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dragonpiwo · Joined: 04 Mar 2013 Posts: 1650 Location: Berlin

So now Delph's arguing with a German about the cost of things in Poland and Germany. Hilarious.

Let's correct a few of your 'terminal inexactitudes' shall we.

1-I live in a house with a garden next to a beach.
2-I wasn't poor in Poland and in fact earned as much as you do now if not more when the place was cheaper and had a great time. I still have a lot of fun there. I've lived there on and off since 96 and am well connected with all sorts of people.
3-My honeymoon cost 500 Euro a day and there were 2 other Poles in the hotel. Like us, they were on a honeymoon. We went somewhere in Europe because it's the start of the rainy season in the Maldives. The holiday ended up costing us the same though. 5* Europe is 5* methinks.
4-I fly TKL and Lufthansa 99% of the time. Wizz Air is just for the UK as it flies from Poznan.
5-Martial arts classes are cheap yes but the camps aren't. Nor are my son's medicines, laptops, smart phones etc etc.
6-Hotelarnia is frequented by the well-to-do. You haven't been there, so you wouldn't know. Go on, try it. Get in your car and go there. It's lovely. You can even try staying there in one of its lovely rooms.
7-This cheating thing is rife in Poland. Poles concentrate on sales and their commissions rather than 'helping' you out. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the banking sector. The latest fiasco was not being able to withdraw Sterling cash from my Sterling account for a pre-ordered amount. Euros were perfectly fine though. Restaurant service is and always has been diabolical. Then there are the train Nazis. It's endless.

Ignore the job ads and native speaker websites at your peril folks. Prices and salaries are what they are. Outside Warsaw, most will struggle sober or not.

sparks · Joined: 20 Feb 2008 Posts: 632

This is the best club in Poland, It's the club of numerous recent world champions

It's not that expensive.

http://www.palestra.waw.pl/,c,1,Uwaga__Szczegoly_dotyczace_letniego_obozu_szkoleniowego_Muay_Thai___K_1_w_Borowicach_kolo_Karpacza_

dragonpiwo · Joined: 04 Mar 2013 Posts: 1650 Location: Berlin

Poland is a sporty place for kids to grow up in. My son's swimming club has produced 3 Olympic medalists!

delphian-domine · Joined: 11 Mar 2011 Posts: 674

dynow · Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 1080

delph wrote:

delphian-domine · Joined: 11 Mar 2011 Posts: 674

dragonpiwo · Joined: 04 Mar 2013 Posts: 1650 Location: Berlin

Who are you? I certainly don't know you personally nor you me. Attitude problems, drunken violence? WTF? Trying to slander me because I disagree with you tells me all I need to know about you. Castles in the sky and all that.

You know nothing about my wedding or my honeymoon just repeat endless cheapskate rants about Wizzair or the other one, which every UK expat I know who lives in Poznan uses (even the bankers), shabby hotels (which I doubt you've ever really set foot in) and cheap honeymoon destinations (which at 500 Euro a day simply aren't cheap or tacky at all). FM, you even knocked the Warsaw Intercon, which is actually one of the shabbier ones I've stayed in. By the way, my wife's work portfolio covers exclusive hotels and retreats, so it's something we actually know about and can judge professionally. You just went there with YOUR burak friends, so that's how you judge it. We rented the whole place, had it decked out as we wanted it and I can assure you (not that I need to) that is was superb. We ended up in the Aegean at the KBR but spent little time there as we rented boats and spent days on tiny islands like Arkos. Our base was on Skiathos and the 4x4 got us to lots of beaches (there are 65 on the island), where there was no-one. Perfect. Go there before you Google it and comment.

Who wants to do business with me? I'll tell you; UAM did, the British Council did, Qatar Petroleum did as did Eni Gas, Shell, Petrokemya and KNPC and the current very large oil company I work for and am long established in. I don't recall getting fired from any of 'em. Remind me which poxy school you work for. Please do. Feel free to slander me some more like the troll you are. If I work in Poznan again, I'll have no bother setting myself up of that I'm sure.

Poland is a good place for beginners but those who stay often have no real options. Carry on talking big because it's a very small pond you are in. The dry season is approaching and as time passes, you'll be floundering in the mud gasping for air.

For the sane people out there-just Google the statistics, which are all readily available re the cost of living and browse the job ads and work offered sites to get a handle on how life is there and how your standard of living is likely to look like. While you're at it get onto oferty.net or mamdom or some other real estate site, have a look at the flat rentals and the house offers and then have a look at the pics. In fact, put in Delph's 350,000 for a house and see what you'd get. Then ask yourself if you could live in a place like that. Live miles out of town then where are you going to get your privates and how much will you spend on petrol and parking? Is there going to be a good school round there? How's your kid going to socialize stuck in the sticks?

Groceries, beer, fags, public transport and fast food sure are cheap. Nothing else is at all. Restaurants, clothes, medicines, holidays, like for like hotels, cars and electricals, kids toys and clothes are all UK prices and in some cases more. Real estate adjusted to incomes is about the same. However, the build quality and 'remont' worked needed are things to be considered. New build is often poor quality and the old kamienices often need gutting when it comes to plumbing and electrical work, so double the price.

The vast majority who work in Poland actually leave within a couple of years, which tells its own story. No doubt they are all drunkards with no qualifications who were simply too daft to make it work! I think they got a bit of experience, grew out of a student beer/Starbucks lifestyle and moved onwards and in most cases upwards to better things.

Cue personal slander and rant about Greece, hotels and lies.

delphian-domine · Joined: 11 Mar 2011 Posts: 674

dragonpiwo · Joined: 04 Mar 2013 Posts: 1650 Location: Berlin

I remember it all very clearly thanks. I completed my second one-year contract left for a year as the acting boss was dreadful and we clashed frequently as she hated all the outside stuff I was doing and then got recalled when I rang for an oral reference to support the excellent one I already had and indeed have a copy of. I was then asked to do a week of unpaid testing and told them to sling it. I then moved to Qatar where I became a senior teacher at QP on $70,000pa. What a nightmare that was Smile

. Have worked in the oil industry ever since but live in Poznan (recently of Gmina Swarzedz in the burbs).

Greece down market? Faliraki maybe but not where we were. The plan changed when I did the weather checks. Incidentally, the Polish biuro podrozy where telling us differently, so I rang a pal who has lived there re The Seychelles and Maldives and rainy season. Once again top Polish service not. Next you'll be telling us all of Thailand is down market or Turkey maybe. I work with people who live in both and some parts are really special. Our honeymoon hotel was superb, had one of the best views I've ever seen and a room to die for. Only me and my wife can judge that. You weren't there you demented fop. The rooftop restaurants were the most romantic I've ever seen anywhere and the seafood amazing.

My wife is the HR manager for a large German carpet manufacturer but she also oversees the boss' pet project hotel. She has 2 roles in the company. 'Her place' is absolutely lovely and rammed with antiques-proper old-style Polish. Her chefs have been headhunted from top Warsaw restaurants. That too is a really cosy, rural thatched place with a lovely menu. It matters little what you think as many big firms use it for their conferences and parties.

BA no longer fly out of Poznan as you well know and please tell me about Tegel, I was there 2 days ago and fly in and out of it not less than 12 times a year. In fact I fly more often and use hotels much more often, so feel free to wax lyrical with your superior knowledge. Spa towns like Oberammergau and Karlovy Vary I did when you were at school. We had a wedding dinner and didn't even go down to that floor. Our pal at the Warsaw intercon got us one of the top rooms in the place, so do your booking.com search on a comparable room please.

DON'T LET FACTS STAND IN YOUR WAY.

All this is tripe though. The OP is about groceries. They are cheap. Not much else is and the wages are dire in most cases. That's why people leave. Most blokes stay because of women. Generally, they are women who are way above their league. Many teachers lack options because all they've done is teach General English for years on end and TEFL teachers are ten a penny these days, especially in Poland. You'll leave Delph but you may find people need skills not useless bits of paper, slogans and jargon.

dynow · Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 1080

delph wrote:

delphian-domine · Joined: 11 Mar 2011 Posts: 674

dragonpiwo · Joined: 04 Mar 2013 Posts: 1650 Location: Berlin

Now it all makes sense. You are confusing me with James B. he was asked to leave Profi for smelling of alcohol while teaching.

dragonpiwo · Joined: 04 Mar 2013 Posts: 1650 Location: Berlin

OK let's ask this question. How many teachers do you know in Poznan who clear 6000Zl net a month every month of the year?

Meanwhile for those interested in facts, rather than Delph's opinions I think people should try the following.

1. Property and rentals www.oferty.net
2. Work offered and going rates www.nativespeaker.com.pl
3. Cost of living http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_result.jsp?country=Poland
4. Wages (contrast/compare with prices in 3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_countries_by_average_wage

Now do the maths, forget what myself or Delph say and come to your own conclusions.

To me it reads; low salaries but relatively expensive country and lots of competition. A perfect storm.

For the record, please discard all the baseless, personal snipes he makes because EVERYTHING he has said about me is simply wrong. I rarely drink, my missus has a great job, I've never been asked to leave, Qatar Petroleum were certainly not glad to see the back of me (I left after 3 years) and Profi bent over backwards to keep me when I moved on to bigger and better things having been headhunted. This guy doesn't know me, has never met me (he may well and good luck to him then) and no-one I actually worked with is in Poznan now, nor have they been for years. He has come across a few of the people I socialize with in the expat community in Poznan, no more and no less.For the record, they think he's a to55er.

iknowwhatiamtalkingabout · Joined: 02 Sep 2011 Posts: 97

The simple advice I'd give to anybody (new to teaching) looking in who is considering TEFLing in Poland would be to do it. It's great. You'll have a good time, you'll gain experience, you'll live in an interesting country. You might even become quite good at their language. You'll also meet some total nut jobs in the staffrooms you work in and will save up an impressive list of funny stories to amuse friends with later.

After a few years get out and go somewhere better. You'll miss Poland for a bit and you'll start to forget the language. But you'll have the chance to have about 50 paid days off a year, go on expensive holidays without blinking, get pension contributions, live in nice flats in some of the world's most interesting cities, free health insurance etc. You know, a job. I work for the BC and it's great. But it can be done with other organisations too.

I maybe did a year or 2 too many in Poland. Three or four years would have done me. Since I left I've wondered what took me so long. I liked Poland, it was good. But it's short term. I really question the wisdom of anybody trying really hard to make a life there in our industry. It's just not worth it. It's better and easier elsewhere.

dragonpiwo · Joined: 04 Mar 2013 Posts: 1650 Location: Berlin

I'd totally agree with that sentiment. I'd only add that, if you are hellbent on living in the place (as I am due to family reasons), then there are other options. You could go to BAe for a few years or get an oilfield rotation. I'm doing the latter. Poland is so much better if you have a lot of money because then you really can sample the best of it and indeed anywhere else. All this piffle about hotels and Greece is just salad dressing and down to personal taste and opinions based on experience rather than Google searches. The personal attacks are water off a duck's back. This Delph is a tool. Kropka.