Moved back from Canada to Poland:). Here are the reasons why.

Yea North american architecture and city plans is so depressing.

I wish you all the best!!! :)

aphrodisiac
I think it took a lot of guts.
I'm really looking forward to your further reports.
I'm sure many others do as well.

It's always tricky at the beginning but settling comes about in different ways. The key is just to accept and roll with it. When I went back to Scotland, I wasn't happy for much the same reasons that WB wasn't happy about life in England. You impose an idealistic vision that doesn't square with reality, rather than just getting on with it as who you are. I'm sure you don't expect a bed of roses so should be fine. Good luck!!

It is indeed strange how things work out sometimes, my relocation attempt was the worst in history but i had to see it with my own eyes. Ive been thinking Italy lately but to be honest i dont have a clue where im going to be in 5 years.

I expect Aphro will go through the reinsertion phase and hopefully come out feeling positive.

The worst thing is the stifling aspect. You are in your home country yet feel thwarted by the employment game. You cannot put who you are in check by some git telling you what you can or can't do in the workplace. By a certain age, you should've amassed enough exp to know what you are capable of and where you can take it from there. In GB, they try and squash that. Most seemed jealous when I told them that I had lived in Japan. Like yourself, WB, I made it work in another country and those parochial/provincial dic*s just can't get out of their rut. OK, Poles don't always stick to their uni education but at least they shake it up and are prepared to get their hands dirty. Brits are stuck in their routines. Shallow feckers that never change. Poland will step in that Porsche and drive right on by. Stagnant British losers!!

get used to it


u ARE IN europe


no, because the sea has a milder effect plus the moisture saturation is higher.

Go to montreal and tell me it's depressing.... :/

I agree, although it is easier to take something that already exists and do it better and cheaper, because the market research has already been done.

Polish logic - If i want to sell a lot of apples,all I have to do is sell them at half the price of my competitors.


WB, it takes a strong person to admit they were wrong - so respect to you. How many years have you been in PL?

To all, some posts were removed for being off topic.

.. Or Miami, San Diego, Chicago, Cancun.. San Antonio

it is gonna take me a while I think. I catch myself saying: In Canada....blah, blah.... I think I should stop it;)


it is true. So far so good, time will tell.


90 were the golden years in Poland and according to my sister: wolna Amerykanka, which is not the case anymore I think.


thanks Sledz:)


thanks a lot. I have eaten other things since my arrival. Today, my hand picked mashrooms. It was great to be in the forest and have some fun.


my Polish is fluent, although I catch myself using English words at times, yet nobody has noticed.


good question. I move to Poland for personal and less personal reasons, but I had enough reasons to move back. It is much more fun in Poland.


this is NOT a bad idea at all. I saw some Starbucks, but my friend owns a coffee place and her coffee is good. Thanks for your wishes. If you ever passing via Szczecin, you know what to do:).

3. Day 3 - cont

So I visited Urzad Miejski in order to set up my own business and the service was great. No line up, I just had to take the number and got all the info I needed. I am going back on Monday.

Went to visit my friend's cafe and I finally talked to her, although we live in the same building. She told me about the meeting with Agnieszka Graf - the famous Polish feminist that evening. Since she has written 3 books and published articles in all major newspapers I could not decline. She was in Szczecin to promote her new book: Magma as part of Progessteron ( I am sure southern would be happy about the name) a women's festival taking place in Szczecin.

4. Day 4
Workshop at work in the morning, then got on the train to visit my father.
Italian evening with my friends. Headache.
5. Day 5
Mashroom picking with my father and friends. We left in the morning and arrived the the SPOT, but it was obvious that there were more people then mashrooms. We still found some and went home after 2 hours. I made my first mashroom dish. Mashrooms with onions lol

That's to be expected.. While Canada is still fresh in your mind you should publish an honest assessment of the pros / cons of Canada vs Poland. Those are always interesting and will spark a lot of debate.

That experience is your biggest asset to any future employer or organization you wish to co-operate with.


Take yourself back in time Seanus, to b4 you did the off to Japan. If you had met someone, that have just returned from country x and was telling you all about their travels, what emotions would you be going through your mind.


Anyone who is a wage slave is stuck in their ways, it is money that allows freedom.

Yes,as progesterone is cause of abortions.


Are there not many masculinists in Poland?

lesbian feminists are closest to that

"You Can't Go Home Again" by Thomas Wolfe

The title comes from the finale of the novel when protagonist George Webber realizes, "You can't go back home to your family, back home to your childhood ... back home to a young man's dreams of glory and of fame ... back home to places in the country, back home to the old forms and systems of things which once seemed everlasting but which are changing all the time - back home to the escapes of Time and Memory."

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Can%27t_Go_Home_Again

I was actually not having in mind the architecture, although once you mentioned it I would have to agree. Being raised with smaller buildings, not that overwhelming as the North American architecture I missed that in Canada as well. As much as they were spectacular, they were also overpowering to me. Thanks for your wishes.

thanks F-stop. It was not an easy move and they will be a long time before I adjust, but I will report as often as I can and I will try to keep it real.


well, not really, I am pretty familiar with the way things works in Poland, but I was away for 7 years and I have observed already that some things changed for better and some for worse, or they simply evolved a bit. Private companies have a great customer service - eg. internet, since they realized that they have to fight for the customer. I cannot really tell what has changed for worse yet, or what remained the same.


me too, time will tell.


I would but so far nobody is interested among my friends and family members.


Judging by your posts about Polish women, this would be the last thing on your mind, unless I am mistaken.


I am not sure what you are referring to.


you seem to know many of them then. Actually, I remember your discussion with Torq in the Polish section 2 weeks ago and I think that you would be interested what Agnieszka Graff had to say about the role of the CC in the Polish public life. The cross issue proved that Poland is not a secular country at all, and one of the guest said that most political decisions are consulted with the CC, regardless of the political party. So as you can see feminist have already moved on a long time ago from topics some men are stuck on and are interested in what is happening now in the political and social scenes in Poland. Also, many guest did not declared themselves as feminist, but simply men(they were some men) and women who were interested in the discussion about their own country's social changes. It seems that there are a lot of people who are concerned about the overpowering influence of the CC in Poland at the moment, since it is not a sign of democracy.


If one cannot what is left?;)

Polish weather
is kind of unkind I would say. After a week of sunshine, wearing flip flops (must be the only person wearing flip flops last week in Szczecin- getting stares from fashionable Polish women, who would never leave the house with their bare feet) I had to put the so much hated socks on. I realized that I would need an umbrella on daily basis, as well as a pair of boots asap.

I don't know if any Canadian agrees with me, but once the the weather is warm, Canadians are happy to air their feet as much as possible. So do I. I am the last bastion of bare feet and as I found out last week, it is not very European. Oh well.

Needles to say, I have a cold.

Dzien dobry.
Many people I have never met before say: Dzien Dobry. I know, I know.....it is not that strange after all, but I hardly heard that in the building in Canada. The owner of a small store greets me on a daily basis as well.

Getting a cell phone.
If you are in Poland you HAVE to have a cell phone. It is a MUST and I already got some strange looks from family members and friends when I told them that I still don't have one.

Yesterday I finally decided to get one. I went into the technology den called ERA and asked for the phone. The look of the clerk's face told me that I was not clear on what I was looking for. He wanted more details, specifics.......I, on the other hand just wanted a phone, since most of them are the same anyways.

He would not let me off the hook easily. I had to see some models, express my opinion, change my mind many times and finally after 45 minutes I walked out with a bag and a promise that I would be back if I have any questions. I am sure I will since I still don't know how to use it, but the phone looks great and I HAVE one.

Polish Nuts
A friend of mine heard that I was back in town, so he brought me 10 kg of hazelnuts from his plantation. Nice!!!!!! Looks like I am almost ready for Christmas.

Polish Dogs
almost everyone, well many people here have a dog. Dogs sitting in the window, dogs sitting on the balcony, dogs being walked in the park.

The best dog on my street belongs to Pan Malgosia - a hairdresser down the street. I walk by her place on a daily basis. It is a Yorkie and I saw it a couple of days ago wearing a pink sweater walking back and forth down the street with a pony tail on top of its head. That dog usually makes my day.

Polish cars
they are everywhere. They're parked on the street, on the sidewalks, in driveways. Anywhere you look you you will spot a car.

Polish stairs
I live on the third floor with no elevator, so I climbed the stairs at least 3 -4 times a day - no need to join a gym anymore.

Polish potatoes
yesterday a man asked me if I wanted to buy a bag (15 kg) of potatoes. I politely declined.

Polish sidewalks
They could be dangerous at times and one needs to walk with their head down, since it is the wisest thing to do.

TBC.

Strangely in Poland I noticed just the polish boobs,polish legs,tall polish trees,shaved heads and architecture.Dogs,potatoes and nuts escaped my attention although I was slightly disappointed by the decrease of Ladas and Fiat Polski.

It make me a very angry indeed. There should be enough parking space for all the cars, well the government prefer to worry about what Jarek have said, instead of building hundreds of car parks !

why am I not surprised?


true enough. I am just reporting what I see on a daily basis.

What do you mean?

I don't agree... Inner city public transport should be better instead. I'm getting sick of Polish love to cars. There is just to many of them. Every moron who parks on a sidewalk wrongly should have the car taken at the police parking and be fined properly arghh!#

PS. If anybody wants Detroit like disaster of a city, go to the states ;)

They are usually not polish.They are made in Germany.


These are polish.

Could be better but is not bad as it is !
However lack of car parks and cars parked on side-walks is annoying and cumbersome as it gets !

they are uneven, one needs to watch out. Sometimes the tile is missing, at least in some parts of Szczecin. There are also sidewalks made of large pieces of granite - they are slippery during the rainy season.


I agree, sometimes there is no room to walk on a sidewalk.


Never been.

It is not so bad in general. I just like to have a sidewalk free of cars.

Anywho:

I have nor visited ZUS, Poczta Polska and Urzad Skarbowy yet- this should be interesting, although one never knows.

aphrodisiac, i'm curious what kind of business have you setup here in poland?

I've relocated to poland (personal reasons mostly, nature of my job allowed for it too) sometime ago but i miss almost everything back in canada/usa. Although i love europe (always vacationed in europe), this continent just seems to be 1 step behind north america.



They're not always flat/even, lots of bumps/holes. Cars parking on sidewalks doesn't help either.

In north america, sidewalks are usually concrete and as a result they make cities look cleaner.

In poland they still mess around with little stones (obviously to maintain the historical architecture) which need constant maintenance. Unfortunately IMO this does not always look nice.

Well I don't want to get to fanatical about it, some car parks in the city center are unavoidable. What really drives me mad though is that most of my beloved fellow citizens don't get that in the big city we can't all drive a car in the city center at the same time... Many people have their minds in 80' when there were a few fiats around and that's it.

Everybody would like to park their car in the center, of course for free, God forbid walk 15 minutes. Some would like to demolish half an old city and put big overpass over city hall just to get free way to their new shiny ****** flat somewhere on the outskirts of the town (ok, now I'm exaggerating ;) )

Well, whoever is listening: there is life beyond a car, believe me ;)

for now teaching English - what else can I do here. I also was working in that field before I left, so it is quite easy and I like that job most of the time.


what do you you do here if you don't mind me asking.


I would have to agree with that 100%. The small cobble sidewalks are sometimes pain to walk on for a spoiled North American for sure.

sure you do, so will I in a couple of weeks, I already miss the Canadian weather, since there was over 20 C when I left and here it is a bit colder and damp. I had to change my flip flops to shoes and I am not happy about it. I actually still like most of the things, unless I mention otherwise in my thread.

I like the small shops, the transit system - although it could be better then it is at the moment, the fact that I live down town- yet, it is still quiet where I live, I also like the huge park next to my building. The fact that I don't have to travel miles to do my shopping.

I also miss the large coffee size - lol. Here the coffee is so small that I feel like ordering 2.

lol

So you were a teacher in canada? Good lord i can't believe you left such a good job. Some of my friends in canada had a hell of a time trying to get into teaching (lack of jobs for teachers) but it was worth it as the benefits are amazing!


I'm a day trader (stock market). I came here because of family ties and all i need for my job is a laptop and the internet:)

I also taught english for a bit but had to leave it due to boredom. I've been talking to some friends/family here about starting some kind of business.


I agree. The transit system is amazing! I thought about buying myself a car but there is no need (nowhere to park, poor roads, expensive gas). I get around via bus/tram and illegal taxis. Sometimes i like to rent a cheap car for weekend getaways. I also live downtown which would not have been financially feasible back in north america.

One thing i miss is being able to have a nice house, with a big lawn in the suburbs. Houses here are pricey and i just don't know how long i'll stay here. Although suburbs are becoming more popular here, they're just not the same as back home. Everything here is messy, disorganised and compact.

-------------

edit:

Also, little corner stores in poland are a great source for groceries, but supermarkets on the other hand are not very impressive.

@ironside: hahaha

no, I was not. I could have been teaching immigrants but I found it really patronizing to be honest. I went to Canada to finish University. I was teaching English in Poland before I left. I agree that teaching jobs in Canada are good, although it must be the most complaining professional group I have encountered. One of my friends went back to Canada and after teaching overseas for some years and she lasted 4 years. She is now is Mexico working and she did not like the Canadian schooling system, although the money is good. She also said that instead of teaching, most of the time she had to babysit them since some Canadian kids are very bratty. Polish students are much better behaved from my experience.


nice:)


teaching is not for everybody. Good luck with setting up a business though.


the same here, also I like to walk since in Canada one becomes lazy:)


the same here.


there you go and usually down towns in North America are not really for living due to high crime rates and impersonal architecture, although that is changing in Toronto, because people are moving back and want to walk/use transit to get to work. So there is somewhat a reverse situation at the moment. What I like about European down towns is the fact that they are always alive and that is where one goes for action and even people watching, while in North America it it is the reverse, with expensive parking or no parking space at all.


for sure, american suburbs are well organized but boring. Where abouts are you from? I am still confused if you are from Canada or the US. Those two countries are a bit different.


true, but it has to do with planning. America and Canada have been built from scratch, while Europe over the centuries, so it is impossible to have the same here.


I agree with the first, disagree with the second - we have some good supermarkets in Szczecin.


ha, ha, nice try Irons, but I don't wear red!!!!!;) Just not my colour.
Polish Boss
called my last night that I am suppose to work today, even though I was suppose to start next week. So instead of staying in bed with a cold, I have to go to work today, I guess they like to keep you on your tows:(.