The BEST Guide to POLAND
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Posts by smurf  

Joined: 8 Sep 2009 / Male ♂
Warnings: 1 - T
Last Post: 5 Jan 2017
Threads: Total: 38 / Live: 5 / Archived: 33
Posts: Total: 1940 / Live: 423 / Archived: 1517
From: Your Ma's room
Speaks Polish?: kurwa

Displayed posts: 428 / page 8 of 15
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smurf   
31 Oct 2013
Life / Halloween vs All Saints' Day in Poland [48]

Wonder if our pagan Slav ancestors had anything similar

The did indeed,

my Slavic ancestors, when still pagan (Poland was officially converted in 966AD), celebrated their dead by holding a special feast twice a year (spring and autumn) known as ''Dziady'' or Grandfathers. The fall feast was held at the end of October and beginning of November.

Bonfires were lit to show the sprits of the dead the way to their living relatives' dwellings.

Prayers were held and foodstuffs were prepared especially kasha, honey and eggs to celebrate the strips of ancestors and relatives, both to secured their favours and to ease their existence in the Underworld.

dariocaballeros.blogspot.com/2012/10/dziady-or-slavic-halloween.html

But when I see now in our local Lidl plastic devil's forks for sale

It is truly a terrible, terrible thing that people would dare to have some fun. Who do these curs think they are? We should organize a lynch mob and hang those that attempt to have fun in Poland from the closet yew trees.

People buying up loads of candles for resale from the local supermarkets. Plastic flowers everywhere. Sorry to burst your bubble if you think Poland is above this, but from my perspective it sure isn't.

hahah, good one, very true :)
smurf   
31 Oct 2013
Life / Halloween vs All Saints' Day in Poland [48]

Number 1.
Halloween isn't American!

It's a Celtic festival to celebrate the end of the harvest/end of the year.

2. It was stolen and given a "new" meaning by the Christians.
It was (in Celtic tradition) the day when the border between the world of the living and the dead was at its closest. This is the reason people dress up in scary clothes....if they see an evil spirit they will frighten it back to the land of the dead.

Ancient Druid Holiday from Ireland!

+1

I repeat, it is not American! Really annoys me when Poles say to me "Oh Halloween, sure that's just a commercial thing from America. No it ain't.

Halloween back home is brilliant, a great time of fun and games and having the banter.

All soul's Day is pretty boring in fairness, the only good thing about it is the candlelight in the cemeteries at night time. Other than that it's a borefest, fecking shops are even open.

Halloween is a celebration of joy and sex in the face of death and it is grand!

Whoop!
smurf   
28 Oct 2013
Love / Best, safe Polish dating sites? [95]

An Irish guy that writes for Gazeta Wyborcza did something similar a couple of years ago

Part 1: tygodnikprudnicki.pl/1,7531,0,5.html
Part 2: tygodnikprudnicki.pl/1,7552,0,5.html

£70 for a lifetime

I honestly didn't even know that dating sites charged. Never used one tbh, freak me out a bit. I'm old-skool I think the best way to meet a partner is through a shared interest in something; photography class, volunteering for something.....or just plane old drinking/partying ;)
smurf   
28 Oct 2013
Language / Should I learn Polish or she learn English? [83]

Without being a smartass, but seeing as you are both living in England then it would probably be more beneficial for her to learn to speak the language of the country she's living in.

If you were living here, then the opposite would be the case.
Trust me though, Polish is extremely difficult to learn, I've been learning for about 3 years and I still sound like a retarded turnip. I'm getting there though, Rome was built....etc.
smurf   
23 Oct 2013
Real Estate / Can foreigner buy apartment in Warsaw, Poland? [39]

your friends have precisely zero legal claim to the property

Yep, I know, tried telling them that, but they're so tight they think this is a good option.
smurf   
23 Oct 2013
Real Estate / Can foreigner buy apartment in Warsaw, Poland? [39]

And what can they do about it if he doesn't?!

I don't know Harry. I think it's ludicrous, but I dug a bit deeper last night and asked one of them. He told me that he has 6 mates all living in the city centre who live under the same conditions.

There would have to be a contract, no body's that stupid... are they?

Just a verbal agreement AFAIK.
I wouldn't go anywhere near a deal like this.

The thing I cannot understand is what's going to happen when:
a) someone becomes jobless and cannot afford to pay the rent or
b) God forbid, but what if down the line when parents die and what are the kids left with?

Fools and their money......
smurf   
22 Oct 2013
Real Estate / Can foreigner buy apartment in Warsaw, Poland? [39]

paying a hefty deposit and large monthly rent payments

My mates paid about 10,000 (not sure about the others as I never asked) and their rent is small too. I suppose it was hefty for them, but then again, it's buttons really.

The official 'owner' is still listed as living there, but in reality these new people do and will until the final 'rent' when the owner will transfer ownership to these new peps.

Ah yea, it's pure dodge and I think the 2 pairs of them are clowns for doing it. But it was their choice, they were advised not to go along with it by quiet a few, but then again it seems to be a not so uncommon thing here in Kato.
smurf   
22 Oct 2013
Real Estate / Can foreigner buy apartment in Warsaw, Poland? [39]

Yea, it can be done.
I've got mates who have 'bought' apartments this way.

Basically someone owns the apartment block/building. Someone moves out and you take over their flat. Pay a large deposit and make monthly/quarterly payments

It's not legal and it's as dodgy as hell, but it can be done.
I wouldn't do it and I wouldn't advise doing it either, the reason being you're at the whim of a landlord who may someday want his flat back (probably sometime before your final payment) and you'll get turfed out with hardly a leg to stand on legally.

Pure dodge, avoid.
smurf   
7 Oct 2013
News / Poland and Germany should unite, says Lech Walesa [113]

If it meant better roads, infrastructure, better football, better beer, more boobalicious ladies then I certainly wouldn't be against the idea.
Easier language to learn too.

Convincing Germany to take on Poland? Now, that's simply never going to happen. They already propped up East Germany after reunification, I severely doubt they'd want to prop up another bottomless cash hole.
smurf   
6 Sep 2013
Genealogy / I am looking for an African guy in Krakow, I dated [73]

Sorry about your situation Kasia.
Polish Forums is full of a@sholes.
Pay no attention to the racists, you could give birth to the next Phil Lynott or Paul McGrath :)

Best of luck......if I was you I'd go to the Police....or can't you like get a PI to trake him down once the baby is born and he'll have to pay some contribution to its upbringing?
smurf   
24 Jul 2013
Food / Hopless beer in Poland? [30]

Spisz on the Rynek in Wrocław

It certainly was last summer, haven't been up that way since then.
Great spot, free as much smalec as you can gobble too :)

Their weissbier is rocket fuel ;)
smurf   
24 Jul 2013
Food / Hopless beer in Poland? [30]

You mean it goes down so easy that after the fourth

Ah, you could prob get to 6 or 8 before that would happen ;)
But yea it's a lot easier to drink and not as sharp, although, I do drink ordinary Tyskie most times. can't stand Zywice, no life in that beer at all.

Red is like a dark beer from home, called Smithwicks, it's difficult to explain unless you've drank red/dark beer before, it's not an ale, but it's like a very old traditional-style beer. It's nice though, those old beers are good as an after dinner beer.

The wheat beer is OK too, it's got a nice after taste, but as with all wheat beers they get you drunk quicker.

The Rice one, I'm not a fan of, it's tastes like an American beer like Budweiser/Miller/Coors, I know Bud use rice in their beer, not sure about the rest. Although tbh, I've only had it once, will prob give it another try.
smurf   
24 Jul 2013
Food / Hopless beer in Poland? [30]

Gronie and Classic

Very different.

Gronie tasts 'sharper' if I can say that. Far more bubbly, Classic is much smoother and a little too easy to drink. But the calssic has been around for a while, I think it's been around for about 2 years...although maybe it was launched here in Silesia first.

It also has more varieties, Red (like an old red beer,) Rice & Wheat.
smurf   
23 Jul 2013
Life / New Royal Baby Boy - Recommended Polish Baby Names [21]

A married woman of childbearing age has given birth to a baby boy.

The event followed nine months of pregnancy.

"Both mother and baby are doing well," a spokesman for the woman said.

It is now expected that the baby will grow up.

huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/07/22/royal-baby-spoof_n_3634135.html
smurf   
4 Jul 2013
Study / Rumor about racism - will I be fine in Poland as a black International student from Africa? [245]

No as jobs are very scarce in Poland

Jobs are not scarce in Poland. That's simply not true. The real unemployment rate (not the one the govt sprout) is far lower than what they want us to believe.

The unemployment rate is skewed. If you removed the % of people like stay at home mothers/fathers, the people working for cash, but registered as unemployed, you would probably see unemployment closer to 7-8%.

If unemployment stands at 4% a country is said to have full employment.

Stay in Africa

Ignore Nac, he has a track record of consistent racism & flamming on this forum.

Jon & Dom give the best advise on this thread, as a full time student you prob won't find work I'm afraid, especially if you cannot speak the language.
smurf   
3 Jul 2013
News / Poland to reject Snowden asylum bid [55]

They could accept him

In fairness though, Snowden didn't adhere to the procedures that one must go through to obtain asylum in Poland.
If he didn't adhere to them, then he's obviously not going to be given asylum.
It's quite interesting to see what he's doing, how he's playing the game and all. And even more interesting to see how it all unfolds.
smurf   
3 Jul 2013
News / Poland to reject Snowden asylum bid [55]

commended for what exactly

Your targeting of me is quite becoming of you.

If you actually knew anything about the Snowden case then you'd know what I'm talking about.
What's hilarous about you is that you linked to a Guardian story, the opening paragraph of which states:

US intelligence services are spying on the European Union mission in New York and its embassy in Washington, according to the latest top secret US National Security Agency documents leaked by the whistleblower Edward Snowden.

He's a whistleblower, for that he should be commended. Is it really so difficult for you?

The other thing Snowden has done is assuming he will not end up dead if he is in the public eye, whistleblowers tend to end up dead. For example. Dr.Kelly and the WMD.

I fear it'll end the same way.

Snowden is a traitor on the run

A traitor that caught your government in the act of spying on both its own people and foreign allies. Yea, he's the traitor.

go back to the USA face trial

As if he'd be given a fair trial in 'Merika.
smurf   
2 Jul 2013
News / Poland to reject Snowden asylum bid [55]

The man should be commended for what he did......however, he only proved what most of us have already known for a long, long time.

He is unlikely to be given asylum in the EU, as America yields too much power over certain countries, including Poland, UK and Ireland.
I would love to see him given asylum, but I cannot see it happening.
Doubtlessly he'll disappear and will tragically be found death at the bottom of a gorge after a 'terrible car accident' in a few years.

Shame, the world needs more people like him.
smurf   
27 Jun 2013
Food / Bigos Recipe [183]

Smurf, that's not true, Polish food is not that unhealthily greasy ;)

Oh I wasn't complaining Polson, I love the food here.........excpet cucumber soup, that's just weird. ;)
smurf   
27 Jun 2013
Food / Bigos Recipe [183]

Like all Polish food, it should be swimming in oil, and not healthy olive oil, yummy, cheap, vegetable oil.

Or you could just buy some in a Polish shop, add extra bacon and she'll never know the diff.
smurf   
27 Jun 2013
History / Pre-war or today's Poland? [50]

No.
Wasn't Poland ruled by a semi-dictator during that period?

The Polish political scene was democratic, but was chaotic until Józef Piłsudski (1867-1935) seized power in May 1926 and democracy ended.

Then again....

The new, inexperienced government faced serious problems; already there was rampant corruption among government officials; a dizzying turnover of cabinets caused confusion and distrust.

Maybe not much has changed at all.

But wait....

In many respects, the Second Republic fell short of the high expectations of 1918.

Looks like it was a complete and utter failure.

At least this crowd in now are attempting to at least build better roads/train tracks and better city centers.
smurf   
14 May 2013
Life / Bribery and corruption 'fact of life' in Poland? [152]

working privately should be banned for those on full time contracts in the public health system

Naw, don't agree with ya there, people should be allowed to work as much as they want in their desire to make money. Taking bribes shouldn't be allowed, but if someone wants to work then I don't see a problem.
smurf   
13 May 2013
Life / Bribery and corruption 'fact of life' in Poland? [152]

Why would someone give away 5-10% to get a loan?

I couldn't tell ya, I'm not Polish, but it seems to be the done thing here.

If the information supplied is not 100% accurate

Why wouldn't the info be accurate? I would presume that he doesn't want to get fired for committing fraud. Beside, if the info wasn't then his client mightn't get the loan, so he'd be shooting himself in the foot.
smurf   
13 May 2013
Life / Bribery and corruption 'fact of life' in Poland? [152]

That sounds like fraud to me

I wouldn't call it fraud, he's not being deceptive to get a few extra quid.
the person who gets the loan gives it to him as a kind of bonus I suppose.

He told me it's very much common practice where he works, indeed in the industry as a whole. It's not the biggest Polish bank, but it's certainly in the top 5.

I know a few stories about doctors and hospitals being pretty corrupt, but I don't know if it still goes on.
My missus' mother needed an op about 8 or 10 years ago, waiting time was 18months for this operations, a brown envelope was exchanged and she went for the op about 10 days after it.

But like I said, it was a while ago, so I don't know if it still goes on.