The BEST Guide to POLAND
Unanswered  |  Archives 
 
 
User: Guest

Posts by berni23  

Joined: 26 Mar 2009 / Male ♂
Last Post: 3 Jun 2013
Threads: Total: 7 / Live: 6 / Archived: 1
Posts: Total: 379 / Live: 351 / Archived: 28
From: Germany, Berlin
Speaks Polish?: Yes
Interests: Party, Travel, Football, Computers

Displayed posts: 357 / page 11 of 12
sort: Oldest first   Latest first   |
berni23   
12 Jan 2013
Life / Poland's concord of cultures [86]

Both Poles, Americans, Brits, Aussies, Irish and a few others start learning English in the first grade primary/elementary school!!!

One really cant start early enough with another language.
Unfortunately "experts" in Germany have the opinion that another language before the 3rd grade would overstrain the kids.
berni23   
12 Jan 2013
Life / Poland's concord of cultures [86]

In the US, foreign language courses usually start in middle or high school. At the moment they are cutting back everywhere; except for Spanish that is.

I guess thats the only language that makes sense for you guys anyway, travel wise at least.
berni23   
12 Jan 2013
Life / Poland's concord of cultures [86]

I was always wondering about that, how did it come that the largest mountain in continental Australia is named after a Pole?
berni23   
12 Jan 2013
Life / Poland's concord of cultures [86]

Aaah, I forgot: Friday night - all Poles and PolAms are drunk... :)

Some PolGerms :D too. :)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pawe%C5%82_Edmund_Strzelecki#Australia

Hopefully ill remember tomorrow. ;)
berni23   
12 Jan 2013
Love / ARE POLISH GIRLS GOLD-DIGGERS? [359]

ah, you gotto love generalization in the morning.
for your info they are everywhere.
berni23   
14 Jan 2013
Love / Should I forgive my cheating Polish girlfriend? [73]

It is natural that males offer gifts to women to have sex with them. It has always been so, even before human race evolved, a homonid male ape brought hunted meat to win itself sex partners.

Nah, back in the good old days a swing with the club would be enough to drag her by her hair into your cave. ;)
berni23   
15 Jan 2013
USA, Canada / Polonia - say goodbye to public WiFi America [12]

"During the coming weeks the controversial "six-strikes" anti-piracy system will kick off in the U.S."

"Among other things, offenders will have to watch a video about the consequences of online piracy, before their speeds are reduced to 256kbps."

What this basically means is that, if public hotspot owners dont implement rigorous filters, they will be shut down pretty soon.
And that not necessarily for infringing any copyright mafia laws, since not everything on Rapidshare or every Torrent is copyright, although they would like you to believe so.

"Leaked AT&T documents showed that they will block users' access to some of the most frequently-visited websites on the Internet, until they complete a copyright course."

So, congratulations from Europe on combating the copyright murders and free access to information.

But hey, you still have your guns to play with.
berni23   
15 Jan 2013
USA, Canada / Polonia - say goodbye to public WiFi America [12]

hey, you still got your little beef whistle to play with and I bet you enjoy it very much, don't you berni?

Thats it? Troll yourself back to your cave.

90% of (responsible) users have a password on their Network. 99% in high traffic areas like apartment complexes or college areas.

What does this have to do with how users log on? They log in or not, the provider gets warnings deservedly or not, hotspots are shut down. Simple as that.

..and this has got what to do with Poland?

Its in the Polonia USA forum, some important info for Poles living there, or not?
berni23   
15 Jan 2013
Travel / Ski in Slovakia - from Poland [3]

I also prefer the Karkonosze ;), although its Harrachov for us, since it has comparable infrastructure and is better to reach.
In general the connection to the Czech Republic and Slovakia is terrible, though.
berni23   
15 Jan 2013
USA, Canada / Polonia - say goodbye to public WiFi America [12]

OK, im giving up, here is a collection of the best answers so far:
3.

coffee-houses and restaurants will put some time restrictions on their networks

2.

90% of (responsible) users have a password on their Network.

1.

Oh Heavens, this place might become bearable again

:D
Seems like everybody is an expert nowadays. :(
berni23   
18 Jan 2013
Travel / Starbucks in Poland? [149]

Its the same with Burger King, everything coming from the West was worshiped after the fall of the curtain.
berni23   
18 Jan 2013
Life / What is the reaction of Poles to Russian? [95]

In many countries of the Eastern Block you still get further with Russian than any other language.
And im not talking about all inclusive holidays there.
Its changing though, depending of the education rate in said countries.
berni23   
18 Jan 2013
Life / What is the reaction of Poles to Russian? [95]

I know what you meant, i was pointing out that Russian is still spoken by the majority of the former Warsaw Pact countries as a second language.

Thats changing though, but it is still a lingua franca
berni23   
18 Jan 2013
Life / What is the reaction of Poles to Russian? [95]

Well, from my experiance i have to disagree.
I visited those countries in the 90ties and still do my round trips today.
Russian will certainly get you further than English, but Slavic helps too.
berni23   
18 Jan 2013
Life / What is the reaction of Poles to Russian? [95]

Only if you chat with folks above 50.

Depends on the country

Slavic?

Oh not again, what i meant is that with Polish you get further than with English in most of these countries.
berni23   
18 Jan 2013
Life / What is the reaction of Poles to Russian? [95]

I mean Poland.

Well, than you have to look at geography, too.
For instance close to the German border i meat more people speaking German than on the Russian border.
BTW I repeatedly said that its changing, but atm in countries that are not so well developed as Poland Russian will get you further, maybe not on the ice cream counter but in business certainly.
berni23   
19 Jan 2013
Life / Streaming online Polish TV [85]

Dude, dont fall for this "offer", most of the channels are free to watch over your comp.
berni23   
19 Jan 2013
Travel / BIGGEST MOSQUE IN POLAND! - Gdansk [42]

I'm disliking militant atheists more and more and I love it.

Understandable for fanatics, but Atheists have never started a crusade like every religion.
Not that i would count myself as an atheist, i simply try to avoid wasting time on nonsense.
berni23   
5 May 2013
Law / Foreign currency accounts in Poland [49]

I have had a Polish account for years and they have crazy fees for everything you do.
They even found a way to charge for SEPA transfers which are free all across Europe.
But the most outrageous thing are the conversion rates. The spread at my current bank is at 0.25pln to the Euro.
In my travels across the world i never came across anything remotely comparable.

Unfortunately my Polish is not good enough to read through the banks fine print jungle and i hope somebody here might enlighten me:
Is there any bank that offers fair exchange rates and doesnt go overboard with the fees?
berni23   
5 May 2013
Law / Foreign currency accounts in Poland [49]

You can use service like walutomat.pl to exchange your currencies. SEPA transfer fee is up to bank. Maybe they don't pay for it, but their clients can. Many banks in Europe charge for that.

I am aware of online kantory and am using them when i can. I was just wondering if maybe a bank has accepted that they are ripping off their customers like nowhere else in Europe...

Concerning SEPA:
"European Parliament mandated that a bank charge the same amount for international euro transfers within the European Economic Area as it charges for domestic credit transfers in euros"

Polish banks of course dont feel obliged to follow that directive.

Try allior bank they also have kantor services and can open acct in any currency if u dont want a debit card then all is free

You mean those kantor services?

aliorbank.pl/en/about_us/exchange_rates/current_exchange_rates

9%+ spread. I feel like crying when i read this.

Compare to Germany or any other bank in Europe: db-markets.com/#fx_rates/spots

For crying out loud did all the expats leave Poland or you guys simply dont care?
berni23   
5 May 2013
Australia / Quick money transfer to australia? [6]

Monitor is obviously here to give out the worst advice possible.
All of the services you mentioned are cheaper than PP.
I would use Bitcoins for that, you buy them with a 0.5% provision here, send them to the recipient almost in real time and he cashes out in his local currency for a 0.5% fee.

If you have a little more time use Poland transfer or with still more time online kantory.