USA, Canada / To move back to Poland from the USA or not to move back....that is the question [119]

You may want to contact the folks who write this blog david-polanddavid.blogspot.com
They are a retired couple who have made the move to Poland and probably know a lot about sorting out the details with taxes and health care.

Good luck!

Law / Buying a USED CAR in Poland, my personal experiences and TRAPS to avoid !! [133]

I have sent a new car from America to Poland, bought a new car in Poland from the dealer, bought a 2-year-old car from the original owner but through "komis", have sold a car through alegro and am now thinking about selling another car. I think I am lucky because I have not encountered any of the issues described by the author of this post.

I, too, follow the mantra of trust no one, but when we sold one car before, it had a stone-damaged windshield that we had filled in (it was a small spot) and had been thinking about changing the whole windshield. It really can happen.

And now the car I am thinking about selling, it has some dents and scratches (all acquired in parking situations - nobody left a note, of course) and we have considered a re-paint or partial repaint which would cause paint thickness differentials on the czujnik.

And our newest car acquired a scratch (ok, I did it) and we had it fixed and painted the whole panel and blended the color. That would also cause differentials but the structure of the car remained unharmed.

I have pictures of all stages of repairs on all my cars (mantra - don't trust the body shop) and anyhow, any potential buyer would know immediately that as an American I am inherently trustworthy ;)

Food / The most typical ingredient used in Polish cuisine [28]

According to my mother-in-law it would be salt, vegeta and lard ;)

Law / Starting a private kindergarten in Poland [44]

But also keep in mind the point I made about private vs public (in Wroclaw). We are one of those foreign families with bi-lingual children that usually flock to private daycare centers. Additionally, we can afford a private daycare center. However, we chose a public daycare center because it is nicer than any private center we visited (in Wroclaw). And I don't mean it is a little bit better. It is so much better that the choice was simple. Luckily we "got in". Bribes (as mentioned above) were not needed in our case ;)

Law / Starting a private kindergarten in Poland [44]

In my experience as a parent, I have not seen any private daycare centers in Wrocław that can even compare to my kids' public daycare - and that is without even considering the fees.

Our public daycare center has spacious classrooms fully equipped with desks, toys, books, full WC facilities per room. The playground is extraordinarily well-equipped and has a WC with direct access from the playground. The center also has an auditorium/gym where the kids give performances and enjoy other activities. Every group has 2 teachers and the "little" kids have 2 teachers and a helper. Children attend gymnastic exercise courses and have speech therapy. Catechism is available to those parents who wish to send their children as well.

Our public daycare costs us (with extra fees for the parents group and extra sports) about 400 zl a month per child including cooked meals. If your child is out for the day for whatever reason, you do not pay. The private centers cost at least 800 (up to 1500) plus meals and does not have the facilities of the public.

So where does that leave the private centers? - bursting at the seams. I was afraid that my child would not have enough "points" to get into the public center so that is why I checked into the private centers. They are full of all the overflow kids who didn't get into the public center or who live too far. I have found that private centers are plan B for many parents, not plan A even for those parents who can afford private centers. Judging by the cars in the parking lot, I would say that plenty of parents at our public daycare could afford a private center but the public is just plain better.

So I guess the moral of my story is to either locate yourself in a place where you can catch all the overflow kids and/or make your center so outstanding that it will become a desirable plan A for the parents.

Good luck!

Language / Polish words difficult to translate into English [66]

kombinować???

Life / Having a baby in Poland as a US citizen [9]

My American friends were all amazed at how I came home from the hospital with only 4 pounds of baby weight left to lose. Maybe it was the suppers of chicken hearts that did it?

Smacznego!

kielbasastories.blogspot.com

Life / Having a baby in Poland as a US citizen [9]

Hi-
I'm American and I have given birth to 2 children here in Poland. The difference is that my husband is Polish and I know a little Polish. I didn't have the health issues that you have so I didn't need to know much more in Polish than "push". I think that if you cannot find a doctor who can speak English then you could hire someone as a translator/liaison (or maybe 2 people, one as a spare) to accompany you to all your appointments and ultimately to the birth as well.

On a side note, if your doctor promises to be at your birth and this is your only English-speaking contact, it would still be a good idea to have another person to help you with all the paperwork and be there just in case your doctor is late or isn't able to arrive in time. The translator can also explain some "Polish" things to you that are not language related but culture related.

I wish you all the best!

Genealogy / Polish soil - who wants to buy? Does it have any sentimental value? [11]

Me too!

This idea reminds me a little bit of the piece of the Berlin Wall that my father bought (Although he was right at the wall when it came down, he still paid somebody for a piece of it along with a t-shirt that reads "I was there" in German.) It is a really cool piece of rock, chipped out of the wall. Interestingly enough it has graffiti on all sides, hee, hee.

kielbasastories.blogspot.com

Work / Golf jobs in Poland [3]

My brother-in-law who is German plays golf at a local club and uses the services of the pros. Many of the pros are not Polish. As far as I can tell they are not employed on a full-time basis but rather get paid by the hour for the hours they have clients.

Good luck!

Law / Shipping a car from USA to Poland [86]

I brought my car to Poland a few years ago. I went through the company DOMA located in the Newark area. I didn't have to pay any customs/duties because the car was mine before I got residence in Poland and you have the right to bring a certain amount of your belongings to your new country of residence. If that is the case for you, then you need to arrange it through the Polish Embassy in the US. I arranged everything by post. Are you planning to live here long term? If not, I wouldn't do it. On a short-term basis, I would lease a car here.

Good luck!

Law / How to register a foreign Non-EU car in Poland? [25]

HI-

I brought my American car to Poland and registered it successfully. First I needed some kind of permission to bring my car to Poland exempt from tax (the duties and whatever else). I got this from the Polish embassy in the US. The nearest embassy was pretty far away so I sent my application and my American passport by courier and I sent a pre-paid envelope to get it back which I did after 3 days. No red tape involved. I had to prove that I was a resident of Poland and that the car was purchased before receiving residence. Why? Because you have the right to bring your possessions without paying taxes but you have to own them first I suppose.

Next I went to an import/export company in the US (I was there for Christmas) and sent the car. The car arrived about a month later and I picked it up. I had all the documents so I insured it (for a period of one month) before I picked it up. One month of insuring a foreign registered car costs about the same as one year of insuring the same car registered in Poland. In that one month I made all the changes needed, translated all the documents, got my inspection papers, registered the car and insured it.

I was stopped by the police often but not for the foreign plates but because my state in the US doesn't have plates on the front so the police who saw me from the front always directed me to pull over....ok, and once for speeding.

My biggest problem in registering the car was that I did not have a PESEL number at the time and without filling in that field in the computer, you cannot really register your car. There is a PESEL on my car documents but it is made up. Don't tell anyone.

I also had a problem because the production year and the model year were different and my engine did not have a serial number but we sorted it out somehow.

Good luck!

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

davidpeake: Try es polska. It is a Czech company and they build a house for you on your land (your project or theirs). I think that they have some price info on their webpage and even if you are not interested ultimately in their service, you can still get an offer from them and get the info you need out of them. I am sure that they have an office in Wroclaw.

About the concrete second floor. I have a normal "upstairs" and a loft. We exposed the wooden beams everywhere and replaced the wooden floor upstairs with....another wooden floor of wide planks. Yes, you can hear everything but it is not just because of the wood. It is because the wooden planks were installed directly on the beams. There is insulation but the planks are directly on the beams with no cork or anything to absorb sound.

Good luck

Love / Do Polish Women age well? [153]

When I compare my mother (American) and my mother-in-law (Polish), I always estimate my m-i-l as older although they are the same age. Part of it is (as someone mentioned before) the fact that my m-i-l got married and started her family as a teen. By the time she was 34 (my age group) she was a grandmother. Now she is a great-grandmother and has grandchildren and a great-grandchild the same age. She looks and behaves older than she is. She also doesn't take care of herself, seems unaware of what a healthy diet is, never goes to the doctor and she smokes.

Once when I couldn't find her at home, I began searching for her at the neighbor's (morning coffee). I found her at one neighbor's place. My m-i-l and the neighbor for me were identical in style and age. The same "shades of autumn" hair color cut in a short and practical style. The same blouse and skirt with fartuch regardless of activity or weather. Total lack of grooming except for the hair coloring. The same obligatory killer cup of coffee and cigarette in hand. I was shocked to later find out that the neighbor was my age - in her 30's not in her 60's. Maybe it is a village thing too. I think income can be part of it as well.

About some of the young, attractive women of today -Let's just wait 30 years to see the effects of all the solarium use of today.

kielbasastories.blogspot.com

Life / Wszystkich Świętych (All Saints Day) // Dzien Zaduszny (All Souls day) [93]

I went to Catholic school as a child (I'm American) and we celebrated Halloween in school and the next day we went to a special All Saint's Day mass. We didn't have any problems mixing up the fun day for kids with the solemn day of remembrance.

We had a Halloween party for our kids here in Poland and visited a few neighbors for trick or treating. Our neighbors were kind and gracious and pretended to be scared of our little guys. We also had a few older kids at our door and even the hike to the top floor of our apartment building didn't discourage them.

I agree with the other posters that the atmosphere at the cemetery on Nov 1st cannot be beaten. I think it can be a moving experience even for those people who are not esp religious.

Law / Shipping a car from USA to Poland [86]

I shipped a car from the US to Poland from NJ using DOMA. It was my car before I became a Polish resident so I had the right to bring it to Poland for my own use. I got all the information I needed from the Polish Embassy in the US and also from DOMA. The people at DOMA double checked that I had the correct information and paperwork before I brought my car there. I paid $800 from NJ to Warsaw (I had the choice of pick-up in Warsaw or Gdansk for the same price) plus I insured the car/container for $10,000 which cost $100- so $900 all in all. After I arrived at DOMA they told me that I could also transport some belongings in the car but I didn't know that before so it was too late. Also bigger cars require bigger containers which cost more.

The car has to be insured to drive on Polish roads from the moment you leave the import/export grounds so I got a one-month policy in Poland under the American registration (before I picked up the car) and then after getting Polish registration I got a normal policy for a year. I had to change the lights a little (change the red turn signal to yellow) but it wasn't costly. The reason I brought the car was because it was brand new and the resale price in the US wasn't in my favor. It was actually more cost-effective to bring it to Poland than to sell it in the US and buy something in Poland.

Good luck.