HOW MOVING TO THE NETHERLANDS CHANGED MY LIFE // an honest 9 month review

Dont bother with the Dutch. Just stick to expats. If you make it to 3 years, you deserve a medal.

It's much easier to meet other international people, because locals mostly already have a circle of family and friends. When I studied abroad, almost all my friends were also not locals. In the Netherlands when you want to meet people, clubs are the best start, so you have at least a common interest. Check out your local triathlonvereniging. Often they have trainings that you can do together. BTW Congrats on your Ironman that's quite something.

Ons het ook Nederland toe getrek uit SA uit en is nou amper 2 maande hier. Jou videos het ons so baie help in ons besluit om hierheen te kom. Ek stem 100% saam met wat jy sé!

Hi madam .....madam Rotterdam is in Netherlands

Welkom in Nederland! It is not that difficult to make friends, you will find your way. Go downtown on saturdays, most cities and towns do have markets which attracts a lot of people, I like Saturday markets a lot. During spring and summer time we do have A LOT of festivals, always a good plan :) for the rest, well as it October and the final quarter of the business year, lot of people get a bit stressed. Targets must be secured, bonusses must be calculated 😋so we live often in rush when summer holidays ended until happy new year. You will find your way here, great advantage is that you can take a train and visit practically every city within a few hours at most. Almost in every city you can walk to see the highlights and do shopping, take a drink or whatever, it is impossible in Nederland to avoid people.

You look so much like Petra Kvitova

Well, since you've survived THE most depressing winter in the Netherlands since recorded history (it rained the majority of each day from September 2023 to June 2024), so I think you''l be just fine living in the Netherlands. And remember, we ALWAYS complain about the weather. Either too hot with sunburn or got too wet because of the rain, traffic was a nightmare because it was freezing. The weather is NEVER good or even fine for that matter.
About making friends....that is an issue. We tend to have only few but very deep friendships. Mostly, our friendships grow over a shared live experience, like growing up together, living in a student house together, become soccer champion together, traveling together or be in a committee of some club, organizing an event of some magnitude. I can imagine you have passed the phase in live were you have time for these things. With other expats you share such a big life experience (moving abroad), witch is a blessing, but also could be your downfall in making Dutch friends.
I wish you a pleasant home here in the Netherlands.

Welcome to the Netherlands, having a black person doing the cleaning for you is not how the Dutch are raised. People here will not do this kind of work for you unless you pay them properly and provide them an honest income.

As a Dutchy I found that part of your video kind of concerning.

Tread people with respect and theu will respect you too.

Can u hepl me for room rent

I need job Netherland please help

U have wts app

Can u help me for job please dear

How much cost hotel in Netherlands

Please

Dear im come Netherland please help me there for job

Thank you for the nice video. I think for making friends it also depends on the person. I lived and travelled abroad a lot and I'm very open to inviting people for a drink, or hang out. Not sure where you live in the Netherlands but I would recommend Zuid Limburg, then you will see the beauty 😊 Feel free to reach out for any recommendations here

You will make friends! Give it time😊

You are welcome. I would love 2 stay in Kaapstad or Anywhere in Suid Afrika for a year or so. The Netherlands are unique and therefore beautiful. Enjoy

je moet de muziek weg laten .dan ben je beter verstaanbaar

Mooie eerlijke kijk op wat je beleeft... Sommige dingen die je niet passen is omdat je op een andere manier je identiteit hebt gevormd, en dat botst dan even. Tijd slijt. Als je langer ergens bent leer je vanzelf je te nestelen(lees verbinden). En geloof me, iedereen is hetzelfde, maakt niet uit waar we vandaan komen. We zijn gevoelig voor dezelfde dingen maar uiten ons op andere manieren.....
Go along with your journey!

I would like to be your friend.And yes South Africa so different but Holland is nice 2. Beautifull nature just flat perhaps in Limburg.Don 't worry about the language we can understand you.Have a good life .❤🎉😊

Interesting and recognisable observations.
The Dutch go for friendships that are not ‘superficial’, so it takes a while to make Dutch friends. We tend to go for quality and not quantity. When you are accepted as a friend though, we usually go to hell and back with you in my experience.

My wife is from a big country in South America and through she was adopted by my Dutch friends, she made her own as well. What helped her is joining a course, in her case sewing. While sewing she got to talk to other participants, exchange experiences and after a while also meet for coffee and so on.

Joining a sports club also helps. Not a gym, but for instance volleyball, badminton, or hockey. In short: team sports that make you interact. You would be surprised how many friendships started in the sports canteen before/after a training or match. A ‘fun-course’ at the ‘Volks Universiteit’ community college could also work.

Voluneerwork also helps to meet people, and many organisations are always on the lookout for volunteers. From scouting to ‘willow-mainenance.

We have no wildebeests, no, but try to visit national parks like ‘De Weerribben’, Biesbosch’, ‘De Hoge Veluwe’, the Wadden Island or the ‘Oostvaardersplassen’. They may not change your mind but may give you a new perspective.

Most important: learn to speak dutch.
Join a volunteer or nature or sports association.
Much greater chance to make friends.

Wrong comment but you are so British not Dutch when you are from South Africa. The Dutch are not British.

Please enjoy a hobby club (sport, crochet, gym) to meet the Dutch.

Good to hear you are settling in. My upstairs neighbors are South-African expats and we have had drinks and a braai or two. 😊 We're now entering the part of the year that's tough on all: dusk at 16 hours. Hang in there!

Join a club

Welkom terug, Marté! Ik weet niet zeker of ik je al in het Nederlands kan antwoorden, zie het maar als een oefening! 😉 Zoals anderen al zeiden: Nederlanders maken hun vriendschappen in hun jeugd en daarna komen er maar zelden nieuwe bij. Mijn vrouw en ik zijn (voor Nederlandse begrippen) ver van huis terechtgekomen, en ondanks dat we hier al 35 jaar wonen en aardig wat mensen kennen, beschouwen we elkaar meestal als bekenden, niet als vrienden. Wat het beste werkt: zoek verenigingen, voor teamsport of hobby. Gedeelde interesses zijn een goede start voor vriendschappen. Als je vaker Nederlands wilt oefenen: ik denk dat je online partners moet vinden die Teams willen gebruiken.

It's a fact that the better things work, the more people complain..

The Dutch mostly have friends for live. They know that most expats stay for 5 to 10 years before they leave to the next country and they think its not worth the effort to build up a relationship.

Nodig wat mensen uit waar je een click mee hebt voor een kop koffie en een stuk koek, je zult verbaasd zijn hoe vlug je vrienden zult hebben. 😊

Everything fine untilll you call yourself the "E" word , extremely negative to tout yourself this way : You are an immigrant nothing more , nothing less , exactly like all other immigrants.Period.This is perceived as anglo-exceptionalism which engenders non spoken dismay. And rightfully so. Also , clean your stuff like the whole world does , explaining why that may not be applicable to you frames you into a colonial mindset perception... ill received. Furthermore wish you all the best in Nederland , and hey Kaapstad can be VERY grey and dreary for LONG stretches of autumn and winter.

As jy 'n bietjie depressief raak, neem 'n sonbed in 'n looiery-ateljee vir 20 minute en stap dan uit met 'n glimlag.

As you mentioned you had a hard time making friends outside of the 'expat community' my thoughts wandered back to the multiple times I moved inside of NL, as a dutchie myself, and how I was able to make new friends, every time again ...
Here's a general tip: join a local sports or hobby club/association. Dutch sports and any other 'hobby' is quite organised and the local 'verenigingsleven' is as much part of the social core of relationships within a community (the 'social fabric') as for instance church or work communities are in other parts of the world. Sports are enjoyed in an organised manner through verenigingen at any level, from 'recreatief' to 'professioneel' and there is a significant presence of sportverenigingen for all major sports in any gemeente. Same holds for verenigingen for many other pasttime activities. I made a lot of friends in any new gemeente I settled in from the moment I joined the local volleyballvereniging.
So, if you have a pasttime activity that you fancy spending time on in the company of others ... check your local gemeente or provincie website for verenigingen in the area.

Also, if you are bothered by dust collection after a day, try to ramp up your dust tolerance level. It will be so much more satisfying to clean once a week instead of every day. It won't get you a significantly unhealthier life inside your home, and it will certainly gain you lots of time to spend with others sporting, tabel top gaming, knitting, doing pottery, horseback riding, march in a band, and whatnot.

Enjoy!

Dust after one day is nasty. Try 2 vacuum slower and the dust will not go up en fall down behind you.........Enjoy your channel.

Dust? Could be because you have much new clothes/linnen/furniture? New stuff often releases loose fibers for a while… could also be a bad vacuum cleaner 😬

"It's not beautiful here"?!? Then you really haven't seen much in the Netherlands yet. I guess it's a totally different kind of beauty. Of course there is way more (variation in) nature in SA. The NL is very small and has other qualities like old cities, the Waddeneilanden and much more. It's rather odd to state that "it's not beautiful here".

Whole south africa is coming to the netherlands.

🇳🇱🧡🇿🇦

Just go visit a rugby club in your city. Just barge in on a match day, enjoy the game and hook up with the locals!

Great video 🙂
Well structured and explanetory, I loved it! Have you ever thought about becoming a attorney ;-)
The weather
1. In every video about the Netherlands, people (that ARE NOT form the Netherlands) warn you about the weather. You must have stumbled upon them (videos)..
2. We (people IN the Netherlands) have only a few things to complain about. The weather is one of them.

I am glad you are back. Missed your videos, I (educated) guessed you were training and doing the Iron Man.

Flying to South Africa
Tickets (in Europe) are the most expensive in Switzerland and The Netherlands. (we are the fools that buy the tickets at almost any price).|
If you don't need a direct flight:
- Look for (single) flights in Germany or Belgium
- Fly e.g. over London or Warschau (Poland)
- Buy (return) tickets in South Africa (or any country but The Netherlands or Switzerland).

Nature in the Netherlands
Try a weekend:
- cycling in the Dutch provinces: Drenthe (heide), Gelderland (Hoge veluwe), Friesland (lakes and the islands Ameland and Terschelling), Limburg (zuid Limburgse heuvels)
- visiting the Biesbosch (near Dordrecht) walking or by boat

Nature nearby (distances compared to travel time in South Africa 🙂 )
- the Ardennes in Belgium
- the Eifel or the Black Forest in Germany

When you meet someone, complaining about the weather is a useful conversation starter because everyone has an opinion about the weather.
Making friends can be difficult for almost everyone. Everyone, including you, has built their own living environment. But the new social contacts can enrich that living environment. Make sure you get out and about regularly. For example, join a sports club or another one that suits you. Sitting at home alone rarely makes you friends.
By the way, aren't we friends of yours?

Hi Marte, Nice to hear you coming here. Im dutch and my wife is from SA, and we live in Amsterdam. A lot of South Africans moved here over the last few years.

Domestic chores. Having some robotised vacuum cleaner, somewhat like those automated lawn mowers, doing the job 24/7 is really a big help when living alone. The ' dust problem' could have its origin in the textiles used in your house/appartment and/or the way they are washed ( agressive powders/liquids) or dried. About friends. Relax, you have a charming personality, meeting people nearby in an activity you like ( walking clubs ?) will not be that hard and perhaps you might get a friend . It's important to like the activity because people will see through it and than you'll be cataloged as 'fake'. All changes take time to appreciate, that goes for expats and immigrants but also for the locals having new neighbours from 'the far beyond'.

Read some of the comments already posted. Saw that speaking Dutch is an issue for you. But, just like cleaning the house and doing rather extreme sports (my opinion), NOT EVERYTHING needs to be (near) perfect.
Immigrants from all over earth have retained or adapted some quirks in speaking Dutch. Famously ridiculed sometimes is the 'fat W' some people have from the former Surinam colony, and some repatriated from what is now Indonesia had a particular way of speaking Dutch. And don't get me started on people with heritage from around the Mediterranean. Not to forget many dialects within this country that are markedly different than standard Dutch. Point is, it does not need to be perfect -- the purpose of language is to be understood. JDI (or JFDI if you're in a bad mood). People will respond if on occasion it becomes incomprehensible, but they do it to help not to criticize!

FWIW, people from the UK often compliment on my very good English. Though it is usually meant truly positive, it feels like "nah, not like a native". Just push aside that feeling. It is something that only exists between your ears!

Dutch people already have their own social circle that's often not even remotely connected with their work environment. A lot of Dutch people make a strict distinction between co-workers and friends. As one of my friends put it: "I have to work with my co-workers, I choose to be with my friends. I can't imagine inviting a co-worker to my house. Who in his right mind is bringing his work to his house?"

I think you’re running too hard. Dutch men can’t keep up with you haha 😂 But don’t give up. Love will find you when you least expect it 👍

I got 2 industrial electricians and the third one is coming this month, one is speaking or understanding Dutch the other one who speaks Afrikaans has more problems with it and looks like he is not really going for it. All went out of Africa for discrimination and criminality.

Wanting Dutch friends is like doing a longterm investment, invest time and effort and in the long run you wil benefit.