Job Discussion Forums

[Khrystene]

[Khrystene]

Also, as for bank accounts once you're here, I recommend ING Bank Slaski. [Though most ppl prefer the local Polish Pekao, ING has better rates and great service.]

[Master Shake]

As a person new to Europe as well as Poland, here are some of the things that struck me about Gdansk and teaching:

10) People are approachable and non-aggressive here, even though they may look rough and surly at a glance.
9) Waking up to birds and seagulls OUTSIDE your window is picturesque until the birds and seagulls crap right ON your window.
8) Wierd things, like toilet paper and kleenex, are disproportionally expensive, while meat and bread are very cheap. Perhaps a substitution is possible...
7) People here smoke everywhere except English schools and certain pubs.
6) All baked goods are superior to those back home.
5) You don't need to speak a common language to have fun with a girl on the dance floor.
4) Students halfway across the globe will still always subtract five minutes when you ask them what time class is supposed to end.
3) Kids learn faster and are less inhibited, but are viscious.
2) Stay-at-home type English teachers can be the lonliest peeple on the planet
1) but that saying about Poles having an empty seat at the Xmas table is actually true.

FYI - I came to Poland from Fort Collins, Colorado USA

[Khrystene]

WEll there you go, someone saying something relatively positive!

Have a great Xmas/New Years!

[nocturnalme]

Ha ha! I like your top ten, Mr Shakes! Rung a few bells!
God, I miss Gdansk!
If anyone knows of any decent schools (not Bell or Millenium) looking for teachers there, let me know!

[nocturnalme]

Master Shakes,
has Vlad given you the, ahem, shakes yet, the drunken Romanian?!?

[Master Shake]

nocturnalme, I can't afford to get the shakes too often on this salary, and on top of that I had some 7:30 1 to 1's this week. 7:30's and $ don't stop Vlad though

Vlad, David, and I are gonna shake up Sopot tonight. I hear it's a blast over there. Look us up when you make it back to Gdansk and I'm using your alarm clock, towells and lamp till u come. Call it a storage fee

[nocturnalme]

No problem, Shakes! I just wish I was there but it's not an option at the moment. Sometime soon, tho, I hope!

[Master Shake]

10) If Poles tried this I'm-going-to-cross-the-busy-street-as-if-cars-were-invisible approach back home, the bodies would pile up two stories high.
9) "A ways off" means 15 minutes by foot, not 15 miles.
8) Meat and jello are best kept away from each other.
7) A 'total *beep*' in American translates to 'too much for me to handle' in Polish.
6) Good luck finding specific household things - potholders, potato peelers, alarm clocks - without barging in to 100 tiny shoppes or taking a train.
5) Church bells are romantic at first but can make you feel guilty and awake.
4) All these large, viscious dogs people have are not loved pets, they are serious protection (from what?).
3) After teaching all day, multiply the number of beers you drink by three and that's how drunk you are (makes going out cheaper).
2) Pointing at meats you want in the supermarket can be kind of thrilling in an authoritarian way. I think I'll try it back home.
1) I am starting to pick up the same usage errors as my students. "What does mean, this word?" Maybe it's just part of the breaking-in process.

[Grrrmachine]

Quite a few of those are VERY valid; as much as I love my mother in law, I still have three plates of carp in jelly in my fridge and it really puts me off eating anything ever.
You've got a good point about picking up mistakes though - short of going home for a month, how does everyone else combat it?

[squirrel2go]

Lol!
Yes... the meats in the jelly thing... Polish food... aarg! My family makes and eats plenty of it... it invades the fridge each Christmas season especially. Yuk.

And... "Voht does mean, theese voord?"... hehe! Thats my grandmother. Wow... looks like I will be in for a lot of those moments of remembrance.

All in all, sounds great, minus the jello.

(and if you find out more about the purposefulness of the dogs... please do tell!)

[Grrrmachine]

purposefulness? isnt that just "purpose"? you've been doing too many classes about affixes...

[squirrel2go]

no excess classes... i just prefer "purposefulness".
Perhaps not the most purposeful word, but hey, its mine.

[nabakow30]

Moreover, it does exist and is increasing in curreny as a result of the desire to distinguish between that for which something is used and the gusto (can't remember the last time I CHOSE to use that word) with which one does, or attempts to do, something.

blah blah

[nabakow30]

currency even....