Real Estate / Building a house in Poland need advice from anyone that has built [100]

We just finished building a house here in Poland (Warsaw), went very well, quality of construction is very good for a reasonable price. In my view, Polish builders are very good, you do need however to have certain rules (no alcohol..). We also had some building work done 10 years ago in the UK, had to kick out the british builders and we took out a polish team to finish the work..

Life / Reasons for moving to Poland [291]

Depends on the sector,but on average Luxemburg has by far the highest standard of living in EU (twice that in Netherlands, and more than twice in Belgium, and around 5 times more than Poland). Tax rates are high, but not higher than in Belgium or France, see:

epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/eurostat/home/


Yes, I have been to all four countries, and all have euros (so has Denmark)

Life / Reasons for moving to Poland [291]

Among the 4 countries you quoted..

If you're going purely for work reason are to earn the most you can : Luxemburg
If you're looking to enjoy yourself and have the best quality of life: France

News / Too much change in Poland?! [25]


That's a bad start..Banking and prostitution are the two oldest professions in the world.. You cannot have a strong country without them..

News / Too much change in Poland?! [25]


So what is it that is needed to build a strong country? Present your ideas and then run for office, to see how many Poles agree with you..

Life / Reasons for moving to Poland [291]


Sense of family: OK

Sense of friendship: OK

Beautiful countryside: No. Although the countryside is OK, it pales compared to many other countries (USA; Canada, UK, France, South Africa..) to name a few

Good food: hearty food, yes, but good? One eats better in many countries..

spiritual, simple quiet life: OK

News / Too much change in Poland?! [25]


Have you checked your history books? Arabs were in Spain much before South Americans and did spend an awful long time there.. Spain owes some of its best architecture to them (Alhambra in Granada, "la Mezquita" Mosque in Cordoba)


I think what the Poles and Poland have achieved in only 20 years of freedom is quite remarkable. If you add to this the 20 years between the wars during which Poland was also independant that is still only 40 years altogether over a 200 year span (since the beginning of the XiXth century). Poland has achieved much more during this short period than either the US or Europe over an equivalent period.

USA, Canada / What do Polish people think of the USA [287]


You can see the impact of those remarkable culinary habits on the ever expanding american waistline..Hope Poles will stick to eating herrings and meat without potatoes for breakfast!

Love / POLISH WOMEN ARE PROMISCUOUS? DISCUSS. [153]


I wouldn't say that polish ladies are promiscuous.. In my experience, that is a characteristic more often associated with british girls, especially when drunk!

UK, Ireland / WHAT IS SO SPECIAL LIVING IN U.K [90]


point taken, but that applies to European lager..I don't know about Canadian beer but certainly US beer is one of the most tasteless things I ever drank


agreed, except that when we lived in the UK in the nineties, we found that there was quite a large polish community in South Kensington.. There even was a polish café (Daquise) near the tube station, dunno if it's still there

Love / English boyfriend coming to visit me in Poland [55]


That's a good girl Emily, never leaving a job unfinished??I think you and I could get on well one with another!

Love / English boyfriend coming to visit me in Poland [55]


two fascinating words.what is the intelligentsia? Are these people who consider themselves loftier or more intelligent than others? does it mean that you consider yourself and your family as intellectuals??

Love / English boyfriend coming to visit me in Poland [55]


What do you mean? Murder plan?

Love / Find a Polish girl using Internet [67]


I can understand you turning to Poland.. My (limited) experience tells me that greek ladies are probably among the least attractive in Europe!

Life / Reasons for moving to Poland [291]


Belgium number 6 in the best places to live (see below, thanks McCoy)! That a good reason enough?

1
France
2
Switzerland
3
United States
4
Luxembourg
5
Australia
6
Belgium
7
Italy
8
Germany
9
New Zealand
10
Denmark

11
Malta
Sweden
Uruguay
Lithuania
Czech Republic
Norway
Austria
Netherlands
Canada

12
United Kingdom
Finland
Japan
Liechtenstein

13
Portugal
Slovakia
Spain
Ireland
Slovenia

14
Hungary
Latvia
Korea, South (Rep of)
Saint Kitts & Nevis
Poland
Bermuda
Monaco
Andorra

15
Greece
Iceland

(...)

il-ireland.com/il/qofl2009/

Love / English boyfriend coming to visit me in Poland [55]

Hotel. Although in my case, I must admit that I stayed with my inlaws when I first met her parents (but it was the day before our wedding..)

UK, Ireland / Sad life of a Polish migrant in the UK. Ch. 5 - Racism [259]


!! It is Britain and the US who saved the world from nazism and barbarism.. I lived in the Uk for 8 years, and my overall impression was very positive. It is a nation of tolerant people, and in my view, the justice system is extremely good, with the notion of 'fairness' ingrained. My wife, who is a Pole, went to court against the borough of K&C for a parking fine, and won.. And before you ask: I am neither british nor american!

Food / What is your favorite Polish Vodka? [653]


Right you are.. I remember from my youth days how the next day used to be painful. Now that i am a few years older (and wiser) I drink only quality stuff (quantity has remained much the same) but the days after are a doodle..

News / Poland's fidelity to support wars and its limits. [46]

what is wrong is that these companies will disappear once the ore or oil they dig is gone. They are not creating value, they are just exploiting what is already there..Re companies,comparing Russia with Norway, a country 30 times smaller by population is hardly justified.. I don't either know a large company from San Marino or Monaco, do you? Sticking to the countries you mention, South Africa has SabMiller the brewer, Canada Bombardier the train/tram makers, Brazil has Embraer the plane maker. Where is Russia technologically speaking? What happened to its once powerful airplane industry? It all went down the drain..

News / Poland's fidelity to support wars and its limits. [46]


By third world economy, I mean that Russia's economy is almost entirely based on digging up natural resources like is the case for many third world countries.

Food / What is your favorite Polish Vodka? [653]


Ahem... Who owns Belvedere Vodka? French Luxury Group LVMH.. Who owns Chopin vodka? French luxury group LVMH.. And a last one for the road..who owns Wyborowa? French Group Pernod Ricard..

News / 2009 Quality of Life Index: Poland behind Czech, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia.. [52]


Sure, was so much better when the Berlin Wall was up! Ah, how I long those old fashioned kapos at the Frankfurt/oder crossing between west and east germany, their machine guns, their dogs.. Everyone stay where they belong, and the world will be a better place!

Love / Polish Girls vs Russian Girls [813]


Precisely, that's one of the pbs..Because of much shorter life expectancy (russian men: 62 years vs russian women: 74 years), ,there is an acute shortage of men in Russia (only 86 men for every 100 women). So lets' go guys!!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Russia

Food / Poland known for their sweets? [67]

I agree with you, Jola1, in France also. The "Maison du Chocolat" in Paris is a pure dream...

Food / Poland known for their sweets? [67]

Well, it's all a matter of acquired taste, isn't it? Cadbury? For me it's a bit like Marmite, you have to have been accustomed to it since birth to accept it.. British chocolate can hardly be described as the real stuff.. Indeed it was even labelled "chocolate substitute" until 2003 in certain EU countries because Britain allowed its chocolate makers to put fat (up to 5%) instead of real cocoa in its chocolates. But Britain won in the case in the EU in 2003. For my taste, true chocolate can only be found in Switzerland or Belgium..

USA, Canada / Differences in How Polish People Raise a Child and How Americans Raise a Child [149]

Well, theme seems to become similar to another one on PF, so I copied the response made on the latter, seems relevant..

Itotally agree with English Poznan. Polish Babcias are over protective of kids when young, which doesn't allow them to develop any resistance to minor affections. Plus the people, or at least the ladies, are not adapted to the latitude of their countries; never seen so many women craving for sunshine than in Poland! All this explains why Polish ladies have a life expectancy 6 years lower than in the UK or Germany, and 8 years lower than in Iceland! (see Youth in Europe report by Eurostat on epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/product_details/publicati on?p_product_code=KS-78-09-920

News / Poland's fidelity to support wars and its limits. [46]

Russia is a political/military giant but an emerging (third world?) country from an economical view point, with an economy entirely based on natural resources (gas,oil, metals)..There are no leading Russian company which is non natural resources based (contrary to Brazil, India or China..) In fact, the difficulty with Russia is that it is not moving forward but rather backwards, with the acute conscience among Russian themselves that "before , it was better". Just an example,life expectancy for males, now at 66 yrs (9 yrs below polish males) and has been declining over the past 20 years...

News / 2009 Quality of Life Index: Poland behind Czech, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia.. [52]


Well, I spent 5 weeks driving around California and the one thing that surprised me most then was the appalling state of the roads.. Mind you it was 7 years ago, maybe things have improved since..

UK, Ireland / UK Sky TV in Poland [39]

You can get SKY with a polish address at the firm below (Satellite Service). But it will cost you extra on top of the normal fee (I pay 240 GBP in addition to the subscription annually for all SKY channels in HD)

Satellite Service
tel. 022-812 75 76

Life / Do Polish workers have post-Christmas break? [12]

On one hand, you have to take into account that it is frequent for a letter/card posted from Poland (or at least Warsaw) to a foreign destination (at least in Europe) to travel faster than one from Warsaw to Warsaw (also true when you compare Europe to Warsaw with Warsaw-Warsaw). I have had several examples this year again with Xmas cards. I am told that this is a remnant of the old times, when all resources/efforts at Poczta Polska were focused on international traffic rather than domestic, in order for PP to show its best face internationally!

On the other hand, I have lived for some time in 4 countries (Poland, Canada, Uk and France) and by far the worst postal service I encountered was Royal Mail. I cannot recall the number of items I received at my address which were meant for someone else, which always led me to wonder how much of my mail was delivered elsewhere.. But that was in the nineties, maybe things have improved now!