American mother moving to Poland

Hi Olivia!

Welcome to the forum

Armand

What are your questions? We live in Lodz.
Liz [email protected]

Thank you for responding! I will email you!

Olivia

Hi Olivia,

Poland is a lovely place to live.  The people are friendly and the food is good!  The weather in winter can be harsh, but still nice.

The biggest difficulty for anyone coming from an English-speaking background is the language.

Hello there, Im english and live in Lodz, I have a polish husband and have been here for 4 and half years now, i love it although the language is a challenge, but everyone is very helpful.

Drop my a line any time should you want to

Debora

Hi Debora!
Thanks for replying. I'll get back to you!

Olivia

it is true??in 2012 the poland currency will be change to euro...???

no.
due to the economic difficulties in europe at the moment it would not be wise for poland to switch to euro right now.

Hi Olivia,

I'm from Australia but like you I'm a Mum - I have a 3 y/o and a 9 week old. I moved here with my Polish Husband in July of this year. I speak a little Polish but am far from fluent.

Below is all 'generally speaking' and from my experience:

I have found the people here to be well normal. The general public can be nasty and nice - just like Australia and perhaps America. Family and friends on the other hand always seem to be close knit which is nice - and the culture here is very much 'your kids are mine and mine are yours' which means there is always someone to lend a hand.

I had no trouble getting a 3 year visa and have found most administrative and medical type things (I had my baby here) to be straight forward, efficient and friendly.

Personally I have found myself feeling a little isolated at times. Not being able to speak the language and having small children has meant I haven't been able to travel and socialise too much. In my home country I could put my 3 y/o in the car and head out for the day - that's not so easy in a foreign country. My Husband works so my days can be quite long. On that note, not many people here speak English (or are willing to) so I find myself relying on hubby for quite a fair bit which I'm sure is taxing on him. I'm usually very independent so this has required some getting use to.

Baby products and toys can be quite expensive here if you are going to be living off Polish currency - don't make the mistake I made of selling/giving things away rather than making the effort to send them over. Ouch.

Anyway that's just a few things that come to mind. Please feel free to send me an email if you have any questions.

Thank you so much for your reply and taking the time to write it! I am making my way through all of the info. I have received and luckily much of it has been the same from the ex-pats and foreigners I have talked with.

I am surely going to have to learn the language. I speak "baby Polish" and can certainly get around but I know that if I want to be able to feel "a part of everything" I will need to make more of an effort before we go. So hard to find the time!

I am sure that there will be times in the future where I have more questions. I will certainly contact you when they come up,

Thank you!
Olivia