Law / Chance for citizenship of Poland; my great grandmother born in 1898 - confirmation, granting by the President? [8]


Not at all. As delphiandomine said, the president gives cititzenship to a very limited number of foreigners for exceptional achievement, and generally, only to those who have lived a substantial number of years in the country.

Having said that, there is little, if any, reason for you as an Australian citizen to get Polish citizenship. Having permanent residency status is, for all practical purposes, the same as citizenship. The only real difference is the right to vote. My advice is to save your time and money, and just stick with residency.

Work / Cost of Living, Average Salaries and Job sites in Poland [263]


You were foolish for giving an answer, and had no obligation whatsoever to provide one. The only appropriate answer to this question is "How much are you offering?" Anything else can drastically limit your ability to negotiate, which is exactly the position in which they want you. Next time, you'll know. For now, they can always use your estimate against you if you ever ask for a raise.

Work / 3500 PLN gross - not happy with my salary (working in Warsaw for an international company) [55]


Nor do you. Or I. Or anyone else who has read this thread. The OP has provided practically no information at all about the job, or about why he, in particular, should receive more pay. He has said doodly-squat about his qualifications, other than that he speaks Dutch, which, without further context, is neither here nor there. Fuzzy's frustration is understandable.

I assume the guy works in some sort of call center. If he has no other qualifications or prior experience in sales or IT, he probably is working in cold-call sales, low-level collections or some other just-read-the-friggin-script-word-for-word type job, for which 3500 gross is more than adequate, even for a native speaker. Native speakers in call centers don't earn 5000 to 7000 PLN a month unless they have abundant hard sales experience or solid technical knowledge. At no point has the OP intimated that such is the case with him.

Life / Is this a common way to be treated as a guest in Poland? [8]

tl;dr

You've really gotta learn to be concise, kid.

Work / Living in Katowice (programmer, 3000 PLN) - is it enough? [65]


Actually, that's a pretty bad strategy. The danger of getting stuck in a job that doesn't pay enough to cover anything more than a very frugal existence is too high. Best to find a good-paying job BEFORE he comes. Like I said, life in Warsaw is expensive, and anything less than 5000 PLN netto is not enough to justify moving to Poland, rather than trying your luck back in the Netherlands or in another western country. The critical factor is how many EUROS you can put away at the end of the month, which should be AT LEAST 500 Euros (2000 PLN). Even at 5000 PLN a month, it's going to be difficult to put away 500 Euros per month, unless you live really frugally in a shared apartment.

For orientations sake, your monthly fixed costs (housing, utilities, internet and bus/tram ticket) will range from 1000 to 1300 for a room in a shared apartment, from 1500 to 1800 for a studio apartment, and from 2000 to 2500 for a basic one room apartment.

For a single male, food can be done for 600 PLN a month if you cook practically always at home from scratch and eat a mostly vegetarian diet based almost entirely on potatoes, cabbage, onions, carrots, apples, dried beans, macaroni, rice, flour, bread, yoghurt and eggs. During the summer, your range of vegetables will be a bit larger, but during the winter, things like tomatoes and peppers will be a luxury. An occasional chicken breast or can of tuna fish will be a special treat, as will a cup of coffee in a cafe or a bottle of iced tea, for example. You eat a bit healthier because you're going to cut way back on sugar and butter, and other high-priced processed items. The types of sausage that you can afford at this level are all pretty much inedible. You're going to be spending a lot of time shopping in various stores, markets, vegetable stands and bakeries to get the best deals.

Otherwise, it's going to cost you quite a bit more, expecially if you eat out. Unless you're frugal, it can easily exceed 1000 PLN a month.

Drinking and smoking (tobacco or otherwise) are significant expenses that will drastically cut back on your ability to save, and may even sink your budget deep into the red. Same with entertainment expenses.

Don't forget about set-up costs, which can range anywhere from 1000 PLN minimum to several times that for one-time items like furniture, bedding, cookware, paper supplies, computer equipment, bicycle (a cheap one, with a serious heavy-duty lock; bicycle theft is the number one sport in Poland, and any bike that isn't cheap will quickly be stolen), and, of course, the deposit on your room or apartment. Nor about reoccurring expenses such as clothing, household items and replacement bicycles for the ones that get stolen,

Nor about the cost of (hopefully) occasional trips to the doctor or dentist. Don't let preventative care slip even if the money is tight; you can't afford an extended illness or expensive medicines or treatments. For God's sake, make sure you get your flu shot; six weeks at home in bed can ruin your budget for many months.

Also, even if money is short, get some sort of physical recreation: swimming, squash, whatever, even jogging. And some cheap or free cultural stimulation as well; standby tickets for the theater and opera are quite inexpensive, and if you make friends in the arts community, they can even weasel you in for free. It's probably the cheapest way to add variety and spice to an anotherwise frugal and monotonous existence.

A big money saver is knowing the local language well and networking with graduate students, who know the secrets of living cheap in the city, like where the Hare Krishnas will be passing out free food. All of your spare time should be spent beefing up your Polish. Sadly, it still happens that unscrupulous merchants take advantage of clueless foreigners (rare, but it happens). Getting "adopted" by a Polish family helps a lot, too, and very few people over forty speak English.

You might scrape by on less than 5000 PLN a month for a year or so, maybe even two, but you'll be burned out at the end, and have little if anything saved up. All in all, it will probably not have been worth your time to come to Poland in the first place.

Work / 3500 PLN gross - not happy with my salary (working in Warsaw for an international company) [55]

Actually, cheap labor is the primary reason they move here. And reducing labor costs is always at the top of their list when hiring. Before the crisis, western foreigners could expect some level of largesse. Those days are gone, now, as there are more and more western foreigners willing to work for peanuts in Poland. Supply and demand.

Law / Which is the best city in Poland to open a kebab shop? [56]

Nowhere, really. That market is over-saturated just about everywhere in the country. In fact, a lot of the kebab shops in Wrocław have closed down recently because they couldn't survive in such a highly competitive market, and I'm sure it's the same everywhere else in the country, espceially in any mid-sixed or large city. The same for a sit-down Turkish restaurant that we used to have in Wrocław, even though the food was really good. It shut down two years ago.

Gastronomy is generally a very bad area for foreigners to invest in, unless the have 1) plenty of startup capital and enough savings to last the three, four or five years before the establishment finally turns a profit; 2) extensive formal education and street smarts in gastronomic business; 3) extensive practical experience in the field, especially with management; 4) fluency in the local language and intimate knowledge of the local market; 5) a very realistic, even somewhat pessimistic, approach to the prospects of the business; and 6) a willingness, even eagerness, to spend every waking hour working your butt off day after day after day for years on end. A local partner who fulfills the same requirements helps enormously, or multiple family members who can work, essentially, for free.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but there is little chance that you will be able to make any money by opening a kebab stand anywhere in Poland. You might have had a chance ten, fifteen years ago, but not anymore.

Law / Which is the best city in Poland to open a kebab shop? [56]


Well, gastronomy is pretty much out, as it is definitely NOT eay, requires a YERY LARGE investment that will not pay off for years, and is VERY high risk. Retail and the hotel business are pretty much out of the picture for the same reasons. Furthermore, 50,000 PLN is far too little capital for a kebab stand, or a hotel or retail outlet.

Your best bet is to invest in your own hotel, or to partner with someone who already has a sucessful business in Turkey.

Sorry, and no offense intended, but from what you've said here, I doubt that you would be able to run a successful business in the EU. A lot of your ideas are too divorced from reality.

Actually, the best investment you can make is to get some solid training in accounting, finance, management and administration, get hired by or partner with someone who already has a sucessful business, and branch out when you have accumulated a significant amount of capital and on-the-job experience. If you're hell bent on doing business in Poland, learn the local language to a very high level of proficiency. We're talking in about ten years or so.

Real Estate / Renovating a house in janikowo.... [30]



If that's the case, the wisest, and by far the least expensive, option would be to bring in a qualified and experienced professional to evaluate, plan and execute the project. Sorry, but successful large-scale construction projects are practically never carried out by unqualified dabblers and DIYers, and renovation is a much tougher nut to crack than new construction. It might turn out that it would be more cost effective to tear down the existing structure and erect a new one. Those renovation projects you see on TV shows are all carried out by a whole team of highly qualified and highly experienced experts, all using cutting-edge professional equiptment and materials. Whatever it takes them 1 hour and 100 pounds to do without breaking into a sweat will take you ten or more hours of backbreaking labor at a significantly higher cost. A professional builder may cost ten times more than one of the village idiots, but he is going to get a heck of a lot more accomplished for the same money in a fraction of the time. And what he builds will be standing for decades or even centuries, whereas what the village idiot builds may not remain standing longer than a few weeks or months.

Also contact a lawyer, in a professional capacity, to clarify and settle all matters connected with ownership and building and use permits. If you don't have uncontestable title to the property, there isn't much point in doing anything at all with it.

I also have to agree with the others about being wary about trusting Polish village dwellers. The mentality is a lot different than you'll encounter in villages in the UK. There's nothing whatsoever "romantic" about village life in Poland. There's nothing "idyllic" or "bucolic". More like "idiotic" and "bubonic". It's a harsh, brutal, substandard and prospectless environment that breeds desperation, distrust and, sadly all too often, downright despicable behavior. Whether you want to admit it or not, they most definitely do look upon you as a potentitial cash cow.

Furthermore, unless the village in question is very, very close to a major urban center, it is likely that the value of your property will depreciate for the forseeable future. Poles are abandoning villages in droves, so the rural housing market is collapsing. There are hundreds of villages in Poland, especially in the eastern half of the country, inhabited solely by people over sixty or seventy years old. All the younger people have escaped, especially those with any intelligence or ability. It's very unwise to invest in areas devastated by brain-drain.

You have a lot of serious thinking to do here, without your rose-tinted lenses, and a lot of consultation ahead of you with professionals who know what they are talking about.

Real Estate / Renovating a house in janikowo.... [30]


I'd have to disagree with that. Polish professionals are not all that bad. Knowledge of local conditions would help as well.


If you have money to invest, invest it back into your own business or on continuing your educations than on some hare-brained renovation project in rural Poland. You describe yourself as a "hippie chef". That seems a far cry from international investor.


That's a very good point. The best recipe for success in dealing with Polish in-laws is keeping them at a comfortable, but polite, distance and not to commit yourself to much, especially financially. If things go sour financially, there are very few things on this planet that can compete in nastiness and sheer spite than a pist-off Polish mother-in-law, and the last place on earth you would want to own property is next door to her. Always leave several avenues of easy exit for yourself.

Real Estate / Renovating a house in janikowo.... [30]


Actually, the advice I gavve you about finding a qualified and experienced professional to evaluate, plan and execute the project is by far the best advice you will receive. Forget about DIY. You've made it abundantly clear that his project is more than you and your relatives can handle. Like I said, restoration is a whole different kettle of fish than new construction.

The legal advice you received was very valuable. The fact that the property is on your wife's family's property is cold comfort. You are not protected at all against claims from your wife's brothers should her parents pass on. Make sure that you and your wife have full and sole ownership of the property and a sizable enough yard around it. Don't bother putting a dime into it unless you do.

As for Janikowo, I've checked it out. Close enough to Toruń and Bydgoszcz to conceivably commute. You might want to check rush hour commute times to and from the city centers of both those cities. If it's more than an hour, that won't help you very much. Population has been relatively stable for the last twenty years. Village, yes, but not a hopeless hole. I still think that investing the money back into your own business or expanding your education would still be a wiser choice.

Unless they build a major industrial park around Inowrocław, I don't see property values in the area appreciating much. Also, planned industrial parks mean absolutely nothing. Only actually existing ones do. The city of Janikowo is spending A LOT on PR. Be careful and take anything you hear from them with a large grain of salt. Pie-in-the-sky plans do nothing for property values.

The "negativity" you are complaining about is coming from two foreigners who have lived a long time in Poland and from a native Pole, so we know what we're talking about. I've been here eleven years myself, and spent the first four in a village. You're coming across as naive and over-optimistic, and over-trusting, as well. Not good qualities to have for surviving in a Polish village environment, or a Polish investment environment.

You definitely haven't thought this out by a long shot. Do your research and consult qualified professional experts so that you don't wind up sinking your retirement fund in a white elephant boondangle that you won't be able to liquidate without taking a substantial loss. Even if everything turns out OK, and you do get clear title to the land, you're taking about a year or more before any actual work takes place. Take your time, and think over everything twice, together with your wife and your professional experts.

You're not even close to the stage where you have to worry about buying materials yet. The professional builder you chose will take care of that, anyway.

Love / English Men vs Polish Men [207]


That's true. I've been living in Poland for eleven years now, and four or five times a year, I get hit on hard by a Polish woman, usually ten or twenty years younger than me, and sometimes even younger. And by hard, I mean REAL hard. Wet-panties-humping-my-leg hard. Not bad for a 53-year-old. I could chalk it up to my God-given good looks, my efferverscent, charming personality, or to my long, flowing white beard. But the cynical side of me has to concede it has more to do with cash.

Law / Applying for Polish citizenship through marriage. [116]


I had to put up with that for five years before I got my permanent residency. I still have nightmares about it, six years on. It's a harrowing, expensive and humiliating experience.

Love / English Men vs Polish Men [207]

Actually, they were almost all academics. From professors down to grad students.

News / Too much milk - Poland has been forced to pay EUR 4.1 mln to the EC. [11]

Don't see why you think that's odd. Over-production of milk has been a major economic problem in Europe for more than thirty years, and EU measures to limit milk production have been in place for at least as long to curb the economic warfare and shameful waste of resources that had been taking place.

News / Too much milk - Poland has been forced to pay EUR 4.1 mln to the EC. [11]


Actually, the root of the problem is that there are far too many farmers in the EU. The problem is how to get them to abandon farming and become productive in other sectors of the economy. Low profits for farmers is an important incentive for them to find alternative occupations, or at least convert to producing more profitable products. A compounding problem is that there is an absolute glut of unskilled or semi-skilled, poorly educated laborers in the EU, as well. The problem is that low-profitability farmers, that is, the worst of the lot, will simply swell the ranks of the unemployable masses. The obvious answer is re-education in fields that are in high demand, especially those related to STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) . The problem with that is the high initial costs and delayed payoff, and also a reluctance among a huge proportion of the unemployed population to pursue re-schooling, especially in STEM-intensive fields. Farmers, as a rule, are a conservative lot and would greatly prefer to remain farmers, even if it means that they are unemployed, under-employed or marginally profitable farmers. Also, they politcally support short-term benefits, even if it means long-term losses, than long-sighted solutions that require hard work and sacrifice. That's generally true of large portions of the population, though, and is one of the problems with popular democracy and "free-market" thinking.

Travel / Vegetarian places to eat in Krakow [30]

There is a Greenway in both Kraków and Warsaw, but apparently not in Lublin. However, I expect there to be several good vegetarian restaurants with vegan food in Kraków and Warsaw. We have several here in Wrocław. I'd expect there to be at least one in Lublin. It is a university town. ... and, indeed, there is at least one vegan friendly restaurant in Lublin:

happycow.net/europe/poland/lublin/

Travel / Vegetarian places to eat in Krakow [30]


Actually, this site says there are quite a lot of vegan options in Warsaw:

happycow.net/europe/poland/warsaw/

That's a lot more than I expected.

News / Too much milk - Poland has been forced to pay EUR 4.1 mln to the EC. [11]


That's correct. Smallholdings are ubiquious in Poland. And smallholdings tend to be inefficient for the simple fact that they cannot take advatage of economy of scale. Smallholdings can be efficient and very profitable, but for that, they have to take advantage of numerous other economic strategies which require superb knowledge of the market and considerable technical skill in intensive agriculture. The small-scale operations you see in Poland depend almost entirely on extensive agriculture, which works most efficiently with very large farms.

However, there is still a glut of farmers everywhere. Less accute in Britain, perhaps, because of the historical clearences, but pretty much the rule everywhere else.


When taken out of context, as you did, it may appear that way. However, you divorced the statement from the words "long-sighted", and also from the context of education. By hard work, I mean hard mental work.

Sadly, in that context, many farmers are terribly work-shy.

There are, fortunately, exceptions. In France, for instance, many of the smallholdings are very profitable because the produce high-quality, high-value-added artisan products like cheese and wine, as well as high-quality organic staples and produce at a premium price, for which there is a ready market. In Poland, the per capita disposable income is much lower than in France, so the market for high-quality, but premium-priced, products is limited. However, some farmers have taken advantage of the market next door in Germany, and the number of profitable specialist intensive smallholdings in Poland is slowly increasing.

An example of this is the father of one of my friends. After the transformation in the early 90s, he went to agricultural academy, got degree in organic farming and farm management, learned German and Dutch, and then started farming Cornelian cherries (a fruit that is completely unrelated to cherries).

Smart guy. Cornelian cherries are tasty (one of my favorite fruits) and HIGHLY nutritious, and are highly sought after by Germans as a juice additive. Furthermore, they suffer from no diseases, aren't attacked by any pests, and are very modest in their nutritional requirements, so they are an ideal crop for organic farming. Last of all, they require little care and tending to thrive; in effect, they grow like weeds. That greatly reduces time and money spent. In his abundant spare time, he consults otehr farmers who are interested in going into organic farming, which is very profitable in itself. Last of all, Cornelian cherries regularly and dependably bear an enormous harvest, which makes establishing long-term relations with customers easier. Last of all, he extracts the juice on site and sells it frozen in Germany and Holland, and now Denmark as well, where the market is especially high for organic frozen Cornelian cherry juice concentrate.

He's taking advantage of the fact that he's able to sell a product in Germany, Holland and Denmark that cannot be profitably produced in those countries because of high land and labor prices. The amount of land he cultivates is more than doubling every year, and he's breaking out into other high-demand organic fruits like sea buckthorn (also a juice additive). He also has started recovering the pulp from the juicing process and selling it to a Dutch vitamin company as raw material for nutritional supplements. In the off-season for Cornelian cherries, he juices and freezes juices of other organic fruits for other farmers, a lot of which he distributes himself. Next year, he's opening up a nursery that sells saplings of fruit cultivars that are ideal for organic farming and gardening (in partnership with the local agricultural institute). He got a huge grant from the EU for that, and has customers already lined up not only in Poland, but in Germany and Holland, as well.

Best of all, he sent his son, my friend, to college for a good education in organic agricultural engineering and agricultural business management so that his work does not die with him (which hopefully won't be for a long time as he is the same age as me). On top of that, he never stopped educating himself after he graduated, and educates other farmers himself, as well. He also taught practically every blood relative and relative by marriage, and a lot of his neighbors as well, key skills to help him out on the farm, like running the juicer, packaging, grafting, and so on. He put several of them through school, too.

The first seven years, though, when he was studying, was pure hell. Fortunately, he had a good mentor who kept him moving. Otherwise, he would have dropped out. Now, he's mentoring others himself.

Language / The correct spelling of my surname Palusinski? [3]


Probably Palusiński. Not a common surname, but it exists, with about 700 people in the country bearing that name. Highest concentration in Lublin, but scattered all over the country. From a village/hamlet/estate called Palusin or Palusino, no information on which exists. See:

moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/palusi%25C5%2584ski.html

Second choice is an unrelated name Paluszyński. Even rarer, with about 370 people bearing that name, with the highest concentration near Konin. From a village/hamlet/estate called Paluszyn or Paluszyno, no information on which exists. See:

moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/paluszy%25C5%2584ski.html

The names of both places is derived from the word "paluch", a form of "palec", which means "finger" or "toe". Remember, these are two different surnames that are unrelated. They are not different spellings of the same name.

Based on the distribution and low numbers, it's a pretty safe bet that you are related to either all the Palusiński's, or, less likely, to all of the Paluszyński's. That depends on how dependable the person who told you how your name should be spelled is.

The name Paluczyński also exists, but is very rare indeed, with about twenty people living mostly in Rawicz. See:

moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/paluczy%25C5%2584ski.html.

News / Poland's new golden age : shifting from Europe's periphery to its center [32]


Actually, if by "highway" you mean "autostrada", it didn't. The main western stretch of the A4 wasn't opened until 2006, and the rest of the way to the German border at Zgorzelec until 2009. Before then, travel to Germany was a major pain. And the connector to Berlin (A-18) is still not completed, as far as I know, and won't be for about five years or so. The main stretch, though open to traffic, is actually still not completed, and won't be for some time. It needs to be expanded and overhauled. At this time, it is a funtional temporary overhaul of the pre-existing German autobahn. It needs to be widened; right now, it does not have emergency lanes, and parts of it will need to be redesigned and rebuilt. The amount of traffic is going to jump radically once the eastern stretch of the A4 from Tarnów to the Ukrainian border opens up, hopefully next year or the year after.

Real Estate / Can foreigner buy apartment in Warsaw, Poland? [39]

Ain't going to happen. Dream on. Banks loan money to those who they know can pay back. As a "non-working student", you are clearly not in that club, and won't be for quite some time, that is, until after you graduate, find a well-paid and stable job, and establish a clean credit history and sufficient savings.

There's nothing any lawyer can do for you, or anybody else.

Food / What food and drinks should I buy a Polish friend who is missing Poland? [12]


Yew meen Rzóbrufka, of coarse. :)

Work / I am a recently graduated, non EU resident looking for work in Poland. Advice please? [4]


Not much here that will help you find a good job with the opportunity of advancing yourself in Poland, I'm afraid. You're chances are so much higher in the States, that moving to Poland would be a very unwise choice, especially at this point in your career. Wages for teachers in Poland are downright abysmal. In the rosiest scenario, your looking at no more than $12,000 a year, and probably a lot less. Plus it's a dead end job with a very low earnings ceiling.

A BS in biology isn't worth much on the job market even in the States, and a lot less in Poland. You'll have to beef it up. For example, taking a year-long course in medical technology will open up a lot of doors. Job prospects are excellent and future earning potential are OK, both better than for a secondary school science teacher with only a BS.

Even better, go into biomedical engineering. Both job prospects and future earnings potential are stellar; quadruple or more than for a secondary school science teacher, with no ceiling. Before you do so, take a year or two to intensively brush up on your math: trig, geometry, calculus, linear algebra, differential equations, probability and statistics and formal logic, at your local public college. In the long run, this will save you a lot of money and grief. Also, bring your biochemistry, organic chemistry, physics, physical chemistry, molecular biology and microbiology up to snuff. Those courses should have been part of your undergraduate studies. If not, take them for credit at your local public college. Doing so may cost you a year or two, or even more, if you have to work, depending how much of this you have already done during your undergraduate studies, but having a very firm basis and good grades in math and chem/molecular biology will enable you to get into a very good engineering program at a very good school, and hugely lighten the load once you get there. Graduate in biomedical engineering from a good school, and you future is very bright indeed.

The best plan would be: get your medical technology certificate, work part time in a hospital lab while you brush up on the math and other courses I listed at your local public college, making sure you get excellent grades, then get into a good biomedical engineering program at a serious, but not expensive, school of engineering. With the math and science prep behind you, you will be able to continue working part-time as a med. tech as you study. It might take you seven or eight years, but when you finish, you'll be earning a hell of a lot more that you would be at thirty with your present qualifications (as a secondary school teacher, your going to hit the earnings ceiling pretty quick). You'll have a degree that is worth gold on the job market, job offers out the gazoot, a continuous employment history, little in loans to pay back, and countless opportunities for further advancement (like working a few years, and then getting a serious kick-ass MBA from a prestigious school).

USA, Canada / Only one county in the USA has more Polish-Americans than any other group! [38]


I'm from there myself. However, you'd be hard pressed to find any Polish speakers there under 70 years old. The immigration to the region ended in around 1920. The immigrants (my grandparents generation) often did not learn any English at all, or very little, and operated almost entirely in Polish. The first generation born in the states (my parents generation) were completely bilingual, using (unschooled) Polish at home, and English outside the home. English was their primary language, and they had zero contact with Poland or Polish culture since 1920. When the immigrant generation died off, their children stopped using Polish altogether. My mother's Polish has grown very weak since my grandmother died 25 years ago. Very few members of this generation read in Polish, and the Polish they speak is corrupted and simplified, and now very rusty. The second generation born in the States (that's me) speak no Polish at all. Very few were taught it as children. I learned no more than a handful of words growing up in a home where Polish was spoken for twenty-two years of my life. So much for passive learning. I eventually learned it all on my own when I came to Poland.

USA, Canada / Only one county in the USA has more Polish-Americans than any other group! [38]



No. The data are for unprompted self-reported ethnic identity from the US general census, not place of origin or citizenship of ancestors. If it were based on that, there would be practically zero "Poles" in Luzerne county, as there was no such thing as Polish citizenship when the ancestors of the Polish-Americans living there immigrated. The map doesn't show any "Polish centers" because it shows only the largest ethnic group per county. And yes, it is credible that only a single county has more Polish-Americans than respondents for any other single ethnic identity.

To find "Polish centers", you would have to count the number of living recent immigrants from Poland, whether currently US citizens or not.

Luzerne county would not be on that list, as the immigrants are no longer alive, and only the oldest generation still can speak broken Polish. Sure, you might hear a kolęda in church at Christmas time, find pierogi, gołąbki and placki offered at parish picnics, and find a butcher shop or two that makes kiełbasa, but those Polish-Americans have precious few ties to Poland and Polish culture beyond a sentimental, token variety. Out of the thousand-odd Polish-Americans from my generation from my town, none learned Polish at home. I think I am the only one who went on to learn Polish (on my own, in my forties, no thanks to my parents). I'm also probably the only one who can give intelligent answers on Polish history, culture and events.

USA, Canada / Only one county in the USA has more Polish-Americans than any other group! [38]


No language can ever be learned passively, period. There is no such thing as passive learning in any field, language or otherwise. You might pick up a few words, at best, but you'll never develop any real knowledge or fluency. Even after living in a house where Polish was spoken every day for twenty-two years of my life, I learned only about a dozen words, because it was never spoken to me, personally. Actually, I learned a lot more words from the kolędy they taught us in school than at home, because, at least, I was actively involved in the process. If you are not personally involved, learning is impossible.

Law / Getting married in Poland (documentation, church) [42]


It very much depends on the priest. Some priests are very accommodating. Others are plain a$$holes. You will almost certainly have to provide proof that both of you have completed a pre-Cana course, and you might need a letter from your pastor in the States that you are both regularly practicing Catholics in good standing. You'll also need proof of baptism, first communion and confirmation from your respective parish priests. The wait can be up to a year, and sometime longer, if you want to get married on a popular date (weekends and holidays, especially during the spring and summer), and especially in a popular church. Or much shorter if you want to get married on a non-holiday weekday, especially in the middle of the week. If all your papers, as described above, are in order and the priest has nothing better to do, you can even theoretically get married the same day in a simple ceremony (no mass and a few guests and the witnesses), or the next day immediately after the daily morning mass (with as many guests as you want).

A lot depends on the good will of the priest involved, or lack thereof. Sadly, some priests take advantage of the situation to demonstrate their "power". If you come up against that sort of situation you could try throwing money at the priest, but it doesn't always work. My advice would be to find another parish. What's the point of having a priest with a pi$$y attitude officiate at your wedding, and perhaps spoil the day for everyone?

Another thing you can do is get married in a no-frills, no guests Catholic ceremony in the States, and then have it blessed with renewal of vows in a big church ceremony in Poland. Very few priests would refuse to bless an already concluded Catholic marriage.

Travel / A traditional Thanksgiving Dinner in Wroclaw? [16]


You'd have to make it from scratch yourself, or get invited to an American home that's keeping up the tradition. Fortunately, all of the ingredients are available in larger cities in Poland. Even sweet potatoes. European cranberries are a lot smaller than American ones, but the taste is the same. Actually, it's easier to find good pie pumpkins in Poland than in the States. The biggest problem is trying to fit a large turkey into a small European oven. Did it once when I was studying in Germany, but it was a very tight fit.

Another problem you'll run into is that most Poles detest the taste of sage. With an unquenchable passion. So if you're having Polish guests over, leave out the sage. They have no problem with the rest of the foods, though. They might think pumpkin pie and sweet potatoes with maple syrup sounds strange, but they love them once they taste them.

This year, I'm roasting a whole turkey (in my friend's professional kitchen) with chestnut stuffing, and serving it with New England clam chowder, Waldorf salad, homemade cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes with maple syrup and REAL AMERICAN black walnuts (by chance, there is a REAL AMERICAN black walnut tree growing near where I live; how it got here is anyone's guess), succotash, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes (actually the hardest to make, because good potatoes are a real beech to find, at least here in Wrocław; I have to order the variety called "Bryza"; the regular varieties are extremely bland and watery to the point that they're inedible), sweet yellow Yankee cornbread with lots of butter, cream and eggs, pumpkin pie, baked apples a la mode, apple cider (there is a Polish product that is similar to the American one; takes connections, but it can be done) and eggnog.

Life / Living in Poland since 2010 and I still don't have ID. Advice needed please. [50]


Like Delph said, all you need is a residency card (karta pobytu). Go to the Wydiał Spraw Obywatelskich i Cudzoziemćów at the Urząd Wojewódzki in Rzeszów, and they will give you a list of the paperwork you will need. You'll also need photos in the format that they want.

Polish ID cards are given only to Polish citizens. Non-citizens get a residency card, which is valid for all purposes. There is no point in becoming a Polish citizen if you are already a citizen of an EU country.