risk that they would be taken aback, offended or would say, no. Typically, we would exchange a joke or two, and I would be on my way. That's America for you. And that is why I can't stand foreigners with that fake respect and lousy English that makes such short encounters impossible. To be funny spontaneously with strangers you have to be more than just fluent.

Once more, I only agree with the second part of your last statement.

However, it's simply a matter of getting used to, that's all. I always advise first-time travellers; if you're typically "annoyed" by foreign cultures in your face - STAY HOME!!!

:-)

Then, I am not your kind of traveler. I don't care what the locals think or feel. When I realized that that "pan" and "pani" are still lingering on in Poland, I switched to English except for the few moments when it would not work. Then, it would be "ty". Don't like it? Tough. Sue me.

Yes. It's a massive risk buying a house here, just to be faced by incessantly barking dogs. I would gladly shoot the fokkers. And if this was America I would.

No, these dogs are not stray, they always belong to somebody, but often leave on their own and roam the streets.


Well, I wouldn`t say many. I had a big family and nobody bred dogs or any other animals. Neither in my mates` families when in primary or high school. I only met a member of a dog breeding family at a uni.


I suppose so, I once read a Swedish book for kids and a boy had big problems with keeping a squirrel he had found. Half the book was devoted to boys` ways of protecting the animal from nasty haters. I was shocked reading that - how could people be so cruel? :):)

It's a simple task to train your dog to stop barking when not wanted. The trouble here is that the bark is a warning bark, and is actively encouraged by the slob village/small town owners.

In a decent society there are noise abatement laws and councils to appeal to if the owner refuses/is too drunk too control his dog. If I had the misfortune to live in a Polish village I would fix it for the owner, and he wouldn't be able to prove a thing.