Travel / POLISH PKP BAD ATTITUDE [14]

PKP is a state-owned company, and such companies usually suck when it comes to customer service, they don't need to work hard to get their benefits, because they always stretch their hand for public money when they need them (so basically all the time). So it's a hopeless case (for now)

/end of the rant

Life / Polish Nursery Rhymes [243]

well, I don't know this text, but with the help of your translation, I'd say it's (properly spelled in Polish):
Gdzie jedziesz?
Do Warszawy.
Po co?
Po buty.
yez un ye shiz te (no idea what it is)
Patrz do góry (Look up - i.e. in the direction upwards)

Language / Przypadki (Polish language cases) [59]

History / 1612 new russian epic movie. Polish troops in Moscow. [25]

Like Kain and Abel, I guess?

Life / Wszystkich Świętych (All Saints Day) // Dzien Zaduszny (All Souls day) [86]


things like that don't fall over easily:
pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Znicz
images.google.com/images?client=opera&rls=en&q=znicz&sourceid=opera&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&um=1&sa=N&tab=wi

unfortunatelly, the older types (thick glass or ceramic, open at the top) are replaced with modern ones (thin glass or even plastic all over, instead of glass and metal),

I really loved the old type, when I was a kid - we were all putting our fingers in it, so the stearin was sticking to the fingers and when it cooled down we had colourful artificial "fingernails")

Life / Polish films... where to find them? [51]


I guess you mean her daughter, not son.
That's Three Colours: Blue (osioł meant Three Colours: White, which is actually, in parts, a comedy, unlike Blue and Red)

Law / How do I verify a Polish company's existence? [240]

S.A. (Spółka Akcyjna), s.j. (spółka jawna), sp. z o.o. (Spółka z ograniczoną odpowiedzialnością):
- rejestr przedsiębiorców Krajowego Rejestru Sądowego (entrepreneurs registry of the National Court Register) or court registers (economic divisions) in the town where they have their head office.

s.c. (spółka cywilna):
- ewidencja działalności gospodarczej Urzędu Miasta - Town Hall's economic activity division

Every company has a REGON number given by GUS (Główny Urząd Statystyczny - Main Statistical Office) and NIP given by US (Urząd Skarbowy - Tax Office), maybe it's the way you can verify their existance, contacting the Urząd Statystyczny for Województwo £ódzkie, I'm not sure if this information is free of charge though :(

Love / Looking for a Polish love song [78]


from your description it looks like Supermenka [=Superwoman] by Kayah

Gdybym mogła być mężczyzną jeden dzień,
pewnie byłabym
supermenem, tyle o kobietach wiem
jestem jedną z nich

[Boguś Li = Bogusław Linda, a Polish actor]

Language / Polish slang phrases - most popular. [606]

maybe rather as*h*le?

Classifieds / Asian community in Poland [113]

there's a quite big Vietnamese community in Warsaw, probably also Chinese, but I'm not sure.

Food / Types of CHEESE in Poland [150]

Karpathian Mountains - both in Poland and Romania, so some similarities aren't a surprise, besides parts of modern Romania used to be Polish vassal states several centuries ago :)

Food / How many Poles are vegetarians? [52]

btw, I'm not a vegan, just a standard vegetarian (for 20 years now), eating milk/cheese/eggs. I think I couldn't survive on a vegan diet in Poland in 1987 and it stayed that way.

Food / How many Poles are vegetarians? [52]


lol, I NEVER ate tatar in my life (nor móżdżek), and I stopped eating meat when I was 17 yrs old, so I had a plenty of opportunities, but I just couldn't take such barbarian dishes in my mouth.

and bigos is really fine without meat
kiełbasa and "kurczak z rożna" were my favorites, I missed their taste even 5 years after I had stopped eating meat, but I was strong and resisted :)

Food / How many Poles are vegetarians? [52]

not many (vegetarians nor shops)

in my small city (30.000 people) there's 1 shop with "health food", I think, and there are some small stands in most markets, but for example usully I can't even find a natural soya sauce (water, soya, salt, wheat, nothing else) for weeks, so it's hard.

When I was living in Poznań (450.000 inhabitants) I had no problems with shopping or veggie restaurants, even 10 years ago, so it's not bad in bigger cities, but the small ones suck.

and of course there are vegetarian versions of Polish food, for example no meat bigos, vegetarian gołąbki, etc., all as good as the meat versions, IMHO (for me of course much better)

Language / Polish/Ukrainian words similarities [209]

I think it's up to them to decide how it worked out, remember that remaining in the union with Poland meant partitions, WWII, communism - not really a much better fate, and if a nation suffers, they'd rather suffer for their own sake

of course we may speculate that both Poland and Ukraine would be much better off remaining in the union (one stronger state, weaker Russia etc.), but it would be just speculations

Language / Polish/Ukrainian words similarities [209]

well, Michal was in Kharkov in 1982, I figure people simply spoke Russian then, with a little Ukrainina accent, that's why he thought he understands the language so well :)

News / PIS and PO - what is the difference in their programs? [35]

What I meant is that for him some problems seem more improtant, for me not. What's wrong with religion in Poland? I've been an atheist for 20 years now, since I'm 16 and I never had any problems with that, not with my family (mostly religious) nor friends not even in church (because of wedding and baptism formalities). So it's hard for me to see why Poland is regarded as a church-dominated, backward country, because it's a huge exaggeration, IMHO. And about abortion, yes, I know our law is more restrictive here than normally in the Western world, but you need to see things in proportion, how many people are really affected by that law, it's not like every pregnant woman wants to get rid of the baby/foetus.

There are real and much bigger problems, affecting all the country and yes, they are connected with the fact that



it's not about talking, it's about finally doing something.

and sticking to the topic, it's not the programs of the parties that matter, it's how they realize their program in practice, which, unfortunatelly in Poland is far from the promises made during the electorial campaign.

I really have a big headache because of the coming elections, I won't vote for PiS, because I can't forgive them forming a government with thieves from Samoobrona (Kaczyński's almost own words - two months or so before the election, of course he couldn't use the word "thieves" because of possible legal preceedments, but it's how he was talking about Lepper & Co., and I agree), but the alternative according to the current polls is a coallition of PO and LiD, and the Kwaśniewki party ruling (even as a smaller party in the government) this country again isn't any better. So let's say I see the future in black colors, when it's come to the political life :(

News / PIS and PO - what is the difference in their programs? [35]



you see, hello, first you ask about abortion/religion and then say anti-communism is not an important thing, well I can say the same about abortion and religion, for me they are less of a problem for Poland (generally) than our communist burden (that still affects many areas, including economy and social life)

Genealogy / Some Macedonian, Croatian, Serbian Second Names look Polish! [38]

it's not Macedonian, it's simply common for both languages, -ski names are considered typically Polish, so I was quite surprised when Macedonian players started to appear in the Polish soccer league and they all had the names like Mice(v)ski, Boce(v)ski, Whateverski :)

Food / Types of CHEESE in Poland [150]

I forgot about oscypek, maybe because he's going to Gdańsk, so quite far from the mountains :)

Food / Types of CHEESE in Poland [150]

well, first of all (if you want to know Polish cheese) try the ones mady by Polish companies, not all those Danone, Hochland etc. that might have their factories here, but still use their French/German/international recipes :)

- typically Polish is "twaróg" (white cheese)
- then we have "serek/twarożek wiejski" (or "Grani") - similar to cottage cheese, it can be plain (just twaróg, sour cream, salt) or with some vegetables (szczypiorek is the most common)

- decent products of other types (IMHO) - Lazur (blue cheese), Turek (Camembert/Brie)
- I'm not keen of Polish versions of hard cheese (we call it "yellow") - you know Ementaler, Gouda, Edam or similar
- I like (but not too often) "twaróg wędzony" (smoked white cheese) - "twaróg wędzony" is not the same as "ser wędzony"!

- if you want to feel the old times (communist era) try "ser(ek) topiony" (again by Polish companis, like SerTop for example, not Hochland), which for years was the most popular, because it was the only type widely disponible.

- another "relics" from the past, even more connected to those times is "serek homogenizowany" (plain, not vanilla or fruit taste), warning for vegetarians, they probably use gelatine from cows/pigs for it, so I wouldn't recommend, besides you'll have troubles in finding it, it's almost "extinct"

Genealogy / Popular Polish First Names? [152]


it's a big mistake, I tell you.
this site displays Polish words correctly (even in Interner Explorer 6.0),
the problem you are talking about is rather connected to poor HTML-coding, this site seem to support the fonts well, it's like with Chinese - on some sites all you can see is a "bunch of question marks", but on other you can actually see the text correctly

Genealogy / Popular Polish First Names? [152]

btw, Bartek in Polish can mean Bartłomiej, indeed, but it's also used for Bartosz, I'm not sure which name is more popular (Bartłomiej or Bartosz).

Food / Need some Polish dessert recipes [47]


there's at least one thread about Pączki in the cuisine section of this forum, browse some older topics (I hope it's still there)

Life / British sky satellite TV in Poland [87]

btw, if you buy Polsat Cyfrowy right now (I mean on Friday), and get someone to install the dish lay the cables and set up the decoder on the same day (a technician did it for me for 120 złoty, cables included, took him less than 1 hour), you probably get more channels than normally immediately, including PS Extra and Eurosport 2 (which shows sometimes - but only delayed - Aussie rules football)

here's how it worked for me in December:
149 PLN for the dish + decoder (+120 for a techinician, but you can install it by yourself if you know how)
I chose the standard plan (Pakiet Familijny - 35 PLN/month, contract signed for 18 months) - and the first month is free, plus I also got (only for the first month) the channels that are paid extra (15 PLN for Pakiet Sport and 10 PLN for Pakiet Filmowy), now I pay only for Pakiet Familijny, but I can buy Pakiet Sport on monthly basis, if I know/expect that there would be something worth watching in the next month. Generally Polsat Sport Extra and Eurosport 2 are dull, so not worth it IMHO.

Genealogy / Surname WILK [8]

Wilk rankes among top 50 most popular surnames in Poland, so not every Wilk will be your relative, I guess,
and watch out for "Wilk w owczej skórze" of course :)

Life / British sky satellite TV in Poland [87]

I have no idea which games are live and which delayed, there's no info about it, so you have to check the tournaments programme

Polsat Sport
Friday, 20:50 Puchar Świata - mecz: Francja - Argentyna
Saturday, 18:00 Puchar Świata - mecz: Anglia - USA
Sunday,
13:55 Puchar Świata - mecz: Walia - Kanada
17:55 Puchar Świata - mecz: Szkocja - Portugalia
Monday, 7:00 Puchar Świata - mecz: RPA - Samoa (too early, so I guess they play on Sunday?)
Tuesday, 20:00 Puchar Świata - mecz: Argentyna - Gruzja

there's also Polsat Sport Extra (and it's unfortunatelly paid extra - 15 Polish zloty for a month - access to PS Extra and Eurosport 2, if you didn't buy it earlier and want to pay now, it porbably won't be of any use, they'll decode the extra sports channels only on day 1 of the next period of you contract, i.e. if you signed Polsat Cyfrowy contract for example on 19th June, and pay today for sports channel, they will be available for you from 19th September - for a duration of one month or more if you pay for more months at once)

Polsat Sport Extra
Saturday,
13:40 Puchar Świata - mecz: Nowa Zelandia - Włochy
15:45 Puchar Świata - mecz: Australia - Japonia
Sunday,
9:00 Puchar Świata - mecz: Anglia - USA (Saturday game)
18:30 Puchar Świata - skrót meczu: Walia - Kanada (only a synthesis of the game)
19:55 Puchar Świata - mecz: Irlandia - Namibia
Monday,
11:00 Puchar Świata - mecz: Anglia - USA (Saturday game)
13:00 Puchar Świata - mecz: Nowa Zelandia - Włochy (Saturday game)
15:00 Puchar Świata - mecz: Francja - Argentyna (Friday game)
19:00 Puchar Świata - mecz: Szkocja - Portugalia (Sunday game)
21:00 Puchar Świata - mecz: RPA - Samoa (Sunday game, I suppose)
Tuesday,
11:00 Puchar Świata - mecz: Irlandia - Namibia (Sunday game, I guess)
15:00 Puchar Świata - mecz: Szkocja - Portugalia (Sunday game, I guess)
17:00 Puchar Świata - mecz: Walia - Kanada (Sunday game, I guess)

btw, RPA = South Africa, Włochy = Italy, Walia = Wales, Szkocja = Scotland, Gruzja = Georgia, the rest is easy even for those who don't speak a word of Polish, I hope.

Food / Where to buy napisco Oreo Biscuits in Warsaw [15]

otherwise try some Polish "markizy" (those Oreo biscuits look totally like "markizy" on the picture) from a good manufacturer (I'm not sure who makes good ones, but a higher price might be a small indicator sometimes, just don't buy those really cheap ones)

Food / What exactly is Polish Bread? [67]

First of all Polish bread isn't any specific kind of bread, it rather refers to the quality, taste and methods of bread making in Poland (more traditional, of course, the bakeries they have been using machines for a long time, but it's all those chemical raising agents that make "western bread" so bad, it only looks nice)

And the most selled today is probably the standard white bread (wheat flour) on yeast, but if it's made in a natural way, it still tastes a lot better than wheat bread abroad. Other types are wheat-rye, pure rye isn't very popular.

But it's the best IMHO, integral rye bread without chemical additives, it's heavy and it has a little acid taste, indeed, because that's how you make it, you don't use yeast or anything similar, but "zakwas (zaczyn) chlebowy"

here's a Polish wiki site (very short) for zakwas:


pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zakwas_chlebowy

and the English one, which mentions yeast, so it's not exactly how it's supposed to be, but I don't bake at home, I'm lucky to have a few good bakeries in my city

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sourdough

most online recipes are with yeast, but I found some that may be OK:
kuchnia.bytow.pl/index.php?menu=czytaj&nr=7034

serwisy.gazeta.pl/tokfm/1,58941,3157626.html

and if you want some more traditional recipes, here's one:

lewandowka.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16&Itemi d=30

(it's from 1889 vademecum "Perfect housewife")

Genealogy / Popular Polish First Names? [152]

I don't think so, but there was a Polish actress with that name, so it wouldn't shock anybody
I heard it a few times (one Daria was my teacher at university and another is my relative's naighbour little daughter), so it happens.