Archive for the ‘life and living’ Category

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Driving differences between UK and Poland

Saturday, August 16th, 2008

Whilst googling for Polish traffic news I just happened to find an article called Jak jeżdzić po Anglii? (How to drive around in England) on the popular Polish portal onet.pl. Out of curiosity I had a quick read and it showed up some differences that I hadn’t been aware of:

  • As you might expect, our road signs are a little different. But unless you have recently passed your test who honestly remembers what they all mean anyway? So I didn’t pay too much attention to that paragraph except the bit regarding this sign:
    As I am sure you remember from the Highway Code (nod along blankly if you don’t) in the UK this means “National Speed Limits now appy”, which in a car with no trailer means 60mph or 70mph on a dual carriage-way. Therefore whenever I saw this sign in Poland I put my foot down. But according to that article in Poland it means “previous signs banning things no longer apply” and thus has nothing to do with speed limits. Whoops.
  • Seatbelts – they change the law all the time on this back in the UK so I haven’t got a clue what the rules are now anyway. It used to be that children under 14 didn’t need a belt in the back. Now babies need a car seat. Now your pet dog needs to be bolted to the floor. Well probably. The rules in fact according to this article say:
    • In Britain – Everyone has to wear a seatbelt. There are no exceptions for pregnant women or those in the back. Children under 12 not taller than 135cm need a kiddy seat or booster seat.
    • In Poland – similar except women who are “visibly pregnant” don’t need to wear a belt. The kiddy rule is the same except the height limit is 150cm.
  • Alcohol – Britain has a very liberal blood-alcohol limit of 0.8. Most of Europe is 0.5. Poland is 0.2 which leaves you very very little margin to drive if you have had anything to drink at all. Personally I don’t drive if I have had a drink at all and was aware of this, but worth mentioning.
  • Penalty points – In Britain if you get 12 points you lose your licence. Most speeding offences carry 3 points and they last for 3 years. Poland is not so strict. Points only last 1 year and you don’t feel them until you have racked up 24 points! Plus if you aren’t spanking it down the road it’s probably only 2 points anyway. But this is irrelevant for most of us – Poles will be driving in the UK on a Polish licence (thus no British points for them) and likewise for us Brits in Poland. The EU is a great thing!
  • Headlights – this should be simple. If it get’s dark, turn them on. If it’s not, turn them off. But it’s not:
    • UK – headlights required when visibility falls below 100 metres. Only side-lights are required in built-up areas with street-lighting.
    • Poland – headlights (not sidelights) required 24/7 365. Worth mentioning that this previously was a requirement only in winter months, but as of 2007 it is summer months too. But I saw on the news they are debating reverting it back to winter months again…. oh Politicians!

Happy motoring.

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Posted in life and living, vehicles and driving | 3 Comments »

Giving Birth in Poland

Wednesday, June 25th, 2008

Congratulations – you’re pregnant! So now you both are thinking about where to give birth – back home in the UK or here in Poland. For my wife it was an easy decision – Poland. Factors we considered were:

  • quality of health-care in Poland/UK. Based purely on our experiences we rate Polish hospitals better than those in the UK – which would you rather choose from – old equipment but well-staffed, or shiny new equipment and buildings and 1 doctor per 30 patients? Plus you can always bribe the doctors/nurses in Poland and get grade A care and attention.
  • closeness of family/relatives. My wife wanted her parents near by, and mine are always happy to visit Poland
  • her gynaecologist would be on hand. A good gynaecologist was recommended to my wife and she saw him privately through-out her pregnancy. So it made sense to have the birth at the hospital where he worked

Worth noting that there are a few reasons to possibly not consider giving birth in Poland but they either didn’t affect us or weren’t important enough for us as factors:

  • No fancy water births or anything “new age”. Fathers have only been allowed to even attend births in the last couple of years here in Poland
  • No caesareans on demand. I don’t know what the rules are regarding caesarens in the UK but you can’t pay or chose to have one in Poland. The doctor will organise one only if it is needed for medical reasons.
  • Citizenship issues – do you need to have your child born in your home country for citizenship reasons? I am fully British so my children have the right to British citizenship regardless of where they are born (having checked with the British embassy)

My wife’s pregnancy seemed to be taking too long but the doctor’s were reluctant to induce her or do much about it. My Polish parents-in-law (who know the system only too well) asked to have a ‘private chat’ with the duty doctor. 10 minutes later the doctor (who had been hidden away in his office the whole time) couldn’t do enough for us. It was almost like having a personal private doctor with us – constantly checking her, barking instructions to the nurses. I couldn’t believe it. He even said I looked a bit pale and took me to a side room for some fresh air by the window and gave me some aspirin.

On one hand I think it’s a terrible shame that medical staff are corrupt. The NHS isn’t perfect back home but I would never expect staff would take bribes. On the other hand it’s great if you have the money that you can effectively ‘buy’ good service. When someone you love is ill, is suffering or is in this type of situation it’s fantastic to have the power to do something about it rather than just complain that there aren’t enough doctors.

After the birth the hospital automatically sends notfication of the birth to the office for civil affairs (Urząd Stanu Civilnego) in the town the birth occurred so it’s important that the hospital has your details correctly recorded. You must go to this office within 14 days to take care of the paperwork. I don’t know what happens if you don’t, but according to my wife it’s something very terrible. At this stage they produce a birth certificate which they permanently keep. They issue you with 3 copies of a summary version (transkrypt aktu urodzenia). If you need more copies (because everyone always wants to keep your originals) you have to go back to that office and buy more.

So I went to the USC within 14 days under fear of death. I filled out the form giving the parents details and the chosen names of our daughter. Because we are married they wanted our Polish marriage certificate. The girl in the office wasn’t happy with this though because it is missing some information on it (because British marriage certificates don’t have all the info that Polish ones do – see my blog article in the link). Short story is that she refused to issue me the documents. My wife had to call and complain to the manager. We had to explain that there is nothing wrong with the documents or our translations, it’s because we got married in Britain etc.. etc.. Next day I went back and collected our documents.

I have heard stories that the manager of the USC has the right to reject your chosen name for your baby (is this why everyone in Poland seems to be called Mariusz or Kasia?). I was expecting a battle as to why our daughter’s chosen middle name was of Welsh origin but nothing was said at all.

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Posted in life and living | 5 Comments »

Customer Service – Polish style

Tuesday, May 13th, 2008

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…

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Posted in life and living | 10 Comments »

PKO Bank Polski – Blisko Ciebie? Blisko Dupy!

Tuesday, May 6th, 2008

This morning I went to a branch of one of the biggest banks in Poland – PKO Bank Polski – to do what I thought would be a very simple task – namely withdraw 1500 złoty from my wife’s account on which I have permission to use.

How I was wrong! Here follows a rant. I hope it will make interesting reading. At the very least it should restore my blood pressure.

First I tried to use the cash point outside the bank (read ATM if you are American :-) ). Not suprisingly it said I couldn’t withdraw that because the daily limit is 1000 złoty. OK fair enough, time to head inside. Now normally when I go in to a bank or post office or similar establishment in Poland I like to calculate what I call my “service inefficiency index”. Basically this means calculating the ratio of staff sitting on their arse to those actually serving customers. Today I counted 6 windows with staff, of which only 1 was open despite a long queue of customers. Thus PKO this morning managed to achieve an impressively low index of 16.7% – even lower than the post office yesterday.

Fine – this meant I would have to stand in line for a while. Now I am not a particularly patient person to start with, which is why I try and do most of my banking online when possible, and I could feel my blood pressure slowly rising as I contemplated what could possibly be more important than dealing with the customers whose money is in their bank and ultimately paying their wages…

Finally I got to the front of the queue. This is when I like to do my second test of Polish customer service – does the clerk have the common courtesy to acknowledge my presence at the window while they finish playing with their bits of paper in an “I’m very busy and important” manner? Or do they manage to go as far and say “dzień dobry”?
The woman today managed a half-smile. OK great start. Our conversation went something like this:

Me – hello I want to withdraw some money from my wife’s account. This is her card.
Her – umm, do you have the account number
Me – no, I just have her bank card. Is that not enough?
Her – are you on her account?
Me – yes
Her – dowód please
Me – I haven’t got one, I’m British. Here’s my driving licence.
Her – aah. OK Pesel then
Me – I don’t have a Pesel either.
Her – in which case I don’t know how to look up her account
Me – so you are saying that despite having her PKO Bank Polski debit card in front of you, you are unable to find her account? Is this not PKO Bank Polski? I am a little surprised.

[Now I should point out at this stage that unlike in the UK where you can deal with any branch of your bank without a problem, the branches of PKO Bank Polski aren't so closely interwoven. Like in the UK, the bank where you open your account is your home branch, but unlike in the UK that means that some things (such as telling them you have moved address) can only be done in your home branch personally and physically, and not elsewhere.
So it took her a lot of effort and consulting with colleagues and playing with the computer to actually find my wife's account number. Of course there was a queue of people behind me before we started, now the queue is to the door (yes, still only one till open).]

Her – [looking at my driving licence] so what is this?
Me – [surprised, given that there are pictures of cars and lorries on the back] Err, it’s a driving licence
Her – do you have your passport?
Me – not with me, why? Can’t you just use my driving licence?

[By this stage I have been in the bank over half an hour (including queuing time), there are 11 people behind me and I am starting to lose my patience.]

Her – sorry I can’t give you any money on just your driving licence. Why don’t you use the bankomat outside?

[Is it not obvious that I would not queue up like a twat if I could have used the bankomat? I managed to restrain myself from saying that...]

Me – Because I want 1500 złoty. That’s a valid ID document in the UK and I thought we were in the EU here
Her – sorry, passport only
Me – in which case can you tell me your surname?
Her – why?
Me – because when I make a complaint later I want to know whom I dealt with
Her – but I checked everything and we can’t pay out on a driving licence
Me – fine, but I want your surname anyway
Her – [writes down her surname]
Me – [leave bank empty handed and incredibly p*ssed off]

I don’t understand why my driving licence is not good enough for PKO Bank Polski when it is good enough for the Urząd Miasta and Urząd Transportu i Kommunikacji. It is good enough for me where we have our other accounts at Bank BGŻ.

PKO Bank Polski is clearly not geared up to deal with foreigners. I have access to my wife’s bank account but as a foreigner not working in Poland I was not allowed to be a shared owner of it with her, which is another stupid rule in my opinion (again no problems with Bank BGŻ).

I have written to PKO Bank Polski and asked them to explain their position with regards to foreigners. I have also mentioned this article on my blog and invited them to respond. If/when I get a response from them I will be sure to post it here.

As mentioned, I opened a bank account with my wife without any problems at all at Bank BGŻ. I even have a credit card with them, so I know that not all banks are as bad as PKO Bank Polski.

I would very much like to hear about your experiences with polish banks as a foreigner – please leave a comment!

PKO’s advertising slogan is “PKO Bank Polski – blisko ciebie”. Blisko ciebie? Blisko dupy in my opinion.

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Posted in banks, life and living | 30 Comments »

Useful Info from the British Embassy

Sunday, April 20th, 2008

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….

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Posted in life and living | 3 Comments »

Summer and Winter tyres

Monday, March 31st, 2008

I hadn’t heard of winter tyres and summer tyres before coming to Poland. I have owned a number of vehicles in the UK (cars, motorbikes and a van) at one time or other and although not a mechanic would like to think I know the basic stuff about looking after vehicles.

So I was a little suprised that in Poland they make a big fuss about having the right tyres on their cars according to the time of year. My first impression was that this was probably a scam by the tyre companies just to shift more tyres. So I did a little bit of research on the Internet and found the following:

  • In some EU countries (not suprisingly mainly those cold ones up north) such as Finland and Latvia you are legally required to have winter tyres on between certain dates. There are no laws in Poland or the UK as far as I know however.
  • If you have an accident in Poland and the tyres are considered to be a contributory factor I have heard that this can count against you. But I can’t find any specific rules about it.
  • The difference between the two types is that they have different rubber compounds and different tread patterns. When the weather is less than 7 degrees winter tyres should be used. Above 7 degrees summer tyres according to www.tyres-online.co.uk
  • You can get universal ‘all-year-round’ tyres. I guess these are what we use in the UK. They aren’t recommended in Poland.

There is loads of tyre info at www.etyres.co.uk about it if anyone is that sad enough like me to be interested.

When last winter came (2007) I had just bought a car with summer tyres. One day it really snowed and driving in that car I felt like bamby on ice. Whilst drunk. My braking distance was terrible and I couldn’t accelerate away from junctions without wheel-spinning and sliding. The same day I decided that winter tyres probably wasn’t a load of bollocks and went and got some. The difference that same day was evidence enough – I am no longer a sceptic.

Where to buy tyres in Poland?

Every town and village normally has loads of garages that just sell tyres and oil. They are easy to find with the brands advertised outside such as Dębica, Goodyear and Continental. The price depends on the size of course. Fitting and balancing is normally included in the price if you are buying tyres there. If you already have tyres from last year then expect to pay about 10 zloty per tyre for them to change them.

How do I know what tyre size I need?

Easiest way is look on your current tyres and get the same. Tyres are measured according to tredwidth, profile height and wheel diameter and this is written on the side – e.g. 175/65/R14 means tread width is 175mm, profile height is 65% and wheel diameter is 14 inches. It is always written in this format. There is also an alphabetical maximum speed rating. For example H means your tyres are rated for you to drive up to 210 km/h.

Buying tyres online

I was quoted 160 – 170 zloty per tyre for summer tyres from my local garage for tyres made by Sava. I found my size made by Goodride online for 114 zloty and Dębica (a Polish brand but made by Goodyear) for 158 zloty which I ordered from www.oponytanio.pl

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Posted in life and living, vehicles and driving | 9 Comments »

Apparently I’m Polish and don’t know it

Thursday, March 27th, 2008

The other day I got a phone call from some guy in the office regarding my application for my karta pobytu. That was a nice suprise as I was wondering what was happening with it having not heard anything since applying. He asked me about my Polish looking surname. When I told him it was because my Grandfather was Polish he asked if I knew that I probably already had Polish citizenship.

What?

Yes that’s right – I might already have Polish citizenship. Apparently, if you have a parent or grandparent who is/was Polish then you automatically became Polish the moment you were born whether you knew it or not, regardless of where you or your parents were born!

So today I did a bit of googling to see how this could be, and what the impact would be for me.
It seems that as long as my Grandfather didn’t renounce or otherwise ‘lose’ his Polish citizenship, then by blood rights I too have Polish citizenship. The rules are complicated though because if your ancestors left Poland before 1962 (as my Granddad did) then there are a number of caveats.

To check whether I have citizenship or not apparently I need to do an application to my local embassy and supply documents such as birth certificates with translations and so on.

These are the links for more information:

Polish nationality law – good ol’ wikipedia.
Polish Embassy in London, Citizenship info – explains exactly what the rules are
Polish Citizenship, ancestry and geneology - questions and answers from polishforums.com

This has got me thinking though – what are the advantages and disadvantages of getting Polish citizenship? I have come up with the following – let me know what you reckon:

Pros:

  • Will be treated like a Pole whilst in Poland, therefore bureacracy should be less complicated than it is for me now with registration, buying property etc..
  • Ability to get a Polish passport. Not much use to me as a Brit, but might be useful to non-EU citizens who want an easy way to get an EU passport

Cons:

  • No doubt applying for citizenship (or rather I should say “getting confirmation of citizenship” as these are two different applications) will be tedious, bureaucratic and time-consuming
  • New legal responsibilities (for example you have to declare your nationality as Polish to the authorities when in Poland)
  • Potential tax/legal issues could arise (I read about some guys who suddenly became obliged to do national service or pay taxes etc..)
  • If you are involved with the armed services or areas requiring special security clearance then dual nationality can be problematic

This whole thing has also got me thinking about whether or not I want to be Polish or not. Would I feel comfortable having to carry an ID card? How would I feel about declaring myself as Polish? Which country would I feel I had the most allegiance to? How would this change my view of Poland?

I am still quite suprised to discover that this could be possible and will think about it all some more before deciding if I will apply or not.

Meanwhile I have written to the UK embassy with my details to find out exactly what the process involves.

Apparently the blood line can go further back than just 2 generations – which is food for thought – who knows what citizenships you might have that you don’t even know about!?!

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Posted in citizenship, life and living | 14 Comments »

Runaway boy cycled 600 miles to Poland

Tuesday, March 18th, 2008

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!

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Posted in life and living | 1 Comment »

Polish exams for foreigners

Monday, March 10th, 2008

Recently I have been thinking about sitting a Polish language exam. I figured that now my Polish is a little stronger having lived here a while, it makes sense to sit the exam and get something to show for my time here on my CV. Plus I reckon it will spur me on to study some more if I know I have an exam looming…

After a bit of research on the Internet (god I love wikipedia) it turns out that there is a Common European Framework of Reference for Languages and an Association of Language Testers in Europe (ALTE). After digging a bit further it turns out that the prestigious Jagiellonian University in Krakow is the Polish ALTE member responsible for the Polish language exam for foreigners as commissioned by no less than the Polish Ministry of National Education and Sports.

Here is the official website (from what I can work out anyway) on the Polish as a Foreign Language series of exams. There are currently 3 exams:

  • Basic level – Poziom podstawowy – ALTE level B1
  • Medium level – Poziom sredni ogólny – ALTE level B2
  • Advanced level – Poziom zaawansowany – ALTE level C2

There is an online bookshop that has Polish books for foreigners and most of the titles are labelled with their corresponding ALTE difficulty levels. Also, on the official website there are downloadable sample papers (see the link above).

If anyone has done these exams or can recommend preparatory materials, please let me know!

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Posted in language, life and living | 2 Comments »

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