History / Polish Easter Tradition is also pagan! [47]


I think this is also practiced in some sects of Judaism, I could be wrong though.
Muslims also bless food: 'Bhiksha is a devotional offering, usually food, presented at a temple or to a swami or a religious Brahmin who...' although, since Islam is a descendent of Judaism/Christianity that's obviously where it came from.

Also druids used to bless food at public gatherings during Celtic times.
I disagree with you about eggs, eggs were a powerful symbol of fertility, they would most certainly have been 'blessed' by druids during Eostre/Ostara, or they were at least used by druids during the festivities and were used to put spells on women who wished to become pregneant.

The painting of eggs seems to have been happening long before records were even written down.

History / Polish Easter Tradition is also pagan! [47]


Indeed, and there's quite the handful of denominations in Judaism too.
Judaism by its very nature is older than Christianity, but it's not a particularly old religion, it can also be shown that Judaism borrowed from earlier traditions/cultures.

The point remains though that religions copy and paste what they like from older religions to suit their needs.

Can Fuzzy's question be answered though?


I cannot think of any that haven't been pilfered from somewhere else.

History / Polish Easter Tradition is also pagan! [47]


That's a champion effort from you brother.
Obviously you aren't following this thread properly, I've shown that the Easter traditions were lifted from earlier religions, this thread is not about whether your god exists or not, so stop trolling and please post something that's on topic.


That's an interesting question.
I can't find any.

Here are some more than the Christian church lifted from other religions/traditions

seiyaku.com/customs/pagan-symbols.html

History / Polish Easter Tradition is also pagan! [47]


Well, I woulldn't say it's a great thing, but it was certainly done so that pagans would switch their beliefs without spending too much brain power on it. I just wish that more people knew that Christianity lifted so much from older religions.

History / Polish Easter Tradition is also pagan! [47]

Not the only page tradition that the Church stole too, Jesus wasn't born on Christmas Day, he was born in March.


There are many parallels between Jesus and Egyptian gods Osiris & Horas too:

Halloween was a Celtic festival and has been rebranded in Christian countries as a 'Day for all Souls'

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween

Even the idea of transubstantiation, the crux of the Catholic mass, isn't originally a Christian idea. The same goes for the virgin birth. They were all lifted from other previous religions.

Some religious scholars even claim that during Jesus' missing years he studied as a Buddhist monk, many of his parables and stories certainly share many, many similarities with Buddhist teachings.

Do your own research and make you up own minds, don't mindfully swallow everything the Church(es) tell you.

Life / Moving to Poland Part-Time (probably Katowice) [56]


I would have to disagree, the bus service is truly terrible, sometimes they come, sometimes they don't. Sometimes they are brand new air-conditioned buses, sometimes they are relics from the 1970s. The trams aren't much better, but at least they are more dependable, so when researching where to live it would be best to live on a tram line. Or if you move to 1000-lecia or Dab, then you can cycle to work in 10-15mins.

Avoid places called Zaleze, Szopience, Zawodzie, they are scumholes and more than likely you'll be targeted because you are not white, many, many football hooligans and undesirables live in those areas. Stay away.

Life / Moving to Poland Part-Time (probably Katowice) [56]

1000-lecia (tysiąclecia) would be ideal then,
short tram ride (trams every few minutes) to centre, many shops close to you, large shopping centre too, and huge park to relax in during the summer.

Life / Moving to Poland Part-Time (probably Katowice) [56]


I think it's 20%, not sure though, might be 22% I'm self-employed.


Depends where you're going to work, but these places are handy and have a good connection with the City:
1000-lecia (tysiąclecia), South City Centre, Ligota, Piotrowice.
Find apartments on gumtree.pl

Life / Moving to Poland Part-Time (probably Katowice) [56]

1. Depends if you're employed or self-employed, roughly it's between 18-20%, if you're self-employed you'll need to pay Social & Health insurance (first 2 years are between 300-400zl per month, then it raises to 1000zl per month)

2. You'll survive on 3000zl per month, but that's about it, you won't save and you won't have a great life. To live decently, you'll want 5000zl in your pocket per month (after tax)

3. There are 2 vegetarian restaurants in Kato, they're fine, but it's quite rare to meet a Polish vegetarian so you won't have much choice in most restaurants. I've an Indian mate who lived here a while back, has moved on since and he gave up being vegetarian while living here, he said it was just easier in the long run to meet friends and socialise by eating meat and drinking alcohol.

Good luck.

Law / Working in EU countries and in UK with Poland's Residence Card (Karta Pobytu)? [51]

'Temporary residence' last for 3 years doesn't it? If you're from the EU that is.

Law / Move to Poland with Misdemeanors? [10]

PlasticPole
Yea, alcoholism is rife here.
It is illegal to drink openly on the street and if the Police or the Straz see you they'll fine you, but it's small, I think it's like 50 or 100zl.

But you can walk down most streets at any time of the day and see people with beer bottles in their hands.

I'm just back from walking my dog and the usual lads were standing around smoking and drinking a few bottles....yes, at 10.30 am on a Monday. They have the life of Reilly :)

Law / Move to Poland with Misdemeanors? [10]

Public Intoxication isn't frowned upon in Poland, it's encouraged.

Drink driving is a scummy thing to do though, you will have to pay a higher vehicle insurance rate because of it, and failing to tell them can lead to all kinds of trouble down the line.

Life / Anything like netflix in Poland? [27]

you can use netflix in Poland, but you'll need an proxy (VPN) to change your IP.
I use these guys: express-vpn.com

Food / The great British baked bean in Poland [26]


Well yes, they are of course identical, even though they are different ;)

Food / The great British baked bean in Poland [26]

Baked Beans, from the UK, contain no sausage/pork.

Life / What is the best platform to sell items in Poland? [17]

It's worth keeping Amazon in mind too, they offer free delivery mostly (I think it's once you spend over a certain amount, but it's not high...I think I've only paid once for delivery)

UK, Ireland / Polish vs Irish stereotypes from a Polish girl in Ireland [22]

Yea, me too, strange ain't it...............although it's probably because not so many foreigners come to Poland so most countries don't really have a stereotypical view of Poland.

UK, Ireland / Polish vs Irish stereotypes from a Polish girl in Ireland [22]


Yea, I've never heard any other nation say it about the Poles........but in fairness, in their homes the Polish will do everything and anything to make sure that you never go hungry or thirsty.....or leave sober ;)

UK, Ireland / Polish vs Irish stereotypes from a Polish girl in Ireland [22]

I watched it this morning with a few of the lads in the office, she's picking up an Irish accent for sure, bit of a south county Dublin one ;)

I'd agree with most of her observations.......to an extent, although not every pub you go into in Ireland has signing and dancing, or people playing instruments.....although it's far more common at home than in Poland.....especially in the western and southern parts of Ireland, less so in the more urban areas.

Work / Teaching English in Poland? I am American and I have the CELTA certification. [42]


haha yea, nasty stuff.


hahahaha!


I was told the same, but if I've been paying unnecessarily then maybe there's a way to get it back? Probably not, but god loves a chancer...or something like that.

Work / Teaching English in Poland? I am American and I have the CELTA certification. [42]


Not the part I'm living in :D
All the native-speakers I know here who teach are turning away work because they are so busy. I haven't taught in years and I still get schools mailing me asking to come back to it.


I wouldn't really consider Gdansk/Gdynia/Sopot large, so yea they would be on my list of smaller cities to hit up, far prettier than Kato for sure, but that's neither here nor there....although Gdynia is a bit of a kip, it's like Katowice but with a harbour ;)


yep, I wonder if it's possible to get ZUS payments back if you leave the country? A bit like in Ireland, if you work for a few years and then leave the govt will give you back some tax because they can't use your tax credits for the following year's tax............I know it's not officially a tax, but it's certainly an unofficial tax.......and a complete load of bollix.

Work / Teaching English in Poland? I am American and I have the CELTA certification. [42]


Some schools require that you have to I'm afraid. You'd have to set yourself up as being self-employed.
You'd need to pay your own taxes, either monthly/quarterly/yearly and pay you own social & health insurance (ZUS - this begins at, I think roughly 300-400zl per month for the first 2 years and then jumps to almost 1000zl per month after that).

Some places will hire you without this, but in my experience to be able to work for a few different places and have private work outside of school hours it's best to set yourself up as being self-employed.

Re: American visa, I'm from the EU so I'm afraid I don't know much about obtaining a working visa for Poland, maybe some of the American members can point you in the right direction.

Money varies depending on which city you live in. It kind of works in opposite to what you'd expect, the bigger the city the lower the wage for English teachers, this is because there are already many native-speakers in these cities so that drives the money down.

However, in smaller cities...as Dominic B wrote in another thread, such as the ones located around en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silesian_Metropolis - Katowice (a union of 14 smaller cities) there aren't so many native-speakers so work is easier to find. Also cities such as £odz, Rzeszcow, Lublin, Białystok would have far less native-speakers than in the more attractive places like Warsaw, Krakow, Wrocław.

Monitor is correct in what he says, best time to find work is late August and all through September. School begins in late September/early October.

Money isn't wonderful in teaching, expect to receive between anything between 40-60zl per hour in a school starting out, private lessons would be around the same, but at least those are cash jobs. The best money is in teaching lessons in companies in the mornings, you can get anything for 90-150zl per hours depending on your experience.

Be aware though that you won't be working 40 hour weeks, normal teaching in a school goes from around 4.30-9.00pm, early lessons in companies can begin at 7.00-10.00am, so you may only work 7.5 hours per day...or only 4.5 if in a school, giving you between 225-375zl per day......you won't be paid for vacations/public holidays too, so be aware of that....and Poland has a lot of these. You won't receive a penny for school vacations either...so that includes, Christmas, mind-winter break (usually end of Jan/start of Feb), Easter, Summer holidays (3-4months - but you may find a job in a summer school/camp) and the vast array of Holy Days and public holidays.

You can certainly make a living teaching here, but you won't make a fortune or save a bucket of cash. Spending power is far less in Poland than in other EU countries, you're money certainly doesn't go as far here as in other EU countries. Food and drink are cheap, clothes aren't. Electronics are the same price are other countries, but you earn far less, so if you want an iPod for example, it will take you longer to save for it here than it would in say, Germany, France, etc.

I hope you don't think I'm painting a dark picture here, Poland can offer a ton of opportunity, but you really have to put the hours in before some doors are opened to you.

Best of luck making your decision.

Work / Teaching English in Poland? I am American and I have the CELTA certification. [42]

What would you like to know?

UK, Ireland / How has Polish immigration into the UK helped Poland? [48]


Yea, I agree.


No, the UK has always been an country that has attracted emigrants. It's only in the last few years that politicians have made an issue of it.

It's nonsense, as the article I linked shows. Britain is far better off with immigrants coming that what they'd be without them coming, that mi amigo is a fact.

UK, Ireland / How has Polish immigration into the UK helped Poland? [48]

Immigration has been hugely beneficial to the UK: theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/nov/05/migration-target-useless-experts




Quite true, however, much like when many countries that have experienced a 'brain-drain' when the good times do come to Poland, i.e. it meets the high expectations of Polish immigrants living abroad many of them will return.

What worries me though is that the Polish govt is doing nothing to try and stop the rot that is setting in. They have zero interest in trying to keep young, educated Poles in Poland. It's a sad state of affairs and without the young to keep the country going and fresh ideas it will remain a conservative inward-looking country :(

Language / Should I learn Polish or she learn English? [83]


charming

Love / Best, safe Polish dating sites? [95]

I am neither Italian, English nor loaded and my missus is Polish :P

But sorry, I didn't know you were the mouthpiece for all Polish women living in Poland ;)
And didn't your mother marry a foreigner? You said yesterday your Dad's British. She seemed to like at least one foreigner anyway :D

Love / Best, safe Polish dating sites? [95]

If he got his leg over both at the same time I'd be impressed.

Gettin 2 dates in a week wouldn't be difficult here, Polish girls are interested in foreign boys everyone with an ounce of gumption knows that.

Life / Conflicting views about life in Poland? [45]

As you probably know, most IT jobs are done in English anyway, all the programming language and software are mostly in English, so your colleagues will all be able to speak decent English, you will however need some Polish for your daily life...going to the bank/small corner shops etc.

I would recommend that you learn some before you come.

Polish people can be quite miserable, that's just their character. Complaining is a national hobby, but once you become friends with some they lighten up. People are not warm to strangers, they can be quite rude in the streets/public transport/shops and like Dominic says, if you smile on the street they look at you like you've got 2 heads.

But again, once you get to become friends with some Poles they are incredibly warm and loyal.

Krakow prob has the best IT jobs at the minute, I know one Polish company that employs around 4000 people worldwide and their headquarters is in Krakow, I think they have about 2500 people there. Also Dell, Google, Intel etc are all in the process of beginning operations here. So, yes, there will be plenty of IT jobs for the coming years in Poland. However, if you want to get the best money then Poland isn't the best option.

Dominic is right about that, also Ireland, even though knee-deep in recession, the only industry that's doing well is IT.

Best of luck, but if I was you I'd move somewhere that offers better wages and a higher standard of living. Poland is developing fast, but remember it still a good few years behind Western EU countries.

Transport is god-awful, corruption is rife, bureaucracy moves slower than a turtle on horse tranquilizers, the health system is beyond a joke...but.....young people are smart and warm....(old women especially are not) , the weather is quite good (winters are miserable), the food, beer, vodka is all great and the Polish women are stunning.

Like everywhere, there are good and bad, and the choice will come down to your personal preferences.

Life / Halloween vs All Saints' Day in Poland [48]


Upload them to imgur/flickr/picasa and then post a link


Hahah, I know man, I know.