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nomabelle

nomabelle

Member

Canadian expat in Poland

Forum posts

1

Contacts

1

About me

Canadian

Lives in Gda脜sk, Pomeranian Voivod

Speaks English

Registration: 04 November 2019

About

I am an introvert, I share only with my friends. I lived in other cities in Europe and Asia, but cannot add them due to the clunky expat.com interface.
Interests: Introvert

Occupation

I am Retired.

My expat journey

portugalcanadapoland
Gda艅sk, Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland

2021 - 2022

Gda艅sk, Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland

A mostly-safe country (unless you are a young woman), cheap-most things cost 1/3rd of what they cost in North America (except rent which is close to on-par), the most dog-friendly country in Europe (dogs allowed on all public transport, and in shopping malls, apartment rentals predominantly allow dogs, many dog parks and vets around), beautiful (historic architecture, sea/beaches, mountains, lots of forests even in the major cities), well connected by inexpensive public transportation, good food choices, european and cosmopolitan, with many major shopping centers, extremely inexpensive/good quality internet service, phone service and phone data (frequent data giveways of 100 Gbs ), motivated and hard-working population, most people speak English well or very well.
Still a backwards country. People are frustrated and mean to each other on the streets of Poland. People are depressed (many on antidepressants, many suicides even among the young) and often attack one another verbally on the streets. There is generalized hate on public media as well, that most locals distrust. Democracy is disappearing - currently Poland is back to where it was in 1992 (according to University of Oxford). Poland is Roman Catholic to the extreme, laws are enacted that punish those whose speech is deemed 'insensitive to their faith' by the church goers. Yet sexist speech is heard even on public TV (TVP), anti-semitism is common, hate against gay and trans people is the norm. Human trafficking occurs (Poland is the source country) - young women sometimes disappear without a trace. Police force is untrustworthy - many people do not report crimes for this reason. Due to low police pay, police officers sometimes work a 2nd shift as security guards for sex-industry establishments. Police often give unjustified tickets for a number of minor violations, especially to tourists/foreigners who lack familiarity with the legal system. Police openly ask if the offender knows anyone 'important' that they could contact to get out of the ticket (friend who works for police or a politician would suffice). A country on the whole is covid-ignorant, only 60 % of population received at least 1 covid vaccine. Latest ba4/ba5 vaccines were secured from the EU, but Poland is insisting on getting rid of last-years a1 variant of vaccines, and blocking access to ba4/ba5 vaccine seekers (ba5 is the dominant strain as of the time of writing, composing of 98% of those diagnosed, according to University of Oxford).

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Castelo Branco, Castelo Branco, Portugal

Castelo Branco, Castelo Branco, Portugal

Activity

nomabelle
nomabelle replied to a thread
6 years ago
J

New members of the Portugal forum, introduce yourselves here - 2019 by Julien

Hi all, Newbie on the Portugal forum? Don't know how to start? This thread is for you ;) We invite you to introduce yourself on this topic, to share with us your expat story if you are already living in the country, or to tell us more on ...

nomabelle

I would suggest a larger city such as Lisbon or Porto (or any cities on the coast), or city outskirts which are less expensive such as Sintra. While I'm told that the Portuguese are ok in large cities, my experience has been that the Portuguese ... Read More