Real Estate / Options for dealing with dishonest landlord in Poland [36]


Does he not have them or something? I only keep bills for a year, but Im a bit more tidy and have all numbers on a spreadsheet.

But honestly heating bills this winter were through the roof, my tenants had to pay 250% over what I projected because it was so cold. The choice was clear for almost everyone, freeze and wear jackets indoors and be sick every week, or pay boatloads just for having a warm apartment in the morning and nights.

And he may not have 'financial difficulties' at all, I refused to pay a bill from TP SA for NOT having a phone line and am blacklisted from them.

Life / Do you really have to pay for your dogs to live in Poland [15]

andrewwright are you a native english speaker because your english is terrible, or are you drunk all the time? Probably the second.

Real Estate / Apartments too expensive for Poles living in Poland [54]


Of course I dont have any actual figures, who am I some property guru? Im a bum just like you on polishforums.com posting because Im bored. But you have to be retard not to realize how bad things are in Lodz, just today in a special referendum a stunning 95% voted to dismiss the city's mayor.

Im more interested in where the hell you came from and why youve vested so much interest in my post... lemme guess, another island speculator desperately trying to unload a bunch of overinflated **** they bought in late 2008?

Real Estate / Apartments too expensive for Poles living in Poland [54]

Why did you even post that happymeal? I mean what the NYT or FT are some kind of expert opinion here? The Lodz apartment blurb is a fcking joke, the entire city of Lodz is imploding and that thing is grossly overpriced, and the FTs article is actually negative as hell.

Real Estate / Apartments too expensive for Poles living in Poland [54]


Knowing the realities in Poland and having some family who lived 10-15km from the center of city, man... unless you really need a huge f'ing house and an illusion of peace and quiet, all the negatives like the daily traffic grind which is brutal, absolutely brutal, the lack of ANY nearby amenities and everything requires a long ass drive, the lack of paved roads. Thats why I see gated communities are becoming really popular nowadays.

Travel / Ski and Snowboard - Poland 09/10 season (updated: 10/11 season) [84]

Ive been everywhere. In Dolnoslask only Zieleniec I would mention for beginners, but its improved over the past 2 years. Czarna Gora used to be a favorite but there are just way to many people there, waiting in line for 30 minutes is not fun, and evidently the concept of grooming ALL of the slopes seems to be missing.

Do not go to Karpacz or Sklarska Poreba, its a total f'ing nightmare. And if you're already going in that far just drive the extra 20km into the Czech Rep where the conditions are superb like in Splinderovy Mlyn or Harrachov, you have high speed quads, you arent treated as ****, and theres at least a decorum of civility there. Though czechs apprently believe straightlining down a mountaing doing 100kmh is considered 'good skiing'.

Honestly theres very few places that have 'good skiing', Zakopane sucks, Korbielow sucks, I was in Chopok in Slovakia and liked it, never had a problem at any place in the Czech Rep, but nonetheless I say forget all of this and go to the Alps.

Real Estate / Apartments too expensive for Poles living in Poland [54]


cms I know how much 1000zl can buy, but do you really think the money is going to go to the kid? 1000zl is enough for some gaudy clothes, a few nights at the local diskoteka, a tv, and crap like that.

and the cycle can be repeated endlessly, then after quit you can go on unemployment because youve been technically unemployed for a two years. than again, find a job, work for a few months, pop out a another kid, and another 2 years of free salary.

Real Estate / Apartments too expensive for Poles living in Poland [54]


Maybe I mixed them up, whatever


Yes


See, heres the problem. You are thinking like an honest moral tax paying citizen. These are not "extensions" in any way, it is pure kombinowanie. Sick leave, then use up your last years paid vacation days, then a rehabilitation leave, then go on an unpaid holiday for a month, again go on sick leave, repeat ad nauseum

Read this article:
gielda.onet.pl/dwa-lata-bez-pracy-ale-z-pensja,18726,3048143,1,ne ws-detal

Work / Is it normal for companies/schools in Poland to be rude? [116]


oy mate, fooor having some bug up yer jacksie ye are alreet in my book torq. sure me mit be abrasive and i me dont fancy brits or rosie and crumpets or de olde hag queen, ey? oy dis lorry is out of petrol me thinks, mights well stop on er motorway, fancy takin a lift to de top guvnor?

... ah f this. that was lame for invoking some kind of country bumpkin ruse.

thats what i found that works, my students are satisified and have excellent pronunciation. and i dont have to be all high and mighty about it. so you can cram your fine line with walnuts, sir.

Real Estate / Apartments too expensive for Poles living in Poland [54]

Hand outs a plenty. Heres a typical scenario. First find a job with a umowa o pracy, anything really that pays decent. Show up the first day, then 'surprise! Im pregnant' and never show up again, of course you cant be fired. Go on maternal leave where the company pays your full salary, after giving birth, you can extend it for 2 years with ZUS paying what, 80% of your salary. Meanwhile get the 1000zl from the government for having a baby, then sign up to a bunch of charities for poor mothers, and if you can spin it, have your doctor write out never ending zwolnienie lekarskie. And of course moan to your parents, your daddys parents and all of your family and friends, my god, its a solid gold mine.

Work / Is it normal for companies/schools in Poland to be rude? [116]


No really, different sounds!?! No wonder my students have problems with 'earth' and 'world'!! Thanks professor.
You are talking about pronunciation, not phonetics. Im talking about learning the stupid phonetic chart with Bre and Ame, and whether to say the 'r' like Americans, and wait, what if the teacher is an American, should they change their entire vocab/accent just to be a posh recieved pronounciation w4nker? Should it be said dawg or dog? You see where this is going. And then how many of them are going to be speaking to brits? I say better to have great intonation in your voice and speak a flat accent-less international english that would be understood by the germans, spandiards and greeks their 100% likely to encounter. You may call it McDonaldization of english or something, and I say thats a good thing.

Thats what Im talking about. Of course I do pronunciation exercises, just yesterday I spent an hour on hard and soft /c/ and /g/. And you know what, nobody was impressed or cared, but I had to do it. The biggest plus I see with these exercsies is that students are bombarded with 200 words and its a decent vocab/pronounciation review, not remembering that there is a soft sound if e i and y follow, because again who cares.

Phonetics and phonology are compulsory in english language programes because they are studying the language, thats no surprise. What average ESL student wants to master english or become fluent? Few, if any, for them its pointless. They want vocabulary, grammar, and communnication exercises, not theory and a bunch of strange looking letters and then another huge chart pointing out irregularities they have to memorize.

Real Estate / Apartments too expensive for Poles living in Poland [54]


Most older Poles still have their apartments from communist times, and a lot pass from generation to generation. And I know of alot of young couple who still live with their parents or extended family or get money from them. What most discovered the best thing to do is have a baby and then ask for handouts.

Real Estate / Apartments too expensive for Poles living in Poland [54]


says the speculator... get real.

Work / Is it normal for companies/schools in Poland to be rude? [116]


Phonetics? Youre not taking the **** here are you? I havent met a single student who is interested in learning phonetics... and I refuse to teach it because its pretty much useless

And I see some people here have got some serious beef against native English teachers. Understandably, Ive heard my share of horror stories, but just the same Ive met a alot of devoted and good teachers who absolutely kill polish teachers, not in terms of methodology or teaching grammar, but in liveliness, passion, and a knack for getting the language across. Just see how much attention a native speaker garners vs a polish speaker, with a NS youve have 9/10 attentive awake students, with a polish teacher maybe 5/10.

I would say a native speaker with a CELTA at least shows an inclination towards taking their job seriously, and quite honestly how the hell an attitude of "show up, do my job, go home" is somehow wrong is beyond me.

Its what 99% of people in the world do, and then consider the Polish angle...is pitching in and helping around with admin work going to get you some bonus points or something? Everyone who has ever worked in Poland should know that any extra work or hours is NEVER appreciated or rewarded. Never. In fact just the opposite, for employers its a great way of seeing whos a doormat in squeezing out few hundreds zlotys of free labor and then maybe buy them some cookies as a token of thanks. BS

Life / What gifts to take? Presents customs in Poland. [148]

like visiting any relatives...

if you somewhat know what they like get something practical
some classy shaving kit or something for men or whatever woman use
good wine, bottles in the $10-15 range if for a 'family', if for men any expensive whisky

what a minute, f this you cheap bastards, you probably were expecting answers like chocolate or meat or underwear

Work / Is it normal for companies/schools in Poland to be rude? [116]

Follow through here ranges from nil to 'maybe a vague email'. Big on talk little on action that kind of thing. I remember sending out job applications when looking for corporate work and got only 1 response from 30 applications.

But the lack of response pretty much means that no one is interested in you, esp since its Feb and the crisis is getting a bit worse.

Law / Child support in Poland:is the income of the father's spouse taken into account? [34]


2000zl isnt high, its stratospherically high, but 400zl is quite low. Ie, Im guessing she doesnt want to work anymore (if she even does) and hopes she can freeload off your salary.

Work / Working in Poland in a Non-Polish Speaking Job? - How? What? (no teachers!) [16]


Oh sure I know that but Im hoping to open up my own business in the near future, and teaching gives me plenty of time to do whats good in life for now. Uni jobs are good if you crave authority and love paradoxes, besides that its pretty measly, and the BC jobs are for dudes who take themselves way too seriously.

If you set yourself up as a competent teacher I see 6k PLN no problem for "average teaching". If your lucky and land yourself a sweet corporate contract 10-15k can be had, but those are few and far between.

Law / Old Polish money banknotes - what's their value today? [414]

h1 i havers old polish banknote 100000zl from 1987, i sell for current exchange rate, send funds me to prompt.

Genealogy / How hard is it to get a Polish passport? [74]


Nothing you said is true. I know because I hold 3 citizenships, USA, PL, and DE.

Poland and the USA allow dual or multiple citizenships, and I was naturalized as a Polish citizen after being a US citizen, and later recieved my german citizenship. I hold all 3 citizenships and never had any problems.

And you CAN enter Poland on a US passport even if you hold a polish passport, but why would you, since your American passport would get stamped with a schengen visa limited to what, 90 days? So convex, why would you spout ******** like this?

News / The Economist: time to rethink old notions about Poland [67]

I think the answer is quite clear if you live in Poland, things ARE becoming better and better and life certainly has changed in the past 2 years, massively changed in the past 5 years, and light years ahead from 10 years ago... IF you hold a consumerist/materialistic economy something "better". I do.

Law / Old Polish money banknotes - what's their value today? [414]

this thread is proof that most people are idiots

USA, Canada / Traveling from US to Poland with maiden name in my passport and renewing it there [16]

ah ha. its up to you, but the plane ticket needs to be in the name you have on the passport and you must have your marriage certificate and green card with you on exit and reentry.

Travel / What to do in Wroclaw! [49]

Crazytoad youre like 5km from the city center... how did you wind up there..

Anyway, Wroclaw for all its charms actually doesnt have that much "to do", except a very lively and active bar/club scene. And since its winter thats what I recommend you do. Most of the joints around the Rynek are pretty cheesy, places like PRL and that crap, expensive and lame, but whatever floats your boat.

pop dance club with hot 16 year olds looking for a wallet and if you get drunk enough you can take them home: daytona, lemoniada, studio p1, jazda

decent bar/clubs around the rynek: spiz, pracownia, czeski film, manana, siedem kotow, novacaina, and almost everyone goes to Pasaz Niepolda, just walk from the rynek to ul. ruska and youll see a million students and music on this side street. Metropolis as a dance club with teenagers, bezsennosc was cool a few years ago but again its filled with teenagers, and the few cool places im not going to tell you.

fine... just one, ill give you one topsecret location where cool ppl chill, its called mleczarnia on ul. wlodkowicza

besides that just take a walk to ostrow tlumski where the cathedral is, walk past the botanical gardens, or maybe take the tram to Hala Stulecia and walk around there. Thats it.

USA, Canada / Traveling from US to Poland with maiden name in my passport and renewing it there [16]

More important is:
will your visa still be valid to the US since its in a different name
will you get the passport back in time when youre in poland

stop complicating your life and just do it in LA

Love / Polish Girls vs Russian Girls [813]

for some reason i got the feeling that a young russians girls life goal, if she looked good, was to find a rich ass husband. and thats it.

Work / Working in Poland in a Non-Polish Speaking Job? - How? What? (no teachers!) [16]

I started working in PR but quit shortly because being a teacher was so much better. The choice was

fun PR job but hard work with 40-50 hour workweeks and make 3500zl
or
work 3 days a week teaching and make 4500zl

Life / Do you think a smoking ban would be a good thing in Polish restaurants and Bars? [217]

Had bars and restaurants installed something called a ventilation system it wouldnt be that bad.