Job Discussion Forums

[sharter]

Just seen an ad on another website for a job in Kyiw......the potential employer, the Aachen Institute has a also posted a cost of living guide. I thought Poznan in Poland was bad but Ukraine seems even worse. I want to meet these Poles and Ukrainians who can afford these prices. With a couple of exceptions, every Pole I know in Poland lives hand-to-mouth. Who can afford these prices? It can't be sustainable......

Every time I go to Poland I'm mystified as to how people who earn 3,000Zl a month can go out, go on holidays and look so good....(before they're 40). The footy in 2012 will make things even worse....as prices in the host cities get ramped up to rape levels.

[spiral78]

I speculate that it's because they live in housing that is still basically government-subsidised and are paying miniscule rents. It's still this way for some (lucky) Czechs, and I guess Poles are the same.....

true, Polish experts?

[citizen X]

[Sgt Bilko]

Because they can live on rosoł which is basically stock with some noodles in it. Root vegetables, a turkey neck and some bones boiled up for hours.

[PierogiMonster]

And don't forget that there are often two or three generations of Poles living in the same rambling old flat, which was either built / bought / borrowed by Great Uncle Jasiek during the Second Republic (hence no mortgage payments for anyone) or has been the subject of a long-running legal case stretching back to 1990 and involves fifteen members of several loosely-connected, non-communicative family members, the Catholic Church and possibly a company in America, one of whose members submitted his share of the building during a bankruptcy case in Chicago in the 1990s: it's not gonna get sorted anytime soon, not if the lawyers have anything to do with it.

[hrvatski]

I think loans are one explanation. I've noticed people taking loans for holidays, clothes, electronics... stuff which you generally buy outright in richer countries. I've seen people take loans to pay off other loans which are paying off other loans.

There are other factors involved, but I think loans play a part.

[sharter]

I don't think it's sustainable. What's happened in Poland smacks of politics big time. Liberalised the credit market, people got mortgages in Swiss Francs and Zloty, opened the housing market to foreign investors, created a housing boom, which made everyone think they were rich and making money, people borrowed on the equity. What happens when the housing markets crash? It will happen like in the UK and everyone's screwed except the banks, who now have loads of assets. Meanwhile people realize they ain't richer and they can't move but they've got tonnes of debt. Vested interests have made loads of dosh in Poland. It has been the same in Romania and Bulgaria. I work with loads of Eastern/Central Europeans out here in the oil field and they're all shrugging and asking how their kids are gonna have anything.

[nickienines]

They don't spend as much on fat food, eating out and junk. They also know how to stretchy a zloty.

[sharter]

Crap food is about the only thing that's cheap in Poland. Hamburgers, kebabs, pizzas etc are much more widespread now than they were in the mid 90's, so that's a bit of a controversial statement.

Poles know how to stretch a Zloty? Not if you're paying they don't-it's more a question of 'kombinowanie', an option you won't have.

[Blasphemer]

I find it cheaper to actually cook home meals... not to mention healthier and better tasting. Two cheeseburgers and a mid. fry is over 10zl... 10zl gets me - 1kg of plums, 2 peaches, 2 apples, 2 pears and a water. If I want to cook dinner, 10zl will definitely get me a nice one...
I've never really been into crap food, so cooking at home is something that I've been accustomed to prior to my arrival... this is what Poles are used to as well, especially the old generation.
I'm surprised to see so many on this forum being completely stunned by the way Uni. students in Poland survive... haven't you been to College where cold pizza is the standard food group for breakfast, lunch and dinner?
If you look at prices of McFood groups in the states, well, you have the dollar menu... and let's not talk about the KFCs.. no no.. the Kennedy Fried Chickens located in most large cities nationwide where for a measly $3 you can get a chicken leg which size resembles something straight out of a Chernobyl Polaroid, a biscuit containing most of the Mendeleev's table, mashed potatoes and a large soda... On the other hand, if you'd like to eat healthy in the states... well, it becomes way too expensive for most folk. The situation here is reversed, unfortunately this situation will also change pretty soon. Has anyone noticed the Monsanto building in Warsaw?