Job Discussion Forums

[sharter]

Has Poland lost its charm?

Poor pay, the expensive cost of living, dreadfully cold and grey winters, a population that's wised up to 'Jonny Foreigner', awful people skills, people who don't smile nearly enough, people who hate others doing better than themselves, an overabundance of round shirkers aka people 'from across the pond' ....etc etc

Is it worth it anymore?

Great students don't compensate for all of that surely? Oh.... and don't they complain?

[Richfilth]

I'll suggest that it's the overbearing misery of the locals that supplies most of Poland's charm. The perpetual victim complex of Poland Syndrome that excuses almost every action within the country ("the germans/the russians/the english referee are to blame"), which at first seemed so spirit-crushing, now makes a degree of twisted sense to me, and the day I ride the tram without hearing someone moaning is the day I pack my bags and leave.

Poland geographically is awe-inspiringly beautiful; architecturally its a wonderous blend of occupant styles, and even Warsaw has a crumbling oppressive majesty to it that Krakow's tarted-up pseudo-historical centre lacks. The cost of living only blows if you start comparing it to other countries - domestically neither I nor my students are feeling the pinch, and consumer enthusiasm remains bouyant. Weather-wise the summer is glorious, and there hasn't been a proper four-month Soviet winter since 2004; this year's one was so mild it never really got started.

Workwise, that's only your fault - if you let your boss push you around for peanuts, go somewhere else. There's more than ample opportunity to earn a healthy living in any of Poland's larger cities, and there always has been. And as for lack of smiles and poor people skills, I've encountered them all over the world, and Poland will never ever be as bad as France on that level.

In fact, the only point I agree with you is Poles "wising up to Johnny Foreigner." Being English or American doesn't give you god-like status any more, and that's something I cherish. Talking on my mobile on the bus doesn't leave the other passengers gawping at the alien tongue lambasting their ears like it used to, and thats something I appreciate as well. I cherish my anonimity in public as much as any Englishman, and in Warsaw I can finally get that.

All in all, Poland's charm for me is growing, not deteriorating. Maybe you HAVE been here too long; you've developed Poland Syndrome yourself

[ratsareeatingmybrain]

That seems a pretty comprehensive reply.

I'll just add that those who complain about the cost of living have clearly acquired unreasonable expectations from somewhere or other. A single person on an unremarkable language school salary can still have a great, outgoing lifestyle without pinching or scraping.

If you want to bring up a family, you'll probably need two wages and to think about your budget, but ..err.. you're a teacher. What did you expect?

[sharter]

Maybe I'm just bored with the place.

Working for an oil company I can afford to do what I want when I go there. My gripe is that you now pay top dollar for shabby service and poor quality. It was ok when the waitress looked at you, ignored you and continued doing her nails when a beer was 4 Zl and a meal never cost more than 20.

Before Poles became Europeans it was ok if they saw you chatting with your girlfriend at the bar and then made a point of standing between you to order a drink. We used to laugh at their lack of 'spacial awareness'.

Now I find the place depressingly predicatable. Chatting the local babes up used to be a laugh but now I can predict what they're gonna say before they speak.

Maybe I'm past my sell-by date.

All the wild expats have been replaced by the same old dull, scruffy, penny pinching EFL teachers.

[ratsareeatingmybrain]

Decadence gets dull in the end doncha know. I know one or two dull teachers, some scruffy ones and some penny pinchers too, but I don't see it as a trait or a growing trend. It's a bit rich mind to criticise penny pinching when you're raking it in.

In the end it depends what you want from a place. Happily I know plenty of places in Poland where I can get a meal for less than 20zl with perfectly pleasant service. However, if the way you're treated in pubs and restaurants is the only means you have for grading a country then I really am at a loss what else to say to you.

[sharter]

Maybe, it's just the way Poznan has gone....but I doubt it.

I don't just grade the place on going out and service....although as someone who goes there on holiday 6 times a year those are the most 'in yer face' factors for me.

Yes, the architecture can be beautiful, yes the countryside can be stunning, but I think it's changed for the worse in the past 13 years. It's become a lot more cut throat in every sense particularly in the way individuals behave.

The consumerist/greed culture seems to be very pervasive in a way that it wasn't and that has changed the atmosphere of the place for me. I guess in the early days post communism everyone was in pretty much the same boat and Poles were more social. Now there's a kind of 'screw you Jack' feel to the place. Poland seems to be going down the 'American' (rather than European) road of development. 'Greed is good' as Ivan Boesky once said. You can see it in the emerging middle class and they way that they swagger down the fancy shopping streets in Warsaw and other big cities.

Objectively can you really say that you get 'value' in Poland these days? Is the pay back worth it relative to other places?

All the quirky little bars and restaurants are disappearing and being replaced by places called'Cinnamon', 'Sioux', 'Sphinx', 'Dom Vikingow' and 'Room 55'. Beautiful old Kamienices are getting pulled down in return for breeze block monstrosities that'll look shite when the paint's faded. The huge new shopping malls will become museums if people don't have the cash to buy what's in them.

I think it's the Polish culture of 15 years ago that I feel nostalgic about. The emerging one doesn't seem to really have an identity of its own.

Amen