UK, Ireland / Moving To Poland - Cost Of Living compared to the UK [65]


Do they have the carcasses in the shop and will they butcher for you on the spot? Because if not, then I don't count it as a butchers but I agree that you can have a good 'meat shop' - just haven't seen any in Warsaw.

What are the butchers' shops like where you come from in the USA Maf? The local butchers in Dublin when I was growing up were completely tiled with sawdust on the floor, blood spattered aprons and a strong smell of blood in the air. Nowadays the aprons are cleaner but that's about the only difference. This was my 'go go' butchers in Dublin until we moved to Poland a few years ago. Used to go there on the way back from my teaching job a couple of times a week. Oh, happy memories! If you don't see what you want on the counter, you just ask and they'll produce it. Once, I wanted pork hocks for roasting golonki and 'yer man' as we say in Ireland went downstairs and came back up with a whole pig and an axe :)) 'Will that do you?' he enquired, positioning the blade at a strategic angle and cocking an eyebrow invitingly. 'Lovely,' I responded and within seconds I had two lovely, succulent hocks of pork fresh from the beast.

youtube.com/watch?v=Jq6UxOayORE

UK, Ireland / Moving To Poland - Cost Of Living compared to the UK [65]


They're two different soups - I make both. Barszcz biały I do with pigs' lungs ( I don't eat it, it's for my husband!), żurek I make with white sausage. A key difference is the zakwas base mixture, the barszcz is made with wheat flour starter and the żurek with rye flour.


Oh, yes, it's yummy and a great example of seasonal Polish cookery at its best.

UK, Ireland / Moving To Poland - Cost Of Living compared to the UK [65]


Not quite, Maf. I make a lot of Polish dishes but I grew up in a country with meat and dairy products of exceptional quality. It's hard to get used to Polish beef compared to Irish. I eat chicken, fish and pork but I miss good quality, reasonably priced beef and lamb. Polish duck is delicious though, bigger and more meaty than Irish :)

UK, Ireland / Moving To Poland - Cost Of Living compared to the UK [65]


And look at that - I made a typo! Barszcz it should be - what a language! :))

Classifieds / Looking for studio apartment/ single room in Gdansk [3]

Take a look here

morizon.pl/do-wynajecia/mieszkania/kawalerki/gdansk/

and at similar sites. You just google 'nieruchomosci' - that's real estate. You want 'na wynajem' to rent and you're looking for a one room apartment 'jeden pokoj' that's how a studio is usually described in Poland. Sometimes it's called a 'kawalerka'. Apart from the rent, there's usually an additional service charge called 'czynsz' which can be an extra three or four hundred zl and will cover cold water, rubbish collection and sometimes electricity and heating bills. I know somebody in a 35sq metre apartment in Warsaw who paid 170zl for his electricity bill last month. His place is all electric, heating, water everything.

This site is also very useful for working out living costs:

numbeo.com/cost-of-living/in/Gdansk

UK, Ireland / Moving To Poland - Cost Of Living compared to the UK [65]


No, kochany! Barscz, i nie borsch, musisz mówic po polsku :))


Not where I am. There are a few 'posh' small stores which sell beef at an exorbitant price but the local meat shops just sell the usual stuff. Don't get me started on meat - I still can't come to terms with the fact that the Polish cuts are so different and you can't get a decent Sunday roasting joint of beef on the bone. In Warsaw you can only get that kind of thing by ordering it at a ridiculous price from a 'craft' type, hipster butcher.

The lamb from Auchan is not bad actually. But the breed and diet of the sheep is obviously quite different to the British Isles, far less fatty and much smaller. A nice bit of fat is important in lamb to give it flavour and tenderness.

UK, Ireland / Moving To Poland - Cost Of Living compared to the UK [65]


Yes, that's still an issue. I'm not a big fan of pork, prefer beef and lamb both of which are expensive in Poland and the beef is not great quality - the better stuff is horrendously expensive. Was in Auchan recently and saw nice t-bone steaks, vac packed of course but nice looking, picked one up to look at the price - 75zl. So dinner for two, 150zl. Leg of lamb is around 60-70zl per kilo and that's one of the cheaper lamb cuts. Lamb chops are much more expensive. In England a lamb chop is not a luxury if you earn an average salary.


You're absolutely right. The OP will have to get used to the fact that things he takes for granted in the UK are luxuries in Poland, even on a high salary, and it can be hard to get used to that.

UK, Ireland / Moving To Poland - Cost Of Living compared to the UK [65]

@ Sportbilly, I'd also say go for Gdansk. The coastal location and the relatively clean air is pretty unique in Poland. Air pollution in Polish cities is the worst in the EU so with a two year old to consider, I'd go for the coast every time. Obviously, you've been visiting Poland for years so you must know a few of the ways in which it differs from England. For me, as an Irish person (and I've lived in England too), I'm struck by the lack of what you and I would recognize as suburbs. So for housing you're usually either going to be in a flat in the city or in a detached house some distance outside. There are increasing number of housing estates being built now, with semi-detached houses (probably as a result of Polish builders returning from the UK with English ideas!) but they're often out in the sticks with few amenities and no 'heart' or character, just houses plonked down in a field.

My main concern with the two children would be their education. I presume the older one speaks Polish which will be a help but the education system in Poland is so different to the UK. He's already in secondary school but will be going back to primary under the recently 'reformed' Polish system.

UK, Ireland / Moving To Poland - Cost Of Living compared to the UK [65]

Comfortable as long as it's just him and the wife. If kids feature in the picture, it's a different matter and if you have to pay a mortgage, run two cars etc. that 15,000zl will be stretched to the limit.


Yes, that's it really. Life is just so totally different. Life in an English village within striking distance of a provincial town for example is another world when you compare it to the Polish equivalent.


I see that you're trying to choose between Wrocław and Gdańsk. Which one does your wife favour? Does she have family in either place? Because it's only a matter of time before she will want to move back to her home town to be nearer her family especially if you plan on having children.

UK, Ireland / Moving To Poland - Cost Of Living compared to the UK [65]


You can certainly have a good lifestyle in Poland on that salary but it may not stretch as far as you imagine. The cost of living is rising all the time in Poland. Food and energy prices have risen significantly over the course of the pandemic. If you want any imported brands of clothes or electronics you'll pay western European prices for them and you don't have anything like the range of 'deals' that you can get in the UK. The link below is to Numbeo which gives a pretty accurate assessment of living costs in my experience.

numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=United+Kingdom&country2=Poland&city1=London&city2=Gdansk&tracking=getDispatchComparison

Language / Grammar - difference between "jaki" and "co" in Polish language [43]

Spot on, Jon. Perhaps it's because we're both teachers that we have a similar view on this. In English, if I want to know what function a building serves, I would ask 'What's that building?' If I want to know anything else, I'll specify, 'What's that building made of?' 'What kind of architecture is that?' etc. And that's how I'd teach somebody to enquire about something, if they were learning English - be specific. It's basically the same rule in Polish (in this case anyway, sometimes Polish can be very general), but for me, 'co za budynek' is definitely 'what a building' and if anyone says differently, then 'co za chuj' ;))

Language / Grammar - difference between "jaki" and "co" in Polish language [43]


Exactly. Mr Atch says that it's a general, rather than a specific question and can mean anything. The answer could be:

a) a post office
b) an example of early 19th century architecture
c) a semi-detached house
d) a brick building

The question 'Co to za budynek?' does not fulfil the OP's original question which was how to ask 'what kind of thing is x?' Also, it sounds sloppy and inelegant to my ear, when there is a more precise and correct way of enquiring which is to say 'jakiego typu/rodzaju?'

Language / Grammar - difference between "jaki" and "co" in Polish language [43]


Trust ye not in Google :) especially Google Translate, if that's the source.

I showed those Google examples to Mr Atch and he said 'Na pewno, nie!' Don't use 'co za' even in question form. Any views from other native speakers?


Jakiej rasy jest ten pies, would be the precise translation for 'What breed of dog is that?' Sometimes it's not always possible to translate effectively from Polish (or indeed any foreign language) directly into English and it's better to choose a different form of the sentence to avoid any confusion.

Language / Grammar - difference between "jaki" and "co" in Polish language [43]


That means, 'What a building!'

A native speaker would say 'Jakiego typu/rodzaju jest ten budynek?'

News / Abortion still under control in Poland [2986]


Unlike the stupid man ie yourself, just in case you're too stupid to figure that out :) You were foolish enough to cite the case in Ireland as a case of doctor's error, in your own words - 'as far as I remember'. But you remembered incorrectly. You stated something without checking your facts. It wasn't doctor's error. It was a deliberate decision based on the abortion law. The law at that time tried to give equal value to the life of both the mother and the child and was worded as follows:

The State acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right.

That was the wording approved by the people of Ireland in a referendum. It was an attempt at a compromise between two opposing views. In theory it sounded nice and was intended to protect life. In practice it proved nebulous and fatal for Savita Halappanavar. What happened in Ireland was nothing short of barbaric. A woman taking a week to die in agonizing pain in a modern, well equipped European hospital, her husband coping with the loss of his child and watching his wife die and being able to do nothing to save her. When the people saw the outcome of this 'compromise' they resolved that it should never happen again and campaigned to have the law repealed which it was in 2018.


But it's those very same believers who demonstrated and pushed to have the abortion law changed in Ireland. Plenty of practising Catholics voted to change the abortion law. Ordinary Irish Catholics don't concern themselves with theology, but with compassion, and act according to their conscience. They debate and reflect on the morality of the issue and decide accordingly. Unfortunately in Poland, the people are not given the power to vote directly on the issue. Let the people of Poland debate, discuss and decide.

News / Abortion still under control in Poland [2986]


It's similar to the case of Salvita Halappanavar in Ireland back in 2012 before we repealed our abortion laws. She was miscarrying and in agonizing pain. The doctors told her that there was no chance of the baby surviving but that they couldn't perform an abortion because 'it's the law, this is a Catholic country.' They waited for the foetal heartbeat to stop which took three days. When they finally emptied her womb it was too late to save her. She died from septic shock two days later. It was public outrage at her death that lead to the abortion referendum in which the people voted to change the law so that this situation wouldn't occur again.

News / Abortion still under control in Poland [2986]


I agree with Paulina. Terminate the foetus.

Food / Poland-Tea or coffee land? [165]

According to the Oracle - Mr Atch :)) - he is puzzled by the narrative that coffee was a luxury or in short supply because during his childhood he never observed any shortage of coffee. In his own words 'it was a bog standard thing' routinely drunk in most households. He says that it was always coffee beans put in the grinder and that he never remembers seeing packs of ground coffee. Could it be that ground coffee was a luxury and the 'raw' beans could be purchased? He says he never saw his mother or grandmother without their coffee cups and cigarettes. He says he recalls such things as citrus fruits and chocolate being a rare luxury, but never coffee. He says Inka was not drunk because of coffee shortages but as a kind of 'decaff coffee'. He lived in Mazowieckie. Maybe it's a regional thing?

Food / Poland-Tea or coffee land? [165]


What about the rest of the time? I know enough older Polish people who remember drinking coffee. They used to buy coffee beans and grind them - and these were just ordinary people, not especially privileged with 'contacts' or buying from the black market.


People didn't regard Inka as any form of coffee.


People often retain a nostalgic affection for the taste of food and drink that they associate with their past.

Genealogy / Szczebrzeszynie, family name Tzitron. [44]


Muckanaghederdauhaulia - try this one from Ireland :)) It's not that bad actually. The longest Welsh one has 58 letters.

Life / Mishmash facts about Poland and Poles [187]


I really, really hope you're joking but I have a horrible feeling that you're not :(

Food / Poland-Tea or coffee land? [165]


Lol! Poland is not alone in that though. So many cultures don't know how to make tea - water should hit tea on the rolling boil, gentlemen!


Yes, that's a must.


Just because to an outsider like myself, Poland seems to reflect in many ways, the influence of its two neighbours. But actually it seems that coffee found its way to Poland directly from Turkey during the 17th or 18th centuries, which makes sense. That would account for why older Polish people still make coffee 'the Turkish way'. It's not exactly Turkish style because they don't 'cook' it, but they make it in the cup and drink it with the coffee grounds still in the bottom. That's how I learned to make it in Poland and that's how I drink it myself. At weekends when I have more time, I make it in a little saucepan over the gas flame, simmering it for a few minutes, and it's really delicious.


Not true. Even in the PRL years coffee was widely available and drunk in most households.

Food / Poland-Tea or coffee land? [165]


If the water has chemicals in it that make the tap water itself taste bad then certainly the tea won't taste good either. Which brand of tea was it, do you remember? If you're adding milk, the type of milk makes a difference to the taste too. I drink my tea black in Poland because it just doesn't taste good with milk.


Yes, there are Irish blends that are similar - real builders' tea :)) Jon do you use the phrase 'let the tea draw' in the north of England when you leave the teapot to stand for a few minutes after making the tea?

Food / Poland-Tea or coffee land? [165]


No, it's the blends. That's the secret of good tea. It's all in the blending. The blends of tea used in the UK are blended for the British palate and the 'average' blend tends to be quite robust so the tea is full of flavour and really revives you if you're feeling tired.

Food / Poland-Tea or coffee land? [165]

I'd say from what I've seen that Poland is equally a tea and coffee culture. I think it's the combination of Russian and German influence that accounts for it. If you visit somebody's home it's usual to be offered either tea or coffee. There are a couple of chains of retail shops that specialize in tea like Five O' Clock and Czas na Herbatę. They also sell coffees but tea is their main thing. Fruit teas and herbal teas are very popular but the Indian tea blends available in Poland are either a bit bland and 'weak' for the Irish and British palate or else they're horribly coarse like Liptons which is an abomination. Liptons used to be a fairly average British tea when I was a kid, but the weird version of it they sell here is poisonous stuff. I buy Twinings English Breakfast loose tea which is the only thing I've found with any kind of flavour and a bit of kick in it. I've had one or two Ceylon and Darjeelings that were nice too. Ahmad teas (a British company) are a big thing in the gift market. You'll find them in all the main supermarkets and they do beautifully packaged teas. For example, the Afternoon Tea collection below is on sale in my local supermarket at the moment:

uk.ahmadtea.com/collections/tea-selection-packs/products/afternoon-tea-collection-of-9-black-fruit-green-teas-45-teabags

Life / Mishmash facts about Poland and Poles [187]


Typical Polish paranoia ;)

Anyway my choice is the one with trees topped with hearts. Quite a talented little artist there. There's vitality in the picture, the trunks of the trees appear to bend, the swirling shapes on the ground suggest wind blown leaves. the trees have an almost human quality, like dancers holding out their arms.


Not really. It's about an approach to education that encourages original thinking. If you want children to produce original essays for example, you have to take the same approach right across the curriculum wherever there's an element of creativity involved. So you never give kids art work to do that involves producing identical images, even if it's in a science lesson. Stick a poster of the dangerous mushrooms on the wall for a week or two above the nature table but let children produce whatever they want to in art based around autumn, woods, fungi etc.

Life / Mishmash facts about Poland and Poles [187]


Yes, that certainly deserves an honourable mention :)) Looking forward to seeing what Pawian's choice will be, after which I shall reveal mine and we can release the white smoke from chimney.


I have to admit that occurred to me too!

Life / Mishmash facts about Poland and Poles [187]


Fair enoughski - BUT, if you want to really educate the kids about those mushrooms, then give them high quality photos of them. They can still stick them on their paintings and then they're doing a nice piece of mixed media ;) The joys f the integrated curriculum. Btw which of the background images is the most original in your opinion? If we were judging a little school competition which would you choose as the 'winner'?

Life / Mishmash facts about Poland and Poles [187]


The most striking thing about the images you posted is the uniformity of the art work and what it says about the education system- Poland is not alone in that but it's shocking really. No originality or freedom of expression allowed.

Like the song says:

'Flowers red and green leaves are green
And there's no need to see things any other way
Than the way they always have been seen'

Real Estate / Water Leak Damage in Apartment [16]


He says something about 'open ceiling' so I think there may be a hole in the ceiling.

@ Cargo Some tenants have ridiculous expectations or trash their accommodation, upset the neighbours etc but some landlords are ignorant gobshites so it's definitely not a one-sided situation. It's a pity that common decency and basic manners are so lacking in society.