It is pretty amazing to me how quickly a place that was once "foreign" can become Home. After a little more than two years living in the Netherlands, I am convinced that this will be the place where I spend the majority of the rest of my life working and raising the kids that I hope someday come! That was never my initial plan, but after being here a year or so and getting my bearings in terms of learning the language and getting settled in my job, I realized that this is a fantastic country, and I could really see myself here "for good". I think a huge factor which made this process easier was that I learned the language right away. The first 4 weeks I was here, I took intensive language lessons with a private teacher. Expensive, but necessary for my work as I work in the eastern part of the country and though I am always impressed with the ability of Dutch people to speak English, not everyone around here can. That was actually a blessing in disguise. When people automatically switch to English when speaking to you, it doesn't force you to try and learn. And simply through listening, I think I picked things up. I maybe didn't understand all of the words at first, but I could grasp the meaning of what someone was trying to say. Gradually that improved. Now I would say I am fairly fluent. I don't understand every single thing, sometimes have to ask my boyfriend for clarification on some things or ask people to repeat themselves, but I can carry on a normal conversation. I have to say that making the effort to learn wasn't always easy. I had days in the beginning where I came home from work so exhausted from speaking another language all day that I couldn't even bring myself to make dinner. But the effort was well worth it.
So, after a year or so here, I figured if I had gotten over the hurdle of learning the language, then why not consider staying longer. I opened up to the idea that if I could find someone with whom I would like to spend my life, then maybe I could stay here for good. I loooooooove Canada....love going back to visit....miss my friends and family....but there are certain things that I would just never have living in Canada that I can have here. For example: 4 weeks of vacation as soon as I started working! When I began my current job, I was informed that I would have 4 weeks of paid vacation per year. I was pumped! I mean, who has that right off the bat at a new job in Canada? I have to say that now that I have been here a little longer, I have found out that 4 weeks is actually the legal minimum of vacation time in the Netherlands. I was a little disappointed when I realized that people in lower positions in my company have more vacation time. However, they have been pretty flexible about me taking more time if I need it, so I can't complain!
The second thing I've noticed that is really attractive to me, is that many people do not work 5 days a week here. In Canada, it seems to be the norm that both partners work 5 days per week. Here, it is quite common for mothers to work 3 days per week and sometimes for fathers to work part time as well. What a genius idea! I think the Dutch have simply accepted that it is not possible (or not for everyone anyway) to balance a family life and full-time work and actually enjoy yourself. I love that this is completely socially acceptable here.
Those are really just a couple of the things that make living here attractive. In general, I have to say that I find Dutch social policy to be quite logical and fair and that things are quite well-organized. It hasn't always felt that way. I know that I occasionally faced some kind of "discrimination" when visiting the Gemeente Huis (city hall) and trying to arrange certain things. I sometimes felt like people looked at me like I was stupid because I couldn't speak proper Dutch...that is still a feeling that I occasionally have. In general though, I think the Netherlands is a country that makes things rather easy for ex-pats and I'm thankful to have had the opportunity to come and work here.
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