To wish I lived in the Netherlands (or Belgium)

[lucydogz]

A mildly pissed post here, but I'm just coming to the end of a week's holiday in Belgium/ The Netherlands (in Rotterdam tonight) and would love to live here. Are there any downside s that would cheer me up about returning to the UK? The people here just seem to get everything right. Plus no litter and not much graffiti.

Oh and a cappuccino was a coffee with squirty cream from a can on top . This was a few years ago though so that memo may have been received by now.

Bluths - there are some, but very few charity shops in Belgium. A good thing too. You want to come to some towns here in Wales where there is nothing BUT charity shops because they get business rate relief and there is no real economy.

scaryteacher - I looked through your 'bad' list for Belgium. I used to live there too and the only one that resonates for me is that they can't make good tea. None of the other stuff matters.
I thought dog poo was bad in Brussels before I lived where I am now in the UK - much worse!

I hate the food in the Netherlands and Belgium. Really hate it.

I've picked out my house too, it's in Knokke. Bring on the moules frites, dame Blanche, fresh cream chocolates and mayonnaise with everything!

"Belgian food quality is really good - but there are other foods and they haven’t really noticed. "

Really? Brussels has restaurants with food from all over the place. Belgian, French and Italian are the most common but you get all sorts. Of course, Indian isn't as much of a thing there (there are Indian restos but aficionados don't like them) but they have plenty of Moroccan/Tunisian etc. I've been to a Thai, Korean, Ethiopian...

Bad in Belgium - bureaucracy, anything to do with the commune/municipality, intimidation at Christmas by firemen etc. collecting money, retail and catering staff can be very unfriendly. I want to go back and it's the customer service and bureaucratic nightmare that's putting me off.

I am going to Bruges for half term. This will be tricky as at the moment I have a broken ankle and Bruges has lots of cobbles (as far as I can remember). I am
Looking forward to hot chocolate with slagroom and the different beers! Although on crutches I won't be able to consume that much. I also don't trust my husband pushing me in the wheelchair after too much Duvel either!'

I live in Brussels and love it.
Food is excellent and masses of choice. Amazing Italian, Vietnamese, French and Spanish food within walking distance of my house for example.

Loads to do, never bored here. There are even charity shops around!

Great cheap activities for kids, and holiday clubs abound.

Street festivals, events going all the time.

2 hours to Paris and London.

Germany, France, Netherlands all day trippable.

Efteling 1.5 hours drive! .

Best of all, still in the EU.

Don't want to move back to the UK ever.

Gwenhyfar I think you might live near me! Nothing but charity shops, cafes and £ type shops!

Belgium and most of Europe is turning into a dump! And who wants to live somewhere with no hills!

Oh and a cappuccino was a coffee with squirty cream from a can on top hmm. This was a few years ago though so that memo may have been received by now. Still is, you have to specify cappuccino with frothed milk (the Flemish word sounds like milkscum).

gastropod After 13 years I find the food here so dull. Croques, lasagne, steak frites, scampi with garlic. It depends where you live as to what is available, and if you live outside Brussels, you have to dive to get to the restaurants.I am looking forward to moving home for good next year, and have had enough of Belgium.

Gwenhwyfar Belgium consists of more than Brussels, so there may not be an abundance of restaurants serving much other than Belgian, French and Italian. There are Indian restaurants, the Krishna at Overijse is the closest we've found to a British Indian restaurant, and the one at Sterrebeek (Namaste I think) is supposed to be good as well.

The greatest food offence for me here was being served a warmed pork pie at one of the ambassadors summer parties; and not a Ferrero Rocher in sight either.

Leuven is good for food, and luckily, I can get there on the bus and get a free night bus home on a Saturday!

Lol at ‘slagroom’ - my friend and I pmsl when we went to Amsterdam in our 20s and discovered that word (we were t even stoned at that point).

I have a friend who lives in the Netherlands now from uk. Took her a long time to settle, she thinks education (she has a 7 yr old) is better in UK.

@scaryteacher it must be a location thing, certainly in the central parts of Brussels you are spoiled for choice. I've been here 14 years and am still not bored of the food! (Lived in France before and the variety of food is better much here IMO...)

Lived in NL for 20 yrs, married to a Dutchman, have C2 ERK Dutch language skills ( need to for work and general living here) I am a native now in passport and nationality..

Agree supermarkets are pants and I still load up my car every time I'm in the UK, I was delighted to find you can buy PG tips in 1000's at the Tesco.

Service is horrendous, can take bloody hours to get served, it drives my American friends crazy. The Dutch don't queue( very British thing I think) I have learnt to stand up and say er no I was next ( while people are trying to push in) when at the bakers/butchers etc because if you don't someone else will !

Dutch are big straight talkers, no beating about the bush they say it as it is, "afspraak is afspraak" it used to take me by surprise not any more. I have to be quite careful when in the UK now because I have adopted the blunt talking to a certain degree. I like it, you know where you stand.

Don't agree about Education being worse that the UK ( I used to think that 16 yrs ago but then I changed my mind after more experience), I have teens and a young child, all born here so we've been through the system. It is very different agreed but my kids which are of varying academic abilities have done well so far.

They tell the time in an unnecessarily complicated way, so for example 10:40 in English would be 20 to 11, in Dutch it would be 10 over half eleven. Yes really ! They say the hour of time after the hour you're taking about. That took some getting used to.

Dutch circle parties, they deserve a thread of their own. I don't even know where to being but what an experience and half to say the least.. here's a link to one of my favourite bloggers who like me has lived here for a while and explains Dutch circle parties excellently..
www.invadingholland.com/guides-to-holland/the-dutch-circle-party-guide

But, I love living here. I cycle to work without worrying about putting my life in danger,. My kids cycle 20 km to (secondary) middelbare shcool and back because it's normal they all do it and we have the infra structure to do that. No school uniform also excellent, everyone is the same though we don't have such a huge class divided as I've seen back home. I love the community I live in ( small village) I have excellent Dutch and expat type friends. Nederland is home for me..

gastropod 13 years here (just), but live between Brussels and Leuven.

I am bored of Belgian food, as it is samey and I sometimes want spice, as opposed to Waterzooi or Carbonnade. Not bored of the beer yet though or the access to Neuhaus chocolate.

I've lived in NL for getting on for 8 years now. It's pretty marvellous, I won't lie, but far from perfect. My main issue is the sense of entitlement people are brought up with - everyone does exactly what they want without thinking of the effect it might have on others, and you practically have to yell in their faces if you can reach to have someone give way to you, or let you have a seat, or give you your rightful turn in a queue. Really winds me up. The Zwarte Piet (Black Pete, St Nicholas' assistant) thing is horrible but they seem to be slowly phasing this out, finally. And the local cuisine is pretty uninspiring my God, the bread, so much bread

I lived in the Netherlands for nearly nine years and I found it became increasingly racist or nationalistic the longer I lived there. I am back in Australia (which is very far from perfect, I know!) but I am no longer hearing “You are not as foreign as other foreigners” because I am white-skinned, or hearing “It’s okay, you all have blue eyes” from the guy checking our visas at customs. (While my husband was squeezing my hand to stop me from asking “Are you for fucking real???”) The Dutch claim to be “Direct” - which they are, but often it’s just rude. Sometimes they hide behind directness as a excuse. Also their social customs are a bit hard to crack. They don’t socialize with colleagues unless it’s a work do. They hang out with people they went to high school with or university - even if they don’t like them anymore. You don’t really crack the school Mum crowd unless they’re also new to the area. Weird.... Meanwhile.... I don’t want you to think I hated the place, I have made amazing friends and I did love the place. It toughened me up.
By the way, the men are giant man babies. They’re hot, but totally spoiled. I couldn’t go there!!!

Tanks everybody, I've really enjoyed the answers. Can I ask another question? Are there many cultural differences between The Netherlands and Belgium? I know they are protestant and catholic, but that doesn't seem to have much relevance now (going from the giant, unloved, churches that we visited, anyway)

In the Netherlands, generally speaking, the cities are still divided by rivers. The northern side of the cities are Protestant, (and wealthier) and the southern are Catholic. The Southern part of the Netherlands is considered to be the Bible Belt. (Although I don't think that compared to other countries there are that many Bible Bashers, they still hang onto their religious holidays and funny religious traditions like Sarah/Abraham 50th birthday celebrations.) Don't get me started on the Sinterklaas one, though. I LOATHE the Zwaarte Piet tradition that has been dumbed down to hide the racism.

I'm 6ft and I loved that everyone is so tall there, I could actually find trousers to fit!

Uk has better TV.

I hear ya. I lived in Holland for a while when I was younger. I should have stayed and I have had thoughts about moving back.

Flopen There is a huge difference between Dutch and Belgians. The Dutch are direct and arrogant, the Belgians timid and quite humble. Belgians do not like Dutch at all, they make too much noise in their opinion and are avaricious. Dutch tend to like Belgians though, because they're not so direct as themselves :-)

Much easier to talk to Dutch than to Belgians though.

And don't forget in Belgian there are Dutch speaking and French speaking and there are quite some differences within the country (the Dutch speaking part doing very well economically and the French speaking doing horribibly with >20% unemployment)

boefmom Huh, there is nothing quite so avaricious as a Belgian landlord at an exit survey.