USA, Canada / Question about health care in the US for American permanent residents [19]

Hi! I do everything private, even when not included in my insurance coverage in which case I pay and I do not regret it. Re my personal experience of that of people around me, the public system may be fine when in good health. I made the mistakes to have 2 tests (gynecology and mammograph) 2 years in a row under the public system in order not to pay and I had to wait for over 2 months to have results whereas results are available within a few days in private sector. As a result, I had to worry sick for some 2 months and never again I'll use NFZ. In conclusion, in case of severe diseases (for ex cancer) best to avoid NFZ (I had cancer 4 years ago and great that I was treated in private when I know that some cancer patients have to wait for months in order to get an appointment under NFZ).

History / POLAND: EASTERN or CENTRAL European country? [1080]

With a father named Nicolas Chopin, how could the legitimate son be named...... Szopen????? MDR
As to Marie Curie, she could make it only because she was in France (money, facilities, husband....). If she had stayed in Poland, she would have never become famous.

Life / Health insurance in Poland - your suggestions please [35]

Hi!

I had Allianz through my bank for 2 years and paid only 60/month. Unfortunately Allianz and bank stopped working together as of January 1 (neither Allianz nor the bank bothered informing people, I just found out at doctor's ;)) and I got stuck. All the insurance companies are too expensive (Medicover over 450/month) or turned me down since cancer 3 1/2 years ago and they demand 5 years. Not easy when current or recent (my case) health problems but I have just bought Polmed, a new product offered by Signal Iduna (German firm) which had turned me down. Polmed is only 59/month, covers almost everything but needs to be renewed every year, can only be used in around a dozen clinics in Poland including 4 (or 5) in Warsaw but there is NO health questionnaire. It costs 206/month for a family.

It can be the answer to your problem since like I said all others shall turn you down or shall be too expensive. Health insurance is very expensive in Poland when not 25 years old and not in fantastic health but considering the State's system, best to have private insurance (I would be dead if I did not have any....)

If you need more info, send me an mp.

All the best!

Food / What do non-Poles think about eating the following Polish foods? [1400]

Believe me darling, in France it's the same, people say a lot of negative things towards the Brits and most others but trust me all the crap is organized by "cheap" media. There are a lot of mixed marriages and a lot of Brits buy houses and live in (mainly South-West) France, not necessary retired but a lot of families with school age kids ; they love it there, adjust very easily, learn French and mingle with locals.

I assume that the anti-French in GB and anti-British in France are among those who never have been to the other country and who have never met any person from the other country. It's like that with all countries. Since France and GB have always been rival, prejudices are kept alive by tabloids and consorts but believe me, when together, the French and English get along perfectly. I have worked and work on a daily basis with Brits (and other English-speakers) and I have never had any problems.

Believe me, stop relying on media, but go out, travel, learn languages and meet people and you'll see that people can get along.

Food / What do non-Poles think about eating the following Polish foods? [1400]

Deep fried sparrows? Where the hell have you seen that? I have never heard of anybody eating or any restaurant serving such a dish. What are your sources (the net or real experience)? As to frog legs, I do (personally) know that in Italy it is more common than in France but probably most Italians don't eat any. I would not know where to buy some in France since I have never seen any.

Ah those "cheap" clichés!

Food / What do non-Poles think about eating the following Polish foods? [1400]

lol ;). I remember about Bovril/marmite in GB and I never could swallow any. I assume that both are the same, marmite must be the name of the thing and Bovril must be a brand. They have some in Australia! As to the USA, I spent 8 years there and I have never seen any.

According to what I was told, it's made of meat bones and blood and the idea was (during the war and just after it) to help kids and other fragile populations to remain healthy. It could be what we had in other countries (incl. France) and which is called "tran" in Poland. Over the years, marmite has become a creamy paste that people spread on bread. You'd have to pay me to make me eat some;)

Food / What do non-Poles think about eating the following Polish foods? [1400]

I like mussels very much but strange enough, Polish people don't eat seafood in general. As to frog legs, although I like that very much (basically cooked in olive oil with garlic), I ate some only 3 times and I can say that 99.99% of the French have never tried so thinking such food is normally eaten in France (in Italy frog legs are more common though) shows huge ignorance of the topic.

I know Poles from Poland who are crazy about frog legs and snails.

Food / What do non-Poles think about eating the following Polish foods? [1400]

I'm not using "clichés" re British "cooking" as 1. I lived 2 years in London so I know and 2. the reputation of British food is well deserved ;). Although British cooking per se is at best uneatable, I must say that there are numerous food items from GB that I love: for instance, shortbread cookies (I often buy some at Marks & Spencer), marmelade, tea. In France we say that in England, they have a lot of good products but people don't know how to put them together and are too cheap to buy ingredients. Yet, I cannot swallow Bovril and marmite (the same?). A Scottish colleague of mine in France says that one needs to be British to eat Bovril/marmite...

Food / What do non-Poles think about eating the following Polish foods? [1400]

Hi! What "clichés"!!!!! Lol!!! How many people in France eat frog legs (delicious by the way! :), horsemeat or snails? Do you know that in a lot of other countries they do it? I ate frog legs 3 times (twice in Poland, they have some at Carrefour's), don't like snails and have never tasted horsemeat. Trust me 99.99% of the French never eat such. It's very pathetic to rely on clichés rather than on the reality. Do you know that in Spain and in South America, they even eat bull's "balls" but here again it's a cliché because I'm sure that 99.99% of people never do. Besides, French food is not limited to just those clichés (or people drinking wine, wine is only drunk where produced) but consists of at least hundreds of sophisticated recipes appreciated everywhere in the world. French restaurants are famous (and very expensive ;) all over the world, French people working in the cooking field are hired everywhere in the world, including by royalty and presidents. Furthermore, most cooking terms are French (coincidence?)

So have so decency, don't compare French cooking with Polish cooking because it's just like comparing diamond (which I prefer) and zirconia.
It's just like I said, if used to eat good and fancy food, one cannot appreciate Polish traditional (I mean "traditional") fare which is the contrary.

If people are not educated and prefer to eat sh..., they have the right to do so but let them have the decency not to pretend they are know the best.

PS: believe me, all foreigners - including Poles and Britons - love French food in France ;)

Food / What do non-Poles think about eating the following Polish foods? [1400]

Hi Magda! You just "like" it because you are Polish. Who in the world know of/eat Polish cooking other than Poles/Polonia? If Polish cooking has NO reputation outside of Poland/Polonia, the reason is obvious: only Poles can appreciate that kind of cooking. I have lived in a total of 7 countries and I have never come across Polish cooking or restaurants. Believe me, I know about good food: I happen to be French and Spanish and am used to fancy restaurants and therefore I cannot be "impressed" by Polish cooking. I eat modern international-style cooking in Poland but I cannot swallow traditionnal fare: no taste, only starches (potatoes, cabbage, flour), limited number of ingredients, lack of colors (all is greyish/brownish - exactly like on the pictures; believe me food ought to be attractive), of vitamins, cut into tiny pieces that often look like vomit). I live in Poland so I know. Polish cooking is that of a poor country with difficult climate and therefore limited resources so it is very basic and therefore not recognized as good.

Start travelling and you'll realize that Polish cooking is not liked by those not originating from Poland. You'll tell me that some of the ESL teachers here in Poland appreciate it but sorry it is no reference to me considering the British "gastronomy" ;)

PS: because it is Polish, do we have to think and say it's top???? ;)

Food / What do non-Poles think about eating the following Polish foods? [1400]

Hi!
Agree with you 100%, Marco TU! Polish traditionnal (I mean "traditionnal") food is nothing special since bland, fat, starchy, unhealthy, unsophisticated, limited nor attractive (all is cut up into tiny pieces and the result looks like gray vomit - look for instance at those "salads" full of artificial mayonnaise they sell at delicatessy in Pol! ). I have noticed that the only ones able to swallow that kind of stuff are Poles, either at home or abroad and some backpack ESL teachers used to worse crap.

Since it is a Polish forum, it is "normal" to praise Polish cooking but be honest, Polish (like British or American and more generally of northern countries) "gastronomy" ranks very low around the world and nobody can deny it.

No need to be a troll not to "appreciate" Polish food since it has no reputation outside of Poland and of Polonia.
Poles are able to cook international-style food and it is often very good but their traditionnal fare is genuine primitive sh..t. aimed at poor peasants and coal miners living in cold climate.

In summary, absolutely nothing to brag about! I often prefer McDo ;). lol!

Love / How do guys from Poland flirt? [47]

A.K.: Dancer7 does not live in Poland, does she?

Sorry but such nonsense "irritates" me.

In Poland - just like in any other country - everything can be found and people are all different.

Love / How do guys from Poland flirt? [47]

Dancer7: I've been living abroad (7 countries) for other 20 years so I can tell you that in each national group, everything can be found, both the best and the worst ;). My husband (unfortunately deceased) was Polish and believe me and "thank God", he was much different from a lot of Poles (and others).

In Poland there are may be some 10 million (?) adult males and believe me, they are all different from each other. Are all the people in your place all the same? I doubt so why would it be different elsewhere? ;)

Your question could be more relevant if you were talking about a guy living in an isolated tribe.

Love / How do guys from Poland flirt? [47]

Here again, Polish guys, just like Polish girls or any other nationals do NOT make homogeneous blocks and everybody is different from each other. Among Poles (and any other nationality) there is no one way to think, to act, to feel.....

Therefore, one Polish guy shall do x or y and another shall do something else and that's it.

It's unbelievable to read such (stupid) stereotypes about Poles and others.

In any national group, everything can be found and needless to say, it applies also to Poles.

Wouldn't it be boring if for instance all the Poles were x, all the Greeks y, all Americans z and the others something else ?! ;)

Genealogy / The typical Polish look, or all Eastern Europeans [656]

Tommy!

The French population being the result of a huge melting pot from the very beginning, there canNOT be a "typical" French look. The image has been created by foreign (i.e. American) media and believe me, it does not correspond to reality. Unless they are from same family, the French look all different (some look Nordic, Germanic, Mediterranean, Continental, or a mixture of some or all, just to mention those of European origins). I'm French of Spanish origin and believe me, I have lived abroad (different countries, including the US) and just by looking at me, people don't guess where I'm from. When I see French people in Warsaw (since there are 700 French companies here, the French community is huge) unless I hear them speak French, I most often don't recognize them as being French so how the hell can you?????

I know that when someone in this forum has met ONE (max 3, let's be generous) person from Greece, Sweden, France, Paraguay, Singapore or the moon, we get a thread stating "THE Greeks, Swedes, French, Paraguayans or those from the moon" are ALL like this or like that. Excuse-me but such generalities are completely stupid. I myself have lived in many countries (including the US) and now am in Poland and I don't make generalities because generalities are ALWAYS stupid. As to France and the French, I have never read as so much MISinformation as in PF (Anglosaxon media are well known to spit on France and the French but trust me a lot of French media have similar views on Anglosaxons ;). As I'm intelligent (;)), wide travelled, and speak a few languages, I don't believe in such nationalistic (= fascist) bullsh....t. A nation is made of numerous individuals, each with his/her own individuality.

As to l'Oréal et al. not only they work with girls (and men) from the whole world but also they convey the image created by - foreign - media and nothing else.

Please travel, learn languages, meet people and you'll grow up and stop making (stupid) generalizations.

Have a nice weekend!

lol Tommy!

People from Normandy originally come from the North of Europe (via the Vikings) and nowadays most of them there (in Normandy) are blond with light blue eyes and very fair skinned (my father was from there and looked like that).

Well, keep generalizing re the Greeks, the Germans, the Japanese or the Papus or the Martians without me ;) but a last piece of advice, do travel!

Genealogy / The typical Polish look, or all Eastern Europeans [656]

Hi!

What is this crap about! Such threads could have been written by the nazis, comparing and measuring noses, ears and all bs....

I happen to be Franco-Spanish and believe me there is NO female (or male) French physical characteristic. France is a multi ethnic nation (1/3 of the French have a foreign grandfather or grandmother) not only because of more recent immigration wawes but also from the very beginning. The French from various regions do not have same ethnic origin (with still some regional languages (not only mere dialects but also genuine languages that can be learnt at university) and therefore how can there be a typical French look??? For instance there is nothing in common as to their origins between for instance someone from Corsica (Italians), Brittany (Celts), Normandy (Viking), Alsace (Germanic) or the Alps, just to mention a few regions and as a result how in the world can they look alike? Only cheap Hollywood movies believe so ;). French population comes in all sizes and in all looks (blond, brown or red hair, blue, green, brown, grey..... eyes) like I would think most western societies.

As to l'Oréal et al. they have girls from all other the world to ad for them ;).

Language / How to pronounce "y" in Polish? [28]

Witam!

In fact, "y" Polish sound is exactly like "é" French sound.

Language / Polish was chosen the HARDEST LANGUAGE in the world to learn... :D [1558]

Witam!

This thread does not make sense since it depends upon the learner's mothertongue.

Polish is very difficult for NON slavic learners and very easy for those speaking other slavic languages. I've met numerous Russians, Ukrainians, Bulgarians, Slovakians, Croatians, or people from the Czech Republic, etc... and they all could speak Polish very well after a few months after their arrival in Poland.

In the same idea, a German speaker shall have no difficulty to learn Dutch, a Norwegian shall learn Danish very quickly, a Spaniard shall learn French or Italian with no problem, etc etc....

News / Achievements of the Tusk's Polish government [532]

Witam!

Pawian! How many millions of Poles abroad za chleba? The Polish government hides real unemployment figures by emigration. Sorry but unemployed Westerners don't need to go abroad and at home they can live, eat and expect some results.

A country (like Poland) from where millions of people have no choice but to go abroad for survival - in most cases, to take the jobs the locals don't want is NO success ;). On the country, North Americans and Western European don't come to Poland for bread.....

Good day!

Life / Polish people are the most ignorant people in the world! [331]

@Pennboy!

Do NOT compare Americans and Poles. When they go on holiday, most Americans do it big, they spend money, stay at nice hotels, eat at restaurants whereas most Poles when abroad on holiday don't spend much (some of them even bring food from home not to buy too much abroad - I know the case of some Poles on (camping) holiday in France just buying bread there) and a lot of them just take a coach to visit some relatives.

News / Achievements of the Tusk's Polish government [532]

Pawian! I have more interesting things than teaching you about France, a country that you hate and that obsesses you, all the more as this site is called "Polishforums" but I need to conclude to mend your ignorance. As to people receiving - decent - money if not working, they do so because(a lot of) money is taken out each month from paychecks = insurance and therefore the money does NOT come from the State (my vocabulary mistake, przepraszam, but in the French language, this word is used a lot). But never mind!

And please stop comparing France and Poland - France is rich country (5th economy in the world, only the US, China, Japan, and in Europe: Germany are in front and all the other countries are behind and Poland very far behind and shall always be). France is also a key to international politics (is a permanent member at the UN's security council) whereas Poland does not exist. Poland's development is only due to foreign money (huge Western companies, among whom 700 from France and since 2004: UE money (Poland is the main recipient of UE funds whereas Poland pays about 1.5% to UE budget (Germany: biggest payer and France being just second and with what pays Britain, we have a total of over 49%). Poland has no economy per se since everything is in foreign hands. Poland is de facto a colony and not able to be on their own. Besides, people in Poland rely a lot on credit and I personally fear that what happened in Spain does happen in Poland very shortly. People take credits for up to 40 years to buy apartments and what if they lose their jobs? When out of work, people in Poland gets nothing or a couple of peanuts for a very limited time and it is very scary.

To conclude instead of comparing oranges and apples, you need to compare Poland with similar countries (Czech Rep., Slovakia, Hungary....).

I assume that you are writing from the USA or Canada and therefore very far away from Europe:

I happen to live in Pl (not my choice, family reasons) and I am not sharing the Polish government's excitement because I see that situation is very weak in Poland and that most people are in poor shape (society is very unequal, just like those in Thirld World countries). Because also due to Euro crisis and right now with Greece, Poland shall suffer a lot since banks (also involved in Greece) here are mainly western capital owned and already the zl has gone down to the euro (to dollar, I don't know because not concerned). Polish so called "wealth" is very temporary and on top of that Polish population is shrinking (emigration, low birth rate, low life expectancy especially for men....)

KONIEC

News / Achievements of the Tusk's Polish government [532]

Witam!

Ok, I had omitted that it would be gradual but I can tell you that most Poles are against it.

As to France, what was decided under sarkozy shall not apply - most people are even against retiring at 62 and the current government shall take care of it in a few months so what is on the net specially from foreign sources is irrelevant (Anglosaxon media are reputed for reporting wrong things about the French or France) but never mind we are concerned about Poland.

Personally I don't mind working until death if my health let me but who shall hire me when I'm .... 65 ? ;). When we read ads for ex secretaries in Poland, we realize that past let's say 32, women are considered "too old" ;).

Also, if leaving people at work until they are very old (most of them are totally improductive), what about the younger ones? If there were jobs for everybody, it would be different and soon we'll have the son and grandson fighting with his father and grandfather over work ;).

Like I said, it's purely ideology and not pragmatic. Do Tusk and co. know what goes on in the real world? Nope!

Personally I'm not concerned all the more as I'll get a French retirement (= very good income in Poland) but I feel sorry for the Poles. The government claims that Poland is so rich but they let most people in hardship. Old people in Poland usually look like wrecks, have very poor health so working until 67 does not make any sense.

PS: here again DO NOT compare France and Poland

In France, when people lose their jobs at age like 56, they are not expected to look for work since unless a miracle, nobody shall hire them and they are paid from special State funds until they start getting their retirement and as a result few people in their late fifties work but contrary to what happens in Poland, people in France receive decent money from State.

You cannot compare a country like Poland with Western Europe or other developed countries. Poland although the government claims it's miraculous (but Poland could develop only because of Western money - investors (they are for instance 700 French companies) +UE (Poland is the country receiving the most money from the UE whereas contributing to almost 0)). Poland is very far behind and probably shall always be.

News / Achievements of the Tusk's Polish government [532]

Witam!

Very interesting but please do not copy what you find on the net without checking accuracy and compare what is comparable - one cannot compare retirement in Western countries, where most retirees have comfortable life with what happens for instance in Poland where most retirees live in big poverty.

I am French and I can talk about my country. The retirement age (currently 60 for both men and women) shall go up to 62 or remain at 60 in certain cases (those who started working at an early age).

As to Poland (where I live) putting retirement age at 67 is completely absurd and only motivated by ultra liberal ideology. Not only most Poles at that age, if still alive, look like ruins but also the labor market does not enable to keep workers longer as there is no work. Officially the unemployment rate is close to 14% (higher than the average in UE) and how much would it be if those millions of Poles did not flee their country for bread?

At the age of 40, it is hard to be hired so after 60??????

Those politicians don't know anything about labor market. They just aim at getting rid of retirement but are too coward to say it so they postpone and postpone the age so no one or almost no one shall get anything.They want to have it like in 3rd world, the family shall take care of the seniors and if family cannot or if no family, we'll die of hunger on the street.

I can see that in a lot of countries, people are starting to react, they vote for radical parties and I believe it's only the beginning - more and more people are fed up. In Poland, just to mention the retirement age put to 67, people are reacting and so much the better :)

Law / Working in EU countries and in UK with Poland's Residence Card (Karta Pobytu)? [51]

No, the karta pobytu is ONLY valid in Poland and NOWHERE else. If you want to move to Germany or elsewhere, you need to have proper documents from those countries.