Life / Moving to Krakow and in need of advice and pointers. [18]


Polish is not a language you "pick up". It is extremely difficult for native English speakers. I wish you all the best, sincerely, but just to warn you, studying Polish is like unravelling the Gordian knot. As for teaching, as has been said, spring is just about the worst time of the year. Harry's right, Kraków is saturated. Try somewhere like Lublin. You can always visit Kraków.

Travel / Which bus from Poland to London via the Eurotunnel? [27]

You must have had a terrible crossing. Was it in high summer? You'd be very unlucky to have a rough crossing at this time of year. In any case, champagne is a very effective prophylactic against sea sickness.


Have you tried Catrina trans? Poland-UK shippers. Good service and reasonable rates. I used them recently and was happy.

Love / Must go to confession before the wedding in Poland? [20]


I suggest you be a bit jesuitical about it. If the priest says the best man has to go to confession, make it clear that he has his own confessor. The priest cannot insist on hearing anybody's confession. If the subject is not raised by the priest, don't bring it up. I know it's a bit different but when I stood godfather to some friends' baby there were no questions asked.

Love / Polish women are the most beautiful in the world! [1718]


Where are you from Kash?

Food / Does Poland have any similar beers to guinness? [22]

There's a very palatable new Polish porter called Belfast.

History / Chance of Lwów once again became coming part of Poland [344]


The vast majority do. Where do the posters arguing for regaining the city come from?

Food / Does Poland have any similar beers to guinness? [22]

Interesting site: europeanbeerguide.net

Food / Does Poland have any similar beers to guinness? [22]


You could always just buy Guinness. It's not available everywhere by I can buy it in the small town where I live for about 6zł for 440ml.

Travel / Holiday in Poland (question about transport by bus from Riga) [7]



I'm very interested to know what part of Poland you live in?

Work / Advice on Teaching in Silesia [23]

Is this gross or net? Will they pay your health insurance? Will you be on the staff or freelance? Do they promise to find you a place to live? Who will pay for it? 24hrs/week @ 35zł is not going to be enough if you have to pay for your accommodation and health insurance, etc. You'd survive but wouldn't have much of a life materially speaking. If you are a qualified English teacher, you could do a lot better. I know Polish teachers on 50zł per hour.

Work / Advice on Teaching in Silesia [23]


Seanus. Lennon would never have used that awful word 'whilst'!


It still depends on what his terms and conditions are. I don't have a lavish lifestyle but I'd find it really tough to live on 3300 gross, especially when you take into account all the religious holidays, Christmas, winter hols, etc.

Work / Advice on Teaching in Silesia [23]


Won't do you any good on this forum! I wish you luck as you sound like you're really coming. Try to find private students (don't tell the school as they might get snotty). Private companies are worth investigating as another income source. Keep in touch with this forum; there are several posters here who know what they're talking about (and many more who don't). Register and you'll probably get good advice privately.

Life / Homosexuality in Polish Culture [231]


At the risk of sounding thick, could you please explain? I see absolutely no connection whatsoever between the leader of a bronze age desert cult and a discussion on homosexuality.

Life / Homosexuality in Polish Culture [231]


When I was a kid I thought the Catholic Church and Christianity were the same thing. Then I grew up.
The Catholic Church would better be named the Pauline Church. When I hear the likes of Rydzyk I think, "Yes, that's Catholic, but it's not Christian."

Life / Homosexuality in Polish Culture [231]

I'm as tolerant as the next guy but I think there shouldn't be special treatment for people based on their sexual proclivites.
My elderly aunt was recently burgled by gays. They were never caught and there's no hope of the police ever finding the culprits.

Life / Homosexuality in Polish Culture [231]

Because before they left they rearranged the furniture, changed the curtains and put a quiche in the oven.

Law / Thinking of opening up a Greek restaurant in Poland, bad idea or good? Jenkei [45]


Oh, Białystok definitely. And bring plenty of lamb.

Travel / Which bus from Poland to London via the Eurotunnel? [27]

I know it's off topic but as we're remembering nightmare journeys I went from Białstok to London once (never again). 31 hours with no toilet. The drivers claimed it was out of order. It was worse than the Madrid to Edinburgh epic I did years ago, and about as awful as Prague to Moscow with no buffet on the train (two nights). Istanbul to Batman (yes Batman) was in a league of its own. Now I bite the bullet and fly everywhere.

Travel / Which bus from Poland to London via the Eurotunnel? [27]

Yes, 31 hours. We stopped a few times of course. btw Eurolines is a company I would never use. As you know it's not one company but has hundreds (thousands?) of partners all over the place. Once when I was going from London to Prague the bus hung a left and took a two-hour detour into Holland to pick up two guys in some one-horse town. Then another two hours to get back to the place where we'd turned off. The boys finished about a dozen tinnies between them and then snored and farted away the rest of the journey. I'd rather walk.

Travel / Poland wildlife and similar wild life where you live. [240]

Not only forest areas. We regularly find ticks on our cat. Gardens have them too. As you say, denatura or something like that does the trick. It gets the tick drunk so it loosens its grip (as we all know). When we come back from mushrooming in the forest we check each other carefully. A friend of mine is a biologist who works in Białowieża, and he got a tick bite which made him ill for weeks. He had to have a series of injections in his belly. Not at all pleasant. Tourists beware.

Language / Why is the Polish language so difficult? [246]


Polish drove me crazy years ago. Why do you think they did so well at Bletchly Park? Seriously though, try not to fight it. I'm a long way from being fluent or accurate in Polish but when I made the decision to stop banging my head against the wall about it I seemed to feel an inner peace radiating through me. Polish + zen is how to approach it.

Language / Why is the Polish language so difficult? [246]


Yeah, right.

Language / Why is the Polish language so difficult? [246]


You are obviously a genius. No need to brag!

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


We built a couple of years ago. 105m2, block, concrete ceiling. We had internet-bought house plans modified by an architect so we got what we wanted. We spent about 200k on the house.

Travel / What is the weather like in Poland where you are now? [185]

Bielsk Podlaski. 20c, overcast, threatening rain (again). Does WP offer the worst forecasting service in Poland?

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

PLN. The land was an additional cost.

UK, Ireland / Cigarettes in Poland (cost, brands). The situation in the UK? [57]


About 11,500PLN/year for a twenty-a-day habit.

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

Depends a lot on where you want to build, of course. The cost of land can be extremely high. You should always agree on a total price for building the basic structure and roof. We were lucky to find a good builder who built our little place for 33k.

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


My favourite p1ss-take when building was when the internal plasterers wanted the electricians to cut grooves in the walls for the cables to sit in.They told us the cables would show proud after plastering if that wasn't done. Our electician laughed his head off and said it was the oldest one in the book. He claimed the plasterers just wanted to put less plaster on the walls and "disappear" the bags of unused plaster when we weren't looking. We looked and measured all the time to make sure we got the right coverage.

UK, Ireland / Is UK the new cradle of antipolonism? [161]


I agree in general but it is undeniable that farmers have problems finding British workers to harvest crops. A few days ago there was a report on BBC Radio 4's Farming Today programme on seasonal workers from eastern Europe. According to an interviewed farmer, the best worker on the farm earned 100GBP/day, with the average being 60 pounds. The Lithuanian and Polish workers were delighted to be earning that kind of money, but the farmer said that he simply couldn't find British people willing to work hard for good money.