I am a resident of India and exploring an opportunity in Krakow, Poland. I have a 7 year old son and he is in 1st standard (studying in an ICSE school).

My main concern is about his education post my relocation. I am told there are English schools in Krakow, Poland but would like to know more with respect to their affordability (fee structure and admission pre-requisites) and adaptability for an Indian student.

Thanks in advance

Regards,
Hemanth

I believe in God and see the world as one and do not define myself by political boundaries. Poland or USA does not matter as much as where you are supposed to be in your life. political divides I hope are becoming less meaningful like state boundaries. That being said I think we will build a small house in the Polish countryside some day and have a presence in both. My brother has done that with his dual US and UK citizenship now for 25 years. He lives most of the time in Florida and part-time in London.

Portland is great I am highly recommend the series Portlandia to get an understanding of what it is like. My friend did move from there as he did get depressed with the rain, just for your information.

I do not have any wisdom but just writing some of my ideas. I think your priority needs to start your family. Forget anything else. I mean of course you have to live work-study etc, but time stops for no one and you have to find your price. Sorry I realized that also. We are all young and beautiful but that is for a reason, to find our one and only so we can feel at home no matter where we live.

NYC is the worst place to find this guy. I mean when I go there my adrenaline is pumping but you can not live on that high, it is not soul food.

You do not need to live in Poland to find a Polish guy of course because there is sympatia.onet.pl/ and catholicmatch.com for example. He of coruse does not have to be Polish, you could meet a American cowboy speaking rounded American English. I am not saying this for you, but for anyone.

I just can not stand how the men in the world have become players and cool. I guess this is the world today. Women give much of their life and beauty and have nothing to show for it. Just know if this happens it was not the right one.

Also there are just as many hot good men as players. It is wrong that bad boys are the only hot ones. If you want to find a good man, he has to chase you and commit to you before he gets any of your time.

My key advice is this. Read my lips: Find an idealistic guy. If any guy is not idealistic he will not get married. The guy has to be idealistic to have any sort of life. If he is not then in the first storm he will disappear or with time at least. Women go for none idealistic men because they think he is the best they can do. Wrong, go for a guy who reads Shakespeare and goes to church and believes in true love.

Find a guy who beleives in true love and marriage and not divorce. I found Kasia who is my one and only and she see the world this way and I am very thankful to God.

If you could find a guy like this, then Poland or America does not matter. You have your life together.

Thanks!

The bottom line is if you have a degree you are in the door. It does not matter from one country or the other. I really think it is what you can bring to the table in terms of value added to a company. I use to hire people from all over the world and with all kinds of degrees like music or history in my accounting department if I thought they could do the job.

People do not care as much of where or what you study as much as can you do the job. This is the USA. In Poland they do care. If you study something you are pretty much expected to be that. In the USA, I have seen ballet dancers who are bankers and stock brokers who studied art. It does not matter. It is a different culture.

However, if you have specific knowledge like java programming and you can use it not just book knowledge you will be paid more, until all this get outsourced of course.

So I highly recommend you study what you love and not worry about jobs as the job market changes and the skills needed are here today and gone tomorrow. If you are really worried about money, you can study something medical like speech therapy and you will always have work. In the USA you might need certifications but your education is transferable if you study in Poland. Computers or architecture are great as they are specific skills. I like them both. Go with what you love.

English by the way will never hurt you, my friend studied English and now teaches in Poland and is an published author, write books about the Amish. – amishamrica.com is his site.

About dating and family. If you can find an American guy that would be great. But NYC is not the place to look. And NYC is very expensive. I could not afford it. After 10 years in Poland I now live in St. Augustine, Florida for a fraction of the price up north. I pay no heating bills, you can buy a house in the Palm Coast near the beach for 50,000 3 bedrooms 2 bath and have payments of 350 dollars or less a month. All new. Why anyone would pay so much in NYC or Chicago is beyond me. Life here is easy going and warm and sunny everyday. I buy locally grown food.

I would not look for a guy in NYC many guys are players. Just just my advice with dating and family. I did not miss my family to much in Poland nor my wife her here as we have skype and are together 24/7 and have a daughter so we have our own family. I highly recommend this. It is like the meaning of life to have your own family. Nothing better.

Poland Vs the USA in terms of life? Well it depends on what you like. Poland is romanitic and beautiful and sweet. But it is cold and dark most of the year. I prefer the sunshine of Florida to be honest now.

I mean you can pick up a car for a few hundred dollars or 50 thousand, it depends what you want. You can get a good car that runs for 3 thousand dollars and it would be great, but for 1000 it is possible too.
I did not have a car most of the time I lived in Poland. If your city has trams there is no reason to have one. Consider Wroclaw for example, maybe more livable. I would say Krakow, but I am not advising this city now because of the pollution.
I think you can teach at any school because English is always in need. If you can teach medical or business English even more.
Visa is based on what you do. You can get a student visa for sure, and maybe a work visa, Polish or Jewish ancestory would have helped with a greencard.
I think focus on schools that will sponor you, really it is all about the visa. If you can get this than your lifestyle will be very interesting and nice. You will be in the center of Europe and your kids will enrich their brains many fold compared to the average American.

You can think of a business to start you will even be better off. A lot of opportunies to create a business in Poland. Each person I know that lives there has found their way, as it is a growing dynamtic economy. Foucs on the visas and ask questions.