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[Master Shake]

[TwinCentre]

[Tracer]

Wow, it's been a long time since I dropped into this watering whole to hear the latest gripes counterbalanced by "pull yourself up by the boot straps" inspirational speeches. Hell of a good read.

I'd have to side with le messieur Porter. I think Poland is full of opportunities for native speakers and others, (if this is the place you really want to be). The economy is on good footing (despite what some say). Polish banks didn't over extend themselves like western banks and the Poles actually produce things, mine and export. I changed most of my USD$ for ZL recently and I'm glad I did. In my opinion, you're going to see the USD$ tick down gradually to around 2zl. in the not so distant future.

Anyway, the point is:

For me personally I've had a lot of ups and downs in Poland. I experienced severe culture shock when I first got here, and the Polish winter was a real duzey (I'm from California). People seemed to be cold and complained to much. Pretty soon I was complaining too and wondering what they hell I was doing in this !@#$@ country.

I was also very distracted by a business venture I was launching back in the states remotely (via internet) and a thousand other business ideas I had for the future (none of which involved teaching). The result was I was constantly distracted and my first months of teaching were not as good as they could have been.

Then I adapted. I got used to it. I started to make friends and figure it out. I still don't love Poland (Warsaw I should say), but I understand it now. I don't want to live here forever, but it's a good place to be for the next 9 months and I wouldn't mind owning an equity share in a business operation here.

The economy has got a lot of potential. I'm an American and I managed to get my Dzialalnos'c' (Self employment status). Now I can work for any school or individual that would care to hire me and I can provide invoices. It wasn't that hard to get set up.

In my opinion Poland is a country that is still trying to find itself. Warsaw is really all over the board. Full of extremes. Really smart people that impress you, really dumb people that are equally impressive (in a negative way). Very kind people, very inconsiderate people. People who like to throw their weight around and show off, and people who are modest.

It's a hell of an experience.

[justflyingin]