Job Discussion Forums

[Jack Walker]

I was just wondering how integrated you all are with respect to knowing your neighbors in your respective "block of flats".How do you deal with the constant intrusions and requests of your local "Spoldzenia".

I've been living in my current 12 floor bunker since August ,and I can honestly say that I have minimal to no interaction with the people in my block.

It's not that I'm unfriendly,it's just that I don't have enough confidence in my Polish ability to be able to strike up a normal conversation with people.

It's an old communist miner's block and therefore,85% of the residents are 70 plus in age and have been living in this block since the 60's,with a good majority of them being old babcias.Sometimes I feel like I'm living on the set of "Cocoon".

However,when I am taking the lift /stairswith a friend and talking in English,everything stops and all the old jaws drop to the stained,concrete floors!

How is it in your block?

[simon_porter00]

Well, they know who I am and I think the shock of having "Johnny English" in their block has somewhat diminished. I still get some mothers coming up to me with their children, trying to prompt their children to say what they've learn in school - invariably "hello" or "cat" or something.
The drunks leave me be and have stopped asking me for money which is nice. It also helps that I have a 17 year old car which may signify that I don't have lots of money.
A funny story though, one of the babcias caught me as I was getting into the lift. She has a 30 year old son who goes back and forth to England for work and he wants English lessons with his work mates (for when he's in Poland). I 'umm'ed and 'aah'ed as I wasn't really interested (it'd have to be in my flat and then they'd all know what size TV i've got etc etc) but I wanted to be nice so i said, i'll give you my best rate - 60zł per hour. Pretty generous I thought. She thanked me and went into her flat which was just by the lift door and as she shut the door behind her i heard "60 ZLOTY PER HOUR???!!!!"

[Jack Walker]

[dynow]

i live in a kamienica, quite new, so all of the tenants are young, 40 and below with a couple kids. nobody bothers me at all from the building itself, it's people from the outside that give me problems.

there is always someone who wants to get in the building to put flyers on everyone's door knob, or in our mailboxes, or post something on the tack board. or, believe it or not, when there is construction on the sidewalks, the workers routinely ring my apt. which I always ignore. one polish girl told me that "they probably want coffee."

it's mayhem. nearly every time I lay down in the middle of the day to take a short nap, i am awakened by someone ringing my apt.

[Master Shake]

M neighbors aren't the friendlest. In fact, they can be a bit manic about their privacy.

I moved in to a big block near the center of Warsaw in Sept. I tried smiling and saying 'good day' (in Polish) for a a few weeks when I first moved in. But some of my greetings weren't returned, especially by a few people living on my floor. (I don't make much noise, so they can't be pissed off because of that.)

One day while having my morning cup of coffee, I heard an alarm and pounding coming from the hall. I went out and discovered a woman trapped in the elevator. I told her I'd get help and went knocking, and eventually pounding, on nearby doors to get soomone to call the elevator company. (I don't speak great Polish ad so didn't want to call myself)

But no one would open their door. What's worse, I could hear some of them talking on the phone, etc. inside their flats so I knew they were home.

Finally, an old woman who lives a few floors above me turned up and I gave her my phone to call the elevator company.

The woman was released, lots of 'dziekujes' etc. but I'll never forget not being able to get someone to even answer their door in the middle of a weekday morning. It made me feel like I was living, not in the center, but in the slums with a bunch of crackheads and shut-ins.

Maybe they are just sick of constant interruptions, like dynow.

[simon_porter00]

Hey Master Shake, just to confirm:

[maniak]

In my neighborhood everyone keeps to themselves with a dzien dobry or some small talk about the weather sometimes... except for my next door neighbor, which Im sure poisoned my apple trees because some of the branches were reaching onto her property. And her cats shit all over my lawn so I shot one with my paintball gun... so uhh that not good.

Some things that piss me off are

No one is upfront with anything.
Private property still isnt respected like in the US. Why the hell did you open my gate to walk on my lawn???
And now... I spent how many hours clearning the snow in front of the house so I could park all nice and easy, and guess what, I come home at 9 from teaching and have all the lazy neighbors who didnt clear the snow in front of their homes park in front of mine. Motherfuckers..

[Master Shake]

[Jack Walker]

[maniak]

[Jack Walker]

.....ahhhh as I sit and type this on a ermmm "quiet" Sunday morning from my gal's kamienica,the door bells are a ringing throughout the building.