Life / Men in Poland in the forest? Just men? [133]

I,ll try to answer questions first. My wife cannot tell me why the men gather in the forest, she is from Silesia and says she is sure they do not do it there. She is also sure that she cannot ever remember guys squatting in circles in Silesia or Krakow or any other major city she has visited....they just do it here. As for the guys having these 'get togethers' in the forest, now I have spent many years in most of the other European countries including some Northern ones that get cold like Poland (Sweden/Denmark) and in none of them have I witnessed this guys in the forest thing.....so it must be an Eastern Polish thing....not a Western thing? Miners squatting, have you ever been in a mine??? not much room to do anything but squat!!!! Not a job I would like to do. Somebody also mentions that Asian women squat....yes they do, but seperately from the men. Here just the men and boys squat...the women are always excluded from this squatting and even working in the fields in summer, I see men squatting and the girls and women reclining seperately away from the men. Pictures.....do you really want pictures, it really is no problem to do that, but I cannot see why you do not believe what I report, why on earth would anyone make up a spurious report about men gathering in the forest and or squatting on their haunches!!!....oh and they do it in summer or winter, doesn,t seem to bother them. My point really is that I have never seen this anywhere else in Europe and would like someone to tell me why it happens here and not in Germany, not in Belgium, not in Denmark, not in America...just in the 'Pod' or does it happen where you are?? do they squat in circles in towns nearer to the German border? or is it an Asian trait that has come down through the ages in just this little corner of Poland? and why is it still here?? it wasn,t exactly last week that Ghengis and his pals were having a pillaging party in this village???

Life / Men in Poland in the forest? Just men? [133]

As usual there are those of you who are rightly embarrassed and those of you who have tried to explain. I had hoped that you could explain the social reasons for these gatherings of guys in the forest? Of course I realise that they are not gay (or not likely to be). (my wife laughed at some of your comments!!) I had also hoped that someone could come up with a sensible explanation about the guys squatting in circles and not all of them are drunk or drinking...just conversing, (you will note that I also told you that young male children/teens do it.....not girls... just boys...thats what makes it so peculiar looking to me...it is a purely male province just as it is in Asian countries) so it must be something that they saw father and grandfather do and must therefore think that way is correct. I,m sure that when Poles from this area visit America they do not squat around in circles on the pavements? they see people acting differently and do the same......so I conclude that these Asian style actions (in this area...you will note that I asked if they do the same in other areas?) are something from the history of this area and may even be unique to it......We all think of Poland as a Western country, but the actions of these guys show that there is some Asian influence, perhaps passed down through the ages....I hoped that one of you would have been versed enough in history to give an explanation? Sopot Kamionka gave most sensible explanation...... thanks, but it must go deeper as I said, to me an outsider it all seems very Asian.....it didn,t just happen, they do know what chairs are..so it must be some kind of tradition? how has it survived all this time??

Life / Men in Poland in the forest? Just men? [133]

Well yes I do live in the Podkarpacie and although a poor area it is very beautiful (if only the people would not dump their rubbish at the roadside and in the forests??) The people are very friendly and welcoming to foreigners although they do not seem to trust any Poles outside their immediate family and believe everyone else is out to cheat them. Children here do not have 'sleepovers' or other children at their houses (except cousins and immediate family) Birthday parties may include an old grandma but exclude a childs best friend from school because they are not 'family'. When I asked why this was...? a man looked at me strangely and said "we do not have other peoples children in our house because they will steal from us"!!!! Families keep very much together (perhaps too much so in the long term, if you follow my meaning?) Another strange thing that I have noted here is the fact that a group of men gathered together will squat down in a circle, like Afghan peasants??? why is this? even young men do it? There are never any girls in these squatting groups and girls/women do not do it. It reminds me of the way men act in Asia and North Africa. Perhaps I need to study the History of this part of Poland in more depth. I think I expected it to be a bit like Germany, my wife is from Silesia and tells me that these people are nothing like Silesians in their culture.....before I came to Poland to live, a Polish guy I worked with asked me where I was going to live and when I said 'Podkarpacie' he laughed and said that is not Poland!! it was just added on at some time in our history, he was from one of the big cities. Is there some strange Asian sub-culture here? is it known among other Poles that these people are different.......do men squat together in a circle in Gdansk??? or is it just here?

I see that you have learnt from your mistake. Well done.

History / WWII - who really was the first to help Poland? [901]

Whenever I read a thread like this (and I didn,t read all of it) I always think of poor old General Patton, now there was a man with vision, he hated the Soviets and could see what a threat they would be, he and Churchill argued that while the West had such a huge and co-hesive Armed Force they should push through Germany and the Eastern countries of Europe, inevitably destroying the Soviets and pushing them back into Russia. Think of a Europe with all those Warsaw Pact countries free to develop democracy (and not feed Soviet greed) there would have been American money to help as well, like they did with Germany, they would have needed a strong border with the Soviets and would have helped these countries to build their industries and wealth, almost as importantly there would have been NATO style bases in all of the Warsaw Pact countries and inter-action with Westerners. Poland would certainly be a different place now. But as we know, nobody else agreed to the plan and Patton was sent to 'rest' in an insane asylum. How he must have laughed when he was proved so right. (he did say publicily that if we dont stop the Soviets they will be "knocking on our door within 5 years" that one he was wrong about...it took them much less than 5 years. (Berlin Blockade). I forgot to add that Poland would also be a much bigger country as it would get back all those territories that are even now part of other countries.

Classifieds / Meeting / English Club in Rzeszów [21]

Several of us live out Czudec way. Regards Steve....been here almost 3 yrs........then theres Eddy from Yorkshire, and a few more dotted around.

News / New uniforms for Polish Army [30]

Pull up a sandbag young officer, lets set the old lamp swinging and I,ll tell a couple of old Army stories......way back in the 70,s when I was a young NCO and had the pleasure of hauling around an old Signals truck, well, we gets to this Exercise location (one of the 'Reforger' manoeuvres) and I being two days early get all set up nice and warm in this big old barn. (set up means an hour or more of wiring and powering up) Two days later along comes the American truck that was alocated to be parked in the barn also. The driver comes and finds me and says "sorry but you,ll have to move over 4 feet or so closer to the wall" "what??? why do you guys need so much room between the trucks"?? at this point the guy decides to demonstrate rather than speak, he presses a button on the side of the truck and the whole side moves out another half a width!!!!!!! I had never seen this type of expanding body truck before and gained some respect for other people,s equipment!!! obviously had a bigger cheque book than we did, but also...we had 2 telprinters in my truck, they must have had 10 or 15 in that behemoth. Yes I did move my truck, I could see a good reason why.....and they made good coffee in the back of that American truck and I was made welcome too. At one point one of the American guys asked if he could examine my rifle ( 7.62mm L1A1SLR.....UK made FN FAL) "Wow this thing is as heavy as a section Machine gun" I replied "yes it is heavy but very high velocity and it can easily kill at over a mile, if a round hits even at that distance it might take an arm off, either way whoever it hits won,t be getting up again for a long time" He looked at me and said can you see a target at a mile or more? Hmmm I had to think about that one........No I said......you are right it is useless at that range......but trust me when a round from this goes by close you get down and stay under cover" His rifle seemed like a plastic toy to me, but I assumed it was a fairly good killing machine and wished that mine only weighed that much. (The only American Unit I ever served with was 3 years at COM6ATAF way back in the late 70,s)

Life / Exam for Drivers License in Poland; English? [99]

Tell me what the law is? My UK licence is an EU licence designed to be used across Europe and looks exactly the same as a Polish licence...so that a Policeman in any EU country can look at it and see what I am qualified to drive, when it was issued, is it currently valid. So what if I have a UK licence and a Polish licence.....how would that be complex? I,m taking a leaf out of Jason Bourne,s book, maybe I,ll get 6 passports next.

Thankyou for that document Warsaski, But I do live here, I have lived here for almost three years continuously....I own a nice farm in the Podarpacie region (a very beautiful area)...My UK licence is valid until I am 70 years old. But like I said, it didn,t do Jason Bourne any harm to 'hedge his bets' Yes I do know that Bourne is a fantasy character.

Life / Exam for Drivers License in Poland; English? [99]

I,m sure it can be exchanged legally......but in the mean time as an Englishman I am going to send off for a replacement UK licence (I,ll say the wife washed it on a very hot wash!!!) I,ll pay the £10 and get a duplicate licence, I will then use one of them to exchange for a Polish Licence and I,ll have the best of both worlds...maybe it can work for you?

Law / Possible to convert to Turkish driver's license to Polish driver's license? [17]

When I arrived here in Poland I wondered why so many Turkish students even in the 'Hick town' where I live (depths of the Podkarpacie) then I remembered, Turkey is not going to get EU membership, mainly due to the fact that there are so many of them and they would 'swamp' us even if a small proportion of them decided to move here. So they need things like 'study' in an EU country, and a paper trail of things like 'driving licences' then manybe even marry some dumb village girl.....get an EU passport and Europe is theirs. Pakistanis have been doing it in UK for ages.

News / New uniforms for Polish Army [30]

My point about the new Brit Army uiforms is that although they do have parade uniforms they are most seen in towns in the new scruffy combats that do look like a 'bag of shiite tied in the middle' The Americans on the other hand do not and never have liked their soldiers to be seen in fatigues in town, they would be expected to put on a tidy uniform, at least way back when I was in 'barrack and working dress' was considered tidy enough to be seen in towns and it was. Hmmmm a 'Walt' ?? I suppose there always has to be a time when some upstart calls you that, perhaps you would like to go back to your buddies at ARRSE and report me to the Walt finders??? My little Red Books says I was on Op Corporate.........but I,m sure the walt finders would be able to put your mind at rest from the previous posts I have made on ARRSE. I brought some lovely souvenirs home from Op Corporate, one of which was a beautifully made trench knife forged by Weyersberg Kirschbaum and Bayer....mine is the modello 1909 trench Knife, not the bayonet........I doubt if there were any of those left for the 'come lately,s'? It hangs on the wall here on my farm and visitors always like to hear the story. You know, "pull up a mess tin, there I was surrounded by hundreds of enemy and all I had was my old brass button stick" (yep still had them when I was in). Oops almost forgot, yes my Combat jacket is the one I had as 'best' in 82, Ok it,s seen a lot of action in wardrobes and such since then, but I checked it and its the one, just shows they were quality then, even had linings. Oh and I do keep fit, I still have one pair of Lightweight trousers which I can get into no problem and as I got out in 88, not bad going eh?.......... for a 'Walt' of course.

News / New uniforms for Polish Army [30]

Wellllll.......I have been retired a long time now........the new helmet has got to be better than the one I was wearing in the Falklands war.

News / Polish people's criticism of European Union [104]

Only this area gets free internet as far as I know.....there may be other areas that have applied for the money and got it. But I give a hearty round of applause to a guy in our Gmina (town council) who took the trouble to look through the interminable EU documents, find out what was available and apply for the money, then install the equipment etc. (It did get him a promotion to a much higher position and well deserved I say.) I must be getting weak or lazy!!!! last year I would have jumped at the chance to go 4 wheeling in the snow?

News / Polish people's criticism of European Union [104]

Hmmm I,m looking out of my window and here in the Podkarpacie it is snowing, so I think Pawian can call me what he likes (it costs me not one grosz, even my internet is free (deprived area so EU pays!!!)) I could jump into my UAZ and find one of these Nice EU notices I know where there is one in a village called Bystrzyce and there are too many to count out Jaslo way.....but I will stay in the warm and be a liar ha ha ha ha ha.

News / New uniforms for Polish Army [30]

The new camouflage is a horse with two heads, yes it is considered better than the old DPM, but it is also a money saver, one uniform does the work for many different terrains, Temperate, jungle and desert. So saving the government money. I just wish that some of the money saved would be spent on quality.....the people look to their soldiers to seem smart and efficient, if the uniform is made so that no matter how hard you try you will still look 'scruffy' then the people can lose trust. Same for the new helmet, it seems to be pretty good at stopping 7.62 rounds and has saved several lives so far.....maybe some of the money has been wisely spent? I just remember what one guy who was in Northern Ireland (one place I missed) told me.......nothing but nothing, no body armour ever made is going to stop a sniper with a Barratt Light 50...so good camouflage is the thing eh? so that damn sniper can,t see you.

News / New uniforms for Polish Army [30]

Check your history the American military won every engagement with the Vietcong....never lost a battle, it was the politicians who kept giving up the ground they had won......if not for politicians they could have taken all of Vietnam. And yes I served in the British Army from 1972 until 1988. (West Germany, N.Africa, Falklands, Med,..... etc etc.....still got some of my uniform from back then including a combat jacket I wore in the Falklands....still fits me.)

News / New uniforms for Polish Army [30]

Ah the usual thing, cheap governments buying cheap nasty uniforms for the troops. British Army now compared to the 1980s look like a 'sack of **** tied in the middle' I put this argument to a British Army website, who retorted with...."our soldiers are fighting a war they don,t have time to look tidy" I replied with "during the late 60,s I lived near to a US Airforce base and saw many soldiers transiting from Vietnam......they looked immaculate...were they not fighting a war also"? No answer was the reply.

News / Polish people's criticism of European Union [104]

Just taking a simplistic view.....I have been here almost 3 years and in almost every village I travel to/through there is a little bit of asphalt, sometimes just going to one house (Wojts relative perhaps???) and a nice big white signpost proclaiming that the EU paid for this. Sometimes these little roads just end in a muddy track???(whats that all about??) I am no expert but if you want industry, you need good 'A' roads and it seems little has been spent on them......who the hell gave money to Wojts to spend on their pet projects? The money should all have gone into building a better road system so that at least you could say to industry, we have good road links to the main arteries which lead to the rest of Europe. Industry might then come and with the wealth that brings the Wojt should build a road to his favourite nephews house!!! (I live in the Podkarpacie) To me it look like so much money has been wasted on these little village projects.....people got by before and these little bits of road are doing nothing to bring work to the area.....now they have some roads but either there is no work for the people to use the roads for or the children have all gone away to the rest of EU to find work.

Language / POLISH 18 - 30 years old know MUCH BETTER ENGLISH language than their own native language! [102]

One example that I always give to Poles who ask me to teach them to converse in English......."there are two English languages".....one spoken by 'the common people' and one spoken by the 'middle and upper classes', essentialy they are the same language, but the middle class would use virtually no swear words, their manners would in most cases be a world away from the manners of say a 'warehouse or factory' worker. The factory worker would in most cases have limited interests and conversation. So I tell them if you are visiting two different cousins in UK one of which is a factory worker and the other is a lawyer, be prepared what is essentially two different languages, two different sets of life skills and two completely different sets of manners and levels of cultivation. I have noted that Poles who do go to UK to work often find themselves in jobs below the station of their level of education and so they learn bad english from lower class people and come back to Poland thinking that it is common place to use swearing for emphasis every third or fourth word. It is the equivalent of learning English in America from 'White Trash' and not a good thing at all.

Language / POLISH 18 - 30 years old know MUCH BETTER ENGLISH language than their own native language! [102]

I have not lived here long enough (3 yrs almost - arrived that day of the falling Tupolev) to make a judgement on the original statement, but I have found that in Polish schools there is too much emphasis on a form of grammar that has not been in common usage since the days of Queen Victoria. Subsequently they the schools also have no time left to spend in class on conversation.....which is why I get so many people asking me to converse with them in English. In essence Polish schools try to train their children to write very well and pass writen exams, but most people who want to travel and work in English speaking countries, have more of a need to converse with people than write to them. Oh and don,t worry about the English minding people mangling their language, remember we have had since the 1950,s great influxes of people from our 'Commonwealth' all speaking English but with hugely differing accents and Patois.....we are used to having to listen to what people may be saying more carefully due to a strong accent. I hope we are more tolerant than a lot of places.

UK, Ireland / Poles robbing Poles in the UK [12]

Just a small reaction to the heading.....I was recently told a story by a Polish guy who lives near me that when he lived in the USA ( 10 years) he was ashamed of his fellow Poles, all they did was spend all their time cheating and robbing each other, he was more ashamed when he found that even the Russians were better at looking after their own people. (I have no position on this, I don,t care one jot to be honest....I just thought this might help deliberations?)

Life / Washing machine in the bathroom of Poles [78]

As I said....you live in your Poland and I,ll live in mine.

Life / Washing machine in the bathroom of Poles [78]

I suspect that the reason not many people from the West will come to Poland, is that we will never understand you and you will never understand us....let us agree to differ.

Life / Washing machine in the bathroom of Poles [78]

Ha ha......My dear chap, you clearly do not understand these people or have lived in a village. There is a severe pecking order here and I could never sneer at them as much as they sneer at each other.....even the drunks behind the Straz, have a pecking order!!!!! village life is mostly dull and nothing happens so they invent this pecking order and sneering at each other. You know what? I,ll bet it goes on in English villages too!!!!! (I never lived in an English Village...I couldn,t afford to) Because I am obviously foreign I cannot sneer or be sneered at, I am outside the 'chain of command'. (plus I count among my friends several businessmen, a doctor, a teacher, a professor etc etc.....and I make a point to stop and chat with the drunks...they just don,t know what to make of me?)

Life / Washing machine in the bathroom of Poles [78]

Ah....Zetigrek I think you misunderstand.The truth is the truth, I do live in a backwater....the locals hereabouts call this place Koniecswiata ??? end of the world?? I,m not one for all this PC nonsence....when I look in the mirror I see a white european......I,m not Black or Asian...I face reality. I actually like it here, I,ve done the big cities London, Frankfurt etc etc.......I,ve come here to retire and farm in a small way at the end of the world, life is slow here, I have time for off roading in My Unimog, a little farm work and seeing the countryside hereabouts. One day when you are old like me, maybe you will retire to Koniecswiata?? But then I took early retirement at 50 not sure you can do that here? Locals say it can not be done, but then this is a backwater, big city may be different? Edit: We wish we had chosen land further up into the hills with even more trees all around......perhaps nearer to Jaslo.

Life / Washing machine in the bathroom of Poles [78]

Yep middle of nowhere, this is the Podkarpacie, where they plough using horses and sometimes men!!!!!.....maybe Lenka is right and Western style regulations will be a long time coming. But in my house I do it my way. I remember way back in the 60,s in England we had a couple of big USAF bases near to my town and the airforce people would sometimes rent properties. But there were american regulations to be met.....the house would have to have aircon in the bedrooms....a huge freezer or fridge freezer, seperate laundry room with a tumble dryer (and these all had to be of what we thought of as industrical capacity) Oh...and it also had to have a garage big enough for an American car (or a driveway/ offroad parking area that was big enough for two American cars (aircraft carriers). These regulations seemed crazy then, but eventually they have all been adopted by most houses in UK now being built.

UK, Ireland / How might Britain`s withdrawal from EU affect Poles there and here? [474]

For Ironside...lets say I bought the farm with my wife (who is Polish born but has lived in UK for 30 years) and I am now legally registered as joint owner. I am assured by lawyers that should she die the farm will be mine alone. Anyway isn,t it this year that a law comes into place in Poland allowing any member of an EU country to freely buy land? Isn,t this why the government are frantically trying to get farmers to buy government owned land before The Germans buy it all? I do know that the usual paper obstascles will have to be overcome, but at the first sign of obstruction a German or two will take it to the EU courts and then it will quickly become easy for them to buy. If I could afford or needed much more I would be buying frantically now.

Life / Washing machine in the bathroom of Poles [78]

OK this is all about old style culture......I do not blame anyone for doing what their parents and grandparents did.....but two things will happen, 'building regulations' and safety will start to get into bed together in Poland, then there will be no plugs in bathrooms. Newer houses will be like mine and will have a laundry room built on, maybe next to the kitchen on the way to the storage room and then the garage. As well as 'regulations' driving this, young wealthy or progressive Poles who have travelled, will not want to live in communist style apartments, they will build their houses in a Polish style but with the things added that they have seen on their travels. Like mine they will even have a dressing room, yes Lenka you or maybe your children? will have a dressing room off your bedroom where you store all of your clothes and get dressed and undressed, in the opposite corner to the big dressing mirror (two if you have a partner), you will have a basket that can be easily carried to the laundry room.......the future is here in my house, I hope it comes to yours sooner rather than later. Ps. I,m going to start a thread about balconies without safey rails???? another Polish thing.

UK, Ireland / How might Britain`s withdrawal from EU affect Poles there and here? [474]

Hey Oxon.........I,m from Banbury Oxon......and I bought a Farm in The Podkarpacie......does that mean that the old saying Banbury born and Banbury bred..strong in the arm but thick in the head?? is mostly true. (note: I,m just a tractor perv........... honestly).

Life / Washing machine in the bathroom of Poles [78]

Electricity in bathrooms....one day 'Building regulations' will come to Poland and electricity in bathrooms will be a thing of history.....and now just a quick note: Poles do have a sense of humour......TVPL1 today wiadomoschi Yaaayyy 'Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster' go for it guys...welcome to humour.