Living in Bussum/Naarden/Hilversum

[muminthealps]

Hi there, I am a Dutch mum, but I have been living abroad for the past eight years in the UK (Manchester), Italy (Bologna) and Switzerland (Zurich). This summer we are moving back to the Netherlands. We ve rented a house in Naarden. My children (11 and 10) are going to go to Dutch schools for the first time in their live. As much as I am looking forward to go 'home' I know that I am going to miss the international community terribly. Are there any expats among you who live in the area? If so, do you belong to any expat clubs, English book clubs etc. I know my children (boy who is almost twelve) and girl (10) would love to find some English speaking friends to help with the trasition. I would love to hear from you! Bye the way, I move early July

[goodiegoodieyumyum]

Muminthealps there is an international meetup group in Hilversum once a month on a Monday night, they do other activities as well, my husband and I both go and really enjoy it. My children are much younger than yours so I am not sure about groups for older children. We live in Hilversum but are hoping to have moved to Almere by July.

I will see if I can find out if there are any more groups, there are two international schools in Hilversum so there could be a scout group or something similiar, their is an international church in Hilversum and also the Catholic church here has English mass every week and it is a lovely community.

[newbie24]

As Goodie said, Hilversum is the hub of expat activities, but I know there are also plenty of expat (and Dutch repat) families in Bussum, Narden and other villages around as well... You shouldn't have a hard time finding people to meet, for both you and the children. Goodie's suggestions are spot on, start with those. You will also find English speaking children in the local sports clubs, yours won't be the only ones. Good luck with the move!

[newbie24]

Not from personal experience, but there is an International Scouts group in Hilversum: www.hilversum-intl.nl/

[suburbophobe]

Hoi hoi, welkom terug!

Loads of expats in NL. I live in Amsterdam, it's full of them here (thank god! ).

Check out expatica, there's a forum on there too.

www.expatica.com/nl/main.html