วีดีโอ

Yes, it is hard to make close friendships with Dutch people in Holland and this has a lot of foreigners perplexed because when they have met Dutch people they were friendly and outgoing, so what gives? Trust me when I say that the Dutch don't mean for it to be so hard, they don't mean to be not hospital. It is too harsh to say that Dutch people put strangers through some vetting process before they decide to be friends but a Dutch person before becoming your friend often needs to feel some reference, some reason for becoming your friend. The question ""why do I need this person as a friend in my life"" needs to be answered for them. You are a nice and great person is often processed as; there are many nice and great people in this world, they are not all my friend! The Dutch interact in friendships, as do many people in the world, in groups, a group of your old school friends, a group that you hooked into through one of your family members, a group that formed when you played sports in team fashion, a group of work colleagues. As I said this is not unique to Holland but what is unique is that The Netherlands is a small country, meaning you don't loose many friends because, like in The US for example, they end up moving far away. Many of the Dutch friends that I had when I left the country at age 22 were friends that I made when I was 6 years old and entered school. This is very common. Also family members are close not out of reasonable reach. So Dutch people have not a great need to always make new friends, they don't loose old ones. Don't under estimate the group thing power. I think that all the Dutch girlfriends that I have had as a teenager (girlfriend is a pretty close relationship I would say) I first got to know via some group that we both found ourselves part of. They, perhaps would not have dated me if meeting was some casual bumping into each other. So work at it, purposely join groups but not in a fashion that you are used to, translate it into Dutch society. Here in The US I would say "join a bowling league" or in Texas I would say "join a square dancing night" but there's not much bowling in Holland and not too many Dutch people wear their cowboy hats once a week. If a year brings a cold winter and ponds actually freeze over go to where The Dutch ice skate, even if you are terrible at it. You seem very sporty, join a group of wind servers (not in Limburg). I hear that playing darts is now big in The Netherlands. My last advise: DON'T TURN DOWN OPPORTUNITIES GIVEN! If a few work colleagues ask if you want to join for a "borrelje" after work, GO, even if you don't want to, even if you don't drink, even if you don't really like the 2 people asking because there may be 5 others going, some of who you really do like. Lastly, Dutch people are very focused people, conscious people, sincere people, what they call friends are a big emotional investment, they care about their friends, it means a lot. Focus on groups and Good Luck!

You probably live in the randstad, in the south, Brabant and Limburg it is much less complicated to live, it's cheaper and easier to make friends with neighbours, in bars and even in the parks and streets.

I wished people would stop putting loud music over their video's.

Ik denk dat het er aan ligt waar je woont. Normaal heb je zo vrienden.

I don't want to start with a criticism, but the first thing I noticed about the video was that the echo in this room and the (unnecessary) music made listening a bit tiring...

I can tell you that "Poes" has the same meaning in Dutch and Flemish, albeit with less gravity but rather a comedic load th-cam.com/video/xPHzOUQ08FA/w-d-xo.html th-cam.com/video/iT9UrokfuUw/w-d-xo.html

If you want help for a few hours per week in house cleaning, put an add on the message board in the grocery store. To get friends join a (sports)club.

Hi Marte. As a 1st year LLB student in South Africa do you have any advice on ways to maximize the opportunity of finding work abroad? This excluding the obvious notion of further studying in Europe. Besides being an attorney, are there career opportunities for South African law graduates?

Fiets ry, Nederlands leer, ’n Nederlandse maat, reënjas en jy is heeltemal deel van die groep. 🇳🇱

Love from AMSTERDAM❤😂

News flash, you had Dust at home too, only your cleaner took it away for you 😂

Hi ! You still need to go to the gym after cleaning your house every day😮 ?

To be honest, the "can't find cheap domestic help" kind of rubs me the wrong way. South Africa has had a long history of 'having cheap help' alas. In the Netherlands domestic work is work like any other and as such it is rewarded like any other hard work. I am genuinely sorry to sound so negative and I totally get the culture difference in this case. For my Dutch ears your complain however is somewhat ridiculous.

accept the dust, accept the dust, accept the dust. repeat

Yes, so the major lesson to be learned here is: Learn to speak Dutch ! And especially for you: Afrikaans basically is derived from Dutch and objectively spoken English is the nearest language to Dutch and both English, Afrikaans, Dutch and German; they all came from 1 source language called : Proto Germanic. Go see the video of the langfocus channel, called the dutch language (not deutsch!) The Dutch basically have a group of friends they grew up with from the same street, the same school and the same university they went to, if they did so in the first place. So with all due respect, but we do not need any "friends" from abroad, especially not when they do not speak Dutch, or/and they are here for just a brief moment of time like expats. So if you do feel the urge to try to break in such a group of Dutch friends, you better make sure you speak Dutch, since we do no like to be forced in to a foreign language we do not control the way we control our mother language: Dutch, especially amongst friends with whom you want to be able to discuss everything, especially sensitive and uncomfortable things. This is not typical Dutch, this goes for every country with their own language. The Dutch may speak a little English, but again: English is a true foreign language to us, just like Spanish and German is, because we grew up in Dutch in a Dutch society in Dutch culture and Dutch Norms and values --> Strange...? No Obvious, this goes for you as well, being South Afrikaans, growing up in South Afrika, in the South Afrikan culture and the South Afrikan Norms and Values, right...?

Best about Cycling is that up to 30 km an hour is that you still have eye for your surroundings. The moment i sold my car and started to go electric Cycling helped me reduce my Stress level and made me more approachable and reasonable.

A lot of expats are living in the larger cities in The Netherlands and those places don't have communty things like in smaller villages, so it's harder to make friends.

As a kaaskop who moved to SA in 1998 for 7 years, I recognise your video "in reverse". I love both countries deeply and miss them when I'm not there. You touch upon the really hard things about being an expat that people who have not done it don't understand. It is really hard to miss all those birthdays, weddings etc. In the end the only remedy is to get more out of your time away from friends and with other friends to fill that hole a little bit. I've lived in 9 countries now, and spent most of the past 25 years away from friends and family, and sometimes I wonder if it was worth it. But most of the time I am thoroughly happy about the life path I've been on. So - I guess you just have to keep the chin up and make the most of it. Ek dink jy sal Afrikaner mates in Nederland he, maar as jy nuut vriende wil maak kan ek jou kontakt met Afrikaners in die Randstad. Self geniet ik die mooi lewe in Zuid Limburg. Nice video, and I hope your life in my country will be as nice as the one I had in yours. Lekkerbly.

So long story short. The KAFFERS are fucking up South Afrika. I'm not surprised. Iq=65 average.

We take making friends very seriously, it can take a while. Sports can be a great vehicle.

Hi, I really loved your video❤ It would be so, so helpful if you could please make more videos of this kind. Especially on how to find housing as an expat and how to settle in... I'm planing to move to the Netherlands in the summer of next year all by myself, and ngl while I'm so excited, simultaneously I'm extremely anxious... Any little bit of advice is welcomed ❤❤thank you ❤❤

Try to at least understand Dutch. Making friends is much easier with people who understand your language so that you can speak English and your friends can speak Dutch.

I changed my life too. As a Dutch citizen I fled the Netherlands over 10 years ago and moved to Denmark. Just like the 600,000-700,000 people who have left the Netherlands for good in the last 2 years and this year (CBS) . Reasons: too criminal, too expensive, too low income, no houses for young people to live there, they first go to the asylum seekers. Those young people have to wait 10 years in their parents' attic. Hav en god dag....

whats your lenght 1,70cm? marry me

I just love this video. Very true and honest comments/opinions that you are making. We are going through the immigration process from South Africa to the Netherlands. It's so confusing as to which documents should be apostilled and do you need police clearance etc.🤯🤔

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!

Nederlands met een Afrikaans accent.... beautiful... ik vind Afrikaans een mooie taal 😀

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

Love the suid afrikaans accent

Actualy Den Helder and Texel have the most sun hours in the Netherlands...that is way up north....

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.

Assassin's Creed stuff right there

15 euro per dag . Lang leve de slavernij

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

04:32 yeah that sounds odd to me I mean we Dutch are closed and yes open at the same time we are world citizens we are every where and anywhere no country is safe for Dutchies you find us on every single squared centimeter of the globe so it is hard for me to believe that Dutch do not want to approach nor talk to you especially because you speek 17th century Dutch we do not speak it anymore and you do but we can understand it, or like 80 percent of it, but the rest is easy to understand just fill in the gaps, that is what you need to do with foreign languages but Afrikaans is not foreign to us, I can perfectly understand Afrikaans and a BIT of smart person wich we all are will also understand it........euhm......no it is something else that is not allowing you to make friends.......even if you spoke Mandarin and a little bit English then we still want to approach you and to know about you, like I said we are Dutch we are world citizens we are curious about people, also the reason we are people of study and science, that goes hand in hand with human sciences of course soooooo girl....... no worries you look lovely you sound lovely and you are a sight for sore eyes huh yes you arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr look at you ! You are gorgeous !!! No worries, just be yourself do not change into anything or do not change anything about you just be yourself, you got stories we want to hear we got stories you want to hear...... right ? Right...................... so no worries you will be fine...................

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!