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iknowwhatiamtalkingabout · Joined: 02 Sep 2011 Posts: 97

My total earnings including flat came to around 3,200 a month. No problem. Nobody I knew was skint. Money just wasn't talked about, everyone was fine.

Trips to Berlin, Krakow, Prague, Wroclaw, Zagreb, Warsaw, Gdansk...

It was fine. Not a place I'd stay forever (I've left), but for someone starting out in teaching it really is an excellent place. Your negativity is unfair and will push many people away from a great way to start your career.

Bydgoszcz is a good place, and a good place to work. Your (15 year old~) assessment of life there is off the mark and you should stop acting like a know it all. Pretending to be an expert and offering comment on a place you lived in 15 years ago is just silly.

sparks · Joined: 20 Feb 2008 Posts: 632

Twincenter and Shake are leaving Polska...
It must be getting bad over there.
If only Scottie would jump on board negativity could dominate the forum.

scottie1113 · Joined: 25 Oct 2004 Posts: 375 Location: Gdansk

dynow · Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 1080

scottie1113 wrote:

sparks · Joined: 20 Feb 2008 Posts: 632

Scottie, you have consistently been a pro-Poland voice for years. Shake and Twincenter have also been generally positive about the place. With them leaving it leaves you and maybe a couple of other newer folks. I'm convinced you can be won over to the darkside... Mwaa ha ha....! Smile

sharter · Joined: 25 Jun 2008 Posts: 878 Location: All over the place

Thanks for the support Dynow. I mean what would I know? I haven't lived in Poland for 12 WEEKS!

You cannot educate fools and the song 'Blinded by the Light' by the Streets springs to mind.

I can get by in Polish, have a Polish son, taught in 3 different cities and have spent 3-4 months there every year since 2003. Oh, I forgrot, I taught there for almost 5 years. How would I know anything? I mean I don't listen to the hundreds of expat and Polish friends I have and everything I say I drag outta my @ase.

Some of the posters here must be Polish nationalists. Next they'll be trying to tell us that Polish rap is good!

BTW-that BC job is a good one by the way.

dynow · Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 1080

sharter wrote:

scottie1113 · Joined: 25 Oct 2004 Posts: 375 Location: Gdansk

Master Shake · Joined: 03 Nov 2006 Posts: 1202 Location: Colorado, USA

sharter · Joined: 25 Jun 2008 Posts: 878 Location: All over the place

500-600 quid a month is still 500-600 quid a month.

Delph just ain't on the money.

I think all this unravels because I talk about life in Poland and having one and others talk about subsisting on a budget in a very mememe kind of way.

I couldn't care less whether it's the UK, Poland, Spain or anywhere else...relative to wages, Poland is expensive. Delph hasn't done anything other than cherry pick numbers. Transport and cigarettes aside, Poland outside Warsaw costs roughly what UKplc outside London and the home counties costs.

I'm sure if I booked my tickets a year before, stayed in a doss house and ate in an empty back street stinking noodle bar....I could live cheaply in Poznan. Let's see; a single room in a hostel would be say 100-130, lunch a 5 Zl sandwich, dinner a crappy meal in Sphinx (low end) 30-50Zl, smokes 11Zl...yep less than 200....40 quid......could do that in Portsmouth for 45 quid...the difference being the fags. Average studio rent's about 400 quid, Poznan 300 in a same quality place. A weekly shop in Iceland, which is the Uk's Biedronka...roughly the same. A B and B in Portsmouth is 25 quid.....and that's a better room that the Lech or the Polonez. Kids' stuff costs way more in Poland. LCD TV's cost way more in Poland. Furniture costs way more in Poland. Clothes cost way more in Poland, unless you are shopping in the Wilda market...actually shell suits aren't my thing. Yep, you can get a 4Zl beer if you look around...you can in Wetherspoon's. Like with like right? Second hand motors are way cheaper in the UK. The hostel next to the station in Zoo (Berlin) is cheaper than the ones I've stayed in in Poznan.

The life of a the AVERAGE TEFL teacher in Poland is one of constantly being frugal. One or two of you may well be doing ok........good luck. If you stay, build a family and home, you'll see.

scottie1113 · Joined: 25 Oct 2004 Posts: 375 Location: Gdansk

[quote="sharter"]500-600 quid a month is still 500-600 quid a month.

I couldn't care less whether it's the UK, Poland, Spain or anywhere else...relative to wages, Poland is expensive.

I agree.

dynow · Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 1080

sharter wrote:

scottie1113 · Joined: 25 Oct 2004 Posts: 375 Location: Gdansk

[quote="dynow"]scottie1113 wrote:

.....which i've always kinda interpreted as, "made tons of cash in California and the money I make here in Poland is mere gravy," or something to that effect.

Not exactly, but you're on the right track.

iknowwhatiamtalkingabout · Joined: 02 Sep 2011 Posts: 97

Expensive compared to wages is a fair thing to say, but that is not the comment which led me to get involved in the first place.

I got involved because the poster said the money in Bydgoszcz was "appalling". It is clearly not. There is nothing "appalling" about having a good social life, eating well and being able to afford travel.

Expensive compared to wages is fair, but appalling is not. Please refrain from ridiculous exaggeration in future. You are doing new teachers a dis-service. They may read your comments and be put off giving a place like Bydgoszcz a chance. This would be a shame as it is a good place to start your career, and a fun place to live.

dynow · Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 1080

scottie1113 wrote: