British expat Amanda moved to the Netherlands in 2000 and now lives with her family in Zoetermeer, where she runs an online writing and translation business called The Writing Well. Here she shares with us some of the challenges she faced during her early days in Holland, her thoughts on learning to speak Dutch, and what for her are the ups and downs of living and working in the Netherlands.	Amanda van Mulligen

-Where were you born?

Reading, England

-In which country and city are you living now?

The Netherlands, Zoetermeer (20 km outside The Hague)

-Are you living alone or with your family?

I live with my Dutch husband and my son who is 20 months old.

-How long have you been living in the Netherlands?

I moved to the Netherlands in 2000 and have been living in Zoetermeer for 6 years. Before that, I lived in The Hague and prior to that in the attic in my mother-in-law’s house in Voorschoten for a few months!

-What is your age?

35 and aging fast since becoming a mother and setting up my own business….

-When did you come up with the idea of living in Holland?

I met my husband on the internet just before the new millennium set in, way back when the world was supposed to come to an end and all PC's were supposed to spontaneously combust at the stroke of midnight. Luckily for us neither happened, and after 9 months of flying between England and the Netherlands, extortionate phone bills and sore fingers from overuse of Instant Messenger we decided enough was enough and it was time to actually get it together. It was easier to carry on my career in the Netherlands (I was an HR Adviser) than it was for him to move to England with his career in law enforcement.

-Was it hard to get a visa or a working permit?

As the UK is part of the EU the actual legalities of it were no problem. I did not need a work permit, just a residence permit. However this did not stop it being an administrative nightmare!! My first application was lost when I moved from Voorschoten to The Hague and I had to redo all the paperwork. It took nearly a year to actually hold my residence permit in my hand, despite beginning the process days after moving to the country.

My renewal of the permit after five years was also really bad news for the world tree population. The Immigratie en Naturalisatie Dienst (IND) sent me one wrong form after another. After nearly a year of filling in papers and endless telephone conversations, I was asked to go and pick up my new permit from the local town hall. On almost the same day I received a letter telling me that I needed to send in a different photo to accompany my renewal form as it did not comply to the new legislation…… that is a taste of IND bureaucracy in the Netherlands.

-Was it difficult for you to get medical insurance before you went there or when you first arrived?

Not at all. I organised private cover when I first arrived, and when I started work I became part of the company collective scheme. I am now covered under my husband's medical insurance.

-How do you make your living in the Netherlands? Do you have any type of income generated?

Since the beginning of 2008, I have been running my own business The Writing Well, which is a writing and translation company. It was very easy to set up, as it is a one-woman show and run from home. After a visit to the local Chamber of Commerce and registering with the tax office the company was pretty much up and running in terms of official administration. All very straight forward.

Prior to The Writing Well, I worked for seven years for a large international company. I landed the job a few months after I arrived here, through an employment agency in The Hague specialising in English language jobs. I found it difficult to find a role at the same level I had left in England because I did not speak Dutch when I first came over. That left me with the international companies in the Randstad (of which there are a fair few) but waiting for a HR Adviser role to come along proved testing.

-Do you speak Dutch and do you think it's important to speak the local language?

I do speak Dutch, and already began trying to learn the language before I moved over. My personal opinion is that if you are moving abroad you should at least make an effort to learn the local language, whether it is essential or not is a different matter. I would say the necessity of Dutch depends on the length of time you are planning to be in the Netherlands and where you are going to live.

I have had colleagues who have been here for a decade and can barely speak Dutch, enough to get by but certainly not proficient, and they have had no major problems in daily life. If you are going to live in the Randstad and are here for a company assignment for a few years before moving on then not knowing Dutch will most probably not be a disaster. Everyone here does speak English. If you work in an international office with English as the working language and you speak your native tongue at home, it can be very difficult to progress with Dutch, as the locals will normally switch to English at the first hint of a foreign tongue. That has it pros and cons depending on your stance of course.

If you are moving here to be with a Dutch partner then it certainly makes life easier to have Dutch under your belt, but it is also far easier to learn as you are immersed in it in your home life too. I have noticed that once children are involved the issue becomes more complicated. I have seen some expats struggle when their children go to local schools and their children can speak better Dutch than them. My advice would definitely be if you are planning to stay for a while learn the lingo!

-Do you miss home and family sometimes?

I do miss my family, though they are scattered around a bit, mostly in the UK and my brother lives in the US. I think that is about the only regret I have about being abroad, it would be nice to jump in the car and be at my family's door within half an hour. It is not uncommon to hear expats complaining about their Dutch families being a little distant, despite living close by, and not spending enough time with grandchildren/nieces/nephews and the like and this makes it even more poignant that my family are not around the corner. Dutch social lives are generally very controlled and organised so it can be very hard to break into it!

I miss British supermarkets. Choice, quality and size all win hands down over Dutch supermarkets.

I also miss being a season ticket holder for my football club, Watford. I was a regular through thick and thin, sun and snow. Catching up with the scores online is not quite the same.

-Do you have other plans for the future?

Lots of plans! In a few years, our plan is to move again, most likely away from the Netherlands but it depends on my partner's next career move. My business is portable so I can continue writing wherever I may be. It is possible that we to the UK, but it could also be Belgium or another European country.

-What about housing, have you bought, or are you renting a home? How much do you pay for it?

We have bought a house here. We pay just over 1000 Euros per month on our mortgage. Normally there are tax benefits, which translate into a rebate of about 400 Euros per month for our house, but my partner is not in the Dutch tax system and I have just started up my own business so am below the threshold for a rebate. Hence, we get nothing back but the system certainly makes home buying attractive, even for starters. There is a lot of discussion in Dutch politics now about scrapping the rebate system for homeowners so it will undoubtedly change in the future.

-What is the cost of living in Holland?

Cheaper than the UK I believe and as far as I am aware the Netherlands is on the low side in Europe.

-What do you think about the Dutch?

Locals are generally friendly, and apart from switching to English to speak to me in the first few months I was here, I have never been treated any differently. I think it depends if you are termed to be an expatriate or an 'allochtoon'.

-What are the positive and negative aspects of living in the Netherlands?

The most positive thing about living in the Netherlands is the fact that we can get in the car and be in a number of other countries in no time at all for weekends away or holidays. This is great in terms of experiencing other cultures and seeing the sights of France, Germany or Belgium.

Also great about living here is the uniqueness of the landscape and culture. The flatness, windmills and waterways make the Netherlands different from so many other countries and it is attractive.

Another positive is the influence of the Indonesian on food here - lekker! Finally the Dutch know how to party and celebrate feestdagen and football touranments, turning everything orange! The atmosphere is always great.

The negative aspects of life in the Netherlands centre on the fact that it is a densely populated country. Everything is in small scale – houses, gardens, roads. People live on top of each other; houses overlook each other wherever you live. In their cars and in crowds, the Dutch are aggressive. They are so used to fighting for space it does not stop when they drive or are out celebrating Queen’s Day.

A major gripe I have about the Netherlands (and obvious as this is the second mention of it…) is the fact that supermarkets are poor here by comparison to the UK. The selection of fruit and vegetables available here for example are inferior to that of the big supermarkets in England. It is not unusual for fruit and vegetables to be sitting on the shelves here already rotting (at least in the supermarkets here in Zoetermeer). It is bizarre.

Another negative trait of the Dutch has to be the customer service levels here. It is beyond appalling. Customer service reps do not see themselves as a representative of the company they work for, and as a result speak inappropriately to customers. Companies lack any interest in resolving issues and retaining custom. A fine example - we recently had a very bad experience in a restaurant (dirty glasses, raw meat) and when we were asked if everything had been ok, we made it clear that it had been an unpleasant experience. The employee told us that she hoped it would be better the next time. And that sums up Dutch customer service.

I am also of the impression that if there is an inefficient way of doing something the Dutch will find it and implement it when it comes to customer service (and many other areas too..).

-Do you have any tips for our readers about living in the Netherlands?

Dutch people can come across as extremely blunt and untactful to foreigners. They tend to say what they mean. Do not take it personally or your time here will be miserable! Learn some Dutch, even if it is just the basics. Don’t try too hard to fight the system when it comes to paperwork and service providers, it generally ends up in more of a mess here than plain old-fashioned acceptance.

-Do you have any favorite Web sites or blogs about the Netherlands?

http://letterfromthenetherlands.blogspot.com - my own blog about life in the Netherlands as an expat.

http://www.access-nl.org - this fantastic non-profit organisation provides all kinds of help, advice and information to expats in the Netherlands. Also publishes a great quarterly magazine.

http://www.expatica.com/nl/life_in.html - has a good expat forum and great articles about life and news in the Netherlands (including some I have written).

http://www.thehagueonline.com - a nice overview of what is going on in The Hague.

http://www.xpat.nl/home - also publishes The Holland Handbook and a quarterly magazine.