Travel / What is the weather like in Poland where you are now? [211]

Snowy and windy where I am, the temperature isn't awful (1 c) but the wind makes it so much worse....

Food / What do non-Poles think about eating the following Polish foods? [1450]

I like buckwheat kaszanka much better than barley though I don't like it warm... it's already been cooked so I usually eat it cold.

Hungarian blood sausage is very delicious (the best I've had) and also like the blood-liver sausage there (the Polish version doesn't have enough liver for me....)

Polonia / What about the Poles living in Germany? [65]


Is this something announced are is Germany still blindly following Merkel's second word emotional over-reaction? (so glaaaad she's gone.....)

Travel / Airport Transfers in Krakow [7]

Here's info on the train:

krakowairport.pl/en/passenger/transport-en/directions/from-to-krakow-airport/train-en/

the link to the timetable doesn't work (in english the Polish version works but only to march 12 at present).

I'd take the train over a cab. I might take the bus but with luggage it could be awkward (and thieves sometimes specially target airport buses so you need to have Polish situational awareness... which you probably don't have).

If you do take a cab make sure it's reputable (some airports will order you one, which won't be the cheapest but won't skin you alive either....)

UK, Ireland / From Hertfordshire, UK to Śląskie, Poland - Are we crazy? [35]


I'm in a very different situation than you (tots obvs) but for me the positives _far_ outweigh the negatives (which I'm aware of).

But... how well do you know your mother-in-law? How much have you seen your wife interact with her? I've seen a _lot_ of young marriages have really bad times (or fail) because the parents insist on getting involved and the adult children just kind of... let them.

You have a very established relationship (if you're talking about school age children) but Polish parents, on the whole, are almost constitutionally unable to resist the urge to interfere. That seems like the real weak point (from my point of view) of your plan. And your wife in the UK might be a very different person than she is in Poland living under her mother's roof (lots of international marriages undergo a shock when moving to one spouse's homeland only to see the spouse revert to local ways....)

I'm a pretty different person in Poland than I was in the US (far more assertive, if you don't learn how to be assertive then you'll end up with footprints all over your face). But also I know the language really well and understand how things work (not necessarily what it seems on the surface).

As I always say, it can be great place to live but the learning curve.... she is steeeeep....

Off-Topic / Random Sports News [891]


It's more about displaced anger. The Melbourne area had totally insane lockdown policies and most people just took being shut up at home for months and months and months.

Then Djokovic posts an instagram picture talking about spending time with loved ones (something Australians had been deprived of by their government for many many months).

Rather than admit that they were saps for following a fatally flawed policy (lockdowns have not worked.... anywhere) and asking themselves questions they found it easier to get mad at Djokovic.

And he doesn't have 20 AO victories "just" 9 (IINM) the 20 is his number of victories in Grand Slam tournaments. At present there's a three or four way tie among players and he's the most likely to break it (if he plays).

Off-Topic / Random Sports News [891]


Now the Australian government admits his exemption was valid (in other words he followed their laws) but they want to kick him out because he has opinions that are not in line with the government's policy of injecting people with under-tested drugs.

theage.com.au/sport/australia-declares-djokovic-a-risk-to-civil-order-and-public-health-20220114-p59oex.html

This should be incredibly concerning. Australian is going in a very bad direction...

Boycott the AO now!

UK, Ireland / From Hertfordshire, UK to Śląskie, Poland - Are we crazy? [35]


Two things:

first, the EU project has different factions with different agendas and these often interact (with unpredictable results)

second, one of the goals of the EU is to replace national identity with 'European' identity so that people don't think of themselves as Italian or Swedish (or whatever) first but first as Europeans. Supporting minorities to develop their own regional identities weakens national identities (which then interacts with other policies with.... not great results)

third (bonus) the EU is very, very, slow and reactive. It takes a looooong time between noticing a policy isn't working and anything happening in response

Language / Imci Pana meaning [5]

imć

an abbreviation 'jego miłość' (his love) formerly used as a polite expression, mostly before a last name or title

imć pan (very roughly) 'your most honorable lord'

imci pana the same but in the genitive/accusative case

"skrót zwrotu jego miłość, używany dawniej jako wyrażenie grzecznościowe, przeważnie przed nazwiskiem lub tytułem
Imć wojewoda.. ."

sjp.pl/im%C4%8

News / Security issues in Poland [10]


Is it just me or does the Polish text does not read as if it had been written by a native speaker... starting with Ukrainiec! (instead of Ukraińcu! though even that is..)

how would a Polish writer begin that? I have an idea they might address the country more Ukraino!

Off-Topic / Random Sports News [891]


their laws are ridiculous - why should healthy young (okay ND isn't so young...) athletes have to undergo an invasive procedure to engage in their profession?

Especially with an under-tested medicine and especially when anecdotal evidence is mounting that young healthy people are more in danger of the drug itself (and when the producers and the governments pushing the shots are free of any legal responsibility)?

Australia no longer deserves to hold the AO and it should be moved elsewhere.

Disgusting government...

News / New Polish tax system hits the ground stumbling... [14]


They're crappy managers and administrators.... and that comes from the top (JK is mentally still trapped in the PRL and always will be and those under him replicate the key PRL features of patronage, corruption, incompetence and avoiding responsibility).

Off-Topic / Random Sports News [891]

It's not over until the lawyers sing... doesn't he still have an appeal?

If he's kicked out I'm never watching a second of the AO again (and tennis is one of the few sports I like watching).

I'm not even a Djokovic fan but... he's in the right here. He poses no risk and if the law cannot take that into consideration it does not deserve to be respected. Bad laws (like vaccine passports) erode the respect for law in general.

News / Security issues in Poland [10]

Countdown before this is blamed on Donald Tusk....

10, 9, 8....

UK, Ireland / From Hertfordshire, UK to Śląskie, Poland - Are we crazy? [35]


Not sure how much of this is spontaneous and how much is aided and abetted by EU and NGO subsidies to minority movements (as a way of weakening national cohesion?)

Catalonia was a different thing - those behind the original push for independence were never really that serious, it was always a ploy to get more money from the central government and then things got out of control when a few true-believers took over the project.

UK, Ireland / Ireland and Poland - ways of struggling for independence [43]

What made the Irish so soft? (especially for Atch...)

"We have become the most subservient lickspittles on the planet."

And... is Poland going (or could it go) in a similar direction of tame people who follow orders?

spiked-online.com/2022/01/11/whatever-happened-to-the-fighting-irish/

Was it being in the EU? Will Polish people become similarly... domesticated if they stay in the EU long enough?

Losing their eternal enemy of imperial Britain? (at least Poland still has Germany and Russia... despite the massive inconvenience.... overall having two eternal enemies is better than one)

Language / Polish slang phrases - most popular. [630]

not a native but maybe...

pretty baby - ślicznotka (sounds maybe a little dated, but it was the Polish title of the Brooke Shields movie 'Pretty Baby'....

let's get high - zjaramy się

UK, Ireland / From Hertfordshire, UK to Śląskie, Poland - Are we crazy? [35]


I don't know much about parent and adult-child relationships in Ireland (or even the UK) but they are very different from those typical in the US.

The traditional American model is about adults reorienting their relationship with their parents into something more like friendship between equals (easier said than done).

That is not the Polish model where parents are authority figures for as long as they are alive and children are supposed to show them respect and not openly disagree with them about important issues (again... easier said than done).

In short... your wife living with her mother will be a very different person than she is living with you and her children and your relationship with your wife (and children) will be different in ways you cannot anticipate).

What I always say: Life in Poland can be great but it's not a user friendly country (in terms of language, culture and.. lots of other things). Language is crucial to fitting in and most english speakers have.... very little idea about how to effectively learn a language (especially a slavic language).

You'll also have to let go of lots of ideas about being able to change things.

Genealogy / Do Polish people have big noses? [450]

So devoted to the trip that they speak Turkish and carry muslim prayer beads?

There are also some who could pass for Native American (esp women).

Here's a small sample of the diversity (at street level, if anything it's more diverse).

quora.com/Do-East-Asian-looking-Turks-face-any-racism-in-Turkey

It's a former very large empire that brought in many people from the edges to the center (on their own or by force) so genetic diversity is what you'd expect.

News / Polish Pegasus Spyware Scandal [40]


The welfare dependent core PiS base will not care as long as they keep getting their 'free' money.

But the inflation could hurt PiS worse, especially because PiS can't really blame it on anyone else.... it could peel off enough of their electorate to make a difference

News / The ruling party in Poland tries to take American owned TV news station off the air [528]


I don't know because your links are squonked...

News / The ruling party in Poland tries to take American owned TV news station off the air [528]

Neither of those "links" goes to specific information...

Genealogy / Do Polish people have big noses? [450]


Have you been in Turkey? Exteme genetic diversity (dating from Ottoman empire) at street level you see people that could pass for Scandinavian or Chinese and everything in between....

News / The ruling party in Poland tries to take American owned TV news station off the air [528]


Well PiS is, essentially PRL bis so.....


Source (official) or you're lying.... note that TVN acquired a Dutch license _because_ of PiS mendacity and dishonest so if it's because of that then PiS is to blame.

News / The ruling party in Poland tries to take American owned TV news station off the air [528]


to be clear, this is for tvn7 (a kind of secondary channel) which expires in february

knowing PiS and their tendency to miss no chance to be petty and alienate would-be allies.... I'm not sure what will happen

News / Polish Pegasus Spyware Scandal [40]


I think he has to wait to find out the official party line...

News / Polish Pegasus Spyware Scandal [40]

Update: Kaczyński admits that the government has pegasus and maintains it's no biggie...

onet.pl/informacje/onetwiadomosci/pegasus-kaczynski-wysmiewa-zarzuty-opozycji-afera-z-niczego-i-histeria/3dp5c23,79cfc278

Polonia / Polish workers in Denmark [41]


Look up places with programs in Scandinavian languages. Danish has never been the most popular of those (it used to be Swedish, now it's Norwegian) but it does exist as a university subject. Ask them to put up signs (often there are employment boards in university depts).