Real Estate / What do you pay in rent/mortgage in Poland? [144]

Lwowska, this is only real if you add all costs after paying off the loan. It is higher than UK, but lower than in many countries with higher inflation. I don't know what mortgage interest rates are now in Poland, but mine taken a while ago a.d paid off already was around 7% pa

Love / Need help/advice polish girl :( British and Polish girl relationship. [26]

Looks like you made up your mind! All the best!

Life / Izabela? - Advice with Polish name for a girl [36]

I absolutely agree with you that name should be unique, memorable but not freakish. But in example you gave it's more a matter of form and not the name. And to be honest I'd rather have plain name than a weird one. Another thing is that if you are working for internatinal company you probably noticed that a name that seems unique to you, might actually be very plain and common in another country. Tshepo or Bongani might sound exotic in USA or Europe, but are quite popular in RSA.

Love / Need help/advice polish girl :( British and Polish girl relationship. [26]


Is this the type of trust you want to have in your relationship? Knowing that your loved one won't be messing around because she has no time? Believe me - if someone wants to cheat, they will find time... You either have to take the plunge and start trusting this girl (no matter what) or leave her. If she breaks your trust, then it's a different thing, but at least you tried.

Love / Need help/advice polish girl :( British and Polish girl relationship. [26]


There will always be some ex somewhere... If this is your only problem, they you must deal with your trust issue... Maybe you can go with her?

Life / Izabela? - Advice with Polish name for a girl [36]


I beg to disagree. How the hell can you know what is your child going to do in the future? Naming babies with prospective jobs in mind??? Are you for real???

Love / Need help/advice polish girl :( British and Polish girl relationship. [26]


Yep - I agree, this girl seems bad news.
The issue is - you can't expect that she will change. She won't, and even if she does for a while, she will go back to old habits.

You either have to accept her the way she is, or leave her. The fact that she didn't "waste time" to go to bed with you means nothing - after all, you didn't waste time either ;-) but the way she's been carrying on, well... Quite a different story...

Genealogy / My Grandfather was born in Poland and migrated abroad - Can I get a Polish Passport? [68]


Not just US. You can have dual citizenship, the only thing is that if you come to Poland on Polish passport you are considered Polish in all extent of the law.

Usually nothing terrible unless you do something illegal and get arrested...

Travel / How come no one ever seems to pay for the bus in Poland? [63]


They all get out of a bus to sort out the "issue". They get bonuses for catching fare evaders, they are very unlikely to let go of their prey...

Language / I would like to make a collection of beautiful and/or funny polish quotes [30]

One I use a lot :-D
"Szanuj szefa swego bo mozesz miec gorszego"
Respect you boss 'cos you can have worse ;-)

Real Estate / What do you pay in rent/mortgage in Poland? [144]


Same here... Small flat in Warsaw. Not really income generating because my cousin lives there (after some problems with tenants) and she can't afford much, but completely mortgage free.

Monthy levvies are around 320 zl (czynsz, maintenance fee, water), electricity around 150 zl (no gas), Internet I think 80 zl (not sure about speed, but no cap).

Travel / Is it safe to travel to Poland? [194]


Wow! You make Poland sound like South Africa... Actually WORSE, as I travel around a lot and never had any problems (in Poland or South Africa...)

Love / Dating in Poland not able to speak Polish [24]

Thank you ;) My spelling is awful though! Thanks Heavens for spell check!

Love / Dating in Poland not able to speak Polish [24]


I know exactly what you mean, because after being in South Africa 2 months, I was told that my English improved :-} by an Afrikaans individual whose English wasn't exactly flawless... And I came to South Africa having learned English for over 20 years, out of which 10 years was spent in UK, living and working among English people... Somehow, I think he thought he was being appreciative, so I decided not to take offense... Annoying as it may be, I really think those people did not mean to be rude to you.

As for some people "thinking" they speak language better than somebody else... Yes, this can be very frustrating, especially if you are getting nowhere in the conversation... But what do you do? Try to prove them wrong (in which case they get defensive and whatever you are trying to get them to do will probably not happen...) or let it done and over with as soon as possible? Sometimes the latter works better than bursting their bubble.

Language / Spelling of Family in Polish? [6]

Wulkan, it's RODZINA (unless your roGina is a joke...)

Language / Spelling of Family in Polish? [6]

Rodzina (not rogina)

Love / Dating in Poland not able to speak Polish [24]

It's patronising, but I'm not sure I'd call it double standard. I think it's just a mental shortcut people are taking by assuming that English is good enough to communicate accross the world and that everyone knows it. Regardless of how unfair it may be, English became most common communication language accross the world. That's probably why you got reactions like that, people simply didn't think that someone would make effort to learn their language well. I don't think they were being nasty, just insensitive (or perhaps a bit ignorant)

Love / Dating in Poland not able to speak Polish [24]

I think you are being very harsh on some people. I sense that you are referring to speaking language well, which not many people do (even their mother tongue). What I'm talking about is being able to communicate, make oneself understood. You don't need sophisticated wording and perfect grammar for this. The way I deferentiate this from speaking phrases is that you can make sense if you hear words in different context, and you are able to express yourself beyond the wording context used in language books and cd's, still using limited vocabulary. And yes, I also think it's unfair that people don't make that effort to learn even few words of a local language, but to me it's more to do with respect of your hosts than effective communication.

Love / Dating in Poland not able to speak Polish [24]

I agree, but I wouldn't expect someone to learn language of a country they are visiting on holiday. Speaking phrases and speaking language are two completely different things.

Love / Dating in Poland not able to speak Polish [24]

If you are in Warsaw or any other big town, young girls are likely to speak some English. The level of conversation should show if it's only basic or good English. Some people have flair for making themselves understood without too much of a language in common. It all depends how much effort you and the girl are willing to put into it.

Life / A new Poland's war - the poor vs the rich [81]

If you redistribute everything, there will be nothing to manage. Or if it still happens to exist, new owners will appoint new management. So the new management structure will have to be created. All people would have same chance, but chances are they will create exactly same structure again. Yoes, you right, that's how it works everywhere, and no revolution will change it.

Law / How the hell this Poland's ZUS is calculated? [5]

Milky - this is only one of the options (your value is overestimated anyway, but close enough). This is for people who act as a company.

You can use below and choose various options to calculate nett salary.

Poland salary calculator: gazetapraca.pl/gazetapraca/0,91738.html

Work / Salary and cost of living information - Krakow [257]

Part of that is tax deductible. There are salary calculators available on some Polish websites, I'll find one and send link tomorrow.

Life / A new Poland's war - the poor vs the rich [81]

It is :) some people just forgett what's in human nature.

Life / A new Poland's war - the poor vs the rich [81]

To PlasticPole: wealth redestribution... That's what some people call robbery, car-jackings and hi-jackings in South Aftica. Come here and see if you like it.

Work / Salary and cost of living information - Krakow [257]

Not as much as this. I used to earn this a while ago and was taking home 1500, so at this earning level it's about 25 % . Half of ZUS is covered by company, and there is also small tax free amount, but this is way too little to live normal life in Krakow. Even 2000 nett is too little.

News / Don't go to Poland ... because you could end up coming back in a coffin [313]


Oh, really... I wonder why my English Liverpool fan hubby didn't want to speak about it loud when we happened to walk past Chelsea stadium in London last year just before one of Chelsea matches... Us ladies thought it was such a nice subject to discuss there and then...Was he being overcautious?

Love / What strange/unnerving/funny things do your Polish wives do? [153]


I do the same :) otherwise money escapes from the purse ;-P


Just like my 3-year-old :) (not necessarily with beer...)

News / Polish baby boom, but not in Poland [40]


That's a bit extreme - what about people who happened to be born outside Britain but have the citizenship? Would you exclude them?

Travel / What do you think about hitchhikers in Poland? [33]


I'm sure you can find people like that, bust most hitchhikers I met were students, trying to save a buck where they could. They are generally tidy pleasant people. I think you were unlucky.