Life / Price of cigarettes in Poland? [192]

The funny thing is, Japan is where I finally quit smoking. Its ubiquitousness grossed me out.

Law / Opening a Polish Bank Account by a foreigner in Poland. Recommendations. [299]

Been super happy with ING, about on par service wise with my credit union in the US and my banks in Japan and Canada. Friendly staff, no fees for the stuff I do most often (unless I use a teller, but I do everything mostly online and via bankomat and wpłatomat) and were pretty mellow about letting me open an account. All I had was a Canadian passport and a letter from the local urząd wojewódzki confirming my Polish citizenship. The teller had me set up in minutes, explained the procedures for getting my card activated and asked if I could come in and give them my dowód osobisty number once it arrives (I'm a returning Pole doing all the bureaucratic stuff from scratch.)

My girlfriend, who is American, has been treated well by them as well, and they've been able to accomodate her when she speaks English and broken Polish.

Life / Small change in shops in Poland!? [95]

The exact change thing is a bit of a pain that takes getting used to after living in the US and Canada and Japan, but it's really not that bad. I basically just make sure I keep a float myself. I keep a small bowl of change on my bedside table and make sure I have a small handful of grosze and a couple of 1 and 2 zł. coins, and make sure I keep tens and twenties in my wallet at all times.

A little courtesy goes a long way. I usually ask if someone can break a hundred or a fifty when I buy something and then keep the resulting small bills as long as I can. The kiosks in front of my building that sell tram and train tickets always have a ton of change, and don't mind changing 100s. It's pretty well become an automatic process at this point.

My girlfriend, who doesn't speak much Polish, just does what the old ladies do, and sticks out her hand full of small coins and lets the cashiers pluck out the change they need. :)

Travel / Rock/Metal Bars in the Tri City / Gdansk area and Warsaw? [8]

Ucho in Gdynia has a lot of punk, metal and rock shows, check their lineup at ucho.com.pl. Walking distance from the main Gdynia rail station, there's a map on the site. Not strictly Gdańsk, but the 3-cities are well-connected with one another,

News / Warsaw a "big winner" in city life quality index [26]

East Van or no east Van, I'd still rather live in Vancouver than most cities in North America.

Life / Apple v IBM computers in Poland [37]

Yeah, I've been much happier with my MBPro than I have been with all the PCs I've ever owned in my life (which is quite a few) but I do think it's hilarious that anti-Mac zealots get so adamant about offering me their unsolicited opinion about what they think of my platform of choice. I will admit that one of my deciding factors was that I've not had a PC in the workplace since at least 1999 (I'm a print designer) and it was real pain in the ass to try and move files back and forth between the two platforms; not all fonts are OpenType, after all. But now, after years of building Windows and Linux boxes, I just enjoy the solid hw/sw integration and the fact that I can spend more time getting stuff done vs farting around with my computer. Cost isn't that much of an issue; tools of my trade, thus justifiable expense.

Also, what's up with using GarageBand as an argument against the suitability of a Mac for music creation? It's a free app that comes with the OS, for crying out loud. Last time I checked, you could run Logic Pro, Cubase, Reason/Record or any number of DAWs, soft synths and weird little apps like AudioMulch just as well on a Mac as anything else. Not that it's inherently superior either, but let's at least be fair.

Ultimately, it boils down to getting what is appropriate to your needs and not getting sand in your vagina about what other people choose to do. Don't like it? Don't buy it.

Apple prices in Poland, well... that's another topic altogether.

News / Potheads attack police in Warsaw [40]

Considering just how many alcoholics and violent drunken thugs there are here, it's amusing that people get their panties in a bunch over something as relatively benign as pot.

The sweet, pungent aroma of weed is certainly more pleasant than the malodorous fetid waft emanating from the average drunk or the delightful stench of body odour cultivated in a fake Adidas track suit.

Plenty of folks grow and enjoy it here, too. They're just discreet about it.

Love / POLISH GIRL I REALLY LIKE, BUT she says we have no future [54]

It's something that seems to be endemic to young expat types. I'd see this sort of thing in Japan time and time again. Nothing changes, only the location.

Life / what is GG chat please? [17]

Several multi-clients support the Gadu-Gadu protocol. No need to run separate apps for IM stuff, especially since most of the "official clients" are bloated as hell.

I mostly use GG to get end-of-auction warnings on Allegro, though. :D

Life / Polish Hip Hop [47]

Early Bakszysz is also awesome.

Brygada Kryzys dabbled in reggae stuff a bit, too, though they were just as much a punk band.

In fact, 80s Polish new wave and punk music is phenomenal.

As for Poles making hip hop, what exactly is wrong with that? Modern musical forms tend to manifest globally. Are people who are not American and black not allowed to play jazz now or something?

Life / WHY DO POLES USE ENGLISH WORDS IN CONVERSATION? [396]

It's a bit funny that the word "happening" gets singled out, as it's been in pretty steady use here coloquially since at least the late 1960s.