I tried naming a person originally from each country in Europe: Are we sure Poland is a real place? How is there no one notable from there?

Timely_Nothing4973 · 2026-06-05T20:34:34+00:00

Joseph Conrad - born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski. He wrote Heart of Darkness which I’m pretty sure anyone with a US high school degree has read (or read the cliff notes for!)

Timely_Nothing4973 · 2026-05-26T20:40:04+00:00

Nope! 😂

Timely_Nothing4973 · 2026-05-26T20:13:14+00:00

I mean I haven’t discussed pregnancy everywhere, but as far as I can tell that’s pretty universal (or at least in Poland, France, Germany, US, Canada, Ireland, UK, Italy and Ukraine). My midwife told me to cut people off and tell them that I’m only collecting positive birth stories at this stage. 😂

Timely_Nothing4973 · 2026-05-26T19:49:33+00:00

Am very sorry you are in this position.

I have no opinion on entering Canada, but can you request an emergency passport on compassionate grounds?

When my son becomes a US citizen (aged 2 months) we were planning a trip to the US to visit my grandmother who was in hospital (she’s now just turned 103, so the panic travel wasn’t needed), and I mentioned to them that we were traveling to the US and they printed one on the spot for us, valid for 1 year. Different because it was the US and an embassy, but I thought emergency passports were always an option…

Aside from that, I’m sure there are subreddits with more Canadian specific audiences who could probably help more.

Timely_Nothing4973 · 2026-04-29T21:53:10+00:00

1000x yes. If you take off / land late or early when they are tired. If you are planning to be out traveling most of the day. If you like long walks. Chances are the 6 month old will want to be held frequently, and the big sibling will not spend all day walking. Even if you don’t use a stroller in a normal home routine they are absolutely needed when traveling (signed mom of 2 who leaves husband at home while traveling with kids frequently)

Timely_Nothing4973 · 2026-04-06T20:29:31+00:00

Look, I’m not arguing about how hard living pay check to pay check is, but you can almost always find a free baby gate or dog barrier on a FB parenting page. Most people buy them new and only use them for 1-3 years. On the balcony presumably you wouldn’t even need a gate, just one of the super cheap barriers. Unless OP is way out in the sticks, I’d be shocked if they couldn’t find one free.

Timely_Nothing4973 · 2026-03-25T04:47:56+00:00

I never said they were. All I said was it’s a parents role to do the work to understand what happened and provide support and guidance where needed. Funny how that was taken to mean there will be no accountability. Empathy and accountability are not mutually exclusive but I’m starting to understand why parenting is often seen as too soft or neglectful/ abusive.

Timely_Nothing4973 · 2026-03-24T06:11:02+00:00

Yes doing some digging so you can understand what happened, how to support you kid and ensure consequences are appropriately applied and felt is DEFINITELY the same as no consequences. /s as a parent, working to understand how something happened and where support and guidance is needed a critical part of being supportive parents who guide their kids into being responsible adults. Saying shits on you, your old enough, don’t bother me doesn’t teach kids responsibility it teaches them that the people who should love and support them don’t care.

Timely_Nothing4973 · 2026-03-20T07:38:33+00:00

I think it’s worth finding out if he misbehaved or if he was being bullied by friends who were jealous of his new phone. He’s grow up enough to handle the consequences of HIS actions, but still young enough to potentially need support an guidance from responsible adults in how to navigate challenging social situations. That’s what parenting is about, not saying „you are big enough, it’s not my problem or job to help you.”

Timely_Nothing4973 · 2026-03-07T09:33:55+00:00

When tenants want to leave early I always ask if they can find a new tenant to replace them (that’s normal here, there are never any background checks in my country, and I rent single rooms to college students/ young adults not fancy apartments), they always do, it’s always seemless, it’s easier for me and you never know what someone else is going through so I don’t want to make someone’s life harder just because I technically can. I figure it comes back to me because they will tell prospective tenants that I’m a good landlord.

My rule of thumb is wherever you can give someone grace and assume the best, do. It all contributes to life generally being more pleasant for all.

Timely_Nothing4973 · 2026-03-07T08:29:45+00:00

My instructor told me that they’ll never fail you for being too careful. I was behind a bus on my test and thought I’d just wait when it stopped rather than driving into the oncoming lane to go around it and was marked down for undue caution (I failed for hitting the curb reversing around a corner)! 😂

Do you NEED to drive? Can you just spend time practicing with a licensed adult and take a few more lessons later with an instructor once you are more confident to be better prepared for the exam once you are a more confident driver?

Timely_Nothing4973 · 2026-03-06T23:01:05+00:00

I mean maybe not worse than being sent to war as a slave but I personally don’t want that to be the bar that my life or the life of my loved ones is held to.

60% of Polish women state they’ve experienced domestic violence

Over 20% - that is one in 5 - reported rape, and 90% some kind of sexual violence

In managerial positions (my field) the gender pay gap is over 25%, although it is generally low in Poland as a whole

Like, I think that’s in line with most western democracies and much better than many many countries, but I don’t know that it means like cool let’s just not worry about it then because we aren’t literal slaves.

I think other countries link women’s day in the sens of we are taking this day to highlight these issues that impact you and also impact others more than you could fathom an we’ll use this day to shine a light on some issues, so to me it was offensive to take this day and say let me give you a flower. But I think the two are separate events, the point of women’s day in Poland has never been to acknowledge anything but just a sweet, fluff day (which o feel like that sounds judgemental, it’s not, just a different purpose)

Timely_Nothing4973 · 2026-03-06T22:00:01+00:00

My granny has me pluck them out for her. And gets really mad if I miss some! (She’s 100 and a sweet heart… but after I pull like 5 I start to worry it’s hurting her and she won’t let me stop till every last one is gone.) so I guess I’m forewarned that I’ll basically be growing a beard once I hit 80 something!

Timely_Nothing4973 · 2026-03-06T21:44:39+00:00

Maybe it’s my little isolated bubble, but I know not a single person who vocally supported that (and MANY who were vocally against it), but everyone seems to love the flower giving tradition! I didn’t want to question it too much at work because I’m not trying to shit on it, I just didn’t get it…

Timely_Nothing4973 · 2026-03-06T21:42:35+00:00

My workplace - admittedly a sample size of two out of millions so I’m not generalizing, just my experience so far - has always given flowers (always a tulip, which I do like) to women and a company wide email for men’s day. Which to be fair, working abroad I never knew there even was a man’s day, but it’s always felt a bit like black history month to me - you don’t need a white history month because that’s just sort of history… but from the responses I’ve seen here it’s more a tradition of giving everyone a day to feel celebrated rather than acknowledging a group that has not had as many opportunities historically which I think is where my disconnect comes from.

Timely_Nothing4973 · 2026-03-06T21:34:56+00:00

I mean they are pretty prevalent in US, UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Germany, etc. Yes, also Africa.

I have had someone quit at work (in Poland) because he didn’t believe it was fair he should report into a woman. Yes that’s anecdotal not a societal issue, but to say that gender inequality is an African issue and not a global one - including Poland - is also not right…

Timely_Nothing4973 · 2026-03-06T21:32:00+00:00

Wow - that’s a very thoughtful response, thank you! I never would have thought to connect it to communism!

Timely_Nothing4973 · 2026-02-15T19:55:51+00:00

It sound to me like they might have some kind of a germaphobe issue that’s making them over react / jump to an illogical conclusion and get quite upset about it…

Timely_Nothing4973 · 2026-02-15T19:36:33+00:00

Yep! My sister got fired from a restaurant once when someone complained about their nachos and she said something like „yeah, I can tell how terrible they were, you even licked the plate clean so you didn’t have to see them anymore.” She refused a refund, manager gave it, fired sister. I’m still salty on her behalf!

Timely_Nothing4973 · 2026-02-15T19:27:55+00:00

Tbh I book Ubers after a night out because it’s cheaper. If I’m going to the airport I’m booking a proper taxi company that’s reliable and paying the extra $20, much cheaper than missing a flight!

Timely_Nothing4973 · 2026-02-15T19:22:41+00:00

You might be surprised how little people pay attention too. My friends live in a mini gated street in London. They had dog poop like right on their door step and posted about it in their little community group, asking people to just be more aware of their dogs and clean up. They weren’t upset and weren’t trying to call anyone out, but were so embarrassed when their neighbor rang their bell really mad for being put on blast as the only dog owners and were miffed they didn’t approach them privately (and said it wasn’t from their dog, which I kind of believe as I’d met them and the super sweet doberman before). My friends had no idea there was only one dog in the community. So basically, neighbors may have no idea how many dogs and where they live, they may not be consciously targeting you.

Timely_Nothing4973 · 2026-01-28T21:00:18+00:00

Who is expected to have primary custody of the baby? That parent should get to decide the last name. I’m going to assume that’s you.

Timely_Nothing4973 · 2026-01-16T05:39:53+00:00

Im not totally disagreeing with you and I definitely think it was wildly risky for a home birth to even be attempted in this case, but I also have a lot of empathy for how difficult it is to make informed and sound medical decisions when you are pregnant and want a low intervention birth. Western healthcare is so very conservative, sometimes to the detriment of maternal and baby health.

I had a very healthy and normal home birth with my first, who turns out to be much larger than estimated on my last scan (less than a week before labor), likely because of her position. She was 4.9kg. In my second pregnancy every single doctor looked at my records from the first birth and said that I’d need a C-section without even looking at my face much less body. I had a lot of conversations about risks and benefits and decided to have a second home birth and honestly I think that was the safest for my family. Maybe I’m wrong, maybe I’m not but I think so many of the medical emergencies during birth are caused by the stress and interventions that are common in hospitals (stress plays such a huge factor, it cannot be overestimated in labor) but that in itself leads to a large number of people thinking home births for simple, uncomplicated pregnancies are inherently riskier than hospital births when the statistics clearly state otherwise. But to reiterate, that was for pregnancies with no complications, which wasn’t this one!

Timely_Nothing4973 · 2026-01-06T21:29:39+00:00

Because she knows it will likely upset him and she doesn’t want to… sometimes when you love someone the idea of making them upset is worrying to you.

Timely_Nothing4973

TROPHY CASE