[badeth]

Me and my family are planning to move in Brazil next month. I'm so exited cuz I'll get to new culture and new people

 

[englishcottage1]

Brazil, Wow that's so exciting! Where are you moving from? Why Brazil? Job, Relatives, Change?

 

[Debbie-cat]

Brazil! Wow badeth, that is exciting!

 

[daisymay1960]

yes. queue jumping is the national sport of london.

Really? , maybe because it is full of foreign visitors lol , tbh in the Uk the national sport is lining up , we queue for everything and woe betide anyone who jumps it !! , not that we will do anything but we will mutter loudly lol


Rain ? , well the last few years its seemed like our summer have been non stop rain , but we are a nation obsessed with the weather so maybe it just seems like it ? , September has been very warm and dry , London , like all cities always seems warmer then elsewhere .

Trying to remember the rest of the questions , I would have assumed you can get satellite in Ireland? , we do elsewhere in the uk .

Size of apartments ? , well depends where you go , London is expensive , you could get a big apartment but at a price , you have to remember London is pretty old and most apartments are conversions of houses , not purpose built and will therefore be smaller.

 

[AdamantEve]

Hi Daisy

Big time lapse there. I wasn't clear. I don't know any relatives in Scotland, but I was going home to visit with my relatives in PA and FL. I used to live in the suburbs of Philadelphia. We had a great time.

Scotland another time!

 

[Dutchie]

I have really enjoyed reading through all of these posts.

There are so many similarities between Scotland and Southern Ireland. Probably the similarities are true to Northern Ireland too.
I have been wondering how the posters in this thread are.

I moved to Holland from a small town in Scotland in 1977 and it took many many years before I could buy some of the things that I used to love.
Nowadays we have a British/American store very nearby. However on saying that, dh travels to the UK a lot now so if there is anything that I really need, he can get it for me.
Our daughter will be moving to London in Aug/Sept. for 6 months.

I couldn't believe that it could rain as much anywhere as it did in Scotland (at least where I used to live and where my parents still lvie). Holland is a real 'home from home' in that respect.
When I came to visit for a month in the summer of 1976 to see if I liked it here, it was the best summer ever.
It didn't rain and it was warm and sunny the entire time.
I was really set up by the weather gods of Holland. (Dh and I met in the UK when he was studying there and he said that I could decide where we lived - he didn't mind either way.)

Was there a lot of snow this winter in Ireland? We had an amazing amount of snow, completely unnatural for Holland.

 

[englishcottage1]

I was just thinking about this thread last week, but lately the only free time is a to post a few freebies and that's all.

We have started planting corn now and the weather has been pretty good but we are expecting rain later this week. We are still trying to clean up the third worst winter in history, the ice storm on top of all that snow was the worst, and we have had to cut down some tree's because they were split in half. It's nice to finally see some flowers growing and look forward to their blooms.
It seems there was alot of snow all over the world this past winter.
How far is the UK from Holland? How does your dh get there?

I was reading recently about how something is going on at the Cliffs of Moher(Ireland), I heard there was some kind of fence or something that is out at the cliffs and placed there because too many cows were doing high dives off the cliffs? Is the fencing (which I understand is stone?) all across the cliffs or just in certain spots and was it actually because of the cows?

I would love to hear about Holland, I don't really know much about Holland other than tulips, windmills. What is the language?
What's the weather like? Whatever you would like to let us know about?

 

[The Muse]

My company relo'ed me to Denmark. I think the hardest thing to get used to is the cost of living here. I pay almost half of my salary to taxes and everything I buy is taxed at 25%. The thrift shops here aren't like they are in the US and the sales and deals that I'm used to just aren't available.

Cars are very expensive, after paying the 25% VAT, there's a 180% registration tax based on the car's value. So you basically have to buy the car 3x over, then pay about $8/gallon for gas. I walk, ride a bike, and take the bus, but t he bus only runs 1x/hour and it costs $6 each way to work, so it's not that great.

I'm a vegetarian and I miss the availability of vegetarian ingredients. Only one shop here sells tofu and it's very expensive. I haven't been able to find tempeh and other specialty ingredients, but I'm adapting.

I watch all of my US shows online, didn't have cable in the US, so I don't miss it.

I love that it's easy and inexpensive to travel around Europe. I can get deals to most major cities for well under $500 including transportation and 2-3 nights in a hotel. Plus I get 6 weeks vacation from work.

People have less and live in less space. I bought a 108 square meter flat and everyone thinks that's huge for one person and a cat. Many live in flats that are less than 40 square meters. It was very difficult to find a suitable place because Europeans aren't used to gourmet kitchens and fancy bathrooms the way we are in the US. I really wanted a soaking tub, but in a country where most people shower in the middle of the bathroom and mop dry the floor, a tiled shower stall is luxury.

It's definitely slower paced and safer here. Things close around 5 on weekdays and 2 on Saturday, and do not open on Sundays. I have to go to several shops to do my shopping... grocery, green grocer, asian, middle eastern, bakery, etc.

It rains a lot here and doesn't get warm enough in the summer to need A/C.

The lifestyle here suits me and I don't really miss anything enough to want to move back to the US.

 

[Dutchie]

My company relo'ed me to Denmark. I think the hardest thing to get used to is the cost of living here. I pay almost half of my salary to taxes and everything I buy is taxed at 25%. The thrift shops here aren't like they are in the US and the sales and deals that I'm used to just aren't available.

We pay 52% in income tax. To be quite honest I only know of about 1 or 2 thrift shops in Rotterdam. Our VAT is 6 (for food) and 19% (for most everything else). Eating out is expensive here.

Cars are very expensive, after paying the 25% VAT, there's a 180% registration tax based on the car's value. So you basically have to buy the car 3x over, then pay about $8/gallon for gas. I walk, ride a bike, and take the bus, but t he bus only runs 1x/hour and it costs $6 each way to work, so it's not that great.

We also have a sort of tax built-into the price of a car which makes a car here very expensive also our gasoline is very expeneive too - around $8.00 per gallon. Because I live in a city we have VERY good public transport. We have to pay (for my car) around $135 each month on road tax.

I'm a vegetarian and I miss the availability of vegetarian ingredients. Only one shop here sells tofu and it's very expensive. I haven't been able to find tempeh and other specialty ingredients, but I'm adapting.
We have a LOT of vegetarian products here as well as a large choice in organic foodstuffs. They are slightly more expensive than 'normal' foods.

I watch all of my US shows online, didn't have cable in the US, so I don't miss it.

We get a LOT of US shows here and just as many British shows. The trouble is though that almost all of these shows run a couple of seasons behind the original country. We do have cable (around 125 channels).

I love that it's easy and inexpensive to travel around Europe. I can get deals to most major cities for well under $500 including transportation and 2-3 nights in a hotel. Plus I get 6 weeks vacation from work.

I am lucky enough to be a freelancer and I only do a contract for 6 weeks then I choose whether or not to continue. My dh (because of his position in the company) has in principle unlimited vacation days however he tries to limit them to around 6 weeks. It still amazes me that we can get a train at our central station and be in Paris in 3 hours.

People have less and live in less space. I bought a 108 square meter flat and everyone thinks that's huge for one person and a cat. Many live in flats that are less than 40 square meters. It was very difficult to find a suitable place because Europeans aren't used to gourmet kitchens and fancy bathrooms the way we are in the US. I really wanted a soaking tub, but in a country where most people shower in the middle of the bathroom and mop dry the floor, a tiled shower stall is luxury.

I think that we may be the exception here because we have a gourmet kitchen and 2 (quite fancy) bathrooms plus we have airco in our bedroom. However even though it isn't really the norm here, we are seeing it more and more. Also we have (for Holland) a large house - 2500 sq. ft.

It's definitely slower paced and safer here. Things close around 5 on weekdays and 2 on Saturday, and do not open on Sundays. I have to go to several shops to do my shopping... grocery, green grocer, asian, middle eastern, bakery, etc.

Do you live in a city or in the country? Your situation is a lot like how things are in the country here. We live in one of the largest cities in Holland and even though it isn't comparable with the opening times of the US, we have many stores that are open really late and are also open on Sundays. We can choose to do all of our shopping in one place or go to various stores like you do

It rains a lot here and doesn't get warm enough in the summer to need A/C.

The lifestyle here suits me and I don't really miss anything enough to want to move back to the US.

The weird thing is that - even after all the years of living in Holland and speaking Dutch, the thing that I miss the most is speaking Engish and if dh said that we had to move to an English speaking country for his work then I would be packed and ready to go before the day was finished.

The language that we speak is Dutch (which sometimes can resemble German). However almost all Dutch people speak reasonable to very good English.

 

[valerian]

I'd very nearly give my right arm to live in England...my favorite place in the world! Well, maybe my left arm since I'm right-handed...lol!

 

[Dutchie]

I was just thinking about this thread last week, but lately the only free time is a to post a few freebies and that's all.

We have started planting corn now and the weather has been pretty good but we are expecting rain later this week. We are still trying to clean up the third worst winter in history, the ice storm on top of all that snow was the worst, and we have had to cut down some tree's because they were split in half. It's nice to finally see some flowers growing and look forward to their blooms.
It seems there was alot of snow all over the world this past winter.
How far is the UK from Holland? Depends where you live and how close you are to a ferry/airport etc. We live in Rotterdam and have a small(ish) airport around 15 minutes from us. We can get a flight there and be at London city airport 1 hour later. Because of the time diference we arrive at the time that we leave. Dh flies to London for business in the morning and flies back at night. His office in London is quite near London city airport. We can also get a train in Rotterdam and be in central London (via the channel tunnel) within 3 1/2 hours.How does your dh get there?

I was reading recently about how something is going on at the Cliffs of Moher(Ireland), I heard there was some kind of fence or something that is out at the cliffs and placed there because too many cows were doing high dives off the cliffs? Is the fencing (which I understand is stone?) all across the cliffs or just in certain spots and was it actually because of the cows?

I would love to hear about Holland, I don't really know much about Holland other than tulips, windmills. What is the language?
What's the weather like? Whatever you would like to let us know about?

I don't know if your library will have this book 'The Undutchables' but I have read it and a lot of it was true when I first came here. A lot of things have changed in the last 30 years.

The Dutch people in general are quite well known for their frugalness.
Maybe that's why there really aren't many thrift shops.

Our weather isn't really very stable, however on saying that, we have been having THE most beautiful weather for the last 2 weeks or so.

Our language as I mentioned in another thread is Dutch which is sometimes a little similar to German regarding how the sentences are made. To my ears however, German is a 'harder' language, Dutch is softer and more gutteral.
Most Dutch people speak reasonable to very good English and are very hospitable.

We have an extreme shortage of land which results in houses in the cities being VERY expensive. It always amazes me how cheap houses are in the US compared to Holland.

Holland has a very good social welfare system.

As soon as the first ice forms on the canals in the winter everyone digs out their ice skates and wants to skate. Most Dutch people have a bike and ice skates.

When you want to see our soccer team supporters, you only have to look for orange. EVERYONE is in orange which is the offical color of our monarchy. There is/has been a lot of criticism about our monarchy until last year on 30th April 2009 when our queen celebrated her birthday (it isn't her birthday but that of her mother). There was an attack on her and her family which shocked the whole of Holland. It happened live on tv.
This is typical of Holland, we can criticize her but don't touch her.

The entire world thinks that soft drugs are legal in Holland. This is a misconception, it is tolerated, not legal but that is changing somewhat.
However you can still buy soft drugs in 'coffee shops'.

Even though our country wasn't built on immigrants, it certainly has more than it's share of them. This is one of the areas where the tolerant mood is changing.

There is a song from a few years ago which tells quite a lot about Holland, it is called (translated) 15 million people.
I looked on internet to find a translation and found a blog of an American living in Holland. She has made a translation of the song and I have now read a few of her blogs.
She has a blog about the attack on the queen and this song along with many other things.
Maybe you would like to have a look.
I have posted the link.
A Touch of Dutch: 15 Miljoen Mensen

I found it interesting to see what someone else thought of Holland.

Hope I have answered some of your questions.

 

[englishcottage1]

Wow, Thanks to all who posted and look forward to reading more! I guess if we could take a little bit from every country than there would be the perfect place to live, but then it would be too crowded and not perfect anymore, LOL.

I'll check with my library, but doubt it since it's so small, but I'll check Barnes and Noble next time I go to the big city. Thanks and thanks for the link!

It's funny with the tv shows, I have found myself really enjoying British comedies and only about twenty years after the fact, LOL. Public television got me hooked on those and now I own quite many dvd's of those shows. I'm not a huge tv watcher.

Watching Little People Big World last night, they are over in Europe, mostly why I watched the show to begin with, and it looks so crowded with tourist, but I'm guessing the show was taped in the middle of summer, the biggest tourist time. When do you think the best time to visit Holland is? Is it the middle of summer?

I didn't know that Holland had a Queen (Sorry, Queen ) but I guess it's because all we ever hear of over here is the royal family over in England. I never quite understood the whole royality thing of other countries, I guess it's just because we don't have any here and it wasn't part of our lives, kwim? I never could figure out what exactly they do? Do most countries over there have royal families?

I can understand some the problem of expensive housing because there really isn't anymore room to build, big cities like New York and Boston and suburbs are like that, you have head further out of town to get a good priced home. But I also think someplaces are expanding where we shouldn't and that's why there are all these problems when mother nature is doing herr normal things and going into the wildlife areas and then they are listed as the problem.

I like the idea of skating on the canals in the winter, I didn't know it got that cold though. Are the canal waters that deep?

Muse: Did you find it hard with conversions, math, money wise? I had to look up how large a 108 square meters is.

Our area is like what you describe on how long and often stores are open etc, I like that fact that everything is closed on sunday's, it's nice people can spend the day with family or just lounging around for the day.

Any openings at your place of work, six weeks of vacation and inexpensive traveling around Europe, I'll take it!

I think my biggest adjustment would be the space issue, just because we live in a large house now, but I wonder if the kids were grown and it was just me how much room do I really need. I love to garden and would have to have some space for gardening. Other than the conversion of math and money, etc the safety and laid back atmosphere is how I already live, nobody locks their doors, even at night and there is hardly ever any crime, other than an occasional bored teen with a can of beer in the town park late at night, or a heated fight between a husband and wife, it's pretty much quiet here.

 

[Dutchie]

Watching Little People Big World last night, they are over in Europe, mostly why I watched the show to begin with, and it looks so crowded with tourist, but I'm guessing the show was taped in the middle of summer, the biggest tourist time. When do you think the best time to visit Holland is? Is it the middle of summer? Depends on what you are looking for. If you want to see the famous bulb fields then spring is the best time to come. Otherwise, the summer.

I didn't know that Holland had a Queen (Sorry, Queen ) but I guess it's because all we ever hear of over here is the royal family over in England. I never quite understood the whole royality thing of other countries, I guess it's just because we don't have any here and it wasn't part of our lives, kwim? I never could figure out what exactly they do? Do most countries over there have royal families?
I have found this link our our Royal family. The Dutch Royal House It is all in English and if you are interested it will give you an idea. Yes a lot of European countries are a monarchy.

I can understand some the problem of expensive housing because there really isn't anymore room to build, big cities like New York and Boston and suburbs are like that, you have head further out of town to get a good priced home. But I also think someplaces are expanding where we shouldn't and that's why there are all these problems when mother nature is doing herr normal things and going into the wildlife areas and then they are listed as the problem.

I like the idea of skating on the canals in the winter, I didn't know it got that cold though. Are the canal waters that deep?Have a look on the link for 15 million people in the previous post - there you can seen in the film how cold it can get here and where folks skate.

Muse: Did you find it hard with conversions, math, money wise? I had to look up how large a 108 square meters is.

Our area is like what you describe on how long and often stores are open etc, I like that fact that everything is closed on sunday's, it's nice people can spend the day with family or just lounging around for the day.

Any openings at your place of work, six weeks of vacation and inexpensive traveling around Europe, I'll take it!

I think my biggest adjustment would be the space issue, just because we live in a large house now, but I wonder if the kids were grown and it was just me how much room do I really need. I love to garden and would have to have some space for gardening. Other than the conversion of math and money, etc the safety and laid back atmosphere is how I already live, nobody locks their doors, even at night and there is hardly ever any crime, other than an occasional bored teen with a can of beer in the town park late at night, or a heated fight between a husband and wife, it's pretty much quiet here.

Have to stop now, have to leave, will write more later.

 

[Dutchie]

I think my biggest adjustment would be the space issue, just because we live in a large house now, but I wonder if the kids were grown and it was just me how much room do I really need. I love to garden and would have to have some space for gardening. Other than the conversion of math and money, etc the safety and laid back atmosphere is how I already live, nobody locks their doors, even at night and there is hardly ever any crime, other than an occasional bored teen with a can of beer in the town park late at night, or a heated fight between a husband and wife, it's pretty much quiet here.

Our garden/yard is quite large for Dutch city standards (about 50 ft. long and 30 ft wide).
At the front of the house we don't really have a garden/yard any more since we made room to park 3 cars on our property which is also quite unique in a Dutch city. I also have a tiny bit at the front of the house (southern exposure) where I can sit in the spring. When it becomes too hot we sit at the back of the house.

We have all the problems related to a large city and I would never advise leaving your door unlocked here. (I assume that cities all over the world have the same issues.)

And although this is a rare occurence, a couple of years ago one of my sons while with his friends got a gun put to his forehead not even 2 minutes walk from our house. (He remained calm and was even able to give a good description to the police. The guy who did it was picked up because of this.)

There have been various (attempted) break-ins into our house several times - one time one of our sons even disturbed a burglar when he came home from a late party.

We have taken good extensive precautions against these things, among others, alarms both in the house and in the car (broken into twice in front of the house under our bedroom window - never heard a thing).

However I LOVE living here and Rotterdam is one of my favorite cities in the world.

 

[englishcottage1]

Your right, the issue with safety is in every big city and not so big cities, when we have lived in the larger cities we would never go anywhere without locking up, but it is a lot different here (where we live now). We have really adjusted to this way of life and don't think I could ever live in a large city again, I say that now but I never thought we would be living where we are living now, LOL.

I was wondering, what different kinds of religions are in your country? Do you have as many different kinds as we do here? I wonder how many different religions are in Ireland? Could it be just Catholic and Protestian (sorry if spelling is wrong)? That's all you ever hear about. What about in England? Are there any say like, Baptists, or if anyone other than Catholic bundled into the Protestian catagory? Hmmm.

 

[Dutchie]

To be quite honest I don't really know all that much about religion in Holland. I can tell you a little but maybe one of the other Dutch ladies could help more.
There are of course Catholic and various forms of (reformed)protestant churches/relgions. I know that there is also a demonination of the Mormon church in Rotterdam. We also have mosques all over the country. In fact I believe that every religion is represented here in one way or another.
Just as Holland is a cultural melting pot, it is also a religious melting pot.

I was brought up in the protestant Free Church of Scotland. Why it is called free, I have no idea. My parents didn't go to chuch but did send me to Sunday school each week till I rebelled and said that I wasn't going.
When dh and I got married in Scotland, we had to get permission from the bishop of Rotterdam because dh is Catholic as is his entire family. This has never been a problem.

I know that there is also (in my eyes) a quite extreme movement within the protestant church here. I used to live for a short time very nearby one of these families.
They have no TV, the girls are not allowed to wear jeans or any 'men's wear', they don't use a car on Sunday, the women/girls do not use make-up and they do not use birth control. Possibly there are more things.
This family near me had 12 children in a small 4 bedroom house.

If you are interested, the following link will tell you a LOT but the most relevant part for Holland today is at the bottom of the page.

 

[englishcottage1]

Thanks for the link! I was just curious about religion in different parts of the world, it can cause so many issues with peoples life, good and not so good. I am ever thankful concerning the freedom of religion, I would not like someone telling me how I should pray to "Bob", kwim? But again, if you know no difference..........

I have to say some of the pictures I have seen in books, on the travel channel, etc of churchs in other parts of the world, are really amazing and so big! I mean we have some nice, large churches in the larger cities, but some pictures, well, they are so old and authentic, kwim?

This may seem like a stupid question, and I'm sure not the last stupid question I have, LOL, but do you have public libraries, and are they well used by people?
What about driving, what age do most kids get to drive?

 

[Dutchie]

This may seem like a stupid question, and I'm sure not the last stupid question I have, LOL, but do you have public libraries, and are they well used by people?
What about driving, what age do most kids get to drive?

You can ask as many questions as you like and they are certainly not stupid. If I can answer the questions I will and if I can't then I'll look it up for you. So, not a problem.

Public libraries are abundant here and very busy. Each small town also has it's own library.

In Rotterdam we have many libraries. Each part of the city has it's own but is part of the large central library in the city center which makes it easier to borrow any book (if you want to borrow a book that your 'local' library doesn't have, then it is located for you and sent to your local one - free of charge).

Libraries are not free to adults. The cost is about $45 per year. For kids till 18 it is free. We also have books in various languages in each library even our local one. I read mostly English and I have a HUGE choice.

Driving is totally different to the US.
First you are not allowed to drive at all without a qualified instructor (expensive) and you have to be 18 to even start with the first lesson.
You learn to drive here with a stick shift car.
After a while you are told (after normally between 15 and 20/30 lessons) that you can apply for the theory exam (around $50) and sit it. This is a multiple choice exam with 65 questions with only so many seconds to get a question correct and then go onto the next one. You cannot go back and change your answer. If you pass this exam, then you can apply for your 'real' driving test. Very expensive - around $ 275. Usually takes around 4/6 weeks to get a place also it is quite unusual if you pass first time.

The certificate for the theory exam is only valid for 1 year and then, if you haven't passed the actual driving test by then, then you have to do the theory all over again.