Travel / Best place to exchange money in Poland? [98]


Cash machines are fine when you use a card on the Mastercard (used to be Access) network, especially if it's a particularly good one for using abroad. Moneysavingexpert.com has a list of these cards. Avoid using cards that are on Visa since the rate is worse, or ones where there's a fee for overseas use.

And never, ever, ever accept the fixed amount if the machine suggests it, even if they remind you twice in flashing red letters. This is very close to being a scam.


Great for people working in PL, not so great for a visitor.

There's also changing via an online service. I use WorldFirst which I find to be good, there are also others, though beware, some (Transferwise is notorious for this) have 'affiliate marketing schemes', 'referral codes' etc which ultimately the customer pays for.

The advice about Kantors is good. Just avoid them in major tourist sites, railway stations (though the two in the passage under the Marriott in Warsaw are good, just stay clear of the ones nearer the platforms), shopping malls etc. 24 hour ones often give a slightly worse deal too.

Travel / Best place to exchange money in Poland? [98]

Easy enough to find online comparisons in Poland (several newspapers' websites have them as well as the very established bankier.pl and kantory.pl

Certainly no need to 'book' currency exchange at a kantor; in fact it's unheard of unless the amount is so huge that there's a possibility they don't have that much in the safe. It isn't as if people pre-book at a fixed rate since the rates can fluctuate slightly. If anyone offers a pre-agreed rate, it is likely to be a very bad one.


You don't anyway, ever. You just hand over the cash (all kantors display the conversion rates on the wall - they have to) and the assistant counts the money in front of you and hands you the currency back with a receipt. What would you talk about anyway except to say hello and thank you?

History / Not proud of my Polish heritage [110]

Very much so, and much much later than that. They had been educated and had usually travelled at a time when or most people didn't get a chance to either get even a rudimentary education or travel much further than they could walk in a day. In many rural societies they were very much the custodians of knowledge, culture tradition, especially since the ruling class were rarely keen to share what they had.

History / Pictures of Polish Jews holding coins and lemons? [25]


They're about neither. Much more about the tastes of people who purchased them.

Work / After Masters in Management, Job Opportunities in Poland ? [34]

Yes, it's OK. For a couple it certainly won't make you feel rich (cue a cacophony of people saying that thousands of people live on 2000 net) but you'll be able to rent somewhere decent, not worry about living costs and be able to save some money. It's far more than most people have to live on.

I'm not sure what 1,2 lac means or how it relates to living costs in India

15,000 gross is about what a couple who are both provincial dentists working in the state sector would get between them without taking private patients in the evening.

Have a look at this. You'll need to put it through Google Translate or similar. It shows salaries relative to variopus professions or jobs: wynagrodzenia.pl/moja-placa#A

Love / Why do so many Polish girls dye their hair BLACK? [124]

The handbag doesn't always match the shoes...

History / Not proud of my Polish heritage [110]

You seem to be trying to construct an argument unrelated to the issue. Class differences in the Nineteenth Century and their nexus with mobility, education and culture were very real.

History / Not proud of my Polish heritage [110]

I don't see any discussion about people's opinions. We were talking about historical cultural identity and preservation of heritage in times of crisis.

News / Incredible news from Poland - The president shaved his moustache! [88]

The two people you mention (the first and third) are both educated and highly intelligent. High achievers too. The third teaches at Georgetown University. The second (that you don't try to spell the name of) is uneducated and right-win, but certainly a decent person.

History / Not proud of my Polish heritage [110]

Yes; basically some people were exposed to more information and ideas than others who toiled to stay alive and never went further than their local market town (and that as a great treat)..

History / Not proud of my Polish heritage [110]

In pre-industrial, pre-literacy, pre-mass media and pre-long distance travel days this was I think the norm in larger countries.

Genealogy / Does your last name end in CKI not SKI [60]

You may find this page interesting. It includes people born in the 1820s and 1860s with the surname Abrecki (the male form of Abrecka): myheritage.pl/site-individuals-160946181/grażyna-adamczyk-alik-lidtke

And also here:
myheritage.fr/names/anna_siedlarz

It seems rare. Sometimes surnames are rare, sometimes they mostly die out in one particular place.

History / Not proud of my Polish heritage [110]

The more affluent and educated people took great pains to preserve it, the rural peasantry never had it.

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

Probably closer to the Russian 'babuszka'.

Work / Esl English Teacher in Szczecin [13]


The acronym is for International English Language Testing System. It's a standardised testing sytstem set up by the British Council and Cambridge Testing (what used to be UCLES). It took off when they redeveloped it with Australian input. It's being very slowly but very surely eclipsed by Pearson PTE which is easier to administer.

Work / Esl English Teacher in Szczecin [13]

I'm not sure what you mean in this contextrby TEFL. It's an acronym for "teaching English as a foreign language" rather than a qualification. Do you mean CELTA or the Trinity TESOL Certificate? IELTS is a test of English for learners rather than any sort of teaching certificate.

A lot depends on experience; where have you taught before?

Work / Esl English Teacher in Szczecin [13]


That would certainly put you at a disadvantage in Poland, even if you have other exceptional qualities.


Which certificates do you mean?

Off-Topic / Social Media - who uses Facebook or similar? [45]


Probably the same person. A shame if he has. I just googled him and didn't see any death notice. Nor did I see anything recent from him.


I know people who say the same, although it's easy enough for serious spooks etc to monitor someone anyway if they want to, social media or not. Human intelligence is still always preferable.

Several wrongly accused people have been found innocent in sexual offences cases because of things their false accuser has posted online (usually on Facebook) that make it clear the person they accused is innocent.

With social media it pays to be careful what you say anyway; keeping ones digital footprint clean is both common sense and important. I always check up on job applicants' facebook page/twitter feed and have thrown a few applications away due to things they've put online.

Off-Topic / Social Media - who uses Facebook or similar? [45]

I know exactly who you mean. Weirdoes like that are exactly the reason I don't use social media. I wonder what he's up to nowadays.

Off-Topic / Social Media - who uses Facebook or similar? [45]

I used to use it until about 2010 or 2011. I stopped because I wasn't that interested in near-strangers' holiday snaps and pictures of their pets. I've recently started running some facebook pages we have for work and see that it's still full of cartoons, 'memes' and Americans talking about their internal politics.

One of those things that can kill time better spent enjoying yourself in the real world.

Life / How to vote in the Polish elections? [23]


To a point.

You can only continue voting in U.K. elections for 15 years after moving abroad. After that, you can't.

A handful of countries (Poland, I think Italy among them) allow people to vote under certain circumstances even if they've never set foot in the country.

News / Degenerate "rainbow" eyesore to disappear from Saviour Square (Plac Zbawiciela) in Warsaw [297]


No political forces, nor is it a monument. It was an art installation and is currently elsewhere. The rainbow was recreated briefly recently and was popular.

News / Poles march against Mandatory poisoning by vaccines [202]


The health and survival of the wider community as a whole certainly trump the oddities of individuals. It's worth repeating that since the 'anti-vaxxer' movement started there have been outbreaks of diseases that had been virtually irradiated and children died in those outbreaks. It's also worth repeating that unvaccinated kids can also cause huge medical problems to people in their presence who have weakened immune systems.

The individual has a right of choice. That right of choice does not include the right to harm those around them.

News / Poles march against Mandatory poisoning by vaccines [202]


He was actually refusing to discuss his family, an admirable quality among public figures; theres a key difference between that and unscientific/reckless anti-vaxxer stuff.


Quite, however it's much more than that. No vaccination, you keep them away from crowded places where there may be innocent members of the public who have immune systems weakened by illness.

Really, all these anti-vaxxers, anti public health, anti-fluoride loons would do better to isolate themselves, perhaps on a desert island, where they can cure their ailments with 'homeopathic' magic water, infect each other's kids with illnesses that had been virtually eliminated in the developed world through vaccination and watch while their teeth fall out.

News / Poles march against Mandatory poisoning by vaccines [202]

It isn't an issue; they are good and have saved millions of lives.


Parents don't vaccinate their kids. Doctors and nurses do. If anyone, parents or otherwise want to endanger the health of others in the community they are welcome to purchase a deserted island and move there.

News / Poles march against Mandatory poisoning by vaccines [202]


Public health doesn't deal with ' just possibly there might be'. It deals with scientifically verifiable facts, and acknowledges vaccination as being among the greatest developments in healthcare in the history of humanity.


Certainly not the MMR jab. Although those people who push the 'miracle bleach enema' and 'colloidal silver' online clain to have all the answers.

In mqtters of healthcare, listen to the medical profession.

News / Poles march against Mandatory poisoning by vaccines [202]


It's also a potential crime against others, if unvaccinated kids are allowed in the presence of people who have weakened immune systems.


Yes, it's actually willful harm, and goes against all medical knowledge.

Even the leading 'anti-vaxxer' a creep called Mr Andrew Wakefield, was struck off the medical register for falsifying data that pretended there was a correlation between MMR and autism. There isn't.

It isn't a coincidence that the brief 'anti-vaxxer' fad led to fatal outbreaks of disease. Children died, however the loons that push their silly unscientific theories don't actually care.

Law / Old Polish money banknotes - what's their value today? [415]


It's actually the ISO 4217 Currency Code used in banking, assigned by the International Organization for Standardisation and ratified as such by the National Bank of Poland. But never mind about facts.

Law / Poland's citizenship by descent question. Polish great-great grandfather arrived in the USA as a kid. [76]


This can indeed help; there are a number of 'soft' factors including exceptional academic achievement, being a government employee and having certain investments.


The paperwork really does have to be belt and braces correct, as does the legal basis for your presence in PL (basically no gaps of anomalies).

Law / Poland's citizenship by descent question. Polish great-great grandfather arrived in the USA as a kid. [76]


It's very straightforward. You just have to be in the country legally for long enough and be able to prove that, keep your nose clean, pay your taxes etc and pass a straightforward language exam.


My feelings too. It isn't that hard for people who live in PL, and no real reason that somebody who lives elsewhere would need it. If someone is from abroad yet lives in a Polish milieu and speaks the language, follows traditions etc, they'd already have enough of a tangible connection to be able to get it anyway.