Job Discussion Forums

biffinbridge · Joined: 05 May 2003 Posts: 701 Location: Frank's Wild Years

Poles may well sake their heads reading some of the posts ,(mine included), but they are hardly the most generous people on the planet.The fact that most of them are very dour is perhaps explained by the economic problems that exist there.
That said,back to the op,1500zl/month is a pittance and you'll exist ,that's all.Poles drink at home and outside kiosks and rarely go out more than twice a week,(unless your dating one and therefore paying).They don't get swindled in taxis,they can haggle at the markets,they know where to go to get bargains,they have reduced rents and they often have wider family support.These things are often not there for the native speakers.
The flat IH gave me was a shared one on the edge of town in a uge tower block and it was far from nice.
You will be teaching 24 hours a week and may well have a Saturday morning stint.
You will be paid through Glenrex if you are British ,which is just a way for tem not to pay your tax.
You will not earn enough to travel unless you have savings.
Forget being able to buy a round of drinks because if just one of your frinds orders a JD that will be half your daily wage gone.
Find a better job.

dynow · Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 1080

find a better job...ok....what do you suggest.

biffinbridge · Joined: 05 May 2003 Posts: 701 Location: Frank's Wild Years

How much experience do you have and how much start up cash have you got?

dynow · Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 1080

not sure what you mean by "start up cash". to start what?

I'm settled in Poland now, been teaching in a school for 3 months.

caramel · Joined: 25 Aug 2004 Posts: 57 Location: London

nocturnalme · Joined: 11 Aug 2004 Posts: 73 Location: Gdansk, Poland

Also bows to Biedronka!
Respect also to Wodnik in Bydgoszcz. Rough as F@ck but friendly and 4z a beer. Yep, check out the holes for beer, they're okay if you don't act like an arse.
1500 a month is pretty bad, you want to be looking at 2000z at least. At Bell in Bydgoszcz, we worked Saturday mornings, 3 hours for 140z. It kinda screwed up your weekend but it didn't half make a difference to your wages. I didn't have Saturday classes for a while so I went out on a Friday, which, combined with loss of salary, meant I was 800-1000z a month down. Ouch!
The taxi drivers in Bydgoszcz were great to me, never ripped me off even when I was completely pissed! Quite the opposite, in fact, God blees 'em!

nocturnalme · Joined: 11 Aug 2004 Posts: 73 Location: Gdansk, Poland

*bless*

culfy · Joined: 17 May 2004 Posts: 41

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

Took a trip to Byd last weekend and I was impressed:

-There's a heavy metal scene there. I went to a No Means No show, a heavy metal bar called Astrada, and met some fellow metalheads. It's nice to find places that don't play the same 20 cheesy hip-hop songs over and over.

-The buildings aren't as pretty as Gdansk, but all that fancy architecture kind of faded into the background after the first month I was here - now I don't even notice it. There are a lot of trees in Bydgoszsz and it is very green - not at all an eyesore.

-You can find a beer for 3zl there. Hell yea.

nocturnalme · Joined: 11 Aug 2004 Posts: 73 Location: Gdansk, Poland

Culfy - How goes it? Married yThe Romanian and I went to Gdansk but I had to come back - some kind of virus - puke! Teaching in Cardiff then going back in September. The Irishman's back in Dublin.

culfy · Joined: 17 May 2004 Posts: 41

caramel · Joined: 25 Aug 2004 Posts: 57 Location: London

joscothewalrus · Joined: 10 Nov 2006 Posts: 37

Chris1984 · Joined: 30 Apr 2007 Posts: 4 Location: Krakow

Having never met any of you fine fellows, I must plead ignorance as to the extravegant nature of your free-time acivities. Whilst I realise that the price of lear jet in Poland may be sightly higher than that of other, less developed, countries, I'm sure you'll find that fine caviar is easily procured at a reasonable price, and a pint is just fecking cheap.

As a current resident of Bydgoszcz (current being the keyword) I can safely say that my "meagre pittance" of a salary is more than enough to allow me the freedom to socialise to my little heart's content.

Indeed, were it not for the pressures of having to gold down a job, I could quite feasibly be blootered every night of the week and have money left over.

To be fair to the previous correspondents I have had to make some cut backs in my lifestyle, but I have found that the Dolce and Gabana knock offs available in Poland do actually look the same as the originals so there is no reason to buy real stuff.

I can think of no other way to account for a teacher claiming to be skint on our salary in Bydgoszcz.

Jings. Weirdos.

Richfilth · Joined: 24 Sep 2007 Posts: 225 Location: Warszawa

Are you suggesting that you're also earning 1500zl a month in Bydgoszcz? If so, are you also saying you think that's perfectly acceptable?