Life / Boys acting and dressing feminine, girls acting and dressing masculine - transgender teens in Poland [272]


How strange - toilet is a very normal word. Maybe it's the American problem with words of French origin that would give the word toilet such strange associations. Think of 'eau de toilette' written on perfume bottles. It was often called 'toilet water' years ago because part of a lady's 'toilette' was to dab a bit of perfume behind the ears and on the wrists. Toilet originates from the place where a lady went to perform her 'toilette'. It makes much more sense than a 'rest room'.

The old gender bending stuff is really no big deal. It's a phase a lot of young people go through and it usually has nothing to with sexuality. When I was in art college about a hundred years ago in a Dublin that was very parochial and provincial compared to now, quite a few of the guys were very flamboyant dressers and one or two wore a bit of make up. One guy had his naturally mousey brown hair dyed jet black, and wore bright red lipstick. He had very fair skin and was quite handsome. He wore women's blouses instead of a shirt and a bit of jewellery. He was a totally down to earth, ordinary guy to talk to and he was hetero. It was just about looking avant garde and different.

My view is that I don't like to look at anything ugly. I don't have a problem with what people wear as long as the look is well put together and they look good. My friend in the art college was stylish and striking. I don't want to see some brawny guy with three day stubble or an obvious moustache, wearing a flowery skirt and getting his high heels stuck in the grating. Equally I have a problem with 'normal' if it's a fat girl in a pair of leggings wobbling up the road in front of me. It offendeth mine eye.

UK, Ireland / Moving to Poland from UK [39]


Well, I'm Irish myself so when I came to Poland I had to suffer the trauma of discovering that my granny's beloved geraniums were in fact 'pelargonia' :)


Do you not speak English with him yourself? No kid of an Irishman should need an international school to teach him English - you'll have to go back home for a week and dangle him over the Blarney Stone.

And what about the Cúpla Focail?? And him not knowing no focail at all :)

youtube.com/watch?v=XoDDfPuAB0Y

Real Estate / Valuation of Inherited Real Estate in Poland for tax purposes? [14]

You need something called a 'rzeczoznawca majątkowy ' - it's a real estate appraiser. They do valuations for mortgages etc. They will visit the property and they need to be able to go inside it obviously. They will give you a full report and valuation, a couple of pages long. Their valuation will usually be pretty close to what an estate agent would say, but it's more 'official' and they have to be licensed to do valuations for legal purposes.

Just google rzeczoznawca majątkowy and the name of the town nearest to the place where the property is located, and you should find one easily.

UK, Ireland / Is it good for Poland as Sinn Fein will win today in Northen Ireland [282]

You'll have to wait for the DUP to decide that :) Apparently it has to pass 'the Seven Tests' .................

rte.ie/news/brexit/2023/0228/1359260-ni-protocol-dup/

UK, Ireland / Moving to Poland from UK [39]


They don't really smell of anything much. They just smell sort of organic. They're certainly not something you buy for their scent though. They're usually planted just for their colourful display and because they're very hardy. They don't need much care and the flowers last right through into the late autumn in the British Isles.


Because he's Irish and if an Irishman talks about geraniums he means pelargonia :)

UK, Ireland / Is it good for Poland as Sinn Fein will win today in Northen Ireland [282]


Not anymore Jon. In 2022 they published the latest figures and it's down to just over 30% now. That's those who identify as solely British. I think gradually people in the North are identifying more as 'Northern Irish' than either British or Irish. It's better that way really as hopefully they can find a way forward with a common identity.

There will be a small pocket of resistance to the new deal within the DUP as always .............

UK, Ireland / Moving to Poland from UK [39]

Because in Ireland and the UK people incorrectly refer to pelargonia as geraniums. The geraniums the OP is referring to are actually the pelargonia that you see in window boxes and flowerbeds.

"The naming problem occurred in the 17th century when the first pelargoniums were brought to Europe and were called geraniums, due to their similarity to the perennial plant, and so the name geranium has been used ever since!"

UK, Ireland / Moving to Poland from UK [39]


The OP is not British - he just lives there. He's Irish so he can live in Poland without the language requirement as he's an EU citizen. As an EU citizen he automatically gets permanent residence after five years.

@Charliesy, what part of Poland are you moving to? Do you have a job lined up? Best of luck with everything.


You'll have to learn to call them Pelargonia from now on :)

UK, Ireland / What English food would you serve a Pole? [172]


Oh, you like port! I love it! Two glasses of port on Friday and Saturday evenings while watching Midsomer Murders or similar :)) I must take a pic of my port glasses and post it here. They're old English cranberry glass, really enhances the experience to drink port from a nice piece of cut glass.

Life / If I could introduce something from my country into Poland, I would.... [175]


I don't think Poles observe the speed limits, do they? Not in towns anyway, judging by the number of people run over on pedestrian crossings, not to mention the single car crashes where the driver loses control of the vehicle and crashes into a tree, wall etc take your pick. Have you seen the video on YouTube of the one who loses control at the roundabout and ends up flying through the air and lands in a graveyard - very apt.

UK, Ireland / What English food would you serve a Pole? [172]


Remember the dreaded Blue Nun and Black Tower? :)) Graced many a British 1970s suburban dinner party table. Funny isn't it, German supermarket wine and frozen Black Forest cake were favourites and nobody mentioned 'the war' - well I may have mentioned it once but I think I got away with it ..........


It's not a cheese to eat with wine. It's better with a loaf of rustic bread and a raw onion if you eat them - I don't, being a 'lady' and dainty in my ways :)) For a drink, a nice cup of a strong blend like a good English Breakfast. That's the best way to enjoy a good cheddar cheese in my opinion.

UK, Ireland / What English food would you serve a Pole? [172]


It's not an artisan cheese but it's pretty good. Good enough to win plenty of gold medals - even in the UK ;) The milk all comes from very small dairy farms around Ireland and the cheese produced in Ireland until quite recently was made in small creameries and cooperative dairy facilities but that seems to be changing and I think there are a couple of larger plants now. There's a huge one in the UK I believe. A pity - but it's big business for Ireland. At least the milk is still 'authentic'. That's why I only eat Cadbury's chocolate from the Irish factory, the stuff you get here in Europe is nothing like the Cadbury's from Ireland. I go to Dealz to get Irish Flakes and Dairy Milk - oh joy! I used to love Tiffin but you never see it these days.

Under the influence of @Atch & Co I was now in Kaufland and bought Cheddar. It was a special offer for 9,99 €/kg. Not good, it was the cheepest cheese im shop. Nevertheless, I will taste it tomorrow with a good wine and report.

UK, Ireland / What English food would you serve a Pole? [172]


Alien, I'm sorry but Polish cheese is horrendous. It's like plastic. The texture, the colour and the complete lack of any flavour at all. I think the synthetic texture is the worst thing about it.


As Jon says, I don't think you've eaten real cheddar cheese. I remember Mafketis once saying that the cheddar you have in the USA is not the same thing as cheddar from the British Isles.

UK, Ireland / What English food would you serve a Pole? [172]


This is a true story Jon - one you'll like. A friend of mine back in the day, young guy, long hair, Afghan coat, popped into his local, which of course was also his father's local :)) His dad is up at the bar having a drink, my friend is sitting at a table with his mates. Dad overhears someone saying 'nice looking bird in the hippie coat' and Dad turns to him with 'that bird is my son, what are you having?' :))

UK, Ireland / What English food would you serve a Pole? [172]


That's not why they close. It's basically just not profitable. The running costs are too high and there isn't enough custom to even break even, let alone earn a living. Very sad really because the British (and indeed Irish pub) is a place for people of all ages and social classes to socialize. It's a place for the community to gather, just lovely to have your 'local'.

UK, Ireland / What English food would you serve a Pole? [172]

I thought so. It would add to the stickiness - delish!

UK, Ireland / What English food would you serve a Pole? [172]


There is some great pub food in the UK, often in the smallest towns and villages. I once stopped off in a tiny Welsh village and the local pub was serving the most delicious roast (local) lamb at a really reasonable price too. But don't you live in the UK Lenka? Or you did at one time? You must know there is some very good pub food.

@ Jon, the chicken dish sounds yummy. Thank you for taking the time to post the recipe. Do you leave the skin on the chicken thighs?

Life / Owning a house in true countryside of Poland - stories [692]

Turnips are very nice mashed with carrots. Also parsnip works well in mashed potato. If you have time and patience to wait, you can then pop it into the oven with a few dollops of butter on top and bake it until it's all crispy and golden. Yumusz :))

History / Poland and Britain started WW2 [356]


Almost one in five Europeans (19 per cent) reported having heavy drinking episodes at least once a month in 2019.

The biggest shares of adults taking part in heavy drinking episodes at least once a month were found in Denmark (38 per cent), Romania (35 per cent), Luxembourg (34 per cent), Germany (30 per cent) and Belgium (28 per cent).

Life / Understanding Poland's Birthday Tradition [66]

We had the bumps in secondary school. It was actually a kind of socially inclusive thing. Everyone expected to get the bumps on their birthday and being ignored would be far worse! We always added one extra for luck :)

Study / Need advice with applying in University of Warsaw [3]


There will usually be no problem getting accepted if you have average grades. The university runs these English language options in order to attract as many international students as possible because it brings them a lot of money.


This might help you.

dsm.usz.edu.pl/grades/


The teachers will be ok. The office staff in Poland can be difficult to deal with. They don't have a problem with foreigners but they are not very efficient. However you will usually get what you need eventually but you may have to ask several times or ask a few different people!

In general, if you have any questions about applications, it's best to contact the university directly and ask them. As it says on the University of Warsaw website:

"In case of any further questions, please contact appropriate unit conducting studies or the Admissions Office (by asking a question at the IRK system or directly)."

rekrutacja.uw.edu.pl/en/how-to-apply/

Life / What should I get for a gift for somebody who's never visited Poland? [59]


Me too. Not a great fan of wafery things with a thin coating of 'chocolate like product' :) It could be a nostalgia thing with Polish people. They remember them from childhood and the taste has happy associations.

Life / What should I get for a gift for somebody who's never visited Poland? [59]


Agree. Maybe it's the British Isles taste buds functioning differently. I quite like those Cherrissimo/Mieszko cherry liqueurs.

History / Poland and Britain started WW2 [356]


No, he's just not very well.


Lol! You are awful - but I like you :)) (remember our old friend Dick Emery).

Life / Poles speaking English - examples [263]


Very fluent. His fluency and cohesion would score high marks in an IELTS setting. Touch of an American accent. I notice he pronounces the 'o' in words like program with Polish phonetics :) Wish I could speak Polish as well as he speaks English but I suspect he's worked much harder than I'm prepared to.

Genealogy / What are common Polish character traits? [425]


I've corrected that error of judgement on your part before but I'll do it again. I know that Americans don't understand irony but let's try .......... his reference was to the living conditions to which the majority of Irish had been reduced by their English overlords. In the same way that he defined oats as a type of grain given as feed to horses in England but used to support the people in Scotland. In fact he had many Irish friends in his London circle, had great respect for Irish history and literature and the Dr in Dr Johnson was given to him by Trinity College, Dublin. There is a lot of humour and satire throughout his dictionary, very much in keeping with the times he lived in.

Study / International Schools in Krakow - ISK and BISC? [8]

These are the fees for each school.

//bisc.krakow.pl/fees.html

//iskonline.org/admissions/

Study / International Schools in Krakow - ISK and BISC? [8]


I would suggest the BISC (British school) for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, you are from India so the British education system will be more familiar to you as your own education system is based on it. The main difference is that the modern British system allows more creativity and practical work rather than just rote learning and theory.

Secondly, the British School in Krakow follows the British National Curriculum, so you know exactly what your child will be learning down to the last detail. The national curriculum sets a standard for course content and expected attainment for children. For example your child at age 7 + will be in Key Stage 2 of the curriculum.

The National Curriculum sets out what children in KS2 should be taught. There are 11 mandatory subjects:

English
Maths
Science
History
Geography
Ancient and modern foreign languages
Art and design
Music
Design and technology
Physical education (which must include swimming)
Computing (often called information and communication technology or ICT)

At the end of Key Stage 2 your child will be tested:

Key stage 2: English grammar, punctuation and spelling test framework
Key stage 2: English reading test framework
Key stage 2: mathematics test framework
Key stage 2: science sampling test framework

Test scores are published online so parents can compare their children's scores with the national average.

The USA does not have a national curriculum so the American school in Krakow designs its own curriculum and sets its own standards based loosely on different curricula:

For our core courses, we draw on standards from the Common Core, American Education Reaches Out (AERO), and Next Generation Science Standards. For our languages, arts, and physical and health education program, we draw on additional standards from the province of Ontario, and from the national curricula of Poland and France.

As you can see that's quite a mixed bag and it takes great skill to deliver such a curriculum effectively and ensure standards. They also don't have any standardized testing system.

As a teacher myself and having taught many children from India over a number of years :) I understand how important it is for Indian parents abroad to keep their children up to the high standard they will need to maintain if they re-enter the Indian education system later on. I know that very high standards in English literacy are required from quite young children in India so I would opt for the British school if you can afford it, as your child will definitely get a thorough grounding in language and maths.

Law / Parental responsibility removal in Poland [20]


How do you know she's done this?


Come back to where? What country do you live in?

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

An update on the above. In a rather hilarious turn of events, they've turfed him out of jail for Christmas, whether he wants to go or not.

Mr Justice O'Moore of the Irish High Court said it was "intolerable" that taxpayers were paying Mr Burke's salary as well as the costs of his incarceration in Mountjoy Prison and it was difficult to avoid the conclusion that Mr Burke was exploiting his imprisonment for his own ends.

This would explain, the judge said, why he resisted an early trial which could have set him free and why he rejected the proposal of the high court that could have led to his immediate release.

He said the only plausible interpretation of Mr Burke's actions was that he saw some advantage in his continuing imprisonment.

Otherwise, the judge said, he would have avoided it, or taken the opportunity to bring it to an end.

The court, he said would not enable someone found in contempt of court to garner some advantage from that defiance.

He said because of this Mr Burke's release should be open ended and not just for Christmas.