Real Estate / Documents requested from foreigners to rent a flat long term in Poland? Invoicing / Contract. [16]

Acknowledgement of payment isn't common here - usually it's just sent before with the payment terms on it. If you don't hear anything from the person that you owe money to, it's assumed it's fine - especially where internet money transfers are concerned.

I'd negotiate it individually, though you should be issuing an invoice anyway. Most people (if they don't need the invoice) will be happy with an e-mailed copy.

History / POLAND: EASTERN or CENTRAL European country? [1080]

That's a first, Austria being called Eastern Europe. I'm sure the Viennese would love to hear that they live in an Eastern European capital!

History / Communism fell 20 years ago, Poland led the fight since WW2 [339]


Pawian, you might know this better than me - do you know if the Soviet idea of making Poland the 16th Republic of the USSR was ever seriously considered?

History / Communism fell 20 years ago, Poland led the fight since WW2 [339]


Ah, that old Polish disease, the rantings about the imaginary Communists.

I prefer to deal with real Communists, like a certain political party which has a son of a turncoat traitor as a leader.

Life / Orphanages in Poland [82]

Are you interested in coming to Poznan?

I could sort you out with a placement in a primary school, starting as early as next week - I'd be more than happy to help you out with this :)

Life / Mishmash facts about Poland and Poles [142]

Such a shame that Poland ceased to practice it from 1919 onwards, isn't it?

Real Estate / Residential real estate values go down in Poland [455]


Uh, if you're a single person or young newly married couple, what do you need much bigger for?

I know plenty of people who live in smaller apartments in good locations rather than large apartments further away - not least because larger apartments incur much higher administration costs, let alone travel time.


Suuure, Mark.

Life / Racism in Poland - the future [441]

Hahahaha. In the world today, most of them are all about money - and not about education.

You just need to look at Poland to see how money influences the education sector.

Genealogy / The typical Polish look, or all Eastern Europeans [656]


Bloody right I am. No time for any of it.

Genealogy / The typical Polish look, or all Eastern Europeans [656]

Most Europeans, for a start. And Americans.

Let's be honest : anyone who spends more than a second of their time contemplating their "race" is clearly a blithering idiot anyway.

Genealogy / The typical Polish look, or all Eastern Europeans [656]


What I love most of all is that it's often those who are the least racially pure that go on about it the most ;)

Real Estate / Cost to build in Eastern Poland - Ideally per m2 [71]


Poland is an utter disaster in this respect. Between the utter lack of planning (not laws, there's plenty of them) and the reklama plague, Poland is destroying her countryside. All these morons with half finished houses - I mean, come on!

The UK system of making you either finish the house or demolishing it (and charging you for it) is far more sensible.


Quite normal here, I guess - people are utterly naive and expect things to work in exactly the same way.

I wouldn't build a house here, I simply haven't been here long enough.

Food / Bary mleczne/milk bars in Poland [30]


I've lost count of the amount here - I think there's about 10, but...could be more ;)

History / POLAND: EASTERN or CENTRAL European country? [1080]


Uh, they called it "Österreich", meaning "Eastern borderlands"

Food / Polish Pizza !! The best in the world? [330]


Nah, people from countries with a more...sophisticated pallet prefer that their pizza doesn't need ketchup added.

Anyway, what would you know, seeing as you've never been to Poland?

Please don't start this in every thread.

Life / Babcia or Busha - any social class difference? [359]

She was Russian, then.

Wow, even worse.

Life / Poland: worst teeth in the world? [98]


Still an option in private places if you really want to save some money - though the cost is minimal, as far as I know...

As much as you want is free if you're under the public system, though.


You think I visit such places? ;)

Though I reckon you could easily go down to 50zl or less in a really crap dentist in the middle of nowhere. I wouldn't fancy it though!

Life / Babcia or Busha - any social class difference? [359]


Do you have any better suggestions?

It was never found in any Polish dictionary, so - where could it come from? Most of those that went to America were poor peasants from Eastern Poland - where the language was heavily mixed with Ukrainian. It's quite logical to assume that such poor people wouldn't know or care that the proper word is babcia.

Life / Babcia or Busha - any social class difference? [359]


The question is why so many allegedly Polish (but we all know that they're of uncertain peasant origin) people are using a word which is unknown in Poland.


You're welcome to try and find the origin. My best hypothesis is that it comes from the Ukrainian "babusha" - certainly many Ukrainians were more likely to identify as Polish than Ukrainian in those times. Nothing wrong with that, as such - but it's my theory that many "Polish" people in America were actually a mix of ethnicities, but identified as Polish as they weren't German, Hungarian or Russian.

It's certainly not a word found in any Polish dictionary at any time.

Life / Babcia or Busha - any social class difference? [359]

Wrong. Babcia is the word for both.

People may have their own words, but "Busha" is very much an American invention.

Life / Poland: worst teeth in the world? [98]


A tooth removed (without fuss, but with painkillers) is about 80-100zl privately in a normal, clean dentist.


The nice thing here is that if you have a mix of public and private treatment - there's no cap at all on the public treatment, unlike the shambles that is the NHS system.

History / What do Poles owe to Germans? [451]


The vast majority of signs are in both languages - I can only think of one sign near the border which only uses the German name, and that's possibly because it refers to the German part of the town.

(as for Poland - where German cities are signed, you always see Polish names too)

Law / Is it possible to change visit visa to student or work permit in Poland? [16]

No, it must be done from your home country. I'm pretty certain you cannot 'upgrade' a visa within the country - except to go from a work/student visa to a residence permit.

Law / Getting Married in Poland without a visa? [23]


No. You need to be legally resident in Poland in order to get married here - they can and will check.

Real Estate / How do I rent a flat in Poland? [44]

otodom.pl is in English - I used to teach the director of the site :)

Travel / Best places to visit in Poland [87]


In Warsaw, you could make a killing if you have all the professional papers from the UK - an English nanny is seen as very posh right now.

Life / 3 reasons why you hate Poland. [1049]


Oh yes. Babcia isn't afraid to shake you out of your sleep because she wants the seat. Or worse, like the old misery guts who shoved my injured knee out of the way because his wife wanted my seat.


Old people are dreadful for this - I find that they've got an utter lack of manners here. Still, it can be amusing to get in their way and refuse to let them do it.


I blame the idiotic right turn on red for this - what kind of moron thought it was a good idea IN POLAND to give cars and pedestrians a green light?


What's fun with this is to stare out kids when you want their seat on the tram/bus - sometimes works ;)


Ah, it's a way of life, come on ;) What I don't understand is where they get the money from to be chavs - social welfare here is absolutely minimal.


Try my favourite trick - spend about 10 minutes looking for the ticket. Always amuses me to watch them get madder and madder while you deliberately search every single pocket about ten times :D They're paid on commission, so if they're being dicks, the best way is to waste their time ;)


...I hate to say it, but I think it's better than the UK :(

Law / Buying a USED CAR in Poland, my personal experiences and TRAPS to avoid !! [133]

Stay well clear of driving in Poznan, things are an utter disaster at the minute and they're going to get a hell of a lot worse in a few weeks.

If you want to buy a car - the best bet is going to Germany. Cars here are just wrecks in general - for less than 10,000PLN, you won't get anything worthwhile.

Love / Polish women are the most beautiful in the world! [1718]


Her parents were called Władysław and Bronisława Sklodowski - not exactly French names, are they?

Her grandfather was also called "Józef Skłodowski" - again - not particularly French.

Love / Polish women are the most beautiful in the world! [1718]


Perhaps if you spent more time trying to find a job and less time checking out Polish women, you'd get somewhere?