Genealogy / Borcyk (Borczyk) from Gdansk [5]

What is the name you need to have looked up? I am a volunteer amateaur genealogist in the states, moving to Krakow in September.

I will try to help if I can.

Law / Tax in Poland? [57]

Nope, we're 30-35 mins north of Pittsburgh, PA. We rent a townhouse since we can't afford to buy a home, pay taxes and homeowner fees, etc, anywhere near here on one income.

Nice area, nice schools, much nicer than just a few miles south in adjacent Allegheny county. Houses and linked property taxes cost more here, but that's worth it, I guess, for the area. It's pretty and safe, lots of conveniences, some high end shops and restaurants, nice library and township parks, etc. Close to Ohio Turnpike and PA/NY turnpike for travel.

Biggest problem is no public transport (one bus into city in the am, one bus out in pm and on Saturday a bus runs thruout the township, called a shopper special, from one plaza to the other, for 4 hrs only).

Genealogy / Zych surname in Ropica [6]

Have you tried surnamenavigator.org or familysearch.org or geneanet.net yet? Make sure pop up blocker is off when trying surname navigator and that you have a fast connection. These three sites are free, well known and respected genealogy sites.

Also, have you tried Cyndi's list Poland to get archive info for older Polish records yet?

USA, Canada / Where on the net can I buy Polish language books/novels/math in the US? [26]

If in the US, go to Borders Books and ask the SPO clerk to special order, for only the cost of the book--no order or shipping fees--whatever titles you want. You should only order titles you intend to buy--this service is not a "look see"or "free library"service, but is a good one to try.

I used to do the special orders at my local Borders. They are faster and cheaper than Barnes and Noble and since no shipping costs are passed on to you, for one or two inexpensive books they are usually cheaper than Amazon. They have agreements with foreign book publishers and distributors in some cases, not just book wholesalers like Baker & Taylor.

They can buy an overstock book from a book warehouse/depository, or get it from a vanity press or the author, from a museum (in which case you may be asked to prepay) or get stock from other Borders stores.

Try also Schoenhofs.com, Powells.com, or google for Harvest Books, Abe Books and the NY location of Jay's Book Stall.

Life / EXPATS in POLAND: 10 things you miss / don't miss about home . . . [138]

Pancakes that are light and fluffy and cake-like, with real Vermont maple syrup and real creamery butter on them.

COLD drinks with ice in them; it's 90 degrees F here right now in Krakow and you get lukewarm lemonade and room temp water outside a hotel.

Clean, clear, cold, safe -to -drink tap water.

A/C in the taxis and shuttle buses or cafeterias/restaurants and offices. Only our hotle had it everywhere, thank god. My 4 yr old is about to get heat stroke everywhere we go.

Life / Electricity in Poland: plug and voltage? [72]

We are using a Radio shack 50 watt adapter that has three "port plugs" that flat fold into the block shaped adapter; they pop out when needed to plug into the wall. One is for England, one for Australia and one for EU. It converts 120 volt to 220 volts as all similar adapters do, but we needed a separate piece like the plug shown above to make the plugs on the adapter extend out long enough to fit the round indented plugs in our hotel walls; it had to be plugged onto the adapter then our appliances plugged into the adapter itself. Didn't have to do that in Uk when there, so that was different.

Genealogy / Displaced Persons Camp / Work camp and concentration camp difference [86]

Have you tried the Red Cross War Victims and Holocaust Archives and Tracing Services? There is a UK branch, I believe, but I only know the US site.

They have lots of info, some of which they got from dp persons themselves during and after the war in various countries, from camps the Red Cross visited at that time, and some of which they got from papers left by the captors (in the case of work camps) or dp surviviors they helped find new locations afterwards.

They can help find people, possibly put you in touch with living relatives and sometimes, they know where caches of letters from people searching for their missing relatives are, which they may have been given or are holding in their files for survivors, when found.

Go here to start, but check for the UK branch, too; there may be a link for that at this site:

redcross.org/services/intl/holotrace/facts.html