British In Poland

Last night I called our local restaurant to get a pizza delivered. Their menu says "free delivery" on it and we only live about 500 metres away. Of course I could have gone and collected it, but I was feeling lazy. Plus what's the point if they offer free delivery?

The following short conversation impressed me so much I thought it worthy of a blog post:

Me - hello can you deliver a pizza to me?
Her - no, there's no driver
Me - OK, but this is the 11th time we've ordered from you, and only once have you been able to actually deliver. Either you say there' s no driver or there's no car. What's the point in putting "free delivery" on your menus if you can't offer delivery?
Her - to be honest I don't care. Complain to the boss. If you want your pizza come and collect it

Although shocked at what she said, afterwards I thought it was brilliant. There's no American-style customer service here, no false smiles and pretending to care. At the end of the day she doesn't give a toss and said so which I think is fair enough.

In a funny way that's one of the things I like about Poland...

One of the roles of the British Embassy in Poland is to help British people travelling or living in Poland. Most people know that they will help you if you lose your passport or give advice if you manage to get yourself arrested, but they can also provide business advice and give guidance on things such as transferring large sums of money (for example if you are buying a house here).

A few months ago I was browsing their website and was a little bit miffed to see the front page was plastered with "Living and Working in the UK" featuring lots of help for Polish people going to the UK. I don't have any problem with that - but should there not be at least SOMETHING on their website giving advice for Brits "Living and Working in Poland"?

So back in October 2007 I sent the following email to them:

Hi

I was looking at the website of the British embassy in Poland. There is
a lot of information for Poles going to the UK, but not so much help for
Brits in Poland.

For example, can you point me towards any resources that explain about
things such as:
* temporary and permanent registration in Poland
* how I can go about getting a mobile phone contract
* registering a car
* opening a bank account
* polish language lessons

It would be nice to know what the official procedures are as I am often
giving conflicting information when I ask in Polish offices.

Thanks.

Ben

After not hearing back from them I then forgot all about it. Then last week something bizarre happened. After a delay of only 6 months I got a reply. Someone might find something useful in it so I shall quote it in its entire glory:

Dear Sir,

Thank you for your email.

The British Embassy may signpost you towards organisations who may offer you professional help.

Here are some useful contacts with reference to your enquiry:

RESIDENCY IN POLAND

Poland is now a full member of European Union and you have the right to live here without visas and permits. However, after an initial stay of 3 months in Poland, you should contact

DEPARTMENT FOR FOREIGNERS at the relevant Voivod Office to apply for registration of your stay in Poland.

This office should also provide you with information about permanent residency in Poland.

For more information referring to different issues for British residents abroad please enter:

www.direct.gov.uk/BritonsLivingAbroad/fs/en

You may also find useful the following webpages :

www.msz.gov.pl ( Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, information available in English)

www.fco.gov.uk/traveladvice

(Travel Advice prepared by FCO)

and the British Embassy in Warsaw website: www.britishembassy.pl

You may also find useful the assistance of a professional agency (relocation agencies) that assists foreigners in many issues like: Settling-in Services; Home Finding Programme; Medical; Taxes etc.This is : POLAID, contact MR Olgierd Chrobak, 00-082 Warszawa, tel: 0048 600431204 email: olgierd.chrobak@polaid.pl , PRO Relocation, ul. Kaniowska 41, 01-529 Warsaw, tel. +48 22 869 04 40, info@prorelo.com, www.prorelo.com, Pryma Agency, www.pryma-cudzoziemcy.pl .

Right hand cars cannot be registered in Poland. You may consider contacting the relevant department of the Ministry of Transport and Construction at the following address for clarification of this issue:

Ministerstwo Transportu i Budownictwa
Departament Dróg i Transportu Drogowego
Ul. Chalubinskiego 4/6
00-928 Warsaw
tel. 022 630 12 40

I hope you find this information helpful.

Regards,

Consular Section

Well I am impressed that if you do email them then they eventually will reply. Whether it's worth them bothering to reply after 6 months is another question...

I just hope that if ever I should have the misfortune to get arrested in Poland then their consular assistance people are are little quicker than the rest of the departement....

So this is the effect of being in the Schenghen zone!

"A teenage Dutch boy who ran away from home and headed to China with just £6 and a bag of crisps has finally been caught in Poland. Residents in Przemkow, a town of 7,000 inhabitants in south west Poland, phoned the local police after discovering a boy who 'looked lost', and spoke no Polish, at a bus stop."

www.ananova.com

Brilliant!

Our baby crying woke me up at 4am this morning, my wife too. First thing she said to me was "aren't you going to wish me happy women's day?" I couldn't believe it! I told her that until my brain wakes up in at least another 4 hours time it's not women's day or any other day and to go back to sleep.

Of course when we finally did get up today I had forgotten all about our earlier verbal exchange and so again got another nagging.

So anyway, this got me thinking, what exactly is this women's day thing? I remember being equally confused about it last year and presuming it was some communist throwback. I have heard the stories many times from my mother-in-law about how my father-in-law used to get incredibly drunk (as all the men did) and give flowers and tights to the female workers at the local factory. But my wife insists it's an American tradition and not communist at all. Being sceptical about that I turned to the holy grail of knowledge - wikipedia - which says that the tradition started in America and was adopted by Russia (amongst other countries).

I presume that this day has died out in America or isn't so popular, because as a Brit I have never heard of it or seen it mentioned in any films or news. Therefore I still reckon it's a communist throwback, just don't tell my wife.

I like to read the "strange news" from around the world and I like to read news about Poland or Polish people. This one cropped up for being both strange and Polish:

Worker caught having sex with Henry Hoover

Apparently though he was just "cleaning his underpants", and that "vacuuming underpants is a common practice in Poland". Wierd.

I had to blog about this. For those of you who don't know who Mariusz Pudzianowski, he's a world famous body-builder. One of only 3 men to have won the world strong man competition 4 times.

Before I had heard of other famous Poles such as Lech Wałesa or who the Kaczyński twins were I knew who Mariusz was - guys in the gym I trained in in London would talk about him and I'd seen him on TV in the strongman competitions.

So as the first Pole I had heard of and as a weight-trainer myself I have always admired Pudzianowski.

But then he went and did this:



Why oh why Mariusz? Please stick to lifting heavy things and not poncing around on the dancefloor with C-list celebraties, actors nobody has heard of and wanna-make-a-comeback singers!

I am worried the kids in my new local gym will take your pictures down otherwise...

I know there's a tendancy to be critical when talking about what's different in a new country, so I just thought I'd put a few things I like about Poland because I think overall it's a great place and don't have any regrets about moving here.

1. The weather is better. No you read that right - the weather is better. I know that it drops to minus 1o sometimes at night in the depths of winter (or lower I hear in years gone by), but I would rather have -10 degrees with crisp white snow everywhere, a clear blue sky at day time and dry weather rather than +10 degrees in London but with drizzly rain and a depressing overcast grey sky. Plus summertime is much hotter than in the UK and I love the sun.
2. The food is better. Well my wife says I don't like Polish food but that's not true, more that I am ambivalent about Polish food. However I am ambivalent about most food. But I still prefer to buy 'proper' meats and the local produce that is more readily available here rather than what I heard someone refer to as 'plastic ham from Tescos' in England.
3. Family values are still important. The UK news always talks about moral decline, falling standards of behaviour in schools and in the streets and the increasing numbers of single-parent families. I like the fact that in Poland the family unit is respected more. I hear it was like that in the UK in the fifties, but given that I was only a gnat in my dad's sack then I can't comment on it.
4. There is a lot of investment in Poland. I know that sounds like a bit of a crap reason to like Poland, but what I mean by it is that when you walk, drive or go anywhere you can't help noticing the new buildings going up, the new roads being built or the pavements getting a much needed refurbishment. Whether I am alone on this I don't know (please comment!) but it gives me a sense of excitement about how things will be here in the medium to long term. It also reaffirms my decision to move here that Poland is indeed on the up after being unjustly held back for so many decades.
5. There are some beautiful places to visit. I thought Gdańsk was just a bombed-out ship yard until I visited it - UNBELIEVABLE! I couldn't have been more wrong. Well worth a visit if you haven't been there before. Poland has a choice of miles of sandy beach along the northern coastline or stunning scenery and skiing in the mountains in the south. Plus there are loads of places to visit in between.