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Hi! I'm new...first post :)
Hi girls! I have been lurking here for awhile, you all seem to be a wealth of knowledge so I thought I would join in and introduce myself. My husband, myself, and our kiddos (3 years and 18 months) currently live in the midwest, but are headed to the Netherlands next year for 2 years. I will likely SAH with our youngest and our daughter will go to school. I would love to hear any tips/advice etc any of you ladies have regarding the move, Netherlands, surviving without friends/family etc. Netherlands nesties...would LOVE to hear from you about neighborhoods and schools! We are considering Wassenaar and the American School of Hague (partly because I read that it has a good social network and extra-curriculars for me to make some friends and keep active)? Hubby will work in Amsterdam, so we are also interested in schools and neighborhoods that may be closer...
Thanks! I look forward to getting to know you all better!
Re: Hi! I'm new...first post :)
Hi and welcome! I'm not in the NL, but I was in Belgium for a bit and, if my geography stuck, The Hague v. Amsterdam is no easy commute, so I would guess living in/around AMS would be your best bet.
It's a beautiful part of Europe. I would move back in a heartbeat, if possible. There are a ton of NL ladies on here, but I'm sure they're sleeping now
They're an amazing group of girls.
Best of luck with the move!
hi and welcome! We just did three years in Amsterdam.
If your husband is working in Amsterdam, I would suggest Amstelveen and try out the International School of Amsterdam (which is actually in Amstelveen):
http://www.isa.nl/09/homepage/homepage.html
It would be very easy for you to make friends in Amstelveen because it is very international and the moms all hang out after dropping their kids off in the cafeteria and drink coffee and chat.
Wassenaar is very nice but it isn't as easily accessible without a car and it is a heck of a commute from Amsterdam (probably over an hour in traffic and there is ALWAYS traffic in Amsterdam). Wassenaar is VERY affluent. In Amsterdam, my boss lived there and he was the CEO of our very successful fortune 500 company.
I was part of the American Women's Club of Amsterdam and highly recommend it. I made some very good lifelong friends in that club. My advice for living in the netherlands:
-Get a bakfiets immediately. Greatest thing that every happened to me.
-Be ready to be frustrated. Everything that would take you one step here will take you three steps there.
-Travel as much as possible. We used Arke.nl travel agency quite a bit because it was inexpensive. We would also find really cheap flights and fly random places last minute (we flew to Dublin for the weekend for 100E roundtrip for 3 of us).
-If you have a car, get out of town! There are tons of places to go in Holland, Belgium, Germany, and France all within driving distance.
-Don't eat the filet american! It is neither filet nor american!
-Insist on Dutch health insurance. We had Aenta global and got screwed so many times because of various reasons. We never had problems with the Dutch health insurance and got top quality healthcare.
I'm sure I have more but this is what I can think of off the top my head. Here is the blog I kept while in Amsterdam. There is ton of stuff on living in Amsterdam with a kid:
http://theatkinsonsinamsterdam.blogspot.com/
Did I mention get a bakfiets?
Thanks everyone! I didn't even realize/think about the fact that everyone in Europe is sleeping, just showing how much I have to learn!! Ha!
TotZiens, thank you thank you! for all of the helpful info! I peeked at your blog, your son is adorable and I am looking forward to reading and learning all of your tips and tricks to Europe with a toddler!! We will also look more into Amstelveen housing and schooling (which apparently my husband was also thinking made more sense
).
And bakfiets...noted!!
welcome to the board!
yes it's pretty much only people in the US & Australia who are awake right now
Hello and welcome. I'm in the NL w/DH and DS, we've been here since Feb. When is your move planned? We'll have to get together when you get here.
I agree with everything Tot Ziens has said and her blog is super helpful. Has your company already assigned you to someone to help you with everything you need to do on this end? If not, I liked our lady. She is originally from the US, but been in the NL for the past 20 years or so, so she's good at giving you American examples.
I totally agree with Amstelveen. The commute from Hauge will give your hubby an ulcer. I considered Amstelveen, but we loved Haarlem. If we were to stay in Holland once DS starts school, we'd move to Amstelveen. You can join the American Women's group to network, I get their newsletter and they do some cool things. I go to an English speaking playgroup on days DS isn't in daycare.
Temp housing: I know a lot of IN's had hotels or extended stay hotels, I would insist on a decent corp apt. I really liked ours, it was a decent location in Amsterdam close to a grocery store and tram.
Feel free to email me: jldittber@gmail.com
PS:love your family pic.
Welcome. I don't have any advice specific to the Netherlands, but I also grew up in the Midwest and recently moved from Iowa to Singapore. I imagine I can identify with your background fairly well.
There are a great bunch of ladies on the board, and they provided a lot of help and insight when I was in the process of moving. I think you'll enjoy this board.
Welcome to the board! I'm in Spain with my Spanish DH so I'm no help with the Netherlands, but there are lots of ladies on here who can offer their expertise.
Best of luck with all the planning and moving!
We just moved back to WI after a year in Zurich, Switzerland. My DH is German and I'm American. He just got a job last week and we will be moving to neighborhood in Northwest Chicago.
2012 Reading Challenge
Now Nesting from Chicago, IL My nail blog:
Hello! I'm from the Midwest also, which city are you in?
DH and I live in Switzerland, DH is Swiss and I'm American. I can't help with the Netherlands, but welcome to the board!
Welcome to the board! DH and I are Americans living in Scotland (for almost 6 years now!). Sounds like Tots has given you some great NL advice. My usual advice for anyone moving to Europe is to bring a lot less stuff than your instinct tells you to - apartments here are smaller than what you get in the states (generally) and it's really frustrating to have to use precious storage space for random stuff. For a short term move, that advice even more true.
Hope everything goes smoothly! Amsterdam is beautiful, I really enjoyed my week there and would love to go back. I'd move there in a heartbeat.
BFP Apr 2012, EDD Dec 19 2012 * twin h/b at 6wk, 9wk scan * Baby A lost at 12wks, Baby B was my rainbow born at 36wks
Hi there! I'm originally from Indiana and now living in Oslo, Norway.
Welcome to the board!
Hi! I'm a Canadian in Edinburgh but I'll be heading back to Canada soon.
That's one gorgeous little family you've got there.
Welcome to the board! I don't have any advice on The Netherlands.
We are Canadians living in France.
Hello!
Just wanted to say hello. I am American living in Spain with my DH.
Cecilia arrived 12 October 2012
Hi,
I'm in Amsterdam and grew up in Amstelveen, actually. The ISA is really supposed to be a wonderful school (know people who went there/had kids there), but so is the American school.
The Den-Haag-Amsterdam commute can be hellish or easy, depending on where you live and whether you use public transport or car. The problem there is that the nicer neighborhoods aren't near any train stations with direct lines to Amsterdam, so then PT is long, by car it can be pretty terrible unless you work unusual hours. (Have done it in reverse for a while.)
If you end up living in Amsterdam or Amstelveen, PM me, Amstelveen has some wonderful areas, but some aren't all that great and you can't really tell by price etcetera. My mom still lives there, so I know what's cool and what's awful. Same kinda goes for Amsterdam, except for the fact that pricier neighborhoods actually are nicer - generally speaking.
(And to introduce myself. I'm a weird mixture of Dutch and American, live in Amsterdam with my half Dutch-half Italian SO-FH. Was born and raised in the Netherlands (always Amsterdam area), but half my family is American and my dad moved to Colorado when I was a kid (in which he followed in his father's footsteps who became an American citizen and moved to the US when my dad was a kid. - That's the short version of my weird IN-ness!)
My food blog
What I'm looking forward to in 2012:
Eating our way through (northern) Italy on vacation
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