The BEST Guide to POLAND
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Posts by convex  

Joined: 25 Nov 2009 / Male ♂ 		Last Post: 28 Nov 2011
Threads: Total: 20 / Live: 15 / Archived: 5
Posts: Total: 3,928 / Live: 3,896 / Archived: 32 		From: Wroclaw
Speaks Polish?: un poco...wait
Interests: aviation

Displayed posts: 3911 / page 6 of 131
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convex   
17 Jan 2010
Life / Reasons for moving to Poland [291]

but on average Luxemburg has by far the highest standard of living in EU

The thing about Luxembourg is that it's very expensive, and if you're not involved in finance, your salary won't be all that great. On the other hand, unemployment is really low, but the market isn't exactly huge, and native french and german speakers are in ample supply on both sides of the border. For white collar work, Luxembourg is great. Lots of contracting opportunities available.

all have euros (so has Denmark)

Denmark is still on the crown
convex   
17 Jan 2010
Life / Poles are not racist [873]

i have been in Poland for years

why in gods name would you stay in a place like that?
convex   
19 Jan 2010
Food / Schmaltz.. is it still used in Poland [21]

Smalec cooked with onions and bacon bits and spread on bread is a good way to keep you foreigners from falling over after the fifteenth vodka shot. Russians and Poles have known this for centuries. In fact, any fat food will do.

schmaltz, herring in cream sauce, egg salad...healthy pile of dark bread
convex   
23 Jan 2010
Law / Polish Cop Took My Car Registration :S [143]

I asked him exactly what to do, and he said the typical (in Polish) "You're in Poland, you must speak Polish, yadayada". I said "I want to know what to do". I further said "you stopped me, you want to talk to me, and since you can't, call in a translator." That followed with "nie mój problemu do widzenia" and walked off.

Ask for a translator from the start. They won't use force to get your documents...
convex   
23 Jan 2010
Life / Polish and Czechs [190]

I dream about Liechtenstein someday invade us and forcibly incorporate to their duty. This nightmare would be over. :)

That is one of the greatest comments i've seen posted here.
convex   
23 Jan 2010
Law / Polish Cop Took My Car Registration :S [143]

Does anyone know if one has the right to a translator/interpreter in Poland? Does one have the right to a state paid interpreter if detained? During criminal proceedings?
convex   
23 Jan 2010
Law / Polish Cop Took My Car Registration :S [143]

Is that for any interaction with the police, or when you're being charged with a criminal offense? Is there any criteria?
convex   
23 Jan 2010
Law / Polish Cop Took My Car Registration :S [143]

Of course not.

thus the question

You have the right to a sworn translator if you're the accused or witness in criminal proceedings.

that's exactly what I was looking for, thanks!
convex   
23 Jan 2010
Life / Polish stereotypes of other nationalities!? [472]

Great list! :) I had fun. Too bad you didn't put there Russians too.

Or Americans...we're waiting for the second round. Maybe we will get an entire post devoted to the two of us.
convex   
24 Jan 2010
Life / Polish and Czechs [190]

So i asked them how many words they knew in Welsh, Celt or Gaelic (Scotts and Irish lingos) and funny enough, they didnt know any!

How much Hungarian do you know? German?

It would make near as much sense to learn Welsh or Gaelic as 99.999% of speakers also speak English. There is no common language among the countries that you mentioned, so it would make sense to learn a bit of vocabulary from your neighbors.

Yes,Czechs deep inside like the Russians although not admiring that openly but their behavior shows other things.And Russians like CR.

Czechs don't really hold a grudge that well over multiple generations.

I think Karlovy Vary is now officially considered a part of Russia. 2 flights a day to Moscow, and 3 times a week to Petersburg :)
convex   
24 Jan 2010
Life / Polish stereotypes of other nationalities!? [472]

I can tell you I'd never ever seen before in Russia people drinking that much

that much, that quickly. Thankfully it usually stops after 2-3 hours.
convex   
24 Jan 2010
Life / Polish and Czechs [190]

A Czech anecdote... President of Czech Rep says: "If Russia keeps on threatening us over installation of missile-shield, I'll issue an order to bomb Karlovy Vary". :)

HEH!

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"..

I noticed that too, especially coming down the E67 and the 462.
convex   
24 Jan 2010
Life / Do expats living in Poland speak Polish? [233]

and the nightmarish insanely hard language

What's so difficult about it? I mean, if you put in just a wee bit of effort, you can communicate. You don't have to be grammatically correct to be understood or to understand for that matter. The "It's so hard" excuse is a cop out.
convex   
24 Jan 2010
Life / Poczta Polska Is Killing ME! Transit time. [28]

They're a nightmare because of old people using them for a social life and allegro traders posting endless pieces. That's not Poczta Polska's fault.

That is front and center PPs fault. Have you seen anything implemented in the last 5 years to increase efficiency? I've got three of those little package slips on my desk right now, why aren't the packages delivered to me?
convex   
24 Jan 2010
Law / Polish Cop Took My Car Registration :S [143]

If they really were corrupt, they'd have made it clear that he either paid up there and then or face being taken to the station until he proved his identity.

You know, I would much rather pay the "spot fee" than to go to the station. I'm an enabler, what can I say. I used to get pulled over all the time up until about 5 years ago. Since then, I've been pulled over a whole two times, rightfully tagged by the radar gun. No payment or ticket either time. One of those times was in Katowice a couple of years back at about 3am. I was driving back from Kielce to Wroclaw and I explained that I needed to get back and my girlfriend was waiting. The ticket? A promise to go buy 100zl worth of flowers for my girlfriend. Girlfriend was happy the next day, police avoided paperwork, everyone was happy.
convex   
24 Jan 2010
Life / Horribly cold in Krakow at the moment , how do you cope with such temperatures ? [124]

How do you deal with cold temperatures?

I tend to just turn up the heat a bit higher. I turn on the heater full blast in the car before I turn it off, and then start it from the apartment before going out. When I walk somewhere, I just put on gloves and my gortex and don't stand still for too long...that seems to work.
convex   
24 Jan 2010
Genealogy / How hard is it to get a Polish passport? [74]

No, it means that when you're in Poland you're treated by the authorities as any other Pole. So if you get into trouble in Poland, you can't rely on the US/UK etc embassy for any help as Poland won't recognise you as anything else except as a Polish citizen. This is true for most countries I think...

All countries treat dual citizens this way. That's why you legally can't enter Poland on a US passport if you also have Polish citizenship.

Some countries don't allow dual citizenship at all, that is, if you carry a passport of another country, you can't remain a citizen of the original country. The USA for instance requires that you give up your US citizenship if you are naturalized in another country. If you are born with the foreign citizenship, then you are a dual national by birth and you may keep both passports.
convex   
24 Jan 2010
Travel / Driving to Poland from Ireland end of jan, Need Advice [26]

I just plowed from Wroclaw to Frankfurt return without a problem. The A4 was completely clear. Good driving all the way through. If you're driving through Germany, ADAC has current information on traffic and road conditions on their website.
convex   
24 Jan 2010
Work / Polish qualifications, what are they worth ? [137]

For instance, I had some teaching hours that I didn't want. I could've advertised it, interviewed people, etc etc - but it was simply easier and more effective to give the hours to someone I already knew than to bother advertising it.

That is different from the situation where you need qualified labor for a position, and you instead give the position to someone who is unqualified, or underqualified, just because you know them.
convex   
25 Jan 2010
Life / Polish and Czechs [190]

Studying languages shouldn't be obligatory I think or at least one should have a wide choice...

English is more of a required business skill now, like math, basic sciences... Making English obligatory at a young age gives you much better chances at being successful in the meshed global world. English allows you to work and communicate in just about every country in the world, it's just another plus. Learning another language out of love for the language is a bonus. But English, like it or not, is a must for a decent job in the global world. You probably can sleep through your English classes if you want to be a mechanic in Warsaw, or a brick layer in Ostrava...but if you want to work for a company that has a presence, or customers in any other country, English is a must.

Once French is out of the way, going to switch back to sadistic slavic languages and try to pick up Russian. I'm seeing 6 months in a village somewhere to make that happen...
convex   
25 Jan 2010
News / The Internet totally uncontrolled in Poland? [19]

why should the Internet be the only medium where anything goes?

Well, there are already laws on the books against the material you mentioned. Filtering doesn't work (see Australia), and is ultimately abused by those creating the criteria for filtering (again, see Australia). Filtering will be circumvented by anyone that wants to access that type of information, and will ultimately just degrade the normal users experience and lead to a situation where govt. is responsible for deciding what is considered acceptable for the population to view. Is Indymedia acceptable? What exactly could be considered offensive or slanderous to the president, and should that be filtered? Censorship doesn't work, resources should be put towards catching the people that are breaking the law.