The congratulating a person with someone else's birthday is so weird. I'm born and bred in The Netherlands with a Dutch mum and a British dad. Though it's a standard thing here, my English side just can't comprehend 😂 It's really cool to see an 'outsider perspective' on a place where i've lived my whole life!
Hey David, again a great video and yes we're blessed this summer and more warm weather to come. Keep informing people about our little country and hope some day you can really call it home.
I just wanted to say thank you for your professionally done Amsterdam videos. We are coming in March to start the process of moving there ourselves. I've watched the entire Netherlands Rabit hole on you RU-vid. Your videos have the best production quality BY FAR. They are so nice to watch after all the others I have slogged through : )
Wow thanks so much, I really appreciate the kind words 🙏 Just gave me a boost of motivation. If there’s anything you’d like to learn more about, let me know! March is coming up! Where are you moving from?
Helpful to see a day in the life. Planning on moving to The Netherlands via a job or DAFT (if I can find housing since the current housing crisis in the NL is no joke) within the next year or so and have been turning off my AC at home to prepare for no AC in Europe among other things to reduce culture shock. Though, having gone through heatwaves growing up with no air conditioning I'm not looking forward to those hot and sticky night trying to sleep.
Great to hear! Oh I hope you are able to make the move within the next year-I think you'll really enjoy it. The no AC thing isn't a problem (except a few days in any given year)...most of the year, it's fine. You'll be wanting more sun! Housing crisis is a real thing...good luck with that, we all need it. August/Sept is usually the craziest because that's when students are moving in
Hi, I just want to assure anyone watching from outside the Nederlands, that the canteen lady handling food with bare hands is neither in accordance with our guidelines or typical in her habits. Latex gloves or tongs are the norm here.
Being born in 1961 make me feel your concern for the use of latex gloves us really hilarious. Humankind has survived for many many thousends of years without these germ precautions. They really make us very weak as a species for they prevent us from aquiring resistance to germs. And yes old and sick people may die from germs. And certainly a lot quicker if you have not build any resistance during your lifetime. So I suggest to ban latex gloves for the good of pur health
@@leendewaardt8937 I was born a decade earlier if it is relevant. The understanding of hygiene was already a science taught in school. Pie or fish and chip shops already used tongs and scoops. How you organise food at home is a choice. Serving food for profit is fortunately regulated by law. I know for a fact that many people neglect to wash their hands and are regulary touching their face and hair. Eating out shouldn't be playing Russian roulette with your guts. We inevitably consume germs and not all are harmful , but it's enough to keep our immune systems functioning.
@@leendewaardt8937 I find the wearing of gloves can remind people to follow guidelines. No part of my opinion stops you from doing as you please. I hope you are not taking the disagreement too personally. It was not my intention. I hope this response is adequate, as I have no other to make.
Nice video. I've been twice in Amsterdam years ago. I liked so much that I've been learning Dutch thinking on a next trip. Where I live sun rises and sets always at same time, around 5h30 am and pm respectively, so it was quite unusual for me seeing a sunset at 9 pm.
Thanks Paolo - yeah the summers are beautiful with long days...right now in the winter, it's the opposite. It's quite depressing with the sun rising at 8-9am and setting around 4pm...plus usually there is no sun in the day too haha But yes, Amsterdam is great!
Hey Anastasia - thanks and welcome to the Netherlands =) Hope you're enjoying it so far (it's been a nice summer this year). Do you have any other ideas of what other videos I could make? 🤔
@@anastasiasharova2075 i am dutch and the most important rule related to bikes are that pedestrians should NEVER walk on the bikepaths!! hahaha you will easily be runover within a few seconds… and watch out for scooters and sometimes bigger motorcycles they are also allowed to use these biking paths
@@hidavidwen showing op unannounced and spontaneity are very normal outside the “big” cities in the Netherlands. I live in Friesland and friends family and neighbors just randomly walk in and out. Especially in the weekends. Culture in the provinces are very different from those in Amsterdam
@@hidavidwen When you live longer in this country you realise what for city Amsterdam is. It is not the best by far. It attracts a lot of tourists for the wrong reasons. If they are happy(which the gemeente certainly is not) with this terrible situation I will leave them to it so long as I (many Dutchmen feel the same) am not required to go there.
Haha so we might have crossed paths already at several locations😅 (Vondelpark, Lelylaan etc but I am very bad recognizing faces, especially in the morning while still half asleep)😅
Hey David! Great video to end a Friday. Got me chuckling to see so many cows wandering around. The ones with horns look menacing. And it is wonderful to be able to do walk in the mornings before heading to office. Have a great weekend!
Thank you! I love the video. I am headed to AMS next week, for my annual trip. I hope to do DAFT this year or next. you honest video was very helpful - my hotel rooms are always a bit hot, now that I think of it!
Hey David! Thank you for sharing that interesting video. I'm planning to move soon to Amsterdam for work ( self improvement and gaining better professional skills ) and change the place for a while. P.S. Your working place seems very exciting and interesting ( especially the coffee 😁) . Have a successful and enjoyable week!🤘
Wow what a wonderful day! Everything looks super fun and you need to buy yourself some better coffee to have something to look forward to after you wake up 😆 hoping to visit Amsterdam someday!
Haha thanks Dan. I do need better coffee. Right now, I'm prioritizing time > taste. But I do go to cafes several times a week to get my real coffee fix. Hope you can visit soon!
Very interesting video because Dutch style is quite different from Japanese one. In my company in Japan, I have to start working in the office on time - 8:30am and leave there after 5pm. Not allowed to go to a gym or celebrate a birthday during business hours. Furtherrmore, we have vending machines instead of coffee machines, and no chance to chat with my coworkers over coffee. By the way, how long did you work on the day when you took this video?😁
@@hidavidwen I was born in 1935 in the van Breestraat in oud zuid. My family lived there, my father had his office there In the same house. I lived there later with my son until we left for California in 74 to marry my American husband. The Vondel park was our playground. My mother took as there as babies. Later I took my baby there. The Van Breestraat was a quiet neighborhood . It was close to the park. We had all the small markets close by in walking distance. As well as coffee shops and small restaurants. Of course we also had the WW2 and the German occupation. We survived and so did the neighborhood. Amsterdam was a lot quieter then. People didn’t travel as much. No hordes of tourists.
That looks really great there. I am Dutch German and Italian and never thought of visiting nor had the time off to visit those countries, just Aruba so far!
Whoh How different your life is to ours of 1983 when we moved to NL Work/life balance certainly looks a lot less stressed than mine was.You don't talk ?about learning the language? a MUST in our day Io. I do miss the summers ( IN Brabant NOT the cities) but NOT the miserable winters
Hi David, love these videos but I want to understand your perspective on couple of things very pertinent to the Netherlands and EU 1. The falling euro and the recession signs- do you think this could have an impact on your future in the Netherlands and for other expats planning to move there? 2. Subsequently, increased cost of living specially housing and gas. Do you think the EU salaries in tech are being adjusted accordingly to counter these increased costs?
Thanks for sharing Madhawan. My personal thoughts… 1. The recession could impact me if I don’t have a job to sponsor my visa. That is a concern. But my main motivation for moving here was a lifestyle decision and not a financial one. 2. That’s a big concern. Companies are not increasing salaries as much as inflation (true everywhere). You need to leave your job to get a better salary (true everywhere). Depends on your motivation. I still want to be here for now but…but if it doesn’t work out, I could always go back to California or figure something out…life will work itself out.
It was great to see a day in your life in the summer over there! I often go to the office here in Berlin. Not only because of the heat (they have big fans and even A/C on the top floor) but for being social too. Since I'm in a new city/country, it's nice to get to know people and pick up random info about the city. Even if no one is there, I end up with more space and privacy at work than at home anyway haha (in shared housing atm). Are towns with beaches over there not only beach towns? By that I mean, that if a town has a beach, then does the town and its economy not revolve around the beach? I tend to find that to be pretty common in the States but Den Haag is probably not like that (EDIT: well, I suppose LA isn't only a beach town. I tend to think of places like Miami or Virginia Beach when I think of those though)
Thanks Chris! Yeah I like going to the office for the social aspect and the free space too (I don’t really have an office at home) And Den Haag is a special place…it’s not known for its beaches but there are beaches, dunes, and many beach cafes and restaurants around and it does feel like a vacation when you’re there on a nice summer day.
Long stretches of beach in Noord and Zuid Holland are backed by dunes. The d's unes are peppered with a few towns that have 'aan zee' as the last part of there name, and you will see the same name without that addition more inland, those being the larger of the two (or three). There are few coastal roads but there is a long bicicle path all the way from Scheveningen to Zandvoort, two of the larger and more touristic beach towns. Zandvoort is a very popular spot for people living in Amsterdam, as there is a direct train service that practically ends on the beach, no need for a bike, just a few minutes walk. It's also the one spot where there is a long(ish) road for cars to go along the beach, ending at 'Bloemendaal aan Zee', that is part of the municipality of Bloemendaal, but the town proper is several kilometers inland, as the dunes (Kennemerduinen reserve) are the widest at this point. The road (the Zeeweg) to between the town and the coast has been designed by an architect, although his artistic effort had to be adjusted as one of the curves tended to cause too many accidents.
Awesome video as always. Next if possible, can you please make a video on healthcare in The Netherlands, especially for expats and what to expect when someone is coming with co-morbidities like Diabetes, Hypertension etc. I've read several medical misdiagnosis / not getting diagnosed at right time - stories on social networks in Amsterdam and other cities in NL and would like your own opinion on this...
Hmm, funny. I didn't know you worked in my hometown of Hoofddorp. Funny. Of course I recognize where you were walking. Hoofddorp has actually become a kind of suburb of Amsterdam.
Enjoyed, as always very nice. Is it just me because I'm so focused on that, or do you never talk about a love life, or just that there isn't one? (or did I miss that, if so which episode?)
Thank you for this very helpful video! I'm also an Asian-American born & raised in the Bay (currently living in NYC), and I'm heavily considering moving to Amsterdam next year, given how things are in the US... I wanted to ask you a few questions about your experience as an expat (and also about your experience working in what looks like tech, since that's also the industry I'm in), but it seems like you don't have Instagram? :( Is there another way to reach you?
If my breakfasts looked like this I would be starving in 30 minutes. In our slavic culture we have a pronoun that says: eat your breakfast yourself, share your lunch with a friend, and leave the dinner for your enemy.
Hey Anton - haha yeah I understand. I usually don’t do big breakfasts myself (sometimes I fast). But I’m a big fan of food. Sounds like lunch is the biggest meal for you?
Hi thanks for this video! I have a child and I would want to move to NL for better upbringing. How are job prospects in NL for master students graduating from public health?
You’re welcome! Not entirely sure but I do know education here is high quality. Depending on the type of public health, I’d say the job hurdle may be the language (Dutch). But for many jobs in international environments/companies, English is sufficient
26°C is too hot ? ^^ The US have a really weird relationship with AC.. Don't move more south to Netherlands, we still don't have AC, and we can only wish our summers would be 26° ^^'
I think in the US you're used to having 20°C everywhere all the time? A guy explained this to me, at the office, in the car, 20°C everywhere all year long. ^^ I don't know if it's still like this but I remember having to wear a sweater in the stores in Tennessee during summer because the AC was freezing x) In France we don't have AC that much, we didn't need one until a few years ago but it's getting unbearable
It's been a very very bad summer actually, way way too dry, rivers are out of water, grass turning brown...record heat... we need rain desperately here in the EU..
Hey! Oh....that's a BIG question. I don't know is the real answer. I don't even know in 5 or 10 years. A lot could happen. But I do like it right now in the present moment =)
I think I should be used to bicycles by now. My town has too many cyclists. Your definition of hot is cold for me. I am used to temperatures up to 32C. I am glad they hosted the conference online, people like me have the wrong kind of personality for jobs. Just mostly introverted.
Thanks Florence. Haha yes I am also used to hotter temperatures (it gets pretty hot in LA where I lived previously) but...the thing that kills me is that there is no AC =/ And there are mosquitoes at night. So I cannot even sleep. Good thing it's only a few days out of the year, but it's horrible. And hello fellow introvert-I can relate as well =)
@@hidavidwen I am glad that you endured all those inconveniences. Most people would have just left and oh no. My oldest rival, mosquitos. Those insects can just grow still water so you might want to get rid of excess water in your house.
@@hidavidwen Day of the life in winter might be a good idea for your new video then😄 let’s say mine is more poor and less people involved haha (but I’m happy like you) As an expat in Amsterdam, I enjoy watching your videos a lot!
You must be very satisfied after such a hard day's work and so much productivity. 😏 What an incredibly spoiled generation. I hope things don't go the other way for you, because I don't think you will survive that.
Thanks for sharing Marcus. An expat is defined as a person who lives outside their native country. An immigrant is a person who comes to live permanently in a foreign country. I'm not here permanently at the moment so technically I'm considered an expat. And if we want to get technical, if we look at the history of humankind-we are all immigrants who have moved around the world. So yes, we are all immigrants. Take care and have a nice day!
