News / Polish parliament refuses to consider shack-up draft between both traditional and same-sex couples [96]


That's fine Polonius, no problem.

Life / Why are Polish so conservative and religious? [240]


Le'ts not add ageism to the other 'isms' that are all too plentiful in this forum.


By evil old man in a dress, do you mean the Pope or senior churchmen in general?

Catholicism does not require people to kow-tow to anybody nor does it require you or encourage you to hate anyone. The essential message of christianity and of Catholicism is 'love God and love your fellow man.' If you are really to be a 'good Catholic' you must love your gay neighbour as you love your straight neighbour. It is God and not the Church who asks this of you. As Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, the Catholic Primate of Ireland recently said 'if you're homo-phobic, you're God-phobic'.

Life / Why are Polish so conservative and religious? [240]

Ah come on now Obiwandonnelly, with a name like that you must be Irish. Going to mass every day hasn't been common practice in Ireland (or in Poland either I would wager) for many years. My grandmother certainly went to daily mass but she was a stay-at-home mother and lived about 5 mins walk from the church. Can you imagine the average person trying to squeeze mass into their daily commute/half hour lunch break? I don't think anyone would go that far unless they're trying to get beatified.

News / Polish parliament refuses to consider shack-up draft between both traditional and same-sex couples [96]

Hi Harry. I just meant that the term concubine is used in Poland. I've heard some women referring to themselves as concubines. An elderly lady I know said she wouldn't be able to get guardianship of her grandchild because she wouldn't be considered respectable, being 'konkubina'. Sad isn't it?

News / Polish parliament refuses to consider shack-up draft between both traditional and same-sex couples [96]


Are you addressing me Polonius? I sincerely hope not.

News / Polish parliament refuses to consider shack-up draft between both traditional and same-sex couples [96]


Believe it or not Oldenglisbird 'konkubin/konkubina' is indeed the official/legal term in Poland for co-habiting couples. In the West we would consider concubine a very archaic term, and of course it referred to an illicit or not quite respectable liaison. We would regard such a term as rather offensive but Polonius uses the term correctly in the Polish sense.

Life / Why are Polish so conservative and religious? [240]

The Catholic church permits Catholics to decide for themselves whether they wish to believe in creationism or the theory of evolution. For those Catholics who wish to teach evolution to their children yet acknowledge God, a wonderful way is through the story of 'God With No Hands' by Dr Maria Montessori, a great educator, a Catholic and a scientist.

UK, Ireland / Question for UK Poles who voted in the last British elections - what party and why? [5]

Ok, this is how it works. Any Pole living in the UK can vote in European elections, so they can have a say in which MEPS represent Britain in the EU parliament. They can also vote in local elections for town councils. They can't vote in general/national elections unless they are British citizens. There were a number of local elections held at the same time as the recent general election so all Poles living in the UK could vote in those.

Love / Are Polish men handsome to you? [182]

The 'poem' contributed by Veles is a re-hash of the lyrics to the song 'Rasputin' by Boney M.

There lived a certain man in Russia long ago
He was big and strong, in his eyes a flaming glow
Most people looked at him with terror and with fear
But to Moscow chicks he was such a lovely dear.

Classic bit of late 70s/early 80s disco cheese, complete with authentically Russian balalaikas and thoroughly pop-tastic. Check it out on You Tube and enjoy........

History / Give Poland back it's lost land ! [132]

Well Szeliga the problem with that is,that if you look at Belarus for example, the majority of the population is not Polish. They're Belarussian. Why would they want to be governed by a foreign power?? Just because Belarus was once a Polish territory doesn't mean it should be again. People have a right to govern themselves, however badly they do it.

And I think you'll find that when it comes to the crunch, however sentimental Poles may be about their Polish brothers in the borderlands, when it comes to sharing the Polish money pot with them it would be a different story. Poland itself is a developing nation which cannot afford to take on the problems of places like Ukraine and Belarus. Also even if Poland were rich enough to do it, life would not be better for those people. They would be a minority in Poland, probably flooding to the large towns and cities, competing for jobs and being intensely disliked by Poles.

Life / The best online shopping portal in Poland? [41]

Try Allegro.pl. Lots of different online shops there.

UK, Ireland / Best location to open Polish shop in the UK [3]

Hi Agnieszka. You should have a look at the UK Office of National Statistics website and see if you can find the breakdown of figures by region so you can identify where the most Poles are located. Basically any large urban centre will be likely to have a sizeable Polish community. If there's a Polish community there will be business for a Polish shop but you'll face a lot of competition as there are many Polish shops that have been established for several years.

Life / Why are Polish so conservative and religious? [240]

84% of the population of Ireland identify themselves as Catholics. So clearly it was the Catholics of Ireland who voted in favour of equal marriage rights for gay people. Even in the most conservatve counties in Ireland the 'yes' vote was over 50%.

This discussion shall be about Poland

News / Does democratic Poland guarantee it's LGBT citizens respect for human and civil rights? [1169]


Do you mean charity, in the sense of fund raising for the whole community or for the LGBT community. The latter would be frankly ridiculous. As for general fund raising gay people just take part in charitable works alongside their hetro peers. They don't set up their own charities such as 'Gays For Cancer Research'. Why would they??

Life / Why are Polish so conservative and religious? [240]


You sound a little affronted. I'm not criticizing you. I just wondered. The Dominicans are a nice order, generally very reflective and intelligent in their approach. It's very interesting that you went to a Catholic school. How long were you there?

Life / Why are Polish so conservative and religious? [240]

I think what they meant was assist in the sense of bringing up the offertory gifts or doing one of the readings. Did you attend religion classes in the school Harry?

Life / Why are Polish so conservative and religious? [240]

Harry, I'm afraid the term to assist used in the context of mass, means the same as attend. We learned about this in secondary school. Assisting at the mass means that you don't just sitting there, admiring the stained glass windows or making up your shopping list in your head while the priest rambles on. It means that you pay attention, perhaps follow the rite in a missal (that practice gradually became discouraged but a lot of older people still carried it on). With respect to you and indeed to everyone else we're all somewhat out of our depth here. Canon law and liturgy are incredibly complex and none of us are really sufficiently educated in it to be having a debate on it. But I think particularly if you weren't raised as a Catholic it's very hard to understand the weird and wonderful nuances of how Catholicism is actually practised and how the Canon is interpreted in the real world.

Life / Why are Polish so conservative and religious? [240]

The local priest certainly would be happy to see even a half full church on a Saturday evening, rather than an empty one on a Sunday, whatever Canon law says. And of course God doesn't care whether people go to church on a Saturday instead of a Sunday. It's the job of middle management ie the Vatican to worry about that.

Life / Why are Polish so conservative and religious? [240]

Harry, have a look at this:

Question:

What does the Church say exactly about the Saturday evening Mass? - J.G., Arras, France

Answered by Legionary of Christ Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum university.

'The norms permitting the celebration of Sunday Mass on a Saturday evening are not overly detailed and thus different practices and notions have arisen around the world.

Even though this practice is relatively recent with respect to the Sunday Mass, the Church had long maintained the custom of beginning the celebration of important feasts the evening before, with first vespers. This was inspired by the concept of a day in the ancient world which divided our 24 hours into four nocturnal vigils and four daylight hours, the day commencing at first vigil.

The general law does not specify the precise time after which Sunday Mass is possible. However, 5 p.m. is the common rule in the Diocese of Rome and in many other places. Any time much earlier is hard to conceive as being Saturday evening in any meaningful sense of the term.'

ewtn.com/library/Liturgy/zlitur242.htm

Life / Why are Polish so conservative and religious? [240]

Harry, just to let you know I checked it out and apparently the Saturday evening mass is actually the Sunday mass. It's a bit loosely defined but it's generally agreed within the church that if mass takes place from 5pm onwards on Saturday evening, it is classified as Sunday mass. As Father Ted said 'that's the great thing about Catholicism, it's all so vague and nobody really knows what it's all about'.

Just to add, when you go to mass on a weekday it only takes about half an hour, but the Sunday mass takes around forty five mins because you get the sermon and a few little extras. So Sunday mass is a different more elaborate one than an ordinary one. So if you go on Saturday evening and get the sermon you're sorted.

Life / Why are Polish so conservative and religious? [240]

Harry, the simple truth is that like most things in life, the theory and the actual practise of Catholicism are two very different things. First of all the average Catholic knows nothing at all about Canon law or what the Vatican says and wouldn't be visiting the Vatican website to check on it either I can tell you! Going to mass on a Saturday evening instead of a Sunday has become common practice and no sensible person, even of limited mental capacity would consider themselves to be committing a sin of any kind in doing so. Most Catholics learn their religion in primary school and from whatever practices are observed in their own home during their childhood with such practises varying from family to family. And that relatively simple form of religion is the one they practise for the remainder of their lives.

Life / Why are Polish so conservative and religious? [240]

I would like the moderators to explain why they are removing my posts. I answered a query put to me by Gosc123456 and both his query and my reply have been removed. Fifth time asking this. I would ask the moderators to exercise some basic manners and respond to the question. This is not the Soviet Union. Thank you.

Please look in the "random chat" before posting again.

Food / What is the typical expat diet while living in Poland? [42]

Harry is right. Polish cuisine itself is the combination of a number of influences. No man is an island and especially not when located in central Europe.

Food / What is the typical expat diet while living in Poland? [42]

Dry aged beef is when the whole carcass is hung for three or four weeks without any covering over it, wet aged is vacuum packed.

Life / Foreigners in Poland: migrants, immigrants and expats [13]

The problem with words is that they have can have many perceived meanings, other than the literal. People interpret them differently. There's no doubt that some people are offended at being referred to as expat in a country where they have settled permanently. It implies to them that they are perceived as opportunists or usurpers, who don't really belong. In their own eyes, they now live in their adopted country and their adopted country is as dear to them as an adopted child would be. So some people are defintely hurt by being referred to as expats.

Food / What is the typical expat diet while living in Poland? [42]

Yes, I know Poles love their spices. There was a funny incident not long after we arrived in Poland. It was a bitterly cold winter and an elderly neigbour of ours called round and gave us a little parcel of goodies including some packs of spices and a couple of bottles of piwo. I was cooking liver that day and for some reason I assumed I was supposed to sprinkle the spices on in the same way as you might with kotlety. I thought it was a bit odd but who knows the ways of Poles! So we sit down to dinner and husband asks 'do you mind me asking, what did you put in the liver?' The spices that Dziadek brought' 'Oh Boźe jedene' responds husband, 'the spices are for putting in our warm beer'.

Food / What is the typical expat diet while living in Poland? [42]

Hi Polonius. Authentic Indian recipes contain very little turmeric. I don't like it myself, but I use a little in rice to give it that nice yellow colour, much cheaper than saffron. I love Indian food and the variety is so vast, not just curries. Favourite Polish food would be golonki but I roast them in the oven, gołąbki, rosół, pasztet z śliwką, pączki, never touch kiełbasa. My Polish husband loves Indian food, Chinese, traditional British Sunday roast and fish and chips. He tries to avoid all the wędliny because of the salt and generally eats chicken, beef and fish. Like all good Poles he loves anything pickled! Oh and soups, homemade of course. Luckily I enjoy cooking!

Food / What is the typical expat diet while living in Poland? [42]

Polonius, I don't think curry is considered very exotic by Brits these days. There have been curry recipes in British cookery books for well over two hundred years and Indian restaurants for about as long as that. Brits don't generally live on a diet of shepherd's pie and fish and chips anymore. Most people eat a mixture of traditional British stuff and international. It's very common for people to whip up a a quick Thai green curry at home or basic Italian dishes for example. As for lamb chops, in the two years I lived in Warsaw I can't remember ever seeing lamb in the supermarket. I think I may have seen some weird looking frozen stuff once. Since then I've only been back for holidays but I have actually seen teeny, weeny little things that look like they came off a rack of lamb, about two bites in each. Most depressing!

Study / International Schools in Poznan Reviews - which is better for my child? [21]

Hi Kavita. I sent you an email.

Study / International Schools in Poznan Reviews - which is better for my child? [21]

Hi Kavita. I'm a teacher. I have taught many Indian children in the 3-6 year age group. Now my experience is of teaching Indian children in Ireland but they didn't speak any English so it was the same situation for the child as it would be in any country where they didn't know the language. All the children I taught, some younger than your daughter, settled in within a few weeks and were very happy. Within about six months they were communicating in very basic English. At that age children can play together without needing to use much language. However, how easily your child settles, depends to some extent on the teacher and whether they are accustomed to dealing with children who don't have the local language. The teacher needs to be kind, patient and understanding.

By the way Kavita, when you talk of school, for a child of your age in Poland, that would be pre-school and your child is unlikely to be doing any academic work in the way she might in an Indian school. I taught many Indian children of your daughter's age whose parents expected their child to be learning to write, read, do basic maths etc. As far as I know they don't do this in Polish pre-schools but it may vary. For example if you put your child in a Montessori she should be facilitated with reading and writing if she shows readiness.

As you're only going to Poland for a year, I would try her out in a Polish pre-school just for the social aspect. As I say, if she has a good teacher she should be fine there. If she's already started reading and writing, just carry on with her at home and let her enjoy playing and mixing with other children at the pre-school. Any other advice I can give you, don't hesitate to ask.