Genealogy / Are all Poles blue eyed and blonde? [451]

Poles are very racially mixed, as are all humans.
In pre-history humans trekked the world both with seasonal migrations and long-term, long-distance movements.
You've got to bear in mind that humans didn't make it the Americas by hopping on a plane from Addis Adaba to LA - they walked to the Bering Strait about 18,000 years ago after spending 150,000 years elsewhere.

100% Polish - what does that mean? Racially, it means your racial mix may or may not be similar to people in your geographical area (do you really know your family 20 generations back?) - but that still means you are racially mixed, doesn't it? Let's face, you're probably part Albanian,Armernian, Georgian, Turkic, East Asian, Arab, south Asian and Native American as well as north European acclimatised to relatively sunless living - hence your pale skin to maximise vitamin D absorption.

If you like blondes, just say so - but go easy on the racial stuff, it really has been debunked by advances in mitchondrial DNA testing.

Genealogy / Are all Poles blue eyed and blonde? [451]

[relief]

Genealogy / Are all Poles blue eyed and blonde? [451]

But where do you have them tatooed?

Love / Girl from Poland - how to bring her back [36]

Getting back to the original point - I married my Polish holiday girlfriend and have never regretted it, despite all the stresses and strains our enforced separations caused.

We were both students, her in Poland, me in England, but tried to meet up whenever possible - our longest separation was 12 months.

We met on holiday in France - and love blossomed.

Afterwards, I couldn't afford the exhorbitant airfares to Poland; she could to England (the black market exchange rate plus tickets sold to Poles in PLZ meant she could have come over every month) but she couldn't get UK visas (they picked on her because she didn't want to work illegally!).

Telephoning was a major problem because it went through the international operator. Once I got put through after 24 hours in a public phone box, only to find she'd gone out 5 minutes before! Another time, I got through to her only to discover she could hear me but I couldn't hear her. I kept up a monologue (in French, our common language) for 45 minutes!

Her letters to me arrived in 2 days because she would put UK stamps on them and give them to strangers in Okecie to post on arrival in England. My letters to her took 2-3 weeks, and were opened prior to delivery.

Anyone who's scared of making commitments is quite simply foolish. The advertising agencies hype up "freedom" as a lifestyle. What sort of freedom is that? Freedom to stay an overgrown teenager all your life then find out aged 30+ that you can't adapt to meet the strains of living with another person because you've grown stuck in your ways. Do you really want to be the oldest parent at school? Do you know both you and the woman in your life are going to be so super fertile that your advanced age will make no difference. Kids hatched from 35 year-old eggs have shorter, unhealthier lives by the way. Or are kids something you think's never going to happen to you ... you'll hit 45 and regret it bitterly and your life will look as empty as it really is. Are you going to be healthy all your life? Yes? Good. Then perhaps you don't need any back-up, ever, every man is an island, don't you know.

Life / Child Adoption in Poland? [138]

2 friends have adopted children over the last couple of years and have been reasonably open about it. I think the problem could be with other children when they get to school - kids can be very cruel.

Genealogy / Are all Poles blue eyed and blonde? [451]

In the same way that Origen of Alexandria made a disastrous interpretation of the gospels.
Some people take things too seriously - I mean killing yourself out of some weirdo racist beliefs that make no sense in the modern world.

And NO - I'm not going to tell you who Origen of Alexandria was ... but believe me, he was very silly.

News / Polish Immigrants Leave America for Europe [210]

They don't have DNA results like that - it's a wind-up!
What v. which - the old correctness v. common usage problem again.
Here, I would tend to say that "which" would be generally seen as an affectation, as it would denote the choice of one of a generally known number of DNA tests, whereas I understood it more along the lines of "what sort of, and please give me the name while you're at it?"

And as for what you must be thinking at the moment - you're right! It's a slow day at the office!!
[I must get out more.]

Work / TEFL Teacher training from Poland? [18]

TEFL courses aren't expensive if you do them at a local college. For employment purposes I don't think it's too important which one you do, as long as you have done something that has an official certificate.

A degree isn't required, but an education is. If you haven't managed to attain a decent level of education yourself, I think you will underachieve as a teacher. The indefinable extras count. You yourself will have to define what 'decent' means here.

I didn't do a TEFL course, as I did a postgraduate certificate of education - standard schoolteacher stuff - and worked as a French teacher in England before emigrating.

Life / Why Do You Love Poland? [907]

I don't love Poland, but I live here because I can earn a good living and have a good lifestyle. That's better than all these emotional protestations.

Genealogy / Are all Poles blue eyed and blonde? [451]

There's a strong element of east Asians in the "typical" Pole - invasions in history and pre-history. Science tends to debunk racial myths.

Life / Why Do You Love Poland? [907]

Northern England, but quite happy to leave - people where I lived were very anti-education (typical for the English working class) so I always felt an outsider anyway.

I ended up being a French teacher in a fantastic private school just outside London before moving to Poland.

Genealogy / Why are some Polish people dark complected, and others very light [511]

Looking at mtDNA, you see lots of east Asian results in Poles.
Didn't happen by chance.
Tartars or 1944/5 rapes, your choice.

Genealogy / Why are some Polish people dark complected, and others very light [511]

My Polish wife is pretty, and pretty dark too.
Jet black hair, dark skin, suffers in the Polish winter from a lack of sunshine (a vitamin D thing).
Based on mtDNA testing of the EU 18 haplotype, Poles are generally fairly similar gentically to Albanians, Croatians, Georgians, Syrians and Udmurts (whoever they are - sorry any Udmurts who might be reading!)

I thought I'd blind you with a smidgin of science :)

Genealogy / Why are some Polish people dark complected, and others very light [511]

It often results in liver and pancreas problems, apparently.
It's all to do with the darker skin being less able to produce vitamin D3 from exposure to sunlight.
D3 is 2000 times more bio-active than dietary vitamin D so you have to get a source of UVB light from somewhere. Solaria usually tan you with 95% UVA, which is pretty much useless for D3 production and exposes you to an increased risk of skin cancer. However, it is theoretically possible to get them to regulate their sunbeds to give you greater UVB. Unfortunately, UVB burns quite quickly so they can't get the same amount of money from you that way - hence they will probably turn your request down!

Oh, by the way, my pet tortoise basks under a UVB light bulb ... but I haven't the heart to deprive my little dinosaur of his sunshine!

Genealogy / Do Polish people have big noses? [451]

MtDNA haplotype EU18 places you Poles in kinship with all sorts of non-Europeans, including Georgians, Syrians and Udmurts (central Russia). You're also distantly related to Native American populations (they mixed with ancestors of Poles 30,000 years and headed east as fast as they could, perhaps Grandpappy Lech was on their tail!!).

Racial purity ain't nothing but a sick joke, my friend.

Genealogy / Why are some Polish people dark complected, and others very light [511]

The tortoise?
Hah ha ha!

She doesn't take any pills, my wife that is. Strictly Catholic.

(Soorrry, couldn't resist that one!)
Seriously, she just needs lots of sunshine early in the year and late in the year and she's OK.
Fears osteoporosis though - that's linked too. And, despite the propaganda, increased milk consumption clearly puts you at greater risk of osteoporosis.

Genealogy / Why are some Polish people dark complected, and others very light [511]

Far too many to list

Genealogy / Why are some Polish people dark complected, and others very light [511]

But don't forget that Y chromosome reflects historical times, whereas I referred to rather deeper things. /sigh/
I thought better of you than to merely cut and paste from the internet without showing too much understanding.
Mind you, Y chromosome studies do at least show that Poles have scarcely found a single German sexually attractive over the last 1500 years.
Which isn't surprising, really!

Genealogy / Why are some Polish people dark complected, and others very light [511]

R1b is rare, which is what makes it so interesting

Life / Do you think that Polish people are rude? [951]

I had problems understanding that until I realised "Purple" was a person!
I mean - how can you make a point purple except with felt tip pen?

Life / Hip Replacements in Poland [3]

You may check szymonmanduk.pl

Interestingly, hip problems are more common in countries where the intake of dairy products is higher.
Milk especially, is a major cause of osteoporosis.

Life / Are you too selfish to leave Poland? [22]

Slightly daft question in the first place - selfishness, emigration etc

You sell your skills for the highest price in terms of purchasing power. Some social elements come into it naturally. Capitalism is all about the pursuit of economic self-interest, and the individual fits in as well as s/he can.

I could choose to work all night as well as all day - that way I could earn more money. I don't because I choose to spend my time in other ways. I suppose you could call that selfish too.

Life / nasza-klasa.pl - If you looking for your classmates or friends in Poland [95]

Ben - don't kick yourself for not setting up earlier. It might well have failed.

I, too, looked into the possibilities of setting up - 4 years ago. I contacted 2 IT people, talked over the idea but pulled out due to my fear of a new, big boy appearing on the scene.

I think these two went ahead with my idea and will now be in the process of being wiped out due to a lack of capital to push their baby.

Life / nasza-klasa.pl - If you looking for your classmates or friends in Poland [95]

Nasza Klasa were not the first on the market.
Szkolne lata and possibly others have been going for a number of years

Love / English girl moving to Poland with my Polish boyfriend for the first time [69]

Living in Poland isn't a problem. Emigrating on the back of an insecure relationship is. Tell him you're 100% in favour of the idea as long as you have a ring on your finger.

I brought my Polish wife to England after we got married - and we weathered every storm thrown at us by my bigoted family and life in a hostile country (i.e. England). Now we live in Poland - and handle worse problems!

USA, Canada / US resident, have a baby with a Polish girl. Need help on Polish Passport. [30]

You live together and you live in a state of distrust!

What sort of person, let alone parent are you? Get real, get married and show some trust. The race of life is tough enough without starting it off by shooting yourself and your nearest-and-dearest in the foot.

Stop setting yourself up as a victim. Settle down PROPERLY and start having some real fun.

USA, Canada / US resident, have a baby with a Polish girl. Need help on Polish Passport. [30]

Jeez - I'm so glad not to be in your shoes.
She needs a divorce, you want true love ... recipe for disaster. Either you two sort yourselves out now or you'll split and you'll end up as a statistic - one of those fathers that has no contact with your kid after 5 years separation.

Stark, raw etc but that's the way you're heading unless you're substantially different to 95% of people in your situation.

Takl to her and find out whether she's serious about forming a stable home - if not, no info on passports, residency etc is going to help you stave off the inevitable.

Honesty is the best policy.

UK, Ireland / Why are Polish people, especially women, so disrespectful toward the English? [437]

Weird thread.

I've not particularly noticed any disrespect towards the English. Actually, I feel I get higher status treatment in Poland precisely because I am English - in the workplace too.

Moreover, the English are generally a bunch of chumps when it comes to treating ANYBODY with respect. They treat each other with disrespect - taking the mickey is a national sport - especially so if you're a foreigner. My Polish wife got a very mixed reception in England, despite the fact she was a top student at a prestigious Polish university (Warsaw). Some respectful, too many not.

UK, Ireland / Marrying Polish Woman in UK/London [100]

Shahid Malik is the MP in my home town, Dewsbury.

He has led a golden existence thanks to the govt's policy of sucking up to muslims in order to divide the anti-British muslims from the very anti-British muslims.

He also managed to accumulate the greatest amount of expenses!

Dewsbury - 30 years ago, when I was a lad it was a declining northern, post-industrial town with a "manageable" Pakistani population. By manageable, I mean it wasn't in your face - they were there, but not in great numbers. That changed with the mass immigration of the 90s and after. My Dad was a local family doctor - he got loads of Christmas cards from the older muslims, including the mother-in-law of the leader of the 7/7 bombers.

Dewsbury has produced about 10 suicide bombers - one aged 16, most caught before they could put their dastardly plans into effect. This makes local news but is not reported nationally for reasons of multicultural peace and harmony.