News / What must be done to improve politics in Poland? [72]

Have you heard also of their failed PiS attempts to tax the personal income of Poles working abroad.
Did they a/ think that those Poles should pay tax twice, b/ think that Poland was more entitled to the money instead of the place the people actually live, as if it were a tax on ethnicity, c/ not care or d/hadn't thought about it much?

But since they were removed from office they weren't able to do much damage.

News / What must be done to improve politics in Poland? [72]


That's part of it all. They only managed to assume power by forming a coalition with a party of criminals and a party of racists. In the election in which they were removed from office those parties too were wiped out, and the Polish people showed they wanted Platforma/PSL.

News / What must be done to improve politics in Poland? [72]


Yes - but remember (if you knew in the first place, which is unlikely to say the least) that UK citizens lose the right to vote after a short period of absence anyway, and that Poland (illegaly) discouraged non Polish EU citizens from registering to vote. Whereas in the UK, Polish migrants are encouraged to register.


Irrelevant, since British residents in PL don't get it. Until someone gets a lawyer and goes to Europe. And that would really cost the authorities.

News / What must be done to improve politics in Poland? [72]


As their idol Lech Kaczynski said when PiS (briefly) got the Warsaw mayorality "Teraz kurwa my".

Fortunately the people of Poland have shown they don't want PiS. They didn't even let them complete a whole term of office.

BTW, gumishu, what was the unemployment figure under the failed PiS regime?

Live, rather than "are living". The rest is pure comedy!

Work / English tutoring help - do we need the TESOL certificate to work in Poland? [33]


Never in 11 years, though I've occasionally helped out a friend when her barmaid has been off sick. The customers could barely believe it!

Real Estate / information about Bialoleka Warszawa (Warsaw area) [8]


Yes. Quite a well known one, for historical reasons. A grim looking place, but tucked away on the edge of the district.


Better start a different thread for that. BTW, "subern" is not a word in English. Perhaps you're thinking of 'suburb'.

News / What must be done to improve politics in Poland? [72]


A few years ago (prior to EU entry) the embassy were guessing 8,000. This was based on the number of people who'd registered with them and includes people who identify as Poles but with British passports. The British Embassy in Warsaw is comically useless - and I suspect the figure today is many times higher.

Nobody really keeps a figure, and Polish bureaucracy (and nationalistic issues due to a highly compromised history of national independence) is such that they don't recognise the British minority in the same way that the Polish minority is recognised in the UK. What's the point? Reciprocity - Poles in the UK get quite a good deal, especially if they have school age kids, are looking for social housing or need to claim benefits. This should work both ways. Look at the various hurdles when you want to vote or join a Trade Union.

What can be done to improve politics in PL?
Relect PO, keep PiS where they belong, in obscurity. On a city level, keep out the PiS/SLD mafia. Above all, remove the communist style immunity from the law that politicians and even some civil servants enjoy and rigorously prosecute corruption, from a 10 zloty bribe to a million zloty kickback. Overhaul the scandalously inefficient legal system, so trhis can be dealt with quickly and not drag on for years. Publish the full names of those arrested or convicted like freer countries do. Not just "Jaroslaw K" etc. And stop managers in the public sectoe employing relatives.

Work / Some cold, hard facts about teaching in Poland for newbies [101]


That seems to be the same around the western world. Which is why one of the key skills (and this isn't for amateurs of kids on some 'gig') is to reconcile those two and still be on top of the situation.

I'm sometimes irritated by threads on PF like "My girlfriend and I are plannin' on bummin' around Yoorup when we leave high school and wanna catch a gig teachin' for a few weeks. We only need to score enough money for food", Equally ones from people a bit more serious but haven't heard of the usual internet forum for EFL teachers (which after all, is pretty well known throughout the profession).

But your advice is as usual, sound.

Work / Some cold, hard facts about teaching in Poland for newbies [101]

I'd pretty well go along with what Delphi has said, but add that in Warsaw both earnings and cost of living are much higher than in the provinces.

Also, in-company work tends to pay more than language school classes and is more likely to go on through the summer. Though the work is more demanding and senior managers (you are not the first or even the fifth native speaker teacher some of them have had) don't usually want 25 year olds. Unless they're pretty or charismatic or exceptionally good at teaching. Ideally all three.

The market is changing fast in Poland right now, and not for the better. People have been saying this for years.

Life / Best over the counter flu medicine in Poland? [24]


Remember that isn't flu. Just some bug. Not nice, but not serious. Gripex etc is OK for that.


Same here. I got Swine Flu just after new year, and on my back for a fortnight plus a week or so of post-viral symptoms. There's an epidemic where I am now (aren't we only a few miles apart right now? I'm staying with family in Wakey) A very nasty illness to get. Over the counter stuff like Gripex or home remedies don't even touch it.

The moral of the story is to get vaccinated. Boots do it cheaply.

Work / English tutoring help - do we need the TESOL certificate to work in Poland? [33]


Yes, if you want to do a half decent job. Remember people are paying for the lessons.


Maybe at a summer camp.


That doesn't ring true.

Real Estate / information about Bialoleka Warszawa (Warsaw area) [8]


I doubt it's even Warsaw's largest. The one at the back of Elsnerów looks bigger. Poland's biggest is in Wronki, in western Poland.

Europe's largest is in France, and the local jail near where I'm from in the UK is many times larger.

Białołęka prison isn't very big. It's rather scruffy looking though, like a few Kruszczówki buildings with a wall round. It's probably Poland's best known - the Poles interned Polish dissidents, like Adam Michnik, there.

Why not visit, so you can have a look.

Love / Sexual diseases! Please tell me how I go about getting tested in Poland? [103]

When I was young and poor I used to have to clean one. It still gives me nightmares. the owner never ever changed the jacuzzi water. Some other pretty bad things there too.

Real Estate / Buying a flat in Krakow; prices are still falling? [200]

Except the Polish economy is healthier than most, the property market is healthy and if it seems like a bubble (it isn't) that's due to being undervalued before.

Also, Poles are returning from the UK etc with spouses and savings, plus Krakow attracts expats. Easy language, nice country, decent people. I can see prices in Krakow rising.

Love / Sexual diseases! Please tell me how I go about getting tested in Poland? [103]

The owners aren't usually known for their high standards in life ;-)

News / First Polish ambassador to Seychelles accredited [5]


My thoughts entirely. Do they really need a whole embassy there? There must be all of three tourists a year visiting and the entire export revenue is probably less than the Ferrero Rocher budget for the Ambassador's Christmas party.

edit

Unless they're getting money from other countries, maybe Czech or the Baltics, for sharing. In any case, it's probably a nicer diplomatic posting than Guyana or Somalia.

Love / Sexual diseases! Please tell me how I go about getting tested in Poland? [103]

And if you go to a brothel or a sauna you can wear as many rubbers as you like, but they're no use if the jacuzzi is seething with chlamydia. They don't change the water ever, just put chemicals in once a week to make the water go clear again.

Study / An electrical engineering student from Turkey wants to study in Poland [17]


Golabki, with cabbage leaves. That surprised me,


Ask the chef! Maybe he was Polish...


I liked the lemon with everything, and agree that the food is tastier. Wonderful soup - I remember one very similar to bogracz and another a bit like zurek. Plenty of white cheese too.

I was doing some business there for just a month and had to buy new clothes, a size bigger!

Study / An electrical engineering student from Turkey wants to study in Poland [17]

Golabki, grilled meat, lots of gerkhins, a dislike of heavily spiced food, kopytki, plenty of cakes, lots of black tea, but above all surowka with nearly every main meal.

Study / An electrical engineering student from Turkey wants to study in Poland [17]

Pride, a love of debating/arguing, hospitality, pragmatism, politeness. And I was surprised how similar the food can be!

Study / An electrical engineering student from Turkey wants to study in Poland [17]


As someone who's worked in both Warsaw and Istanbul, I noticed plenty of similarities between Poles and Turks, most of them positive.

Study / An electrical engineering student from Turkey wants to study in Poland [17]


speak for yourself

News / Lech Kaczyński statue in Warsaw? [66]

As they announced it on the news:

Life / Winter in Poland? [161]

Same here. A good coat (but not as heavy as ski stuff). Hat and gloves only for the coldest few weeks.

History / Was Daniel Fahrenheit a Pole? [138]

And Scots too.

History / Was Daniel Fahrenheit a Pole? [138]


And his were all decidedly German, except citizenship which didn't exist in his day . Don't start pointless arguments.

History / Was Daniel Fahrenheit a Pole? [138]

Guess who is right. He was from Gdansk, but his family were culturally German. Whether they had any Polish blood is anybody's guess, but if he had, we'd probably know.

Real Estate / information about Bialoleka Warszawa (Warsaw area) [8]

Leafy and safe, popular with families, quite a way from the centre. Very family oriented, not exactly buzzing with things to do. The far end of Białołęka is semi-rural with quite a few working farms.

The part of Białołęka nearest to the river is Tarchomin, much of which is a concrete jungle of apartments - with a few dodgy streets, especially at night; the bulk of it, to the east of ul. Modlinska is the opposite - quieter with mostly houses. Plenty of forests round about, and at the weekends there are always people riding bikes or walking. Although the Borough of Białołęka includes Tarchomin, when people talk about Białołęka this is the part they usually mean. Some parts (Płudy, Choszczówka are quite nice, posh even)

It is considered one of the cheaper places to buy. Part of this is due to having poor transport links to Warsaw. When the new Most Polnocny (Northern Bridge) is finished this will improve. But only slightly. Owing to the number of young families, there is some pressure on schools but this is slowly changing. There are plenty of supermarkets etc, but no real shopping mall.

What might happen to property prices over the next year is anybody's guess, but since they are quite high in Warsaw anyway, and mortgages are harder to get than a couple of years ago, they probably won't go up much.

News / Lech Kaczyński statue in Warsaw? [66]


Exactly. Better to do a good one than a quick one.

But statue or monument? A monument would be better. Marszal Pilsudski looks great in his uniform astride a horse, but LK in a lounge suit? No.

And statues representing someone are much harder to make - there are so many bad ones like the statue of JPII in the rynek at Lowicz, which if you see it from a particular angle looks like he's been surprised while tiptoe-ing out of somewhere.

Better maybe a different type of memorial.

History / If Poland didn't exist, how did citizens become Polish? [57]

True enough. Mind you, I remember a poster here once saying that 17th century Poles should have emigrated to the US, so I suppose anything can happen. Maybe the same guy who posted the other day, about the 'English economy'.