Law / Putative Spouse Poland [8]


No, it's not the same thing, not as you described it anyway. You said:


That sounds like somebody delusional, 'believes' they're married. You're either married or you're not. As for common law spouse, that status can only exist in a country that has common law as part of its legal system. Poland doesn't. Also, a common law spouse in the handful of countries where that status is acknowledged has certain legal rights and entitlements if they're a citizen of that country but those rights are limited and they are not treated as a full, legal marriage partner. Anyway, as far as immigration in Poland is concerned, no you can't bring your girlfriend to Poland if she's not an EU or EEA citizen, as a family member or dependent.

Work / Hands-on agricultural jobs in Poland? [20]

@ Zlatko, you might enjoy this if you haven't seen it before, 1942 dance footage, 1967 music, Fred and Rita:

youtube.com/watch?v=8AXkfhqvO44

News / Tesco abandon Poland [66]


Absolutely. Higher turnover of stock equals fresher perishable produce. Auchan is shocking really. Once, the potatoes had become so rotten and mouldy that you could smell them about five metres away!

News / Tesco abandon Poland [66]


Biedronka is not that bad. It depends on the branch. In my local Biedronka the quality and freshness of the fruit and veg is much better than my local Auchan. The fish in Biedronka is frequently fresher than Auchan. The meat is similar. It's very hard to get decent meat in Poland. Biedronka's bread is far superior to Auchan's. Biedronka also stocks many of the same brands as Auchan.


It's Portuguese.

Language / Am I the only person that can't sing in Polish at all? [48]


Do you mean that you're trying to sing Polish translations of songs that were written in English?
Or do you mean rock songs that were written in Polish?

Real Estate / Buying land in Warsaw, Poland and the following [14]

Woops! Spelling error, I meant 'budowalna'.

Real Estate / Buying land in Warsaw, Poland and the following [14]


Buy a plot that already has planning permission, 'działka budowlana'.

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2222]


It was just the same years ago. That's Polish politics. I remember back in 2006/2007 watching so-called political programmes on Polish television. Nothing of importance to the welfare of the country or electorate was ever discussed. It was nothing but 'skandal' , lustracja and prokuratura, mud-slinging and finger pointing.

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2222]


He wasn't talking about children in the literal sense. You wouldn't be committing the sin of deliberately misrepresenting the Word of the Lord, now would you?

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2222]


Your whole post sounded familiar so I checked and it's a copy and paste of the one you made on 13 May. Try to come up with some original ideas ;) Things are really bad when one is forced to plagiarize one's own self!


The Grand Tour - read about it.......and no, they weren't 'scholars'. They were just very privileged people. Nowadays more people sit on chairs, eat off plates, use cutlery and enjoy all the other 'privileges' of increased wealth for the masses, which includes going further than 10km from your own village.

Mods, I know, I'm straying dangerously close to 'off-topic' but please, please allow me the pleasure of adminstering this snub to one who so richly deserves it. Thanking you in anticipation of your kind indulgence, I remain your humble servant, Atch :)

Life / Why Do You Love Poland? [907]


Lódź and Katowice are/were industrial centres and that generally means less greenery. You gain prosperity but lose beauty and rural tranquility.

The Mayor has the EU to thank for the very substantial funding it has provided. You might enjoy this interview with him:

themayor.eu/en/czeslaw-renkiewicz-undoubtedly-suwalki-deserves-to-be-called-a-european-town

Study / School meals in Poland [145]

Yes, in general they can. They did a survey a couple of years ago as it's an area that is starting to be researched and found that most Irish women could and did cook. But things are changing. People aren't picking up their cooking skills at home so much. I suppose they watch TV chefs and use the internet or cookery books and go to cookery classes. When I was a kid, I never 'learned' to cook, I just picked it up from watching my granny (she lived with us) and my mother. I cooked my first Sunday lunch, roast stuffed chicken with roast potatoes, homemade gravy and all the trimmings when I was thirteen. My mum was in bed with flu and I just copied what I'd seen her do, with a bit of running up and down stairs to check with her about find details :))

Study / School meals in Poland [145]


Maybe not pizza but I know for a fact that many working mothers buy readymade versions of Polish staples because they don't have time to cook them from scratch. They also serve a lot of pickled and tinned veggies rather than fresh and they do a lot of fried food because it's relatively quick to make.

Study / School meals in Poland [145]


It depends. If it's part of education, rather than just saying 'don't eat that, it's not good for you', it can be quite effective.

For anyone who's interested, I found this report on school meals in Europe, produced by the Polish Eurydice unit (Education Information Network in Europe). Unfortunately they don't discuss Poland! But it's otherwise very interesting. They actually mention what I was talking about above, that is the importance of discussing food and nuitrition with kids from the earliest age as part of the school food policy. I'm accustomed to that from the Irish system, so I can tell you first hand that even quite young children are quite happy to cut down on junk food and enjoy it as a 'treat' while choosing the healthier options when they can. In two of the schools where I taught, there were cookery classes for parents, run by the more capable cooks amongst the parents themselves, where they taught their peers how to make nourishing meals for their kids. It was a big success. And some of the younger mothers really got on board with it and started making proper dinners a couple of times a week instead of just grabbing a frozen pizza.

Anyway, here's the report.

//eurydice.org.pl/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/meals_raport_ENG.pdf

Study / School meals in Poland [145]


Well now Ziemowit, quite a few cardiologists would disagree with you. And I mentioned before about non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. If a fatty liver is ignored it gets worse and eventually kills you. If you cut down on fat, the liver actually becomes less fatty and can recover. I agree that if people move and use up the fat they consume, it's not so dangerous. But the traditional Polish diet was eaten at a time when most people worked on the land and were physically active. Nowadays people are largely sedentary and don't need so much fat.


But as an educator, you need to try to lay down healthy eating habits early for the sake of the adult that the child will become.

Study / School meals in Poland [145]

Children need adequate fat certainly but they don't need fried foods five days a week. And there are a growing number of obese children all over the developed world.

Study / School meals in Poland [145]


The milk isn't mentioned but they get it.

The cost of the lunches provided is ten euros per child per week btw, just as a matter of interest.


Yes I agree. In winter definitely. But it needs to pay attention to the amount of fat and salt and not rely too heavily on red meat. That's the problem with the Polish menu, way too fatty and salty, way too much pork.


In this case it was a single mother. Nice girl, got pregnant in her teens then lost her mother to breast cancer when she was nineteen and simply couldn't cope and was still grieving for her mother. Had no contact with her father who left when she was a kid, no relations to help. We managed to help her though and she got herself together. The kid was a lovely little boy, very well behaved and loved school.

Study / School meals in Poland [145]


The lunches are provided free of charge. There's nothing wrong with them. Sandwiches, milk and fruit is a healthy, acceptable lunch for a young child. And I've seen the children eating them quite happily.


Where are they on the Polish school menu? The lunches I linked to are for those primary schools designated as 'disadvantaged' so getting the kids eating veggies of any kind is great. If the lunches weren't provided about half the kids would come to school with no lunch at all or with a bag of doughnuts. I once asked a little guy if he'd had breakfast "Oh yes, teacher" he responded "I had a Penguin bar and a glass of water."

• 
  Penguin.jpg
  

Study / School meals in Poland [145]


Great way to introduce kids to spices :)) which, coincidentally are very beneficial to health.


Add some grated carrot and it counteracts the acidity. It simmers down to nothing and blends into the sauce, sweetening it naturally.

Come on now Maf, you're just being awkward on purpose. There's nothing wrong with the basic British School menu.

What would you consider to be a suitable family meal? What would you eat yourself?


I would imagine you have to 'order ahead' as we did with the school lunches in Ireland.

Study / School meals in Poland [145]


Why is healthy food unappealing? A nice dish of pasta with salt-free tomato sauce, served with chicken breast and a crispy salad is healty and tasty. And there's nothing wrong with having chips/fries once a week for example. Grilled salmon with fries and a veggie. If you add fresh veggies to any dish it helps to neutralize the fatty or salty elements.

Here's a menu from the British School in Warsaw, no dessert course and no sugary drinks but a reasonable balance of generally healthy, yet appealing foods.

img.nordangliaeducation.com/resources/europe/_filecache/0a3/ed5/60877-tbs-l-menu2020-06-01eng-1-1.pdf?_ga=2.239402947.1952210190.1591463021-1468808489.1591463021

Study / School meals in Poland [145]


Why?


Plenty of things are naturally sweet and don't need added sugar and salt is an absolute killer. It leads to high blood pressure and deposits on the arteries. It's also not needed for flavour and it's extremely damaging to the health of your heart in the long run. Studies have shown that very young children whose diet is high in salt already have elevated blood pressure. It has been shown that blood pressure in children follows a tracking pattern that continues into the third and fourth decades of life.

And that's why you need to watch a child's salt intake.

Study / School meals in Poland [145]

Lol!!

Study / School meals in Poland [145]


To be honest it looks very heavy on the sugar, my God, the dessert menu! Much worse than the Polish one. I'm not sure why we're educating kids to expect dessert after meals. When I was a kid, we were allowed two 'plain' biccies with a cup of tea after dinner and at weekends 'sweet' biscuits, something like jammy dodgers or custard creams. We only had dessert and cake on Sundays. Now it wasn't set in stone, of course there was the odd surprise treat like coming home from school to find that our mother had baked an apple tart :)) or being allowed to buy an icecream on a week day in the summer holidays but we definitely ate far less sweet stuff than kids nowadays.

But it's a nice menu. The main courses balance the more unhealty stuff like pizza with the fresh veggies and chicken etc. I wonder what the 'crispy country bake' is?? :))

Study / School meals in Poland [145]

Well, that's not really how it works :)) Having taught in schools with such a policy, it kind of pervades the school atmosphere. Parents appreciate that you're trying to do your best for their kids and are generally cooperative. They see to it that the lunches are compliant.


Nonsense. I understand healthy eating to be cutting down on salt and saturated fats because by doing so you avoid heart and blood pressure problems for longer and cut down on your chances of developing colon cancer from too much red meat and processed foods. Research shows Maf that early stage fatty liver for example can be reversed by cutting down on saturated fats.

Study / School meals in Poland [145]


It's not about fashionable ideas Maf, it's about education. School is not just about 'book learning' and for kids from poorer homes, it's even more important that school gives them a broad education although actually even children from prosperous families often eat quite unhealthily too for other reasons. Kids in Polish schools are taught about the food pyramid (not sure about primary schools but certainly in secondary schools) but schools need to practise what they're preaching.


There are no school dinners in Ireland. Children bring their own packed lunches and they have to fit the school's 'healthy eating' policy. In schools with a designated 'disadvantaged' status, lunches are provided. I spent years teaching such schools so I can tell you the menu for primary school. Such schools also often have a breakfast club to ensure that kids get brekkie because so many parents can't get themselves together to give the child even a bowl of cornflakes. I've posted a menu below.


Again Delph, it's a lack of understanding of the broadness of education. School is as much about developing social skills and life skills as it is about academics. Meals and eating, table manners, holding a conversation, passing the dishes around, tidying up after, these are all important parts of a child's general education and increasingly children are not getting that. Even in prosperous homes many kids rarely sit down to a meal with their whole family because of conflicting schedules, parents working long hours etc.

@ Kaprys, here's the menu from the company that provided lunches for the last school I taught in, in Dublin. They were actually really tasty and if there were any left over because a kid was absent, they were happily wolfed down by many a hungry teacher! At the beginning of each term the parents were asked to fill in their menu choice for each day for their child and then the kid could change their preferences next term if they wanted. Kids who were fed up of their choice during term used to swap with each other so it worked out fine.

• 
  MENU.JPG
  

Study / School meals in Poland [145]

I'm moving part of the text of my post from the Coronavirus thread to here ;-)

Re the menu posted by Delph:


Four days out of the five have red meat as the main course. Not good. All of the soups will contain added salt. Not good. Pickled veggies are served on two days, also high in salt. Not good. Fresh fruit only served on two days and fruit yogurt is very high in sugar. A small carton of fruit yogurt can contain as much as six teaspoons of sugar! Also not good. And why do the kids need a sugary drink with their meal, why not sparkling water with fresh fruit juice added?

How about chicken, turkey and a vegetarian day 'Meatless Monday'? With fish on another day, that would make only one serving of red meat per week and provides a good model for kids. What about salads made with a variety of fresh veggies instead of salty pickles? Cut the cakes and biccies, kids generally enjoy fruit salad especially in hot weather. Make sure there's no salt added to the soups and Bob's your uncle ;-)

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2222]

Election to go ahead on 28 June.

Genealogy / Do I look Polish? (my picture) [375]


Stick a beard on you and you'd be a bit like Vincent Van Gogh - but with both ears and minus the mental breakdown :-D

Genealogy / Do I look Polish? (my picture) [375]


With your colouring, that makes sense. You do actually have a Germanic look, more than Polish. That strawberry blonde is very German and your skin is of the fair northern type, you look as if you would burn easily in summer?

Genealogy / Do I look Polish? (my picture) [375]


Yes, he has terrifyingly well groomed eyebrows, I noticed that too. I suppose it's an American thing ;) Yes, you could pass for Polish but there are lots of different types in Poland. You don't look Slavic, but you could be Polish. Kaprys is right that you have a reddish tint to the hair which is not that common and your skin tones look a bit fair, almost prone to freckles which is extremely rare in Poland. Fair haired Poles usually have quite sallow skin, tan very easily in summer and their hair and eyebrows get lighter.