Work / Teaching English in Poland....CELTA or TESOL certificate? [66]



From what I remember (I might be a bit out of date) but in the US I don't think people really do TEFL qualifications on their own. Usually it's an add on for English or linguistics students at universities (so the linguistic requirements were for English students that might be weak in that area so that students know better than to try to teach traditional grammar as that's completely useless).

Life / Polish films in Hollywood arrangement [29]

One of the greatest scenes in Polish movie history... my favorite part is the smoking woman next to Himilsbach, deadpan perfection.

News / Unfulfilled promises by PiS [559]


got a mouse in your pocket? have you ever lived in Poland or do you have definite plans to (as in: you've bought the tickets and liquidated your australian assets?)

you and Polish people in Poland are not 'we'....

News / Unfulfilled promises by PiS [559]


she was told about/shown PRL files that discuss how to sow dissent among Solidarity members by leaking rumors about Wałęsa being a tajny współpracownik... she didn't want to know....


you wanna pull the trigger?

News / Unfulfilled promises by PiS [559]


Since you (AFAIK) have never lived in Poland you might not realize how weirdly she went off the rails.... I admired her a lot early on, but by 2000 she was starting to lose it.

I remember discussing one article with a couple of Polish people in which she claimed that PRL records about spread rumors of Wałęsa working with the SB to sow disagreement and claimed that Wałęsa should be shot in the head (dostać w czapę)....

A very sad decline of a once heroic figure (also true of Wałęsa in many ways).

News / How strongly are Poles sure that president Duda defend Poland's interests ? [265]

I wouldn't call her a fraudster, probably kind of autistic (once the connection between her philosophy and autistic behavior is pointed out.... you can't not see it)

I've never come across info that suggests that she was a fraud....

News / Unfulfilled promises by PiS [559]


See PiS supporters think domestic abuse is not really a big deal...


He was willing to take a tremendous amount of public ridicule to achieve his aims - love him or hate him or just be kind of 'meh' about him... few have that kind of dedication.


Many of the fossils who were around in the PRL and still alive denigrate Wałęsa to try to make their own insignificance (or apathy or compliance) during the PRL more palatable to themselves... and will go to weird measures like putting total faith in some PRL record-keeping (though they dismiss the PRL records that indicate that it was the secret service that spread the informant rumors to create tension among members of the dissident movement). It's called cognitive dissonance.

News / Unfulfilled promises by PiS [559]


The funny thing is, Wałęsa 'apologized' for that by saying the time/place he said it was inconsiderate or something like that...... but he never said it wasn't true... I often thought that LW was smarter than he got credit for and there was often (not always, but often) a kind of method to his madness... I realized early on he would say dumb, illogical things to distract everyone (so they start discussing the dumb thing he said rather than the topic he was distracting attention from...


I'm guessing this is... interpreted by someone. If it were in black and white PiS would mention it everyday on every radio and tv station... except that maybe they think domestic abuse is no big deal so they don't realize what a bombshell that would be (if it were true, which I doubt).

News / Unfulfilled promises by PiS [559]


It's the hypocrisy, stupid!

Most of the time the sex lives of people should be private. But public figures who say one thing and do another (like the anti-gay Hungarian politician busted at a gay orgy) are fair game.

News / Good news: Poland's PiS to rule at least 12 years -- Morawiecki [91]


cause they're young and not capable of making informed decisions...

Real Estate / Getting a mortgage loan with girlfriend [18]


boyfriends and girlfriends do not have children together...

if you're old enough to produce children then you're adults and adults are not 'chłopak i dziewczyna'... describe your situation in Polish to see how absurd is...

News / PiS politicians` mailboxes hacked. Russian intelligence suspected. [33]

what is the legal basis of this or do you hope to overturn the legal system and simply have mob rule?

News / Years of Poland in the EU - assessment of pros and cons [1199]

"priorities for Poland:
postponing for a long time closing coal power plants"

who needs to breathe?

"Get rid of foreign investments in strategic areas."

define "strategic" and what are you going to tell the people losing their jobs? Once you start nationalizing all sorts of non-strategic investments will disappear too...

"build a nucleral power plant or three"

probably necessary

"enure that Polish law takes precedence over the EU law (like Germany did)"

it would be nice if Polish legal documents weren't such a mess and three intelligent people could read Polish laws and agree about what is meant...

"cleverly reintroduce conscriptions"

probably not worth the bother and expense

"build Polish nuclear weapon"

Or you could just paint a large target over most major cities....

A problem here is these are mostly solutions to problems from the past....

The crucial problems of today (and the near future) are more about attracting capital (no longer bound to anything on the map) and information (ditto) and security challenges best met technologically and not by a bunch of resentful small town kids forced into uniform.

News / Years of Poland in the EU - assessment of pros and cons [1199]

PiS is simply unable to work with anyone (due to a culture of fractiousness and unpleasantness that stems from the leader).

So not only are they p]ssing off the EU but also the US (lex tvn). For a country that needs (for historic and geographic reasons) powerful allies it's been a real sh}tsh0w....

Without the US or EU what awaits Poland? Re-absorption into the Russian sphere of influence? Long distance Chinese satellite?

Unrealistic dreams think Poland can make it's own completely independent way in the world (like North Korea) or play off the big powers against each other (like no country, including Poland can really do).

Genealogy / Do I look Polish? (my picture) [378]

Weak stomachs and/or nerves....

News / PiS politicians` mailboxes hacked. Russian intelligence suspected. [33]


Former party members have a track record of loyalty to party over anything else, of course PiS wants any they can claim...

News / Unfulfilled promises by PiS [559]

Being a posel is supposed to be a _service_ position and it's unseemly for them to vote themselves raises when other's aren't getting them... they should be getting raises last, not first.


Do nurses and paramedics first.

News / Unfulfilled promises by PiS [559]


It's symbolic. Elected officials are supposed to set an example. It's called civic engagement. Admittedly that's a foreign concept for PiS which is into the Sugar Daddy State (the conservative version of the Nanny State).

News / Years of Poland in the EU - assessment of pros and cons [1199]

Poland isn't that Christian... I don't know if it ever was. My reading is that not-very-religious Poles _used_ the Catholic church when it was convenient (doing whatever they had to do to get the church on their side) and then discarded it once it wasn't so needed (and the church still doesn't understand that's what happened and doesn't understand what's going on).

There are believing Catholics in Poland (maybe 10-20 %) but most have less and less use for the church. If the government wanted to help the church it would actively repress it.

News / Years of Poland in the EU - assessment of pros and cons [1199]


Self-awareness is not really a big thing among Polish politicians....

News / Good news: Poland's PiS to rule at least 12 years -- Morawiecki [91]


Get. A. Room.

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


Which current law? As far as I know, KRRiT has yet to give any reason for not doing anything...

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

And once more a PiS institution fails to follow the law.... quelle surprise!

As the KRRiT once more fails to vote on a concession for tvn (10 days before the current concession ends).

They sent out some poor dope to try to justify this, and all she could stammer out was: "the situation is on hold in terms of legislation, on reform of the law governing tv and radio. We're waiting to see if something might happen in the Sejm" (Sytuacja jest zawieszona, jeśli chodzi o legislację, nowelizację ustawy o radiofonii i telewizji. Czekamy, czy coś jeszcze może się wydarzy w Sejmie w tej sprawie)

OF course it is not the job of KRRiT to consider what legislation may be passed but whether tvn meets the current legal requirements (no one has once pointed to any legal impediment beyond the displeasure of party leader J Kaczyński)

tvn24.pl/polska/koncesja-dla-tvn24-rzeczniczka-krrit-na-posiedzeniu-nie-bylo-glosowania-5412877

If I were a foreign investor in anything I'd take a long look at that... and take my money elsewhere. Who needs the aggravation of trying to please a fussy old politician on top of the normal pressures of doing business. Poland's internaitonal brand takes another hit.

History / What do Poles think about Turks? [761]


Do Polish women go to Turkey for sex tourism? I knew a woman who, it seemed, used to go to Egypt for that...

I've only been on the Aegean coast which is not so representative of the country as a whole (very secular and closer in culture to Italy or Greece than the Anatolian hinterlands - and there.... there is a lot of phenotype diversity from blondes, redheads with freckles, some extremely Asian looking and some (especially women) who look extremely native American....

The wages of empire...

Food / Polish Sour Milk / Maślanka [44]


maślanka (ś=sh) is 'buttermilk' in Poland (though the 'buttermilk' I remember from the US was very different, with a slightly yellowish tint and much thicker than maślanka....

Some people in Poland have buttered boiled potatoes (maybe with green onions or fresh dill) and drink the buttermilk on the side.

static.gotujmy.pl/ZDJECIE_PRZEPISU_ETAP/ziemniaki-z-maslanka-71788.jpg

News / Scandals, conflicts, tensions, arguments - real life examples from Poland [543]


like Obajtek and his shenanigans? He does seem as crooked as a dog's hind leg...


Not very patriotic then are they? More like a bunch of ch|сken sh]t b*St*rds$


So... one of them, are you?

USA, Canada / Poles Living in the Chicago Area [343]


Because a large majority of Polish immigration was to the Foundry (to use Garreu's terminology*) which is where ethnic preservation was generally strongest. By the time their descendants end up in other places they're no longer pol-ams but simply Americans and won't be looking for Polish grocery stores... though the presence of the ancestors of German settlers in some areas might produce something kind of similar...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nine_Nations_of_North_America

Travel / Poland in photo riddles - part 2 [1680]

@Paulina

Land surveying?

Travel / Poland in photo riddles - part 2 [1680]

National Gravel Eating day? I hadn't realize that had ever been exported to Poland...

USA, Canada / Poles Living in the Chicago Area [343]


Late 20th century propaganda and the whole 'celebrate their roots' was restricted to the northeast until the 1980s or so... (north of the mason dixon and the great lakes and east). When/where I grew up no one thought of themselves as descendents of immigrants (except for a few who really were immigrants).