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Rise and fall
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mitsui



Joined: 10 Jun 2007
Posts: 1562
Location: Kawasaki

PostPosted: Fri Aug 03, 2012 6:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Exactly. How many Poles did I see in London? Quite a few, they were working at hotels, mostly.
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Caporetto



Joined: 09 Apr 2012
Posts: 33
Location: Belarus

PostPosted: Fri Aug 03, 2012 7:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

As ever, an unbelievably miserable, negative, and sour set of comments. Cannot believe this forum.

Out of interest, all you folks regretting 'wasting' your tefl years in Poland, what was it that would have made you so irresistible to your relative domestic job markets, had you not chosen professional gap yearing? Capacity to winge and engage in one-upmanship over taste in beer? Sought-after.

Shocking stuff, gents.
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sparks



Joined: 20 Feb 2008
Posts: 632

PostPosted: Sat Aug 04, 2012 3:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

"Professional gap-yearing" HaHa... never heard that one Smile Really! Nice!
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sharter



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

PostPosted: Sat Aug 04, 2012 9:10 am    Post subject: Oh well Reply with quote

The Jap place was good the day I went there, but then again I only had tempura prawns and some duck spring rools...they were lovely. The service was great too, but then again it wasn't busy....I guess at those prices it never will be either. Consistency is not a word I'd associate with any restaurant I've been to in Poz.

I no longer work there but I'd say, based on what all my pals are saying, it's getting tougher to make ends meet. Those who put in 40 plus contact hours a week are doing ok, but just ok. All of them have been there a decade, some more, some less.

From my perspective Poznan has definitely got worse. I hated seeing go-go bars in the rynek. Only got into 1 fight this time....yet another smartly dressed a-hole begging for beer in a bar late at night (Piwo Pjalnia).

Everyone I know is there cos of a girl/kids with said Polish girl...I'm in the latter group.


You can have a real laugh there but as I always say; there are better beaches, forests and mountains, prettier, less needy women, people who smile more and better nightlife in umpteen European countries. Poland looks and costs like the Western European Union but just about everything there is very Soviet Union from the service to the bureaucracy to the general standards of just about everything.

I couldn't care less really as I voted with my feet long ago workwise that is...I'm just not gonna put up with people on this forum defending the place like it's their first born. Rather than whine... I just say it as it is. You can put lipstick on a pig but it's still a pig at the end of the day.

My new flat there is very nice though.
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dynow



Joined: 07 Nov 2006
Posts: 1080

PostPosted: Sat Aug 04, 2012 9:46 pm    Post subject: Re: Oh well Reply with quote

sharter wrote:



You can have a real laugh there but as I always say; there are better beaches, forests and mountains, prettier, less needy women, people who smile more and better nightlife in umpteen European countries. Poland looks and costs like the Western European Union but just about everything there is very Soviet Union from the service to the bureaucracy to the general standards of just about everything.


Dead on.
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delphian-domine



Joined: 11 Mar 2011
Posts: 674

PostPosted: Sun Aug 05, 2012 3:06 pm    Post subject: Re: Oh well Reply with quote

sharter wrote:
The Jap place was good the day I went there, but then again I only had tempura prawns and some duck spring rools...they were lovely. The service was great too, but then again it wasn't busy....I guess at those prices it never will be either. Consistency is not a word I'd associate with any restaurant I've been to in Poz.


It's normally quite busy between 12-3. Other times? Forget about it, the location is wrong and City Park is an excellent example of bad planning by the developer.

Quote:
I no longer work there but I'd say, based on what all my pals are saying, it's getting tougher to make ends meet. Those who put in 40 plus contact hours a week are doing ok, but just ok. All of them have been there a decade, some more, some less.


Strange, if they were so poor, they certainly don't seem to have issues with knocking back the premium drinks. Funny country that allows people who are merely doing "ok" to sit in the pubs all day during summer...

Quote:
From my perspective Poznan has definitely got worse. I hated seeing go-go bars in the rynek. Only got into 1 fight this time....yet another smartly dressed a-hole begging for beer in a bar late at night (Piwo Pjalnia).


It's a passing phase. They'll be gone sooner rather than later. As for Pjalnia - what did you expect in a place that serves drinks for 4zl? Having said that, I've drank quite a bit of vodka in there over the last few weeks and not once have I seen any trouble.

Quote:
You can have a real laugh there but as I always say; there are better beaches, forests and mountains, prettier, less needy women, people who smile more and better nightlife in umpteen European countries. Poland looks and costs like the Western European Union but just about everything there is very Soviet Union from the service to the bureaucracy to the general standards of just about everything.


I don't encounter Soviet Union on a day to day basis. Where on earth are you going that you do? From reading your posts, it seems as if people really are looking for you and going 'oooh, there's sharter, let's be a dick to him'.

Actually, thinking about it now - from the places I drink, to the restaurants I visit, to the offices I deal with through to my colleagues, the Soviet Union never comes into my mind.
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delphian-domine



Joined: 11 Mar 2011
Posts: 674

PostPosted: Sun Aug 05, 2012 3:07 pm    Post subject: Re: Oh well Reply with quote

sharter wrote:
The Jap place was good the day I went there, but then again I only had tempura prawns and some duck spring rools...they were lovely. The service was great too, but then again it wasn't busy....I guess at those prices it never will be either. Consistency is not a word I'd associate with any restaurant I've been to in Poz.


It's normally quite busy between 12-3. Other times? Forget about it, the location is wrong and City Park is an excellent example of bad planning by the developer.

Quote:
I no longer work there but I'd say, based on what all my pals are saying, it's getting tougher to make ends meet. Those who put in 40 plus contact hours a week are doing ok, but just ok. All of them have been there a decade, some more, some less.


Strange, if they were so poor, they certainly don't seem to have issues with knocking back the premium drinks. Funny country that allows people who are merely doing "ok" to sit in the pubs all day during summer...

Quote:
From my perspective Poznan has definitely got worse. I hated seeing go-go bars in the rynek. Only got into 1 fight this time....yet another smartly dressed a-hole begging for beer in a bar late at night (Piwo Pjalnia).


It's a passing phase. They'll be gone sooner rather than later. As for Pjalnia - what did you expect in a place that serves drinks for 4zl? Having said that, I've drank quite a bit of vodka in there over the last few weeks and not once have I seen any trouble.

Quote:
You can have a real laugh there but as I always say; there are better beaches, forests and mountains, prettier, less needy women, people who smile more and better nightlife in umpteen European countries. Poland looks and costs like the Western European Union but just about everything there is very Soviet Union from the service to the bureaucracy to the general standards of just about everything.


I don't encounter Soviet Union on a day to day basis. Where on earth are you going that you do? From reading your posts, it seems as if people really are looking for you and going 'oooh, there's sharter, let's be a dick to him'.

Actually, thinking about it now - from the places I drink, to the restaurants I visit, to the offices I deal with through to my colleagues, the Soviet Union never comes into my mind. Then again - if you're looking for the Soviet Union, no wonder it finds you.
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blaz88



Joined: 09 Nov 2010
Posts: 22

PostPosted: Mon Aug 06, 2012 4:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I spent most my time in Wroclaw and am returning there this fall, however, Poznan holds a special place in my heart as it was the city I visited most my first year in Poland. I had the best breakfast in hotel Rzymski, discovered a great little wine pub just off the square, had great Grog and mead in another little unique place off the square, Brovaria or the micro brewery has great beer and one of the best Golonka I have ever had, love that Russian pub with the pictures of past leaders on the wall and in the window. Only black mark would be the totally uncoachable American football team there, rampant with steriod meat heads. Not sure if Poznan will be able to ever hold a team, oh, plus the holigans that follow the "proper " football club everytime they travel to Wroclaw.
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sharter



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

PostPosted: Tue Aug 07, 2012 12:10 pm    Post subject: Delph Reply with quote

Delph I want some of what you're smoking...where can I get it?

So you're telling me service is good there? You're telling me the bureaucracy isn't mind boggling? You're telling me the restaurants are ok? You're telling me the hotels aren't a rip off? You're telling me you can find a decent toilet or toilet paper for that matter when out?

And the rynek is mostly full of tourists and Poznan trustafarians...the Poles like beer with a straw in it....or sit sipping the same beer for hours.

You must have lower standards. You certainly weren't there in the golden days, when salaries were actually better and life was cheap.
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Sashadroogie



Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Posts: 11061
Location: Moskva, The Workers' Paradise

PostPosted: Tue Aug 07, 2012 12:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Слава Советскому Союзу!
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delphian-domine



Joined: 11 Mar 2011
Posts: 674

PostPosted: Tue Aug 07, 2012 11:55 pm    Post subject: Re: Delph Reply with quote

sharter wrote:
Delph I want some of what you're smoking...where can I get it?

So you're telling me service is good there? You're telling me the bureaucracy isn't mind boggling? You're telling me the restaurants are ok? You're telling me the hotels aren't a rip off? You're telling me you can find a decent toilet or toilet paper for that matter when out?


Service is perfectly fine in some places and crap in others. A bit like most countries, to be honest. Can't fault Brovaria, for instance.

The bureaucracy is ridiculously easy once you realise one important thing - it is based on a totally, completely different way of doing things than the UK. Those who come here and expect it to work like the UK, where people make decisions based on personal choices rather than in accordance with the relevant laws - and you're headed for disaster. Sure, those who might do complicated things might have issues - but that's no different to how the UK has an insanely complicated tax manual and a system where you're at the mercy of the inspectors.

Hotels are hardly a rip-off - they don't make you stay. People are willing to pay the going prices - and that's how it rolls. A rip-off - by definition - would involve some sort of scam. There's no scam in yield management.

As for a decent toilet and toilet paper - oh, please. If you drink in places such as the Pijalnia with the 4zl drinks, then of course the toilet is going to be awful.

Quote:
And the rynek is mostly full of tourists and Poznan trustafarians...the Poles like beer with a straw in it....or sit sipping the same beer for hours.


I think you really need to stop looking at Poland through bitter glasses. I've been out almost every day for the last 2 weeks, and they most certainly don't sit there sipping the same beer for hours.

Quote:
You must have lower standards. You certainly weren't there in the golden days, when salaries were actually better and life was cheap.


No, my standards are realistic. Expecting Swiss style perfection in a country that has been democratic for 23 years and which had an economy in ruins is just - frankly - insanity.

Are you sure that you aren't the problem, not Poland? I've read about this syndrome in professional athletes and frequently traveling businessmen - they're gone so much from home that when they are home, they don't realise that the problem is them, rather than the home. They tend to pick on everything in sight and refuse to see the good things, because there cannot be good things there.

Poland is a great place - as long as you don't expect it to be perfect. Take it for what it is, and anyone would enjoy themselves here, even those certain expats I caught drinking Lech Shandy on the Rynek the other day...
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dynow



Joined: 07 Nov 2006
Posts: 1080

PostPosted: Wed Aug 08, 2012 2:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

delphiandomine wrote:

Quote:
I've been out almost every day for the last 2 weeks......


man, you sure do drink a lot.
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delphian-domine



Joined: 11 Mar 2011
Posts: 674

PostPosted: Wed Aug 08, 2012 5:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

dynow wrote:
delphiandomine wrote:

Quote:
I've been out almost every day for the last 2 weeks......


man, you sure do drink a lot.


Yes, I agree. I must have gone through a considerable amount of tea in that time.

It does get rather amusing when you bump into some jolly expats while holding a pot of tea.
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wojbrian



Joined: 13 Aug 2009
Posts: 178

PostPosted: Fri Aug 10, 2012 12:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It's strange being a nondrinker in Poland. I went on a trip to Lviv and I must have gotten asked to have a drink 40-50 times over the 3-4 days.
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scot47



Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343

PostPosted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 9:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Lviv ? In Poland ? You mean the Poles have retaken Lvov/Lemberg ? I heard that the Kaiser had abicated ! Is that true !??

Last edited by scot47 on Tue Aug 14, 2012 3:41 pm; edited 1 time in total
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