The BEST Guide to POLAND
Unanswered  |  Archives [3] 
  
Account: Guest

Posts by bullfrog  

Joined: 23 Apr 2009 / Male ♂
Warnings: 1 - A
Last Post: 19 Aug 2015
Threads: Total: 6 / Live: 0 / Archived: 6
Posts: Total: 602 / Live: 125 / Archived: 477
From: istanbul
Speaks Polish?: trochke

Displayed posts: 125 / page 1 of 5
sort: Oldest first   Latest first   |
bullfrog   
31 Dec 2009
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!
bullfrog   
8 Jan 2010
Food / What is your favorite Polish Vodka? [653]

Belveder or Chopin
If you have $30-$35 to spend but woth it, smooth and delicate. Ditch Grey Goose (french) for good classie POLISH VODKA.

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..
bullfrog   
10 Jan 2010
Food / What is your favorite Polish Vodka? [653]

I'll still swear you get what you pay for. Belvedere is much kinder to me next day than, let's say, Skol.

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..
bullfrog   
17 Jan 2010
Love / POLISH WOMEN ARE PROMISCUOUS? DISCUSS. [153]

apparently British women do just the same, read about it in a paper. are British women considered promiscuous?

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!
bullfrog   
17 Jan 2010
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..
bullfrog   
18 Jan 2010
Life / Do you think that Polish people are rude? [951]

One thing I noticed time and time again is that Poles do not wait for everybody to be served before starting to eat.. On the other hand, men are much more polite/gallant with women compared to the West (they hold doors, pass coats..)
bullfrog   
24 Jan 2010
Life / Polish and Czechs [191]

i'm Polish and i don't view Czechs superior to us in any way

GDP/hab in Czech republic is 30-40% higher than in Poland

.also an average Czech city doesn't differ from an average Polish cit

As a foreigner, It seems to me that when you cross from Poland to Czech, the villages become more neat. Generally, the road and urban signage is also less shoddy than in Poland, more "in ordnung"..

Prague is one of the prettiest cities i have ever seen.

Agreed. For me, Prague and Paris are the most beautiful cities in Europe

If there was a Polish, Czech and Slovak sub-union within the E.U. that acted as one state that could ease things in this regard.

That is unlikely to happen. Remember, Czech and Slovak used to be one, now there are two of them. The most distinct characteristic of Slavic people is that they like to argue for minor issues.. In addition, Czechs don't like Poles for many reasons, one being Cieszyn (the Poles don't like being reminded of this, because it somewhat questions their "victim" status of WW2), the other being that when the Prague spring broke out, Mocow sent Warsaw pact troops to quash it and among those troops,there were many Poles- admittedly this has nothing to do with true Poland..
bullfrog   
4 Feb 2010
Travel / How do I go by ferry from south of England to Gdynia? [15]

No point, he's in Portsmouth. There's also the Harwich-Hoek van Holland service which might make sense - Portsmouth to Harwich is a straight run, instead of crawling across the south coast.

I did this several years ago, and for me at the time the best was to book a cabin on the overnight from Harwich to Hoek, it arrives in Hoek at 7 am and then it's an easy drive to Gdynia (less than a day)..
bullfrog   
8 Feb 2010
Life / Famous / Iconic Polish Women [48]

The mere fact that Maria Curie-Skłodowska was able to receive two Nobel Prizes starts with another woman, Jadwiga Szczawińska, who organised the Flying University

Interesting.. Ialways thought that the chief reason Marie Curie-Sklodowska went to study in France is because she could not attend university in Poland. So did she attend the underground University?
bullfrog   
10 Feb 2010
Life / Fat People in Poland? [161]

First of all Poland has no Blacks or Latinos who are the fatter on average

?? According to the link displayed by jwojcie, there is a higher prevalence of fat men in the USA than in any country of Latin America or Africa. So it not the race that make people fat, it is the US lifestyle..

Third communism produced slim people due to state control calory intake.

Nonsense.. Spaniards or French are thinner on average than Poles or Czechs.. And there are fewer fat people in countries such as Luxembourg, Scandinavia et al that are richer per capita than the US..
bullfrog   
14 Feb 2010
Real Estate / Apartments too expensive for Poles living in Poland [54]

The wages over there are been kept criminally low as part of their governments agenda to compete in the free market economy

No. The starting point was low, but the avarge growth paid has been growing at a much higher rate than in most western countries
bullfrog   
16 Feb 2010
Life / Feeling ashamed of my Polish heritage. [237]

Have a look what they write about Poland in the Economist. It is not a Polish magazine I guess (-:

Who is they? I fact, it's mostly Rostowski who wrote the article (remember, before being Minister, he used to write in the FT and WBJ..)
bullfrog   
16 Feb 2010
Food / Do Polish people really love cabbage ?? [78]

Reminds me of a pre 89 Polish joke: what is 100 m long, moves slowly and reeks of cabbage? Queue of Poles buying bread..
bullfrog   
17 Feb 2010
Language / Polish was chosen the HARDEST LANGUAGE in the world to learn... :D [1558]

Polish has an objective structure. If you want to speak Polish you have to get
inside it. Nevermind if you like it or not (-:

The structure of the Polish language mirrors that of the Polish mind: an island of rationality surrounded by an ocean of irrationality (or vice versa!)
bullfrog   
6 Mar 2010
Life / Giving tips in Poland [235]

Yet most waiters have decided they "deserve" the tip because they don't get much in salary. Sorry it doesn't work that way.

The system in the US is just plain stupid. Service should be included in the price like in most other countries in the world. Than you can add 1, 2 maybe 5% if the service has been particularly good. Many tourists coming rom outside just don't realize that there is nothing at all included in the price you are charged for service, that's why there is confusion, it's not because they are necessarily stingy.

Same thing with the sales tax in shops. Why can't it just be added and included in the price?? The US are sometimes so parochial!!
bullfrog   
6 Mar 2010
Life / Giving tips in Poland [235]

To an American, if someone doesn't instantly jump out and make you feel like you've made a new best friend, the service is immediately dire.

very true indeed

It's a normal, human behavior to become complacent.

In this case, why don't doctors/dentists/lawyers also get paid only on a "tip" only basis? Work should be properly remunerated whether it's that of a waiter, a guide,a doctor or a lawyer..
bullfrog   
5 Sep 2011
Life / 3 reasons why you hate Poland. [1049]

They have no manners, Polish elite were eradicated and the People's Republic did not care much for bourgeois trivia.

Well, not sure I agree.. In fact, I found people in Poland much more educated and polite than in Britain or most western countries, especially as far as men's attitude toward women:

- help ladies put on coats
- hold car doors for ladies
- ...

It is however true that this is less and less prevalent among the younger generation
bullfrog   
5 Sep 2011
Life / 3 reasons why you hate Poland. [1049]

I know I'm probably a little older than most on PF, but I see it happening quite often in Warsaw in restaurants etc.. It's true that it's more frequent among.. lets' say.. middle aged people. But I suppose you can't have it all : Wroclaw has a large student population, which is part of its attractivity (it is in fact my preferred polish city) but this means that old school good manners tend to be less practised..
bullfrog   
16 Sep 2011
Love / Do Polish men make good husbands? [106]

they think women can't drive cars

my polish wife does

can't do construction work

mine supervises all construction work we do

leave cars and mechanical stuff to men

she takes car of the maintenance of our cars

noticed polish women expect from you mechanical and engineering work at home to be able to do repairs

She also takes car of that (has been putting together IKEA stuff for our new apartment in Zürich)..
bullfrog   
18 Sep 2011
Life / Do you think that Polish people are rude? [951]

Kiss a woman's hand? I've never seen that and if I tried it myself, I'd get a slap ;)

Offer to carry your heavy bags? Haven't seen that either

How long have you been living in Poland , Seanus?? And where do you live? This still happens quite regularly in Warsaw...
bullfrog   
18 Sep 2011
Life / Do you think that Polish people are rude? [951]

Come on Seanus, no one is saying that is a "norm" nowadays (maybe in the past) but you can quite regularly encounter this attitude in Poland; besides, I have certainly never seen in any of the "western" countries I go to (UK, France, Switzerland, US, Italy, Germany)
bullfrog   
18 Sep 2011
Life / Do you think that Polish people are rude? [951]

The gallant attitude towards ladies.. If it happens also in Scotland, then great, they're not in the list of countries I quoted (been there only twice, once in Edinburgh the other on the Isle of Arran, must say I loved it).
bullfrog   
2 Oct 2011
News / US to deploy Patriot missiles to Poland [405]

How can that moron Obama

you preferred moron Bush, Seanus?

Russians are a damn terror when they want to fight

only when they are drunk!

They are logical

russians logical? come on, they are slavs and slavs are instinctive not rational (just look at Poland's history!)