USA, Canada / The proper behavior an American should show when visiting Poland [115]

Never refuse what is offered to you if you are a guest in someones home. If offered a drink accept one, do not say no thank you. Polish people are fantastic hosts and to refuse is very insulting.

Don't make a big reaction to the lack of deodorant (mostly older generation), it just is how it is.

Use an internal filter and stop yourself from saying "why would they do it like that? We dont do it like that in the states?" Think it, just don't say it.

Do not expect people to speak English, this is not an English speaking country. Rather read a bit and try to learn a few basic words, people will be much friendlier.

Do not expect shopworkers to pay you any mind, they wait for you to show interest in what they are selling. My first few years here I was appalled at the last of customer service...now it just is what it is.

A great (but hard to find book) is Shortcuts to Poland, written by an American expat living here for a long time. Her observations of cultural differences are spot on!

Life / Exam for Drivers License in Poland; English? [99]

What exactly is "the arch"?

Life / Exam for Drivers License in Poland; English? [99]

Thanks for the answer. Sadly I have put off getting my prawo jadzy for far too long.

Life / Exam for Drivers License in Poland; English? [99]

I have tried to search here before but information is so conflicting.
Do any of you know where I can take driving courses in English?

Life / Exam for Drivers License in Poland; English? [99]

Merged:Have any of you expats gotten a Polish drivers license?

I did a search here but information is so conflicting. So how did you do it? How much did it cost?

I have a current American drivers license. I am wondering about the legal way to get a Polish drivers license. Do I need to take the exam or can it be tranferred?

Thanks for your help!

Oh and I live here full time and will for a long time. I am legal here with my Karta Pobytu.

I started doing some other research and have found some interesting sites. and specifically for Americans
poland.usembassy.gov/poland/driving.html

Life / Are Polish roads really this bad? [237]


Actually they are making a highway from Bialystok that will connect to Warsaw. Here in Lomza they are already starting a lot of in town roadwork and the last few years they have done a lot of between town work, making new bus stops and widening roads a bit.

Of course it could be more and better but they are working on it.

My main problem with Polish roads are that when they redo old roads they use ****** materials that break down and wear very easily resulting in them needing to be done again much sooner that roads stateside. I also really wish they would get these highways done quickly...the TIR's (semi trucks) are killing the roads, the indentations their overloaded load leaves are a killer.

Life / Are Polish roads really this bad? [237]

Very true about this winter, it took it's toll up this way for sure.

Life / Are Polish roads really this bad? [237]


They are very strict in the states about over weight trucks, there are weigh stations on highways and there are rgualtions on how often they must stop at them. Also the fines are huge if they are overweight and the truck can be impounded.

UK, Ireland / Raising Bilingual Children - How are you teaching your children? Your experiences? [74]

We have two children, 5 and 3. They are completely bilingual. My husband is Polish and I am American. I only speak English and he and his family only speak Polish, we live in Poland. I have a few Enlgish speaking friends here who play with them in English and we do Skype calls with my family.

They watch some tv and movies, we switch it up so they watch in both languages and switch the language on movies so they watch the same film in one language and next time the other.

They both have a bit of language switching from time to time, but they get a bit better everyday. They will attend a Polish school here and I am ordering some elementary English homeschool books from the states.

They used to play mainly in Polish, but this summer I took them for 5 weeks to the states and they have switched to playing mainly in English. The more time goes by the more they go back to a bit more Polish.

Life / Gifts from Poland (I'm returning to my country after a year in Poland) [36]

Just curious but where are you headed? If it is stateside then don't bother bringing the keilbasa, they will take it at the airport.

Life / Polish water safe to drink? [50]

pip
Is this the article?

Life / Childbirth in Poland - can you please tell your experience? [8]

I am American and have given birth to two babies here in Poland, but quite far from Krakow. I am up north closer to Bialystok. I had a great experience. I would highly suggest getting in to the doc as soon as you can so you can get to know them and also tour the hospital.

My OB was the OBGYN hospital director, we did give him an envelope after but it was not implied that we needed to. I also took prenatal classes from a midwife that works in the hospital so I already knew her.

I ended up with a c-section after 13 hours laboring and it all went great. Hubby needed to translate for me in the operating room, so they allowed hi in. But that is not normal as far as I know here, he was not allowed in for my second child's c-section, but I was ok and my Polish was pretty good by then.

When I was laboring he was in the room with me all the time. We took the only private room in the OB section and payed a whopping 250zl for the whole week. I think it would do you well to get in and make a list of all teh questions that you have and do it as soon as possible.

Is your husband Polish? Do either of you speak Polish? There is quite a large expat community down and I know several in that area that home school, they might be able to help you out by figuring out which doctors speak English well, which hospitals work well with expats etc

Also I read this ladies blog and she has a 3 part blog about having a baby in Poland. I think (not sure) that she is ibn Krakow, so maybe you can contact her for help!

kielbasastories.blogspot.com/2011/05/so-you-wanna-have-baby-in-poland.html

Life / Best place to buy cigarettes in Warsaw? [23]

Please beware of the cheap Russian/Belarussian cigarettes like Minsk. My husband smoked them for two years and in that time he developed nasty headaches, they worst cough (an all night cough) terrible snoring and body aches. As soon as he stopped smoking them that all went away.

Law / Laws on walking a dog in Polska [67]

If you want real opinions then here ya go. You are an ass. An aggressive selfish ass.

I love dogs, but I know several people who are scared to death and even a cute lab puppy would have them scared stiff.

You DO need to have your dog on a leash period. My answers in bold.

Feedback / Polish forums members - please stop being agressive and dishonest. What a waste of potential. [48]

I totally agree with OP and Paulina. I have been a member for a while and thought that this forum would be a great place to get info about living here in Poland and give me the possibility to help others trying to get settled in. Sadly this forum is not that place. There has been, for years, a handful of really nasty people with nothing better to do than argue for the sake of arguing.

Feedback / Polish forums members - please stop being agressive and dishonest. What a waste of potential. [48]

Dougpol1- Sorry I don't think I quite get what you are referring to?

Law / Is it possible to convert my Pakistani driving licence to a Polish one? [46]

There is no way to exchange a license unless you are exchanging from another European Union country. They have cracked down very hard on bribes so just forget it. I just did mine this summer.

You need to order the study material in a language you can understand, study like hell, take a driving course and pass the tests.