A BSN takes an afternoon. Feeling at home takes a year, or three if nobody shows you the way. Once the paperwork is behind you, we take your whole family by the hand: how this country works, where children learn to swim, which club to join, and the places you should see before someone asks whether you've been yet.
Almost every Dutch child swims their A, B and C diploma. We explain the system, find a pool with a short waitlist near you, sort the registration and tell you what to bring on the first Saturday morning.
Dutch life happens at the vereniging. We match your children, and you, to a football, hockey, cricket, tennis, judo or gymnastics club, arrange trial trainings and walk you through the kantine, the volunteer roster and the WhatsApp group. We also make introductions to other parents at the school gate, find Dutch lessons that fit your week, share community events in and around Amstelveen, and open up a partner network for the one who moved without a job attached.
Why birthdays are a circle of chairs, why everything needs an appointment, how school reports and Cito work, what a huisarts does, and how to cycle in the rain with two kids and a bag of groceries.
A season-by-season list made for your family: the dunes and Zeeland in summer, the Veluwe in autumn, museums and lantern festivals in winter, Keukenhof and King's Day in spring. Plus the small places like Giethoorn, Marken, Zaanse Schans and Maastricht, which most expats only hear about in year three.
We do this alongside you: the first trial training, the first parents' evening, the first Saturday at the pool. We'll come along if it helps.