Study / Learning English in Warsaw, can anyone recommend a tutor/academy? [16]


I used to go to Internations events in Krakow 2 years ago. Usually they were free events, meeting in some bar around the Rynek. Would it have changed and they are charging people now?

Travel / Taxis from Gdansk airport? [65]


You will find that this tactic will not work at most airports. Taxis usually have to be authorized to pick up from the airport and even pay fees for the privilege of doing so. If an unauthorized taxi is found to pick up passengers from the drop off zone, they could be in serious trouble.

Even if the driver would be authorized to make airport pick ups, if they just arrived to drop off another passengers, they would most likely point you to the taxi pick up point where their colleagues have been waiting in line. Again, if they are found to skip that line by picking up in the drop off zone, they could face serious trouble.


Probably because you didn't do it too often if at all.

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


I used to to live in Krakow until June 2013. Then stayed in Greece (Athens) for 8 months and returned to Poland after so i can compare pretty good. Even if 3900 zlotych gross is not the best salary, it would still allow you to have a better and more comfortable lifestyle than not having a job a Greece.

If I was in your shoes, i would go for it. You can use the job as a first step into Poland. There are plenty of multinational companies in Krakow. You would not have any issues finding better paid job once you are there.

Yes, in the beginning your budget would be very tight. Most likely you would have to share an apartment but once you are in Krakow, you should be able to find a better paid job easily.

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


That's not true. You will lose 20% of your salary when being off ill if you are on an employment contract.

Law / Getting a Polish drivers license / Poland's residence permit (how long it might take to get?) [25]


Oh, I am sure you would change your mind once you have had the great pleasure of driving in Lodz :)

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


Exactly. You can not go wrong with 2600 zlotych in Poland if the alternative is either unemployment or low paid job in Greece.


You will find that most likely you will not be able to avoid the parties. If you start at IBM or another one of the bigger multinationals, you will have a good choice of house parties every weekend for which you won't need too much money apart from whatever you buy to take with you.

Go for it and let us know how you get on in Krakow. It's a great place!

Work / Possible lifestyle in Poland? Job offer - 12K to 13K PLN. [40]


Depending on what position those locals are holding. As the OP said, he was offered a position in Senior Management. It is not uncommon for locals to earn between 8 - 12k PLN in Senior Management positions in multinational companies.

Having said that, i agree that some of the people that are recruited from abroad are paid more than they are worth just because they speak a language.

Law / Getting a Polish drivers license / Poland's residence permit (how long it might take to get?) [25]


The cheapest country to get your license in Europe is Ireland. I am German but i have an Irish license. All in all i paid approx. 200 Euro which included the theory test, the fee for the provisional license, the photographs, three driving lessons and the actual driving test. I passed first time round.

If you want it cheap, find a way to proof an address in Ireland, get your provisional license and take the test when you are ready. There are different versions about when you can take the test in Ireland. I took it three months after i got my second "first" provisional.


Well, with an Irish license you would feel much at home then :)

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


A good way to meet foreigners in Krakow is internations.
internations.org/krakow-expats

Law / Will traffic fines law like in Finland make Polish roads safer? [21]


That makes you quite a danger to the traffic and it's participants.

There should be fines for both, people who excessively go over the speed limit and people who are a nuisance to traffic by driving too slow.

If the speed limit on a main road between towns / villages is 100, that also means that the road is deemed as safe to travel on it at 100kph. By driving 70kph, you are not only slowing down the flow of traffic, you are also provoking unnecessary takeover maneuvers. Unnecessary because if you would adjust to the traffic flow, other drivers would not have to overtake you.


That is quite surprising for me because adjusting to the flow of traffic is something that works very well in Germany. In fact, Germany is one the few countries in which the police will pull you over for driving too slow.

Law / Will traffic fines law like in Finland make Polish roads safer? [21]


Which is why i wrote


Regardless of what one might think of the roads in Poland, the main roads in most parts of the country are well constructed and suitable for speed of 100 kph, motorways even more.

I am not talking about some back roads or narrow lanes but the main roads which "Kamaz" referred to in post 7 of this thread.

There is only one motorway in Poland on which i would not recommend anything faster than 50kph which is the A18 between the German border town Forst and Legnica leading up to the A4 towards Wroclaw. Going west is not a problem, that part has been reconstructed. Coming from Germany however and going East, you will find yourself on a stretch of motorway that since it was built as the "Reichsautobahn" by the Nazis, has never seen any major work done on it.


That is quite interesting seeing that I am not even Polish :)

Law / Will traffic fines law like in Finland make Polish roads safer? [21]


I am not trying to apologize for anything. Perhaps you need to start reading and understanding better.


Kamaz has clearly stated in post 7 that in towns and villages he never exceeds 40kph. On MAIN roads, and with that it would seem he means the roads that connect villages and towns, i.e. the country roads / national roads / trunk roads, he never exceeds 70kph. On these roads the speed limit is usually 90 or 100 kph, meaning that if he drives at 70 kph he is significantly slower than most of the traffic participants. On a busy day, this kind of driving would lead to congestions and unnecessary takeover maneuvers.

While Kamaz, and as it seems you too, thinks that driving slow is safe, it does nothing but provoke dangerous takeover maneuvers for which there would be no reason if he would simply adjust to the flow of traffic.

I am not talking about wreckless driving. I am talking about common sense and simply adjusting to one's surroundings.

If you don't think that driving too slow is a danger to traffic, you may want to start considering handing in your license and use public transport.

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


Bank Millennium has very good internet banking available in Polish and English. I would recommend them.


You'd think so but this is not a given in Poland.

Law / Will traffic fines law like in Finland make Polish roads safer? [21]


You did not mention small and narrow lanes with horses and cows in post 7 when you spoke about doing 70kph on "main roads".

Law / Time Required to process/receive an International Wire Transfer Sent to Poland? [13]


From within SEPA countries, it is no more than 2 working days.

As Chile is not part of the SEPA scheme, it is difficult to estimate the time it takes to arrive at the bank account in Poland. This can only be answered by bank of the sender. Once it hits the Polish banking system, the amount would be posted to your bank account either in the late morning, lunch time or evening, depending on when your bank runs its incoming sessions. Most banks have three incoming sessions per day.

However, only the bank of the sender would be able to give you an estimate on how long it would take for the money to hit the Polish banking system

Off-Topic / Blog problems after name changing, the website cannot be accessed [17]

Hi, what does it say in "Blog Address" in your dashboard?

Off-Topic / Blog problems after name changing, the website cannot be accessed [17]

Is this your blog?
polandsoccerblog.blogspot.com


If so, then it seems that your blog somehow "re-published" itself on the initial subdomain on which you started the blog.

In this case, you would have to go through a similar process as when you purchased the domain and moved the blog to that domain. I am not too familiar with blogspot as I mainly use Wordpress, but this article might help you.

blogging.nitecruzr.net/2013/01/blogger-magic-republishing-custom.html

Off-Topic / Blog problems after name changing, the website cannot be accessed [17]


If i am not mistaken your domain is registered with godaddy and expires on 30.03.15. So you can just go through the same process as you did when you purchased it and extend the domain in your godaddy hosting panel. If you want to keep the same domain that is.

Off-Topic / Blog problems after name changing, the website cannot be accessed [17]

Blogger / Blogspot is a Google blog hosting service that is why it showed the Google 404 error page.

Off-Topic / Blog problems after name changing, the website cannot be accessed [17]

@ WielkiPolak, i see that your blog is still not visible. Any luck?

Work / Working in Poland without speaking Polish [75]


Why would you say that? There are plenty of Irish Pubs hiring people that do not speak Polish.

Off-Topic / Blog problems after name changing, the website cannot be accessed [17]

Still the same 404 error. Did you change the domain?

Work / Working in Poland without speaking Polish [75]


Never been to an Irish Bar in Poland? You will find that the people who frequent those bars, particularly the ones who come for one weekend, would find it more interesting to talk to someone from abroad, just like they are. There is a good chance that they have been to Spain, stories can be exchanged which will pro-long their stay and increase the amount of piwo sold. Also, by employing a non local who only plans to stay for three months, you will most likely not run into an personnel related issues at the end of the 3 months term. If i was a pub landlord in Krakow, I would welcome someone who has no expectations after the three months high season.


Yes, plenty. Do you even know the Polish bar scene?

Btw. for quite a period of time, Irish Mbassy in Krakow had a Canadian girl as manager. According to your theory, there would have no chance at all of a foreigner with no or hardly any Polish even managing a bar.

Work / Working in Poland without speaking Polish [75]


He has never said anything about his experience. Where do you get the "inexperienced" from?


I would not advise him to do it. But i would also not advise him not to do it. However, your statement -


- is simply incorrect.

Off-Topic / Blog problems after name changing, the website cannot be accessed [17]

Did you buy polandsoccerblog.com? Was it the domain that you have used before?

Work / Working in Poland without speaking Polish [75]


That is nonsense. Just because he does not share his experience here on a public forum means he has none?

All of your last posts in this thread are based on assumptions.

Work / Working in Poland without speaking Polish [75]


Great way of leading a conversation.


I don't have to prove anything to you. You have given your opinion. I have given you mine. With the exception that I have actually given you some examples. Something you have failed to do. You have just assumed that the OP has no experience although he never mentioned anything about it.

In any case, it is clear that you prefer to paint a negative picture rather than look at reality. I have given you the example of the Canadian girl managing the Irish Mbassy in Krakow. You did not even acknowledge that example.

Anyway, after -


- Discussion over. Good Luck!

Travel / Getting from Krakow to Warsaw [99]


I have used Uni Bus a few times. Costs 14 zloty from Katowice to Krakow. Travel time around 1 hour

uni-bus.com.pl

Work / English teacher - Language schools in Warsaw - any advice? British school. [11]

Depends on what they are looking for. I have not dealt with British School in Warsaw but other outlets usually employ Polish teachers to teach grammar etc and native speakers for the conversational classes. For conversational you do not have to bring a teaching qualification and the hourly pay tends to be quite good. However, you won't get enough hours to make a living from it.

Food / What is your favorite Polish Vodka? [653]


It is not too bad. Personally i prefer Ukrainian or Russian vodka but if i had to choose Polish vodka i would probably go for "Sobieski" or "Żubrówka".

On new years eve i was served "Skittles Vodka" which was somewhat of an unusual, creative and quite tasty experience.