Dear friend

Are you a youngster who is looking for a opportunity to travel, to explore new countries, increase your life experience and better language skills as well? Then Aupair Holland is the right programme you are looking for.

Now you are about to live a year in a Dutch family, to get familiar with the culture, specialties of the country and people from the “inside”.

In the same time you will meet representatives of other national backgrounds, what will help you to distroy the stereotypes, to become more independent, sociable and tolerant.

We hope you will have great time and will find new friends.

The purpose of this guide is to answer general questions about AU- PAIR program, what will help you to avoid difficulties with your new family and to give you some knowledge about the Netherlands. Here you will also find some advices that will be useful , especially in your first time here.

Obviously we cannot include in the guide all the information you might need, in this case don’t hesitate to write us or to call.

info@firstintegram.com

The Netherlands is a small country, but nevertheless it provides a great deal that is worth discovering. Some Dutch places of interest are already common knowledge throughout the world: the Amsterdam canals, the polders and the bulb fields, the characteristic houses in the area around the River Zaan, and, of course, the impressive works of art by the great Dutch painters. But the Netherlands offers more. Its glorious history is still tangible everywher, ranging from the stately merchants’ houses from the illustrious Golden Age to castles dating from medieval times, wooden fishermen’s houses from the 18th and 19th centuries, and even mysterious megalithic monuments from prehistorical times.

But regardless of how much the Netherlands cherishes its past, it does not adopt a retrospective attitude and is fully oriented towards modernity. This is clearly visible un the new architecture in Rotterdam, for example, and also on numerous exciting museums such as the Van Abbe Museum in Eindhoven and the stunning post-modern building that accomodates the Groninger Museum.

Exactly in this denselypopulated country, where you are never far from a village or a town, nature continues to play a major role. The Dutch enjoy the outdoor life, and walking and cyckling are extremely popular leisure activities. Extensive walking and walking networks have been constructed in the woods, heaths and dune areas. And, of course, water is always present - the sea, rivers, the canals and ditches - and is inextricably linked to history and to Dutch everyday life. The boats and the skiffs, the bridges and the locks, the powerful Delta Works and the dikes are all part of this configuration.

And now you are about to discover all these many and various countenances of the Netherlands.

General information about the Netherlands

Map of the Netherlands

The Netherlands is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba in the Caribbean. The Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy, located in Western Europe. It is bordered by the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east. The Netherlands is often called Holland. This is formally incorrect as North and South Holland in the western Netherlands are only two of the country's twelve provinces.

The Netherlands is a geographically low-lying and densely populated country. It is popularly known for its traditional windmills, tulips, cheese, clogs (wooden shoes), delftware and gouda pottery, for its bicycles, its dikes and surge barriers, and, on the other hand, traditional values and civil virtues such as its classic social tolerance. But primarily, the Netherlands is a modern, advanced and open society. An old parliamentary democracy, the country is more recently known for its rather liberal policies toward recreational drugs, prostitution, LGBT rights, abortion, and euthanasia. The Netherlands is also one of the most densely cabled countries in the world; its internet connection rate is 73.3%, the 5th highest in the world.

The Netherlands has an international outlook, among other affiliations the country is a founding member of the European Union (EU), NATO, the OECD, and has signed the Kyoto protocol. Along with Belgium and Luxembourg, the Netherlands is one of three member nations of the Benelux economic union. The country is host to five international courts: the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, the International Criminal Court and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. All of these courts (except the Special Tribunal for Lebanon), as well as the EU's criminal intelligence agency (Europol), are situated in The Hague, which has led to the city being referred to as "the world's legal capital."

Geography

A remarkable aspect of the Netherlands is its flatness. Hilly landscapes can be found only in the south-eastern tip of the country, the central part and where the glaciers pushed up several hilly ridges such as the Hondsrug in Drenthe, the stuwwallen (push moraines) near Arnhem and Nijmegen, Salland, Twente and the Utrechtse Heuvelrug.

Floods

In years past, the Dutch coastline has changed considerably as a result of human intervention and natural disasters. Most notable in terms of land loss is the 1134 storm, which created the archipelago of Zeeland in the south west. The St. Elizabeth flood of 1421 and the mismanagement in its aftermath destroyed a newly reclaimed polder, replacing it with the 72 square kilometres (28 sq mi) Biesbosch tidal floodplains in the south-centre. The most recent parts of Zeeland were flooded during the North Sea Flood of 1953 when 1,836 people were killed, after which the Delta Plan was executed.

Delta works

After the 1953 disaster, the Delta project, a vast construction effort designed to end the threat from the sea once and for all, was launched in 1958 and largely completed in 2002. The official goal of the Delta project was to reduce the risk of flooding in the province of Zeeland to once per 10,000 years. (For the rest of the country, the protection-level is once per 4,000 years.) This was achieved by raising 3,000 kilometres (1,864 miles) of outer sea-dykes and 10,000 kilometres (6,200 miles) of inner, canal, and river dikes to "delta" height, and by closing off the sea estuaries of the Zeeland province. New risk assessments occasionally show problems requiring additional Delta project dyke reinforcements. The Delta project is one of the largest construction efforts in human history and is considered by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of the seven wonders of the modern world.

Rivers

The country is divided into two main parts by three large rivers, the Rhine (Rijn) and its main distributary Waal, as well as the Meuse (Maas). These rivers function as a natural barrier between earlier fiefdoms, and hence created traditionally a cultural divide, as is evident in some phonetic traits that are recognisable north and south of these "Large Rivers" (de Grote Rivieren). In addition to this, there was, until quite recently, a clear religious dominance of Catholics in the south and of Calvinists in the north.

The south-western part of the Netherlands is actually a massive river delta of these rivers and two tributaries of the Scheldt (Westerschelde and Oosterschelde). Only one significant branch of the Rhine flows northeastward, the IJssel river, discharging into the IJsselmeer, the former Zuiderzee ('southern sea'). This river also happens to form a linguistic divide. People to the east of this river speak Low Saxon dialects (except for the province of Friesland that has its own language).

Climate

The predominant wind direction in the Netherlands is south-west, which causes a moderate maritime climate, with cool summers and mild winters. The average temperature in January is 2 degrees Celsius and in July 17 degrees.

Nature

The Netherlands has 20 national parks and hundreds of other nature reserves. Most are owned by Staatsbosbeheer and Natuurmonumenten and include lakes, heathland, woods, dunes and other habitats.

In 1871 the last old original natural woods (Beekbergerwoud) were cut down and most woods today are planted monocultures of trees like Scots Pine and trees that are not native to the Netherlands. These woods were planted on anthropogenic heaths and sand-drifts (overgrazed heaths) (Veluwe).

History

Under Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and king of Spain, the region was part of the Seventeen Provinces of the Netherlands, which also included most of present-day Belgium, Luxembourg, and some land of France and Germany. 1568 saw the start of the Eighty Years' War between the provinces and Spain. In 1579, the northern half of the Seventeen Provinces formed the Union of Utrecht, a treaty in which they promised to support each other in their defense against the Spanish army. The Union of Utrecht is seen as the foundation of the modern Netherlands. In 1581 the northern provinces adopted the Oath of Abjuration, the declaration of independence in which the provinces officially deposed Philip II. Philip II the son of Charles V, was not prepared to let them go easily and war continued until 1648 when Spain under King Philip IV finally recognised Dutch independence in the Treaty of Münster.

Dutch Republic 1581-1795

William the Silent, leader of the Netherlands during the Dutch Revolt

Since their independence from Philip II in 1581 the provinces formed the Dutch Republic. The republic was a confederation of the provinces Holland, Zeeland, Groningen, Friesland, Utrecht, Overijssel and Gelre. All these provinces were autonomous and had their own governments, the "States of the Province". The States-General, the confederal government, were seated in The Hague and consisted of representatives of each of the seven provinces. The very thinly populated region of Drenthe, mainly consisting of poor peatland, was part of the Republic too, although Drenthe was not considered one of the provinces. Drenthe had its own States but the landdrost of Drenthe was appointed by the States-General.

The Dutch grew to become one of the major seafaring and economic powers of the 17th century during the period of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. In the so-called Dutch Golden Age, colonies and trading posts were established all over the globe.

Many economic historians regard the Netherlands as the first thoroughly capitalist country in the world. In early modern Europe it featured the wealthiest trading city (Amsterdam) and the first full-time stock exchange. The inventiveness of the traders led to insurance and retirement funds as well as such less benign phenomena as the boom-bust cycle, the world's first asset-inflation bubble, the tulip mania of 1636–1637, and according to Murray Sayle, the world's first bear raider - Isaac le Maire, who forced prices down by dumping stock and then buying it back at a discount. The republic went into a state of general decline in the later 18th century, with economic competition from England and long standing rivalries between the two main factions in Dutch society, the Staatsgezinden (Republicans) and the Prinsgezinden (Royalists or Orangists) as main factors.

Under French influence 1795-1815

On January 19, 1795, a day after stadtholder William V of Orange fled to England, the Batavian Republic (Bataafse Republiek in Dutch) was proclaimed. The proclamation of the Batavian Republic introduced the concept of the unitary state in the Netherlands. From 1795 to 1806, the Batavian Republic designated the Netherlands as a republic modelled after the French Republic.

The Kingdom of Holland 1806 – 1810 (Dutch: Koninkrijk Holland, French: Royaume de Hollande) was set up by Napoleon Bonaparte as a puppet kingdom for his third brother, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, in order to control the Netherlands more effectively. The name of the leading province, Holland, was now taken for the whole country. The kingdom of Holland covered the area of present day Netherlands, with the exception of Limburg, and parts of Zeeland, which were French territory. In 1807 Prussian East Frisia and Jever were added to the kingdom. In 1809 however, after an English invasion, Holland had to give over all territories south of the river Rhine to France.

King Louis Napoleon did not meet Napoleon's expectations — he tried to serve Dutch interests instead of his brother's — and the King had to abdicate on July 1, 1810. He was succeeded by his five year old son Napoleon Louis Bonaparte. Napoleon Louis reigned as Louis II for just ten days as Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte ignored his young nephew’s accession to the throne. The Emperor sent in an army to invade the country and dissolved the Kingdom of Holland. The Netherlands then became part of the French Empire.

From 1810 to 1813, when Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated in the battle of Leipzig, the Netherlands were part of the French Empire.

Kingdom of the Netherlands

In 1795 the last stadtholder William V of Orange fled to England. His son returned to the Netherlands in 1813 to become William I of the Netherlands, Sovereign Prince of the Netherlands. On March 16, 1815 the Sovereign Prince became King of the Netherlands.

In 1815 the Congress of Vienna formed the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, by expanding the Netherlands with Belgium in order to create a strong country on the northern border of France. In addition, William became hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg. The Congress of Vienna gave Luxembourg to William personally in exchange for his German possessions, Nassau-Dillenburg, Siegen, Hadamar and Diez.

Belgium rebelled and gained independence in 1830, while the personal union between Luxembourg and the Netherlands was severed in 1890, when King William III of the Netherlands died with no surviving male heirs. Ascendancy laws prevented his daughter Queen Wilhelmina from becoming the next Grand Duchess. Therefore the throne of Luxembourg passed over from the House of Orange-Nassau to the House of Nassau-Weilburg, another branch of the House of Nassau.

Colonies

The largest Dutch settlement abroad was the Cape Colony. It was established by Jan van Riebeeck on behalf of the Dutch East India Company at Capetown (Dutch: Kaapstad) in 1652. The Prince of Orange acquiesced to British occupation and control of the Cape Colony in 1788. The Netherlands also possessed several other colonies, but Dutch settlement in these lands was limited. Most notable were the vast Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) and Suriname (the latter was traded with the British for New Amsterdam, now known as New York). These 'colonies' were first administered by the Dutch East India Company and the Dutch West India Company, both collective private enterprises. Three centuries later these companies got into financial trouble and the territories in which they operated were taken over by the Dutch government (in 1815 and 1791 respectively). Only then did they become official colonies.

Industrialisation

During the 19th century, the Netherlands was slow to industrialise compared to neighbouring countries, mainly due to the great complexity involved in the modernizing of the infrastructure consisting largely of waterways and the great reliance its industry had on windpower.

World War II

The Netherlands remained neutral in World War I and intended to do so in World War II. However, Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands in 1940 in the Western European campaign of the Second World War. The country was quickly overrun and the army main force surrendered on May 14 after the bombing of Rotterdam, although a Dutch and French allied force held the province of Zeeland for a short time after the Dutch surrender. The Kingdom as such continued the war from the colonial empire; the government in exile resided in London.

The Netherlands lost control of its major colonial stronghold Indonesia to the Japanese in March 1942. The Japanese enslaved many Dutch during their occupation, sending women as sex slaves to troops and using men as forced labour. Japanese also set up concentration camps known as the "Jappenkampen", in which Dutch were treated horribly and were forced to work under inhumane circumstances.

During the occupation over 100,000 Dutch Jews were rounded up to be transported to Nazi concentration camps in Germany, Poland and Czechoslovakia where they were murdered in the Holocaust. Dutch workers were conscripted for labour in German factories, civilians were killed in reprisal for attacks on German soldiers, and the countryside was plundered for food for German soldiers in the Netherlands and for shipment to Germany. Although there are many stories of Dutch people risking their lives by hiding Jews from the Germans, like in the diary of Anne Frank, there were also Dutch people who collaborated with Nazi occupiers in hunting down and arresting hiding Jews, and some joined the Waffen-SS to form the 4th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Brigade Netherlands, fighting on the Eastern Front.

After a first liberation attempt by the Allied 21st Army Group stalled, much of the northern Netherlands was subject to the Dutch famine of 1944, caused by the disrupted transportation system, caused by German destruction of dikes to slow allied advances, and German confiscation of much food and livestock made the "Hunger Winter" of 1944-1945 one in which malnutrition and starvation were rife among the Dutch population. German forces held out until the surrender of May 5, 1945, in Wageningen at Hotel De Wereld.

After the war

After the war, the Dutch economy prospered by leaving behind an era of neutrality and gaining closer ties with neighbouring states. The Netherlands became a member of the Benelux (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg) cooperation. Furthermore, the Netherlands was among the twelve founding members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and among the six founding members of the European Coal and Steel Community, which would later evolve into the European Union.

Government and administration

Government

The Netherlands is described as a consociational state. Dutch politics and governance are characterised by an effort to achieve broad consensus on important issues, within both the political community and society as a whole. In 2007, The Economist ranked The Netherlands as the third most democratic country in the world.

The head of state is the monarch, at present Queen Beatrix.

Constitutionally the monarch still has considerable powers, but in practice it has become a ceremonial function. The monarch can exert most influence during the formation of a new cabinet, where he/she serves as neutral arbiter between the political parties.

In practice the executive power is formed by Dutch cabinet. Because of the multi-party system no party has ever held a majority in parliament since the 19th century, therefore coalition cabinets have to be formed. The cabinet consists usually of around thirteen to sixteen ministers of which between one and three ministers without portfolio, and a varying number of state secretaries. The head of government is the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, who is often, but not always, the leader of the largest party in the coalition. In practice the Prime Minister has been the leader of the largest coalition party since 1973. He is a primus inter pares, meaning he has no explicit powers that go beyond those of the other ministers.

The cabinet is responsible to the bicameral parliament, the States-General which also has legislative powers. The 150 members of the Second Chamber, the Lower House, are elected in direct elections, which are held every four years or after a cabinet crisis. The provincial assemblies are directly elected every four years as well. The members of the provincial assemblies elect the 75 members of the First Chamber, the Upper House, which has less legislative powers, as it can merely reject laws, not propose or amend them.

Both trade unions and employers organisations are consulted beforehand in policymaking in the financial, economic and social areas. They meet regularly with government in the Social-Economic Council. This body advises government and its advice cannot be put aside easily.

While historically the Dutch foreign policy was characterised by neutrality, since the Second World War the Netherlands became a member of a large number of international organisations, most prominently the UN, NATO and the EU. The Dutch economy is very open and relies on international trade.

The Netherlands has a long tradition of social tolerance. In the 18th century, while the Dutch Reformed Church was the state religion, Catholicism and Judaism were tolerated. In the late 19th century this Dutch tradition of religious tolerance transformed into a system of pillarisation, in which religious groups coexisted separately and only interacted at the level of government. This tradition of tolerance is linked to the Dutch policies on recreational drugs, prostitution, LGBT rights, euthanasia, and abortion which are among the most liberal in the world.

The Binnenhof is the centre of Dutch politics.

Administrative divisions

The Netherlands is divided into twelve administrative regions, called provinces, each under a Governor, who is called Commissaris van de Koningin (Commissioner of the Queen), except for the province Limburg where the commissioner is called Gouverneur (Governor) which underlines the more "non-Dutch" mentality. All provinces are divided into municipalities (gemeenten), 458 in total (1 January 2006). The country is also subdivided in water districts, governed by a water board (waterschap or hoogheemraadschap), each having authority in matters concerning water management. As of 1 January 2005 there are 27. The creation of water boards actually pre-dates that of the nation itself, the first appearing in 1196. In fact, the Dutch water boards are one of the oldest democratic entities in the world still in existence.

Provinces of the Netherlands

The Netherlands is divided into 12 provinces: Groningen. Friesland, Drenthe, Overijssel, Gelderland, Utrecht, Noord-Holland, Zuid-Holland, Zeeland, Noord-Brabant, Limburg and Flevoland.

Each province has a council, which is elected every four years by the residents of the municipality. The Queen and the Government jointly appoint the heads of provincial Government -the Queens Commissioners- and of municipal Government, the mayots (burgomasters).

Demographics

The Netherlands is the 23rd most densely populated country in the world, with 395 inhabitants per square kilometre (1,023 sq mi)—or 484 people per square kilometre (1,254/sq mi) if only the land area is counted, since 18.4% is water. The fertility rate in the Netherlands is 1.7 children per woman, well below the 2.2 rate required for population replacement. Life expectancy is high in the Netherlands: 82 years for newborn girls and 77 for boys (2007).

The ethnic origins of the citizens of the Netherlands are diverse. A majority of the population, however, still remains indigenous Dutch (although the latter notion is also to be relativised strongly). They were: 80.8% Dutch, 2.4% German, 2.4% Indonesian (Indo-Dutch, South Moluccan), 2.2% Turks, 2.0% Surinamese, 1.9% Moroccan, 1.5% Indian, 0.8% Antillean and Aruban, and 6.0% other. However, this does not include the whole Kingdom of the Netherlands (such as the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba, which have a non-Dutch majority community), and only includes the population in the Netherlands itself. The Netherlands also has a resident population of some 800,000 people of Indo (mixed Dutch and Indonesian) descent.

The people of the Netherlands are amongst the tallest in the world, with an average height of about 1.81 m (5 ft 11.5 in) for adult males and 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in) for adult females. People in the south are on average about 2 cm shorter than those in the north.

Language

The official language is Dutch, which is spoken by a majority of the inhabitants, the exception being some groups of immigrants.

Another official language is West Frisian, which is spoken in the northern province of Friesland, called Fryslân in that language. West Frisian is co-official only in the province of Friesland, although with a few restrictions. Several dialects of Low Saxon (Nedersaksisch in Dutch) are spoken in much of the north and east and are recognised by the Netherlands as regional languages according to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, as well as the Meuse-Rhenish Franconian varieties in the southeastern province of Limburg, here called Limburgish language.

There is a tradition of learning foreign languages in the Netherlands: the biggest part of total population have good knowledge of English, of German and of French.

Important differences

Ÿ A cafe is the same as an South-African coffee shop. In the Netherlands a coffee shop is a place where you can buy soft-drugs

Ÿ If you want to ask for coca cola ask for a colaand not for coke (Dutch word of cocaine).

Ÿ It regulary happens you have to pay to go to the toilet.

Culture

Erasmus (1466–1536)

The Netherlands has had many well-known painters. The 17th century, when the Dutch republic was prosperous, was the age of the "Dutch Masters", such as Rembrandt van Rijn, Johannes Vermeer, Jan Steen, Jacob van Ruysdael and many others. Famous Dutch painters of the 19th and 20th century were Vincent van Gogh and Piet Mondriaan. M.C. Escher is a well-known graphics artist. Willem de Kooning was born and trained in Rotterdam, although he is considered to have reached acclaim as an American artist. Han van Meegeren was an infamous Dutch art forger.

The Netherlands is the country of philosophers Erasmus of Rotterdam and Spinoza. All of Descartes' major work was done in the Netherlands. The Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens (1629–1695) discovered Saturn's moon Titan and invented the pendulum clock. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek was the first to observe and describe single-celled organisms with a microscope.

In the Dutch Golden Age, literature flourished as well, with Joost van den Vondel and P.C. Hooft as the two most famous writers. In the 19th century, Multatuli wrote about the bad treatment of the natives in Dutch colonies. Important 20th century authors include Harry Mulisch, Jan Wolkers, Simon Vestdijk, Cees Nooteboom, Gerard (van het) Reve and Willem Frederik Hermans. Anne Frank's Diary of a Young Girl was published after she died in The Holocaust and translated from Dutch to all major languages.

Replicas of Dutch buildings can be found in Huis ten Bosch, Nagasaki, Japan. A similar Holland Village is being built in Shenyang, China.

Windmills, tulips, wooden shoes, cheese and Delftware pottery are among the items associated with the Netherlands.

Architecture

The first significant period of Dutch architecture was during the Dutch Golden Age roughly beginning at the start of the 17th century. Due to the growing economy cities expanded greatly. New town halls and storehouses were built. Merchants who had made a fortune ordered a new house built along one of the many new canals that were dug out in and around various cities and towns (for defense and transport purposes), a house with an ornamented facade that befitted their new status. In the countryside new country houses were built, though not in the same numbers. Some well known architects of the period were Jacob van Campen (1595-1657), Lieven de Key (c. 1560-1627) and Hendrik de Keyser (1565-1621).

Koninklijk Paleis (Royale Palace) by Jacob van Campen

Hilversum City Hall by Willem Marinus Dudok

At the end of the 19th century there was a remarkable neo-gothic stream or Gothic Revival both in church and in public architecture, notably by the Roman-Catholic Pierre Cuypers, who was inspired by the Frenchman Viollet le Duc. The Amsterdam Rijksmuseum (1876-1885) and Amsterdam Centraal Station (1881-1889) belong to his main buildings. During the 20th century Dutch architects played a leading role in the development of modern architecture. Out of the early 20th century rationalist architecture of Berlage, architect of the Beurs van Berlage, three separate groups developed during the 1920’s, each with their own view on which direction modern architecture should take.

Expressionist architects like M. de Klerk and P.J. Kramer in Amsterdam. Functionalist architects (Nieuwe Zakelijkheid or Nieuwe Bouwen) like Mart Stam, L.C. van der Vlugt, Willem Marinus Dudok and Johannes Duiker had good ties with the international modernist group CIAM.

A third group came out of the De Stijl movement, among them J.J.P Oud and Gerrit Rietveld. Both architects later built in a functionalist style.

During the 50’s and 60’s a new generation of architects like Aldo van Eyck, J.B. Bakema and Herman Hertzberger, known as the ‘Forum generation’ (named after a magazine called Forum) formed a connection with international groups like Team 10.

From the 80’s to the present Rem Koolhaas and his Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) became one of the leading world architects. With him, formed a new generation of Dutch architects working in a modernist tradition.

Economy

Aalsmeer Flower Auction. The largest commercial building in the world, and a centre of international flower trade.

The Netherlands has a prosperous and open economy in which the government has reduced its role since the 1980s. Industrial activity is predominantly in food-processing (for example Unilever and Heineken International), chemicals (for example DSM), petroleum refining (for example Royal Dutch Shell), and electrical machinery (for example Philips). In the northern place Slochteren one of the largest natural gas fields in the world is situated. N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie still is the largest public-private partnership P3 world-wide following the global energy-transition of 1963 from coal to gas, coupling oil and gas prices.

Currency

As a founding member of the Euro, the Netherlands replaced (for accounting purposes) its former currency, the Guilder, on January 1, 1999, along with the other adopters of the single European currency. Actual Euro coins and banknotes followed on January 1, 2002.

Religion

Historically the Netherlands is characterized by multitude of religions. Although religious diversity remains to the present day, there is a major decline of religious adherence.

Major Denominations

Roman Catholicism

Currently Roman Catholicism is the single largest religion of the Netherlands, forming the religious home of some 26.6 % of the Dutch people. Most Catholics live in the southern provinces of North Brabant and Limburg where they make up the majority of the population. But even north, historically, in regions such as West Friesland, Zeeuws Vlaanderen and Twente and the cities Utrecht and Nijmegen catholicism was the largest religious denomination until late in the 20th century. The Archbishop of Utrecht Willem Jacobus Eijk is the highest Catholic authority.

Protestant Churches in the Netherlands

The Protestant Church of the Netherlands (PKN) forms the largest protestant denomination, with some 12% of the population. It was formed in 2004 as a merger of the two major strands of Calvinism: the Dutch Reformed Church and the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands and a smaller Lutheran Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Netherlands. Since the 1970s these three churches had seen a major decline in adherents and had began to work together. The Church embraces religious pluralism.

Islam

Islam is a relatively new and fast-growing religion in the Netherlands. Islam numbers began to rise after the 1970s as the result of immigration Migrants from former Dutch colonies, such as Surinam and Indonesia, were Muslim, as well as migrant workers from Turkey and Morocco. During the 1990s, the Netherlands opened its borders for Muslim refugees from countries like Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. Muslims form a diverse group. Social tensions between native Dutch and migrant Muslims began to rise in the early 21st century, with the rise of populist politician Pim Fortuyn and the murder of Theo van Gogh by an extremist Muslim, Mohammed Bouyeri.

Judaism

For most of Dutch history, Judaism, although a minor religion, took a special place in Dutch society. Because of its social tolerance, the Dutch Republic formed a haven for Jews that were persecuted because of their beliefs throughout Europe. Prominent Dutch Jews include Baruch Spinoza, a 17th century philosopher, Aletta Jacobs, a 19th century feminist, and Henri Polak, who founded both the socialist party SDAP and the labor union NVV. The majority of Jews lived in Amsterdam, where they formed an eighth of the population.

Agriculture and horticulture

Frisian Holstein cows originated in the Netherlands, where intensive dairy farming is an important part of agriculture.

A highly mechanised agricultural sector employs no more than 4% of the labour force but provides large surpluses for the food-processing industry and for exports. The Dutch rank third worldwide in value of agricultural exports, behind the United States and France, with exports earning $55 billion annually. A significant portion of Dutch agricultural exports are derived from fresh-cut plants, flowers, and bulbs, with the Netherlands exporting two-thirds of the world's total. The Netherlands also exports a quarter of all world tomatoes, and one-third of the world's exports of peppers and cucumbers. The Netherlands' location gives it prime access to markets in the UK and Germany, with the port of Rotterdam being the largest port in Europe. Other important parts of the economy are international trade (Dutch colonialism started with cooperative private enterprises such as the VOC), banking and transport.

Dutch Delight: The Keukenhof Gardens

Keukenhof has been an exciting destination for visitors from all over the world since 1949. Keukenhof's magnificent display of color, created by more than 7 million tulips and other bulbs in bloom, gives you that springtime feeling and lifts your spirits. Part of the park has been redesigned in 2005. Surprising and inspiring - brimming with ideas, trends and features that you can apply in your own garden. It's an experience you will never forget.

For further informatin check on the site http://www.keukenhof.nl/

Dutch cuisine is shaped by the agricultural produce and history of the Netherlands. It is characterized by its somewhat limited diversity in dishes, the high consumption of vegetables when compared to the consumption of meat, and the wholesomeness of the dishes.

History

The modest and plain outlook of what is nowadays considered as traditional Dutch cuisine appears to be the result of a fairly recent development. From the 17th century onward, the dishes of the wealthy consisted of a rich variety of fruits, cheeses, meat, wine and nuts. The national cuisine became greatly impoverished when, at the turn of the 20th century, ever greater numbers of girls were sent to a new school type, the Huishoudschool, where young women were trained to become domestic servants, and where lessons in cooking cheap and simple meals were a major part of the curriculum.

Indonesian influence

Because of the Dutch colonial past, there has been a considerable Asian influence on Dutch cuisine. From the 16th century onwards all sorts of spices mainly from the Dutch Indies were introduced into Dutch cuisine. Hence many traditional Dutch dishes are (heavily) flavoured with Southeast Asian herbs and spices. Later Indonesian dishes such as nasi goreng, rice with chicken or pork, became part of Dutch cuisine. Because of this, local Chinese takeaway restaurants in the Netherlands also have considerable Indonesian influences, leading many restaurants to style themselves "Chinese-Indonesian".

Bread and cheese

The Dutch are famous for their dairy products and especially for their (cow's milk) cheeses. The vast majority of Dutch cheeses are semi-hard or hard cheeses. Famous Dutch cheeses include Gouda, Edamm, Leyden. A typically Dutch way of making cheese is to blend in herbs or spices during the first stages of the production process. Famous examples of this are cheeses with cloves (usually the Frisian nagelkaas), cumin and caraway (most famously Leyden cheese), or nettles.

Kaasmarkt in Gouda

Dutch bread tends to be very airy, as it is made from yeast dough. From the 1970s onward Dutch bread became predominantly whole grain, with additional seeds such as sunflower or pumpkin seeds often mixed with the dough for taste. Rye bread is one of the few dense breads of the Netherlands. White bread used to be the luxury bread, often made with milk as well as water. A Frisian luxury version of white bread is sugarbread, white bread with large lumps of sugar mixed with the dough.

As well as cheese, the Dutch also use meat products and sweet spreads on their bread: typically sprinkles (hagelslag), treacle (stroop), and peanut butter (pindakaas). Regionally popular hearty meats include blood sausage (bloedworst), dried sausage, and uierboord, made from cows' udders.

Coffee and tea

The Dutch drink coffee and tea throughout the day, often served with a single biscuit. Dutch thrift led to the famous standard rule of only one cookie with each cup of coffee; it has been suggested that the reasons for this can be found in the commercial mentality and Protestant upbringing. A popular Dutch story (that has never been confirmed) says that in the late 1940s the wife of the then Prime minister, Willem Drees, served this (coffee and one biscuit) to a visiting American diplomat, who thereupon became convinced that the money from the Marshall Plan was being well-spent.

Café au lait is also frequently drunk. It is called koffie verkeerd (literally "wrong-way-round-coffee") and consists of half-and-half black coffee and hot milk. Other hot drinks include kwast (hot water with lemon juice), anijsmelk (hot milk with aniseed) and the very popular hot chocolate or chocolate milk .

Dutch people invite friends over for "koffietijd" (coffee time), which consists of coffee and cake or a biscuit, and is served between 10 and 11 a.m. (before lunch).

Dinner

Dinner, traditionally served early by international standards, starts at about 5 o'clock in the evening. The classical Dutch dinner consists of one simple course: traditionally potatoes, with vegetables and meat and gravy, or a stew wherein potatoes and vegetables have been mixed. If there is a starter, it is usually soup. Today the meal is often heavily influenced by foreign cuisine. Amalgams of foreign dishes such as Italian pastas, Indonesian meat and rice dishes, Mexican enchiladas, Swiss cheese fondue are commonly encountered on the Dutch dinner table and on the menus of local restaurants. The final course is a sweet dessert: traditionally yoghurt with some sugar or vla (cooked milk with custard).

Some classical typical Dutch dishes include stamppot (Dutch stew) and pea soup.

Famous stamppotten include:Hutspot, made from potatoes, onions and carrots served with slow-cooked meat or bacon. This is a legacy of the Spanish invaders, who, according to legend, left a pot of this stew behind in their abandoned trenches when the town of Leiden, which they had been besieging, was liberated in 1574 – so that hutspot was one of the first foods its starving inhabitants found. Before potatoes were used in Europe hutspot was made from parsnips, carrots, and onions.

Boerenkoolstamppot, kale mixed with potatoes, served with gravy, mustard, and rookworst (smoked sausage).

Stamppot rauwe andijvie, raw endive mashed through hot potatoes, served with diced fried speck.

Hete bliksem, boiled potatoes and green apples, served with "stroop" (syrup) or tossed with diced speck

Zuurkoolstamppot, sauerkraut mashed with potatoes. Served with fried bacon or a sausage. Sometimes curry powder, raisins or slices of pineapple are used to give a stamppot an exotic touch.

Stews are often served with mixed pickle, including zure zult or stewed pears (stoofperen).

Meat products include gehaktballen meatballs, blinde vink, minced meat wrapped in bacon, balkenbrij, a type of liverwurst and meatloaf. The gravy in which the meat is produced is also eaten. A variant of this, eaten around the IJsselmeer, is butter en eek, where vinegar is added to the gravy.

If a dish consists of beans/potatoes, meat and vegetables, these vegetables are sometimes served as a stew, like "rode kool met appeltjes" (red cabbage with apples), or "rode bieten" (red beets). Regular spices used in stews of this kind may be bayleaves, juniper berries, cloves, and vinegar.

Dinner can also consist of pancakes. The Dutch make them in several forms, including poffertjes (miniature pancakes) and spekdik (a Northern variant with bacon). French toast are similar. Broeder, a type of cake, is also eaten for dinner, mainly in West Friesland.

Desserts often include vla, pudding, or yoghurt. Regional variants include broodpap, made from old bread, griesmeelpudding, grutjespap, Haagse bluf, Hangop, Jan in de zak, Karnemelksepap, Rijstebrij (rice pudding), Krentjebrij, and Watergruwel.

Alcoholic drinks

two glasses of heineken pilsener

Traditionally wine has received a modest role in Dutch cuisine, but there are many brands of beer (mainly lager) and strong alcoholic liquor. The most famous Dutch beer producers are Heineken in the west and Grolsch in the east. Also a variety of bitters where Beerenburg is the most famous. Strong liquors include Jenever (gin) and Brandewijn (brandy), but also kandeel (made from white wine), Kraamanijs (a liquor made from aniseed), Oranjebitter (a type of orange brandy, which is served on festivities surrounding the royal family), advocaat, Boerenjongens, raisins in brandewijn, Boerenmeisjes, apricots in brandewijn.

Special occasions

Oliebollen, a Dutch pastry eaten on New Year's Eve.

On special occasions, pastries are eaten.

When a baby is born in a family, the young parents traditionally serve their guests beschuit met muisjes (Dutch rusk covered with sugared aniseed).

The Dutch festival of Sinterklaas (dedicated to Saint Nicolas) is held on the 5 December. Special pastries are made and are distributed by his aide Zwarte Piet; they include pepernoten (gingernut-like biscuits but made with cinnamon, pepper, cloves and nutmeg mix of spices), letters made from chocolate, marzipan, borstplaat (discs of fondant); and several types of spiced cookies: taai-taai, speculaas and kruidnoten, banketstaaf, made from almond meal

On New Year's Eve, Dutch houses smell of the piping hot oil used to prepare oliebollen, appelflappen and appelbeignets (battered apple rings) in deep-fat fryers. These yeast dough balls, filled with glacé fruits, pieces of apple and raisins and sultanas, are served with powdered sugar and are a special treat for New Year's Eve. The Dutch also took their oliebollen to America, where they are now known in a slightly different form as doughnuts.

On birthdays all kinds of cakes and cookies are eaten, including appeltaart (apple pie), Bossche bol, dikke koek, cream cake, Fryske dumkes, gevulde koek (cookies filled with almond meal), Groninger koek, Janhagel, Ketelkoek, Kindermanstik, Knieperties, Krakeling, Krentenwegge, Kruidkoek, Limburgse vlaai, Nonnevotten, Ouwewijvenkoek, peperkoek (gingerbread), Rijstekoek, Spekkoek (from Indonesia), Sprits, Tompouce, Trommelkoek, Bitterkoekjes, Kletskop and Stroopwafel.

A famous Dutch sweet is drop (liquorice). Dutch drop is sold in a large variety of shapes and forms. Drop can be either sweet or salty (or very salty). It is sometimes flavoured with coconut fondant (Engelse drop or English drop), honey (honingdrop), mint (muntdrop), salmiak (salmiakdrop), or laurel (laurierdrop). Typical shapes are lozenges, ovals, oblongs and coins. Honeycombs for honeydrop are also familiar. Some manufacturers have introduced speciality ranges where the drop is made in thematic shapes, such as cars (autodrop), farm animals and farm machine rys (boerderijdrop), etc.

Fast food

The Dutch have their own types of fast food. A Dutch fast-food meal often consists of a portion of french fries (called friet or patat) with a sauce and a meat product. The most common sauce to accompany French fries is mayonnaise, while others can be ketchup or spiced ketchup, peanut sauce or piccalilli. Sometimes the fries are served with combinations of sauces, most famously speciaal (special): mayonnaise, with (spiced) ketchup and chopped onions; and oorlog (literally "war"): mayonnaise and peanut sauce (sometimes also with ketchup and chopped onions). The meat product is usually a deep fried snack; this includes the frikandel (a deep fried skinless minced meat sausage), and the kroket (deep fried meat ragout covered in breadcrumbs).

a frikandel

Another kind of fast food is fish. This includes raw herring, which is sold in markets and eaten (often with chopped onions), by lifting the herring high in the air by its tail, and eating it upwards, or (less messily) on a bun. Other regular fish snack are kibbeling (deep-fried nugget-sized chunks of cod), smoked eel, and rollmops.

Public holidays in the Netherlands

The Netherlands have 9 main holidays. They are:

Date	English Name	Dutch Name	Remarks
January 1	New Year's Day	Nieuwjaar	The day before is called "Old Year's Day" and not "New Year's Eve."
March/April	Good Friday	Goede Vrijdag	The Friday before Easter
March/April	Easter	Pasen	The Dutch celebrate two days of Easter (on Sunday and the subsequent Monday).
April 30	Queen's day	Koninginnedag	Originally, Koninginnedag was celebrated on the birthday of the queen, Queen's day is nowadays celebrated on the birthday of the late Queen-mother (Juliana), as better weather is expected. If April 30 is a Sunday, Koninginnedag is celebrated on the April 29.
May 4	Remembrance of the dead	Dodenherdenking	Remembrance of all members of the armed forces and civilians of the Kingdom of the Netherlands who died in war situations or peacekeeping missions since the outbreak of the Second World War.
May 5	Liberation day	Bevrijdingsdag	Celebration of the 1945 capitulation of German forces in World War II. Celebrated every year, but as of 2000, an official holiday once every 5 years.
40 days after Easter	Ascension Day	Hemelvaartsdag
7 weeks after Easter	Pentecost	Pinksteren	The Dutch celebrate two days of Pentecost (on Sunday and the subsequent Monday).
December 5	Saint Nicholas' Eve	Sinterklaas	A predecessor of Santa Claus, Sinterklaas gives presents to the children. This is not an official holiday but it is widely observed.
December 25, December 26	Christmas	Kerstmis	The Dutch celebrate two days of Christmas: Eerste Kerstdag (the first day of Christmas) and Tweede Kerstdag (the second day of Christmas).

Even though they are National Holidays, Good Friday and Ascension Day aren't mandatory days off for commercial companies, but most (semi)governmental organizations, banks and insurers honor these day with a day off work.

If time off is given on these days, it is usually a mandatory day off work, subtracted from workers' time off, whereas other National Holidays don't count towards vacation time.

Liberation Day is a National Holiday (with time off work) once every 5 years.

Time off isn't given for Remembrance of the dead (a National Holiday) or Saint Nicholas' eve (not a National Holiday).

The government also recognizes the period from Christmas until January 1st as 'equivalent' to holidays for the purpose of filings/payments to or by the government; if a term ends on such a day, the term is extended.

The Dutch St. Nicholas on his arrival in the town of Sneek

One of the most characteric festivities in the Netherlands is the feast of Saint Nicholas or Sinterklaas. It is celebrated especially in families with little children. In the United States the original figure of Dutch Sinterklaas has merged with Father Christmas into Santa Claus. In the Netherlands, gift-bringing at Christmas has recently gained some popularity too, but Sinterklaas is much more popular.

An other characteric festivity in the Netherlands is the feast of Saint Maarten The day is celebrated in the evening of November 11 in some parts of the Netherlands. Children go by the doors with paper lanterns and candles, and sing

songs about St. Martin and about their lantern in return for a treat. Often, a man dressed as St. Martin rides on a horse in front of the procession.

Dutch customs and etiquette

The Dutch have a code of etiquette which governs social behaviour and is considered important. Because of the international position of the Netherlands many books have been written on the subject. Some customs may not be true in all regions and they are never absolute. In addition to those specific to the Dutch, many general points of European ettiquette apply to the Dutch as well.

The people

Dutch society is egalitarian, individualistic and modern. The people are modest, tolerant, independent, self-reliant, and entrepreneurial. They value education, hard work, ambition and ability. The Dutch have an aversion to the nonessential. Ostentatious behaviour is to be avoided. Accumulating money is fine, but spending money is considered something of a vice and associated by some people with being a show-off. A high style is considered wasteful and suspect. The Dutch are proud of their cultural heritage, rich history in art and music and involvement in international affairs.

Greetings

· When entering a room it is customary to shake hands with everyone present, then to shake hands again on leaving. Usually an acquaintance will introduce a visitor to others, otherwise the guest introduces himself. The Dutch consider it rude not to identify oneself.

· When stopping in the street to chat with an acquaintance, a younger Dutch person especially will not take the trouble of introducing an accompanying friend.

· Phrases saying hello or goodbye differ between regions, but are generally understood everywhere. However, the use of dialectal forms, for example the Brabantic "houdoe", links the speaker to that region.

· When introducing themselves, the Dutch shake hands and generally say either their first or surname.

· When answering the phone, Dutch people say their first or first and last names, usually preceded by "met", which means (you're speaking) with.

· Children tend to answer the phone with their full name (first + surname) to avoid being mistaken for their parents.

· Yelling to an acquaintance from a distance is considered impolite.

· It is considered impolite to enter a house without being asked to. The Dutch consider it an invasion of privacy.

· It is polite to ask where to sit.

· When meeting friends and relatives, the Dutch usually kiss cheeks three times. Normally, the first kiss is on the right-hand cheek, the second on the left and the third again on the right (from the perspective of the person being kissed). This ritual is also often used when saying goodbye. Women will kiss women and men, whereas men kiss women but shake hands with other men.

· Male acquaintances, when not related, generally do not shake hands or have any other physical contact upon meeting and leaving and saying goodbye.

Body language

· Compared to most cultures, the Dutch are reserved in public and do not often touch each other or display anger or extreme exuberance.

· The Dutch value privacy and seldom interact with strangers, no matter where they are from. However this should not discourage foreigners in their actions. Dutch people are curious and when addressed will often try to converse or be of assistance.

· The Dutch expect eye contact while speaking with someone. Looking away or staring at the ground is considered impolite and may be perceived as lying.

· The Dutch tend to be reserved in using hand gestures. However, having your hands in pockets or arms crossed might be interpreted as of disinterest.

· The crazy sign is made by tapping the centre of your forehead with your index finger. This gesture is considered rude.

· To make things even more complex, the sign indicating someone is smart or intelligent is made by tapping the area around temporal bone (just above the ear) with the index finger.

· Winking at strangers will generally be perceived as a sexual advance and is unlikely to be appreciated.

Dining and entertainment

· A waiter or waitress is beckoned by raising a hand, perhaps adding "ober" (waiter) or "mevrouw" (which normally means "madam", but for a waitress it is correct) or "meneer'" (sir).

· Leaving a small tip is customary in restaurants.

· In most cases the Dutch will make it clear when they intend to pay the bill. If not assume the arrangement is to "go Dutch" . No one will be embarrassed at splitting the bill, which is the norm.

· On a romantic date, the man is expected to pay for the woman (although she may offer to pay her share out of politeness) She may leave the tip for the waiter.

· Dutch manners are frank and can be described as a no-nonsense attitude, informality combined with adherence to basic etiquette. This might be perceived as impersonal by some other cultures but is the norm in Dutch culture. As always, manners differ between groups. Asking about basic rules will not be considered impolite.

· Food does not play a major role in hospitality. It is not considered imperative for making someone feel welcome.

· Guests should not expect a meal unless the invitation mentions it. It is impolite to stay until dinner is about to be served. Dinner is often considered a family moment or a private moment. Usually only family or the closest of friends may join without asking.

· When inviting a Dutch person for dinner it is not automatic that the invitation will be reciprocated. Cooking and food are not considered important.

· Guests invited by a student or a younger person may be asked to share the costs of the ingredients.

· It is polite to keep hands above the table during a meal but elbows should be kept off the table. (Dinner) Parties may continue until very late in the evening, even early morning.

· It is normal to stay an hour or two after dinner. The Dutch dine early: often around 6 pm, unusually after 7pm.

· It is polite to offer to help out with the dishes or cleaning the table. Out of same politeness, the host will usually decline the offer.

· It is considered impolite to ask for a tour of the host's home. If offered, however, accepting is considered polite .

Conversation and language

· The Dutch avoid superlatives. Compliments are offered sparingly. When something is "not bad", "OK" or "nice", it is good, praise rather than disinterest.

· A person who never criticizes others or who's afraid to speak on his own behalf is seen as being simple-minded or failing to tell the truth. Foreigners do not need to worry much about saying something that might in their own culture hurt or be perceived as an insult. The Dutch argue but seldom take offense.

· The Dutch speak directly and use a lot of eye contact. To a foreigner this may seem to be intimidating, especially in cultures where matters are discussed with extreme care and politeness, but it is the way the Dutch prefer to communicate.

· In most languages, including English, the term "Holland" is used as a synonym for the Netherlands. Calling the Netherlands "Holland" when speaking to Dutch people may cause a discussion about what Holland actually is, but will rarely cause them to be offended. Remember that Holland is a region in the Netherlands, consisting of 2 (out of 12) provinces (North Holland and South Holland). On the other hand, the Dutch tourist office promotes the country abroad as "Holland".

· An exception is the national football (soccer) team, sometimes referred to as "Holland".

· Discussing expensive items purchased recently (or anything similar) will be seen as boasting. Asking personal questions is equally dangerous, as the Dutch are private and feel uncomfortable answering questions they deem too personal.

· This especially includes asking about income or other personal finances; asking how much someone earns will be seen as rude, and volunteering your own income as pretentious.

· Internationally, the Dutch are considered to be good at speaking foreign languages. This is because The Netherlands has a high standard of education and an education system which focuses on the international position of the country: English teaching starts in the last 2 years of elementary (or primary) school, and is an obligatory part of the national exam on all high schools. German and/or French are also taught and are often chosen as an end subject in which a final exam is taken in high school. Spanish or Chinese are also chosen by some students as end subjects, on top of the other languages. In higher forms of high school education, Latin and Greek are also taught.

· Due to close proximity to Germany and the similarities between Dutch and German, most Dutch also speak a fair amount of German. French is the third foreign language, but considerably less common than English or German.

· Trying to address the Dutch in their own native language may result in a reply in English. This can be frustrating for those who wish to improve their Dutch while those who are competent in Dutch may find replies in English patronizing. But Dutch people will perceive a foreigner trying to speak Dutch as someone who's having difficulty expressing himself, or may welcome the opportunity of trying their English.

· The Dutch will often correct or help with the pronunciation of words. Most Dutch find it charming that someone is trying, although some may be surprised a foreigner is attempting to learn the language.

Humor

Dutch humor has changed over the centuries. In the 16th century, the Dutch were renowned for their humor throughout Europe, and a large number of travel journals have notes on the happy and celebratory nature of the Dutch. Farces, joke books were in demand and many Dutch painters chose to paint humorous paintings, Jan Steen being a good example.

"Fighting peasants" by Adriaen Brouwer.

The main subjects in Dutch jokes at the time were deranged households, stupid Germans, drunk priests, and people with physical handicaps. However, at the end of the 17th the Dutch 'lost' their sense of humor. The Dutch Republic was in decline, the Dutch Reformed Church denounced laughter and advocated sober lifestyles, and etiquette manuals appeared which considered it rude to laugh out loud. This continued into the 1960s. During the Second World War Americans soldiers were instructed not to tell jokes to the Dutch, as "they wouldn't appreciate it". There are many comedians in the Netherlands. Currently the Dutch are considered to still have plenty of humour left within themselves, though the humour is often quite bold (and for some can be considered as rude, due to the heavy use of swear words which can be called racist) as well as occasionally adressing controversial or tense subjects. When making fun of other nations, the Dutch often target Germans, due to their perceived arrogance, and Belgians when it concerns stupidity.

Transport in the Netherlands

Train, bus and subway

The most easiest way to reach the Netherlands is the train. The Netherlands has an extensive and much-used railway network, which connects virtually all cities and many towns with each other. Trains are frequent, with one or two trains per hour on lesser lines, two to four trains per hour on most lines in the country and up to 8 or 10 trains an hour between the big cities. Trains are divided into two categories: stoptreinen (local trains, which call at all stations; these are called Sprinters on some lines) and intercities, which provide fast connections between the bigger cities. A intermediate category of sneltreinen (fast trains) is being fased out, starting in 2007, but is still used on some lines.

Off-Peak Discount Pass

In Dutch: Voordeelurenkaart.

For trains in the Netherlands there is an Off-Peak Discount Pass for €55/year, giving a 40% discount. Its validity starts at 09:00 AM (until 4:00 AM the next morning) on weekdays, and all day at weekends and in July and August. In the case of a group of up to four people, all get the discount even if only one has a pass.

Rail passes not requiring an additional ticket come in two versions: for a fixed route, and for the whole network. Both are mainly used by commuters. No off-peak discount version of these passes is offered since there is insufficient demand; commuters usually cannot avoid the rush hour. Ask also for “samenreiskorting” when you buy the train ticket. There is also train ticket called “weekend retour”. The reduce fare is 50% of the normal fee. You can depart on Friday after 19.00 and return on Saturday or Sunday.

Both regional and city buses can be found throughout the country. Because of the extensive train system, the number of long-distance buses is limited to a few missing railway connections.The ticket you need to enter the bus, is called strippenkaart. You need the blue one and not the pink one, as that is for students and 65+. The card is available at newsagents, tobaccoonists and post offices. You feed it into a punch mashine on board or have the driver to stamp it. There are maps at bus stops and the driver will asist you. The stamp is valid for one hour and you can change vehicles and routeswithin that time without having to stamp a new one. This is much cheaper than buying a single ticket to a bus or tram.

Some cities or villages can also be reached by a bus called “interliner”. You cannot use the strippenkaart, but you can only buy a ticket on the bus.

Only the largest cities (Amsterdam and Rotterdam) in the Netherlands offer the possibility to travel by subway.

Train taxi

If you arrive by train in a town or a city, you can take the train taxi. The set fare is 4 euro per person, regardless of the distance within the city limits. You have to buy your train taxi ticket atyour station of departure. Please notethat youmight have to wait for some time before the taxi drives off, because the driver will wait untill he has enough passengers. Waiting time should not exceed 10 minutes.

Car

Netherlands’network of modern, well-maintained roadways includes high speed ways, limited-access expressways. multi-lane high ways and scenic country roads. All roads are well sign posted. The speed limit in the Netherlands is 100 or120km per hour.

Night service

There is a night service, called Nachtnet (Night Network, although it is just a single U-shaped line) with a hourly service connecting Rotterdam Central , Delft, The Hague Central, Leiden Central , Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam Central, Utrecht Central (i.e., most of the large cities in the Randstad as well as the main airport). Due to the U-shape, the travelling time from the first four stations to Utrecht is longer than during the day. From friday to sunday the nightservice is expanded to several other cities, maily in the Province of North Brabant. The trains from Rotterdam Centraal continue to Dordrecht, Breda and Tilburg. And the trains from Utrecht Centraal continue to 's-Hertogenbosch and Eindhoven.

Cycling in the Netherlands

White bicycles, for free use, in Hoge Veluwe National Park, the Netherlands

Cycling is a very common and popular method of transportation. Bicycles are mainly used for short-distance rides such as shopping, going into school and work. It is also popular to use bicycles for recreational purposes.

The Netherlands are well equipped with cycle-paths and other segregated cycle facilities. The network stretches to all provinces, and the bordering nations Belgium and Germany. The country values its cycleways as much as any other method of transportation - like a network of roads, these cycleways can take you from any city to a destination of your choice - even on long distances such as from Maastricht to Amsterdam. These cycleways come in many forms, with their own set of rules and systems - including traffic signals (or traffic lights), tunnels and lanes.

Education in the Netherlands is characterized by division: education is oriented toward the needs and background of the pupil. Education is divided over schools for different age groups, some of these are in turn divided in streams for different educational levels. Schools are furthermore divided in public and special (religious) schools. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks the education in the Netherlands as the 9th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.

Compulsory education (leerplicht) in the Netherlands starts at the age of five, although in practice, most schools accept children from the age of four. From the age of sixteen there is a partial compulsory education (partiële leerplicht), meaning a pupil must attend some form of education for at least two days a week. Compulsory education ends for pupils age eighteen and up.

There are public, special (religious), and private schools. The first two are government-financed and officially free of charge, though schools may ask for a parental contribution (ouderbijdrage).

Public schools are controlled by local governments. Special schools are controlled by a school board. Special schools are typically based on a particular religion. There are government financed Catholic and Protestant elementary schools, high schools, and universities, furthermore there are government financed Jewish and Muslim elementary schools and high schools. Practically there is little difference between special schools and public schools, except in traditionally religious areas like Zeeland and the Veluwe (around Apeldoorn). Private schools do not receive financial support from the government.

There is also a considerable number of publicly financed schools which are based on a particular educational philosophy, for instance the Montessori Method, Pestalozzi Plan, Dalton Plan or Jena Plan. Most of these are public schools, but some special schools also base themselves on any of these educational philosophies.

In elementary and high schools the students are assessed annually by a team of teachers, who determine whether the pupil has advanced enough to move on to the next grade. If the pupil has not advanced enough he or she may have to retake the year (blijven zitten, English: stay seated); this is an uncommon occurrence. Highly intelligent children are sometimes granted the opportunity to skip an entire year, yet this happens rarely and usually in elementary schools.

All school types (public, special and private) are under the jurisdiction of a government body called Onderwijsinspectie (Education Inspection) and can be forced to make changes in educational policy or risk closure.

Health system

The Dutch health system is orgonizaed around the general practitioners or huisarts and he or she is the first one you goto when you have a medical problem. In case of accident and emergency every hospital will provide first aid. Dutch doctors, as any others, have a professional code of ethics which forbits them passing on information about their patients.

Medical assistanse in the Netherlands is not for free. So you must have insuranse to cover any medical expenses resulting from illness, injury or hospitalization. The insurance that the AU PAIR usually gets, does not cover the costs of veneral deseases, pregnancy or child birth and it also does not cover the costs of correcting a condition you had before the policy was taken out.

Make sure your family took out an insurance for you!

Travelling

The Netherlands are small, but you will make a good choise by travelling.

First of all, if you are not an European Union countries resident, you need a MVV - stamp in your passport to come to the Netherlands and if you want to travel, you must have a VVR bep. pass (VErblijfsvergunning) for the Schengen countries (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden).

Note: when you apllied (with a MVV)for a VVR-bep. visa, you officially must stay in the Netherlands until you receive the pass!

If you decided to travel, for information you can go to the tourist offices marked “VVV” or check on in the internet www.vvv.nl where you can find links to the vvv office in your region.

In VVV offices you can find maps, schedules of events, and you can ask for assistanse in different issues. The tourists offices are always centrally located, most often near the train station. In case you are planning to visit museums, we advise to buy “Museumjaarkaart” (Museum Year Card/www.museumjaarkaart.nl). This card entitles you to discounted entry to more than 350 museums and castels. the card can be bought at the VVV offices or at the participating museums and you’ll need a passfoto for it. For adults up 24 years Museumjaarkaart costs €17,50,- + €4,95 administrative costs; for people older than 25 it will cost €35,- + €4,95 administrative costs.

Another choise will be Cultural Youth Passport.

CYP is available to young people ut to age of 26 and entitles them to reductions on the prices of admission to the theatres, cinemas and museums, the cost of compact discs, travel and on subsription to periodicals and libraries. It is valid in some other 20 European countries which operate similar schemas.

For forther information vizit http://www.cjp.nl/

CJP is also known as the Dutch Euro<26 card organisation that offers you great discounts at more than 1.500 places in the Netherlands. Get your discount on visiting the places listed above in any place that carries the Euro<26 logo.

We advise you to check also at the localtawn hall whether or not your city offers a kind of discount card for newly arrivals (for example the Rotterdam Pass with discounts on almoust anything, from travelling and drinks tohaircuts and visits to the zoo).

Cities to visit

Every city in the Netherlands has something special and worth it to visit.

Here is some information about the largest cities and useful links, but we advise not to avoid small towns, this will only develop you general knowledge about the country. ????????

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is an international city of culture, with a highly diverse population from various backgrounds enjoying a broad range of arts and culture. From its humble beginnings as a 13th century fishing village on a river bed to it's current role as a major hub for business, tourism and culture, Amsterdam has had a strong tradition as a center of culture and commerce.

A city sprung out of marshes and grasslands, surrounded by water and 'floating' on a web of canals. How can that be? Throughout time, Amsterdam has uncovered innovative ways to thrive within its natural surroundings.From its historical buildings and museums, to its cosmopolitan life, Amsterdam offers a stimulating variety of arts, culture and sights in nearly 60 theatres, 45 museums, and 141 commercial art galleries... as well as squares, parks, forests, countryside, boats, and of course, the canals themselves. In the same time Amsterdam has much to offer to people with special interests, such as as children & families, gays, lesbians & bisexuals, and the disabled.

De Munt

Utrechtsestraat

Van Gogh Museum

Rotterdam

Rotterdam 2015? Watertoren (De Esch)

Willemsbrug De Leuvehaven

Founded in the mid 13th century, over the centuries Rotterdam grew from a fishing village into an international centre of trade, transport, industry and distribution. At the beginning of the Second World War, on 14 May 1940, virtually the entire city centre was devastated by a German bombardment. This explains why scarcely any pre-war buildings have remained in this part of Rotterdam. After the war, reconstruction of what had been destroyed was given the highest priority.

Now, many years later, a new, modern city centre has risen from the ashes. The avant-garde architecture is famous at home and abroad.

The city that is so unlike Holland's other cities. Located on the mighty Maas River. Rotterdam is the largest port in the world. Being the ''Gateway to Europe'' Rotterdam has a hinterland of 500 million inhabitants. Its international orientation as a port and the regeneration of its city centre have made Rotterdam a business city without parallel.

City with outstanding architecture and delightful culture. City with an abundance of attractions, festivals and museums. A swinging, young city culture and excellent shopping facilities, restaurants and cafes.

Some four million visitors find their way to the wide variety of top attractions in Rotterdam each year. The city offers something for everyone: those who love the hectic bustle of the city or who want to rise up into the air or who want to look into the eyes of sharks, but also for people who are searching for the peace and beauty of nature. One of Rotterdam's main attractions is Diergaarde Blijdorp, the extensive zoo that includes the impressive Oceanium, where visitors can walk through the huge shark tunnel surrounded by sharks and giant tortoises. A visit to Rotterdam would not be complete without a tour of the harbour on the Spido or a visit to the 185m-high Euromast. Fun for the whole family can be had at the Plaswijckpark with its extensive playground, road safety training park and zoo. For an oasis of peace in the middle of the hectic city, visit the lovely gardens of Arboretum Trompenburg.

Whatever your interests are, whatever you want to do, Rotterdam is sure to pleasantly surprise you!

The Hague ('s-Gravenhage)

Founded in 1248 Holland’s Royal City has a rich history and tradition. It never fails to impress visitors with its elegant atmosphere, broad tree lined avenues, boutiques, castles and of course the Dutch Parliament.

Hofvijver and the buildings of the Dutch parliament

View of the 'Hoftoren' (left) and the Ministry of Public Health, Wellbeing and Sports (right)

The Hague City Hall

The Peace Palace

Binnenhof and the Knight's Hall, the political centre of the Netherlands

Binnenhof buildings at night

Monument at the 1813 Square (Plein 1813)

The Royal Noordeinde Palace

The Hague does not have a reputation for a bustling night life, most probably because it has no university and thus little student life. What night life there is centres around the three main squares in the city centre: "Het Plein" (literally "The Square"), the Grote Markt (literally "Large Market") and the "Buitenhof" (literally the "Outer Court", which lies just outside the Binnenhof). The Buitenhof contains the popular Pathé Buitenhof cinema and a handful of bars and restaurants in the immediate vicinity. A similar pattern of night life centers on the cinema in Scheveningen, although, especially in summer, night-life concentrates around the sea-front boulevard with its bars, restaurants, gambling halls and other entertainment.

In general The Hague also means enjoying cultural events, concerts, art exhibits, a night out at the theatre, shopping in the city centre, or blowing away the cobwebs and at Scheveningen beach. After a bracing walk at the seaside and a drink in one of the many nice cafés on the boulevard in Kijkduin, or a wonderful dinner in the centre of town, you can choose from a wide range of things to do in The Hague. The Hague is a wonderful city full of life, all year round!

Utrecht

Utrecht is the fourth largest city in the Netherlands. The old city has the 14th-century tower of St Martin’s Cathedral, the 113 m (370 ft) tall church is known for being the loftiest church tower in the country. There is the 15th century Catholic Cathedral, a house built in 1523 for the only the Utrechtian Dutch Pope, Adrian VI 1522-1523. It is also a university city (The university was founded in 1636); possibly one of the reasons why Utrecht is so dynamic.
The city houses the Netherlands prides, the National Museum of Christianity and the National Archives. It also is the center of the country’s rail network, and has a railway museum.

The major attraction of the city—the Hoog Catharijne—is the biggest shopping center in whole of Europe. It is so massive that it appears like an alien spaceship, which is trying to confront the visitors on their way from the railroad station, the bus station, or the parking lots. The city houses some of the superb museums, which were originally worn-out historic buildings.

Utrecht is a great city to roam around in. You have the opportunity to walk learnig more about its history. The walk is available from the Utrecht Tourist Information Office.


boats in a canal

street in Utrecht

Dom Tower of Utrecht

Maastricht

Maastricht has a legitimate claim to being the oldest city in the Netherlands. Maastricht, or Mosae Trajectum, was established by the Romans over 2050 years ago along the military and trade route between Gaul, now France, and the military reinforcements along the Rhine. The city square known as the Vrijthof has great historical significance, flanked to the west by the Basilica of St. Servatius, the oldest church in the country and named after Maastricht's patron saint. The shrine of St. Servatius was for centuries the focus of pilgrimages from allover Europe.

View of Maastricht

Bonnefanten Museum

History and art aficionados will not be disappointed in Maastricht. Its historic city centre is explored best by foot. Apart from ancient fortifications, admired by Napoleon and Czar Peter the Great of Russia and basilicas, more temporary art can be found at the Bonnefanten museum or on the streets of Maastricht, where you will find many statues and sculptures by famous Dutch designers. Maastricht has more than 1450 monuments and historic buildings which, after Amsterdam, is more than in any other city in the Netherlands.

To find out more about Maastricht’s rich culture, join one of the guided tours that leave from the local tourist board (‘t Dinghuis, Kleine Staat) regularly.

Tilburg

Sint Jozefkerk (Saint Joseph church)

Everybody is welcome in Tilburg, the 'heart of Brabant'. Whether you would like to wander through the beautiful nature which surrounds the city or want to visit a museum, Tilburg has a lot to offer. Fancy a concert or a movie? It's all possible. But there are also many chances for studying, working and living over here.

View of Tilburg

old market

the palace

Tilburg is developing permanently. The city has already become transferred in the past decades but also in the years to come many things will change and improve. Having more than 200.000 inhabitants, Tilburg is a versatile city that is growing and renewing in the suburbs and the centre.

At the end of the Hart van Brabantlaan for instance, one of the highest residential towers of the Netherlands has been built: Westpoint. The urban council has also big plans for the neighbourhood of, to name but a few, the Spoorlaan, the Piushaven (harbour) and the Pieter Vreedeplein in the centre and the Kempenbaan in the southern suburb.
Culture is an important issue in Tilburg. Although the city does not have many material examples of a rich cultural history, it has a lot to offer in this field. Almost every evening you can enjoy live shows in the centre: popmusic in 013, jazz in Paradox, classical music in the Concertzaal and performing arts in the Stadsschouwburg.

concertzaal fair

The musea, amongst which De Pont and Nederlands Textielmuseum, stock big collections and they house changing expositions. Art is for sale in several galleries. For cultural education Tilburg has got an art academy, a conservatory and the only higher vocational education rock academy in the Netherlands.

The annual Tilburgtraktaties, diverse cultural 'treatments', draw thousands of visitors each. For more than ten years now they are a smash hit. There are way too many events to mention them all. A few examples: Tilburg has the largest fair in the Netherlands, every summer nine days in the heart of the city. Also interesting are Tilburg winecity, Festipet streettheater, the fleamarket Meimarkt, the Tilburg Ten Miles sportsgame for runners, etcetera. More information is available at the tourist office informationdesk.

Den Bosch (’s-Hertogenbosch)

A mini-holiday away from it all? That's certainly possible in 's-Hertogenbosch. With its small streets and old house frontages, 's-Hertogenbosch has managed to maintain its Middle Ages character. The city of the famous painter Jheronimus Bosch, who lived and worked here for many years, is multifaceted and has something to offer everyone. Really unique are the centuries old small streams in the city, the Binnendieze and the Groote Stroom that wind other bridges, arches, and between the houses.
's-Hertogenbosch has a treasure trove of interesting culturally historic buildings such as the old city walls, the imposing city hall, the oldest brick house De Moriaan and the beautiful, lavishly decorated late Gothic St. John's Cathedral. The city offers a varied selection of shops and exclusive boutiques that lie spread across the centre between the many convivial terraces.
Den Bosch is also famous for canal system. The Binnendieze is a small canal system through the city that flows underneath the city centre. Many visitors find themselves pleasantly surprised by the exciting waterway, the unique stillness and the beautiful bridge archways. There are 5 different historical-cultural routes, including 3 boat trips and 2 walking tours/boat trips, and it is also very conviniet way for sightseeng.

Here are the places you shouldn't miss coming to visit Den Bosch:

St John's Cathedral, De Moriaan, De Uilenburg, Town Hall, Fortress town, Citadel, City walls


Vestingmuur

Sint-Catharinakerk

Noordbrabants Museum

Standbeeld Jeroen Bosch

Au pair Meetings

These kind of meetings give you a possibility to meet other au pairs who are placed all over the Netherlands, allowing you to make new friends, exchange experiences and maybe find a travel partner. Don’t miss this, come and enjoy these days that we plan especially for you!

Note: If you agreed coming to a meeting, we expect you to show up. You have to understand we have to make reservations and plan our activities. We therefore advise you to give us a call, if you cannot make it.

Dutch courses

The host family will advise your concerning Dutch courses in your region.

Staying in the family

First hours in the family arethe most important, The family was expected you to come and all the members, especially children, are very curious to to find out as much as possible about you. So you have to be prepared to answer many questions and don’t hesitate to ask them back.

Things to resolve in first days:

Ÿ List of phone numbers - parents, emergency numbers.

Ÿ Your day schedule - time for children toget up, to go to the bed, what time they have to go to school, come back, do you have to pick them up, where, lunch, dinner time, who is cooking in the family and any other questions you and your family find important. We advise you to makea written form schedule, to avoin any misunderstandings in the future.

Ÿ “Home rules”. May be same of them you can consider (AMUSEMENT????????)but in practice they are very important. Ask the parents about methods of education (food, plays, toys, TV, computer, what are the children allowed to do, what is forbiden, how to respond on children‘s screams etc.); where is the school, kindergarden, playground, post office, shops; selection of garbige; where does the family shopping; condition for using computer, home phone, DVD, TV; till what time you can go out in the evening; are you allowed to bring friends to your place; may you give the home phone number to other people and etc.

Ÿ Ask about Dutch courses for you - schedule, how many times in week, the best way to get there, will the family pay for it (Note: not all the families are paing for the Dutch courses.)

Your obligations - what exactly has to be done during the day. Don’t hesitate to ask about the things you do not know, family will apreciate if you you will try to do your best in this case you might expect the same from them.

Usually Au Pairs have following obligations, but you have to realise that it will vary (but not to much) from family to family.

List of obligations approved by Netherlands Au Pair Organization:

* Washing dishes

* Loading and unloading the dishwasher

* Preparing simple meals

* Keeping the kitchen in order and general tidying up

* Shopping for light groceries

* Loading laundry into the washing machine

* Packing away laundry/clothes

* Ironing

* Tidying and cleaning of children’s room(s)

* Tidying and cleaning of own room(s)

* Tidying and cleaning in general

* Vacuuming

* Dusting

* Keeping floors clean

* Taking out garbage but only on the ground floor

* Walking and feeding pets

* Watering plants and taking care of plants/flowers

* Making and changing beds

Tasks which may not be part of expected light household chores:

* all and any tasks for which the au pair is solely responsible within the host family

* all tasks with regard to gardening and the garden

* washing of windows (inside and outside)

* scrubbing

* mopping/scrubbing any area large than 30 m2

* washing/cleaning a car or automobile

* cleaning of bathroom facilities unless such facilities are to be used solely by the au pair

Homesickness

First weeks you will have homesick and this is something normal. It is not a bad thing. This only means you care about the people and places ayou have left behind for a while.

Right things to do:

Ÿ Stay busy. It is important to go out and meet other people as soon as possible, start colling to other Au Pairs in your area, or just for a walk.

Ÿ Avoid calling home too much. First of all it’s a good way to save some money and this won’t help to adapt in new family. Writing letters, or e-mail, will make you feel like you are in touch with you frends and family. Be honest with the family about how you feel. They will notice if you are unhappy and knowing the reason will make it easier for them to help and support you.

Ÿ Be proactive. You are the only one for whom everything is new and different. Your family as well has to get used with you staying at their place. And it is mainly up to you to make the year of stay in the Netherlands unforgetable. This does require from you toshow the interest and initiative: ask questions, play with childrens rather than just watching them playing, help to clear the table after the dinner, etc. Little things like this will mean a lot to the family.

Ÿ Be honest. Open communication is the key. We highly recomend you to be honest and open in a polite manner, of course, having talks with your host-family. Otherwise there is no way for them to know how do you feeland together you can resolve any problems.

Eating habits

Dutch families (in general) value sharing family meals together. That is way the family will expect you to join, even when you are not hungry. You have to know that the children need to be set an example not to eat throughout the day, but at the set time. Besides, this is a good opportunity to build a good relationship with the family.

Cultural shock

Moving into a new home with people you know from phone convesation is difficult. You will have to deal with new customs, new ways of doing things, new types of food and so on. This is a part of the experience. In this case we advise you to have an open and positive mind for all the things. howeverthis doess not mean that the year in the Netherlands will be succesful all the time. For sure, there will be moments when you will prefer to go home istead of staying here. At that moment you stop being a tourist and the people around you expecting you to become a memberof their every-day life.

What might help you to overcome the problems of a cultural shock:

Ÿ Don’t lock yourself up in your bedroom. You should try to be active and fimd interesting activities;

Ÿ Try to read as much about the Dutch culture as possible. The more you know about the culture the better you can understand the inhabitants;

Ÿ Is not right to think that you are alone. Expres your feelings to your host family or your friends;

Ÿ If you think the problem you have is of another kind, you can always contact Mission Hollandaise.

Staying with children

You realise that most of your time you will spend with the children. This is not easy, but in the same time is not so difficult if you know how to find a way for a goog relationship with a child. One more important thing you have to know that the children from your host family are not the same as your brothers, sisters and any other relatieves. You have to build ?????????different kind of relation with them.

First of all, you may find the way your host family has chosen to bring up their children is totally different from what ou are used to, and each family will have its own rules and ways of dealing with misbehavior. The only right thing for you to do is to respect these rules and follow them. It does not mean that you are not allowed to make suggestions and find your own way to children, but, again, it should not contradict to parents’. And, of course, it is essential that you communicate with your host parents about issues relating to the children. You have to know that the parents are the only one who can support you and advise what to do. It is everyone’s interest to have a good relationship with the children, so the parents will do their best.

Show sincere interest in the children. Ask them about everything, propose new games to play, new books to read and any other fun activities. They might not take it immediatly but with a little patience they will. Children, even very young ones, are very smart and will sense if you are genuinely interested in being a part of their lives.

Don’t expect to win children’s trust very soon. The most important is to make a good start from the beginnig. Be flexible and avoid confrontations with children. It will help if you make things into a game, to let the children do the things you want them to. Also helps pretending that you need their help. Especially it works in the beginning when you don’t speak Dutch very well, you may ask them to learn you to speak the language. Children like more to teach then to be tought!

Gross Misconduct?????????????synonym

Gross misconduct is leaded either by the Au Pair or by the host family that gives rise for the contract to be immediately terminated without further notice and compensation.

Examples of gross misconduct by the Au Pair:

Ÿ leaving children unattended;

Ÿ psysical abuse of children;

Ÿ theft;

Ÿ drugs;

Ÿ smoking if especially prohibited in the family;

Ÿ inviting a person to stay overnightin the family home against the express wishes of the family;

Ÿ consistently failing to adjust to the Host Family/Au Pair Agreement;

Ÿ misleading the family on the application form;

Ÿ engaging in sexual relation with a member of the host-family’

Ÿ alcohol abuse.

Examples of gross misconduct by the hostfamily:

Ÿ physical or mental abuse of the Au Pair;

Ÿ theft of the Au Pair;

Ÿ sexual molestation of the Au Pair by any member of the host family;

Ÿ consistently failing to adjust to the Host Family/Au Pair Agreement;

Ÿ violation of rights (e.g. confiscation of passport, luggage etc.);

Ÿ non-payment og pocket money or any other payment due.

Remember!

Most of the problems can be resolved through conversation!

Never smack a child or use phisical punishment in any way!

Never leave chidren unattended when on duty!

Make sure you lock up when leaving the house, even if it is just a pop out for few minutes!

Respect the family’s need to spend time on their own once in a while. Although most families will treat you as part of their family, the parents may sometimes have personal issues to discuss. The fact that you are supposed to to be treated as a family member also means that the family is not expected to treat you as a guest throughout your stay and are not meant to entertain you always, once you have settled in the area you live in.

Important to know:

Guidelines for au pairs and host families

2nd revised version as established by NAPO’s members at the general assembly on June 11th 2005

Guidelines

Age:

An au pair is not younger than 18 and not older than 26 years of age.

Working hours:

Maximum of 30 hours per week spread out over a maximum of five (5 )days during which the au pair is not allowed to work more than a maximum of eight (8) hrs per day. Babysitting activities can be undertaken over a maximum period of three (3) evenings perweek.

Duration of stay:

An au pair stays with a family for a maximum of 12 consecutive months.

Leisure time:

2 days per week and a minimum of one full weekend once per month.

Vacation:

An au pair is entitled to two (2) weeks of paid vacation per 12 months, during which time the au pair’s pocket money will be paid in full. If the au pair placement is for a shorter period of time, vacation is awarded accordingly.

Pocket Money:

A minimum of 300 Euro per month, regardless of whether or not the au pair actually works the maximum number of 30 hours per week and a maximum of 340 Euro per month.

Insurance:

The host family is responsible for taking out and paying for health, accident, repatriation and travel insurance in the au pair’s name for the duration of stay.

Room and Board:

All costs during the duration of the au pair’s stay regard to food and drink will be paid by the host family. The au pair is to be registered at the same address the host family while at the same time actually staying and living there. In other words, the au pair lives the family at one and the same address, thus becoming part of the family as is the spirit of the au pair program. At this address, the au pair must have a with a window containing a minimum of a bed, a and a chair. Bath/shower facilities must be offered and when desired being able to use.

Travelling Costs:

It is to be agreed in advance whether the host family the au pair is obliged to pay for such costs. Normaly the family will reimburse the costs after completition of the agreement.

School- and language course costs:

A maximum of 240 Euro annually will be paid by host family.

Visa:

The host family together with the au pair are responsible for applying for where applicable. Any candidate who decides to leave the family without notice will be reported at the police and considerd to be an illegal person in the Netherlands. Insurance as well as other subsribtions will cancelled asap.

Police:

0900-8844

Emergency:

112

Mission Hollandaise

06-19412136