Living in the Netherlands

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Traveler Living in the Netherlands
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- Sep 5, 2015, 2:37pm
- ⛅ 15 °C
- Altitude: 1 m
- Netherlands South Holland Gemeente Den Haag Scheveningen Eerste Haven 52.1034, 4.2772952°6’12” N 4°16’38” E
Day 1
Accommodation
September 5, 2015 in the Netherlands ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C
Finding accommodation in the hague is harder than I thought it would be! We are currently doing a work stay at a hostel on the beach in the hague called jorplace. We work 25 hours a week for a bed and breakfast. The work is mostly cleaning and pretty tiring and demanding, they are very pedantic and follow you to make sure you do agood job. I don't want to stay here longer than the three weeks we agreed so I'm desperately searching for some where else to live.

They have lots of 'kamer' (dutch for room) websites but they all only accept one person. There is a law of how many people may live in a building which is usually one per room. So our dream of living in a share house with dutch people might not work. Also to rent an apartment or studio we be proof of income, same in Australia, but we don't have proof, or an income, or even a bank account...I must remind Joel to pick a bank... so that option will be hard. Another weird thing about the Netherlands is rental properties often come with no floor! The previous tenant takes it with them.

So we see looking for less legal means of accommodation, verbal agreements I guess. I've heard about an anti squatting thing where people want to prevent squaters while there building or apartment is empty, so they rent them out very cheap (150€/month! ) but you only get it for average 8 months and can be told to move out in two weeks. The owner of jorplace does this and will recommend us - which is a requirement of registration with the rental company. So hopefully that will work out!Read more
Good luck with the anti squatting! You could always opt for renting one room each in a share house and make one your bedroom and one your study, as soon as you have income. Bank wise, if you care about going with a 'green' bank, ASN is the best or Triodos is pretty good too. ASN is completely online by the way, they don't have locations, they do everything online and via phone (also different from what I experienced in Australia). Triodos I don't know but they might also be completely online. Anyway lemme know if you need (to know) anything! Anne Jenniskens
9/5/15Reply
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Traveler Living in the Netherlands
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- Sep 6, 2015, 9:19am
- ⛅ 13 °C
- Altitude: 2 m
- Netherlands South Holland Gemeente Den Haag Scheveningen Eerste Haven 52.10478, 4.2763852°6’17” N 4°16’35” E
Day 2
Jorplace
September 6, 2015 in the Netherlands ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C
This is where we are living now, one week down two to go! We work 25 hours a week for a dorm bed and breakfast, but on weekends We need to change to the big dorm as the hostel is usually full. This weekend there was a large group in the room, they were awful. 30 year old dutch men, who partied half the night, came back to continue the party in the room, light on, taking loudly. And when they did eventually go to bed they farted all night and still talked really loud. Also we got bed bugs!! So no sleep this weekend! ! Kind of cruel putting us in this massive dorm and poor Joel had to work at 7 this morning.

The work is not too bad, mostly cleaning, but they are really pedantic. They always check that you are doing a good job and want everything really clean, really quick, which is not really possible. I'm also working as a nanny 25 hours a week so this week I will be working 50 hours! And probably changing rooms three times and I won't get to see Joely much since we never work together. I'm a bit stressed as I also have two more potential babysitting jobs which would be perfect and I have no time to find somewhere to live. I'm going to ask the hostel today if I can work less and pay for a long stay room. I think it will all be too much, and I really don't want to turn down paid work.

In general the hostel is quite good. The other work stayers are really nice, Rodrigo from Brazil and lnma from Spain. There are guitars and a pool table so Joel is happy :) it's close to the beach, which is nice to look at ;) one night the owner was is in a really good mood and we actually got free beers! And he paid for us to go out to a club near by called the crazy piano. It was a lot of fun! Work the next day wasn't.Read more
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- Sep 12, 2015, 9:38am
- ⛅ 14 °C
- Altitude: 5 m
- Netherlands South Holland Gemeente Den Haag Scheveningen Eerste Haven 52.10446, 4.275852°6’16” N 4°16’33” E
Day 8
This week
September 12, 2015 in the Netherlands ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C
This week I got bitten by bed bugs again at the start, but now the bus are going away thank goodness! We have still been living at the hostel but today we are moving to a big room in a share house! I can't wait, but Joel is still sleeping, so I have to wait for him to wake up. I worked 31 hours nannying, it is different from what I'm used to. The mum tells me how to do thing specifically, for fruits I gave then a mango and kiwi fruit-like we do in Australia, but she wants then cut up and eaten with a fork, do they don't get dirty (remember they are 4 and 6 and boys). The boys are getting more used to me which is good. On Thursday after school they were paying with their friends in the play ground and a mum came up to me and asked if I was their nanny, and she said they had paused in a bag of sand and were bringing it near the girls, far out. Then one of the girls mum had called their mum and said they were not being supervised. Rich people are crazy, boys are boys- and they don't think. I miss jess and phuong as 'employers'.

I have also worked 10hrs for the hostel, do full time! I scrubbed lots of showers! So I have been pretty exhausted. Joel worked 20 hours at the hostel cleaning rooms. I'm jealous because he got to make more friends here and has partied every night, hence while he is still sleeping at 9:34am. I have also not spent much time together since I'm so busy with work. So that's really sad so this weekend we will spend it all together :) I have managed to get the flu as 2 massive cold sores as well, they are so painful. I think it is from the stress of the hostel last week especially and worried that we won't find somewhere to live!

This week we also met up with jasper! It was so great seeing him again and hearing properly what has been happening rather than from messages. He will be living in Sweden, so hopefully can catch up when Joel and I go to Sweden :)Read more
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- Sep 13, 2015, 9:01am
- ☀️ 13 °C
- Altitude: 254 m
- Netherlands South Holland Gemeente Den Haag Statenkwartier Afvoerkanaal 52.075, 4.2815152°4’30” N 4°16’53” E
Day 9
Our new home! !
September 13, 2015 in the Netherlands ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C
We have finally found a nice room to rent! I am so happy now. I am enjoying the small luxuries such as having our own proper towels, we had been sharing my travel towel for six weeks! Being able to leave my shower stuff in the shower and shopping for more that two meals at a time and not thinking we are going to have to carry this! It is a really nice place to, recently renovated, we have a big furnished room. We pay 550 Euro per month which is about 800aud- including all utilities and WiFi. We are about 15 min (by bike of course, all measurements are by bike here) from the central station and my work. We are living with two nice girls, a Lithuanian dance teacher and a Lebanese yoga teacher, but she will move in tomorrow. Oh and three huge cats!!!! But they have their own room too and are very chilled and friendly :) since the hostel had bed bugs Joel is really paranoid that we will transfer them to our new place so everything is quarantined and we will wash everything! !Read more
Jo Mortimer Excellent! Great up date Lisa and so good that you have a place to settle for a while. It looks really nice. Did Joel get that job he told us about?
9/14/15Reply
Traveler Not yet but he is hopeful!
9/14/15Reply
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Traveler Living in the Netherlands
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- Sep 26, 2015
- ⛅ 14 °C
- Altitude: 13 m
- Netherlands North Brabant Gemeente Goirle Riel 51.52452, 5.0243351°31’28” N 5°1’28” E
Day 22
Weekend with friends in Riel
September 26, 2015 in the Netherlands ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C
On the weekend Joel and I made the trip to a tiny village called Riel, which is just south of Tilburg. We stayed with my friends Johan and Toos, who are jaspers parents. Toos picked us up from the train station wearing a bright pink jacket that she had bought for her Scandinavia hiking trip -so she didn't get lost :). We went back to their place and met Johan, i enjoyed exploring their beautiful garden again and seeing their place because they renovated the ground floor of their house just after I visited them 2 years ago-and it looks amazing! We sat and caught up a bit then set out for a long walk in the Dutch wilderness. The nature in this part of the Netherlands is really beautiful. We walked past heaths and grass mounds that Johan used to ride his bike over, which are actually ancient graves, heaps of mushrooms (poisonus unfortunately) and through the forest and farm land.

After the walk we went to a local bar/restaurant in riel for a beer and snack. We were pretty lucky it was a beautiful sunny day!

Johan is one if the best cooks I know, and tonight was no exception. They had renovated their living areas since I was here last so now he has an awesome open plan kitchen. He made a salad with pumpkin, risotto in mushrooms, then Joel and Johan instructed toos and I how to make the desert, it was really fun, especially watching Johan try and restrain himself from helping!

After dinner a friendly game of settlers of catan was played, and Joel was the winner.

They put everything out for breakfast, so many good memories with the cheese on bread, the same muesli :) Johan works at the natural history museum making exhibits, so he gave us a really good tour-which was needed as everything is in Dutch. I really like the museum as they try and make it as interactive as possible.

It was a great weekend, and we are looking forward to visiting them again soon :)Read more
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Living in the Netherlands

Accommodation

Jorplace

This week

Our new home! !

Weekend with friends in Riel