Job Discussion Forums

[Saneya]

Hello, I'm a 24 year old female college student. I will be graduating in December, and I am considering moving to Poland to teach English shortly after. I have been to France and Germany, but never Poland, so I do not know very much about it yet. If I do go, I would want to live with Polish people (as opposed to sharing an appartment with other English teachers), so I can better assimilate to the culture, and possilbly make some Polish friends. I was wondering if anyone has any info on how I might go about this. I noticed some schools help with, or provide accomodations. Would they help me find a room in a flat with regular Polish residents, or is it usually with other teachers? I realize different schools may have different systems, I am just curious what experiences others have had with this situation. I am also curious if, in general, most Polish people speak enough English to be comfortable sharing a flat with an English speaker. (Meaning enough to enable the basic communication level, necessary when living with others). From my experiences in France and Germany, I noticed that the most people spoke enough English for, at least, basic communication. I just don't know what to expect from Poland.
Any advice, thoughts, or ideas on this will be very appreciated.
Thank You.

[philyyy]

Different schools have different plans as you say, but my school this year, will basically give me the money and I find and then fund my own accommodation.. I imagine if I wanted to share with other Poles there'd be no problem. It;'s hard to generalise on levels of English, but like many places, the bigger and more touristy the place the more English speakers there are. Your best bets therefore being Krakow, Warsaw and maybe Gdansk and Wroclaw. I've no idea whether Poles would be happy but if you pay your rent on time and try and learn Polish, or better help them improve their English, I'm sure many Poles would be ok with the suituation.

[freudling1000]

Don't risk having Polish roommates. First off, having roommates you don't know is asking for it. Second, having Polish ones is double asking for it. Find something on your own. If you must, don't trust anyone and lock your stuff up such that massive amounts of smashing and prying are requried to get at your stuff. At least you will know that someone broke in, so you have some evidence that your money and clothes didn't just walk away.

[Pollux]

Better yet don't come to Poland.

Nonsense, Fledgeling might've had a bad experience, but that isn't representative. If you want to room with someone, you should look through paper ads, or have someone help you, and it certainly is a way to share expenses and get to know people. There are plenty of young professionals that find it difficult to make ends meet because of high rent prices, and you might be in the same situation.
I'd say that same precautions apply in PL as anywhere else.

[svenhassel]

absolutely, good idea

polish people are by far the most honest, trustworthy and innocent of nationalties. you could do much worse than sharing a room a decent polish girl of which there are plenty to be found.

best of luck

[freudling1000]

Perhaps the above posters did have good experiences. But that does not mean you will. It also does not mean you won't. My point is to not chance it. The breakdown is this: you are coming to a foreign country, you don't know anybody and you need a place to stay. There are plenty of places in the burbs of, say, Warsaw or Krakow. In Warsaw, you could get something on your own for 700 PLN per month (burbs). Closer to the center 1050+ PLN.

And the comments about Polish honesty...

It is fact that myself and numerous others have had difficult living situations. I once had a landlord come into my apartment while I was sleeping demanding more money or else. I hit the bricks. You just don't know the endless amount of weird corruption that exists out here. Anybody giving advice to someone coming to Poland saying that people are honest and you should live with people you don't know are absurd.

[Alex Shulgin]

Good God no! Never ever have your boss involved in where you live. Otherwise on the same day that you tell your boss that he can either pay you a full month's salary he owes you as the contract says or go brush his teeth really well and then kiss your arse your landlord will phone you and tell you that because he's heard that you're going to jail because you were running an unlicensed uranium enrichment lab in your apartment and it must be true because your boss, who is his wife's cousin's husband, told him so. And then you are looking a new job to live from and a new flat to live in and a good lawyer to get you the month's salary and the one month rent you gave as deposit all on the same day.

[Alex Shulgin]

[freudling1000]

Yes you are. I live in the old town (65 Sq. m) - very nice flat - 800 PLN per month with bills. You just have to LOOK.

My first place (20 min bus ride to Center) was in a large house. I had full use of the house and a large bedroom. Very nice. 450 PLN per month. Best place I ever lived in Warsaw.

So no more BS about these broadsweeping statements like you are all Mr. and Mrs. Warsaw. I have lived all over this city and been to every club, pub and other places of entertainment. I know every crack of this city. If anybody wants help on finding a place, PM me. I have some good housing contacts. And the landlords are not Polish dickheads. One is English.

[svenhassel]

point taken, i didn't realise we were talking warsaw here, my experience is that polish people are generally very honest and wouldn't dream of stealing your stuff but then i don't and never have lived in warsaw.

my accomodation is included in the job deal and i have only ever had positive experiences.

the message here is make your stay as pleasant as possible, use your intuition and stay away from warsaw.

thank you mister

sven

[freudling1000]

Perhaps stay away from Warsaw. I don't know. If you are street smart you will probably fair well. If you are not you are going to run into a problem somewhere along the line.

Last week two of my friends got their wallets stolen here in Warsaw. You just can't let your guard down in this city if you live here for any length of time. Not a place to happily skip down the street and sing all your troubles away.

[Pollux]

The OP might be confused by now.
I agree, it's not a good idea to get a roommate through your school. For that matter, it's not good to have the school have any influence over your private life. If you're 24, you're not some babe in the woods, and you'll be able to handle your own affairs.
Others differ, but I'd say that you can find decent Polish roommates who speak English and if you want to have a life other than 'expat life,' you should go for it and live with Poles. If you don't know how to search rooommates, PM one of us to help you. What city are you looking at?

Interesting, a 65 meter flat in the Old Town for 800 zl. Quaint. Good find.

[Pollux]

[Saneya]

Pollux,
Thank you for your encouragemnt. I really do want to get emerged in a new culture, and not live in an expat bubble, (that I imagine would be tempting when everything around me is new and foreign). I imagine one would have to be somewhat cautious when moving to any new city, and taking a chance on strangers. I have taken chances before, and lived with people I didn't know, and have not had a bad experience. Even if I can find a cheap studio, I would still rather live with others. It might turn out great, or it might be horrible, but I suppose I am willing to take a chance. I am not planning on going to Warsaw anyway. I was thinking about Krakow possibly, (or wherever else I might find work).

The company through which I got my TEFL cert. has a job placement sevice that is supposed to help me apply to schools, get phone interviews, and then get a job contract before I leave. This sounded perfect to me, but from what I have read from this forum, I realize I might not get what I expect (even from a contract), and any school that will hire an American they have'nt even met ..... might not be the best school ever . However, I do not want to go to Asia, and I know my chances are very slim in Western Europe, so the contract still seems like a better idea then just going and trying to get a job on the spot (mainly because I don't have thousands of dollars to live off of while I look for a job.)

Ok. I really went off on a tangent. But if you, or anyone else has thoughts on this issue, as well (getting hired before I arrive), I am all ears.
Thank you all for the wide range of opinions on this, it has given me much to think about.
Saneya

[Alex Shulgin]