Firstly, both myself and my partner have European citizenship so some of this information would not be relevant if you are seeking a work/living permit for the Netherlands. I have a British passport, my partner a Dutch passport.

Finding a place to live.
Short-term accommodation: Due to the high price of hotels and short-term rental apartments we gave ourselves 7 nights to a place to live permanently. For a short-term apartment while we searched I used www.vbro.com, I have used this site to find short term accommodation in 3 continents now and have no complaints.

Longer-term rental (Te Huur): We had a look around papers and websites, and sent a few emails to ask for a look at places thought would be suitable. After a couple of days of not hearing back from anyone (in fact we never did hear back from any) we headed to Rots-Vast Group on Singel 370 and spoke directly to one of the staff there. The number to call them on is +31(0)20-6391149. There wasn’t a lot to choose from in our price range but in two days we had looked at 3 places and found one we would be happy to live in. Rots-Vast required one months rent as payment for their services and walked us right through the process. They needed proof of ID, proof of ability to pay etc. I would definitely recommend using them if you want this process to be quick and painless.

Tax Number – BSN or SoFi number
Once you arrive to live in Amsterdam you need to register with the council and get a So-Fi number. In NZ this is the equivalent of an IRD Number (Au – Tax File number). This process will also register your name against the rental property so you get billed for water and local services such as rubbish collection. These costs are NOT included in the cost of your monthly rental. We have been told to expect another €1000 local fees per year.
To get your Sofi number you need to visit the Gemeente Dienst Persoons- en Geo-informatie. I don’t think many people would walk out with a So-Fi number the first time they make this visit but here’s what you need as a start:
- Your passport
- Your rental agreement
- Your birth certificate – we needed an apostille or stamped version on ours as NZ is not a trusted country*.
- Your Marriage certificate & name change certificate if relevant
The one we went to was located at Stadhouderskade 85. You need to allow 2 hours for the process as there is normally a queue. You will get a number when you first enter the building, then have to sit and wait until your number is posted on the electronic board and then you can go into the office and present your papers. Beware it closes at 4pm.

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(* You can order a NZ birth certificate from here: NZ DIA
Once it arrives you can send it back to the DIA to get an apostille stamp click here for the form.)

Bank Account
Next comes a bank account – you can’t transfer the power over to your name on your apartment until you have a bank account number, same with getting phone and internet connected. We went to our local Rabobank with our Sofi number, passports, rental agreement and proof of income/savings. We had an account set up in two days and were then able to call the power company to get the power changed over once we had an account number. Ask the bank to set up internet banking etc whilst you are in the branch.

Power/Gas
Luckily when you take over an apartment the power etc stays on (not like in NZ where is gets clean cut off), you just let the power company know the reading of the day you moved in -usually the measurement is taken when the keys are handed over from the landlord. This meant we could use power while we were still getting a bank account sorted which was a real bonus. The power company we used is Nederland Energie.

Rates & Water etc
The bill for local council tax & water came through a few weeks after registering with the Gemeente. This will continue to be in your name until you re-register with the Gemeente when leaving your apartment.

Phone & Internet
We hooked up with UPC on their cheapest package, it included TV – we didn’t have a choice. The internet speed is ok and this is the company most locals used when we asked around. UPC will send you the modem etc and you have to plug it all in, the configuration in our apartment meant we had to purchase an additional cable, even though UPC send you a thousand different types. The guy at the shop we bought the cable from knew exactly what we needed so must be a common problem.
Alternatively, you could use pre-paid internet – Vodafone.nl has a good deal for €20 pre-paid data – either using a data stick or ipad sim. It’s quick easy and relatively cheap. Just a note that wireless doesn’t work that well in the middle of our brick apartment building.

Rubbish & Recycling
If you are living in the city centre there are rubbish bins every few hundred meters. Not hard to spot. The recycling is a little more challenging and here’s what I have found so far
Glass – glass (GLAS) recycling bins are located with the normal (REST) bins in about half of the bins sites in the city. If you buy a crate of beer, Albert Heijn supermarket will take the crate with the empty bottles.
Paper – paper (PAPIER) recycling bins are located, with the GLAS bins & the normal (REST) bins in about half of the bins sites in the city.
Cans – aluminum and tin. To my horror these go in the normal rubbish. Apparently they get pulled out of the rubbish at the processing plant using a huge magnet (think Toy Story 3). It is pretty hard breaking a recycling habit of a lifetime and putting cans into the rubbish so we are trying to buy things (like beer & soft drinks) in glass instead of cans.
Plastic – the plastic recycling bins are not so common and are not with the normal and glass/paper bins. The plastic recycling bins are large orange coloured metal bins placed on the road-side. My local one is located near Houtmankade 64 near Westerperk.

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Supermarkets also recycle plastic bottles that they sell – and you get some money back. You place the bottle in the machine (located at Albert Heijn and Naturewinkel stores) and it will print out a receipt which you redeem at the counter when purchasing your groceries.
Big stuff – you can put out your large rubbish items once a week and they will get collected. The day depends on your area – there is normally a sign with the day and time they do the large rubbish pick up close to the normal rubbish bins.

Bicycles (Fietsen)
The best place to pick up a second hand bicycle is from any of the cycle shops around the city. We got one’s for €150 which go ok. The fiets shops will also do any renovations required like new tyres, fitting pannier bags etc. All the locals advise to get a lock (or two) as loads of cycles are stolen each year. From what I can see, there are hundreds of unused bicycles around the city and it would guess it is only drunk midnight misbehavior when bikes go missing. Needless to say I still lock my bike when I am parking for any great length of time.

Finding work
I am not sure I can provide advice on this yet as I am still looking!
Eva Kempinger does a ‘meet and greet’ session for expats looking for work in Amsterdam – she has some good advice – you can check out when the next session is on her site Expats@work.

Here’s a list of sites that I have registered with. Note that agencies will only meet with you once you have applied for a job and they think you are a suitable candidate for the role. We tried visiting some agencies to introduce ourselves but they were not interested.

Linkedin – definitely set yourself up with a linked in profile: www.linkedin.com
If you are lucky enough to have creative skills the equivalent is behance: www.behance.com

www.monsterboard.nl
www.undutchables.nl
www.bluelynx.com
www.logicalpeople.nl
www.octagon.nl
www.madisonparker.nl
www.ranstad.nl
www.itjobboard.nl
www.togetherabroad.nl

Amsterdam Craigslist can occasionally have jobs listed that aren’t dubious looking.

The Iamsterdam site and Expatica.nl have loads more sites & job hunting advice.

The main advice I have been given is to make sure my CV is really short (i.e. 2 pages) and that things take a while! good luck

Eating & buying groceries
I heard someone say the Dutch don’t go out to eat Dutch food – they go out to eat international food. And this really does seem true, with so many eating options throughout the city.

Best food (so far): Bo Cinq on Prinsengracht, Holy Ravioli on Spandammerstraat, and frites of course!
Best cocktails: Bo Cinq on Prinsengracht and Manzanos on Rozengracht (go the Mojito!)
Bio cleaning products & toilet paper: Naturewinkel on Haarlemmerstraat
Fresh fruit & veg: Noorder Market on Saturdays and on Haarlemmerport market on Wednesdays
Cheese: the BEST cheese shop in town is Kaashuis Tromp on Utrechtsestraat
Extra’s and bread: Albert Heijn which is on nearly every street (beware they only take cash and bank card – no credit)
We just discovered Marqt too – a very nice bio food market on Overtoom. (They don’t take cash).

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Having fun
There are loads of things to do in Amsterdam but a couple of the things we have enjoyed is:
The Melkweg, which is a concert hall, and has loads of amazing artists playing. You have to buy membership (either monthly or yearly) along with your ticket.
Pathe cinema’s show all the latest films – and they have an €18.50 per month all you can view movie pass, which is a great deal. You can sign up for the pass at most Pathe cinema’s, just take along your passport for ID and bank card.

Public transport
I have written an earlier post about Public transport – view here. Just to note that traveling on the ferry’s is free – and you can take your bicycles on board – a great way to see more of the outer city!

As I found out today – it’s not necessarily because the information isn’t there, more I hadn’t found it yet! Today I came across the Amsterdam Public transport website, with ferry & bus timetable – the English version…handy!.

Click here to access the Amsterdam journey planner.

Click here to access the Public Transport website – GVB.

Take torches, warm clothes and steady footwear. To get the full effect it’s best to walk in the dark! The winter nights are a good opportunity to see them early – we went at about 7pm.

Enter the Gardens off Glenmore Street and head to the duck pond (Feeding the ducks in the dark is quite amusing too), from the duck pond, head up the path as though you were heading to the children’s playground. Instead of taking the path to the play ground, take the right one along the side of the stream, the glow worms are visible around here and down in the stream banks below. Enjoy!

Mix together:

220 ml warm water (not hot, not cold)

1/2 cup yoghurt (I use Bio farm Organic Bush Honey Yoghurt)

2 tsp lemon juice

Place in bread maker pan

Then add:

2 tsp Olive Oil

1 Tbsp Sugar

1 tsp Salt

4 cups Flour (try to use high grade flour as it has a high protein content)

3 tsp Yeast + bread improver (I have a jar of yeast mixture that is combined with bread improver, if you have separate products use 1 tsp bread improver, 2 tsp yeast)

Put the pan in the bread maker and set to dough setting. I normally do this a night and set the dough to be ready an hour after I wake. The idea as that the dough has time to rise a bit extra.

Turn the oven on to 180 degrees centigrade with fan. Empty out the dough onto floured bench and cut into two loaves. Place on floured or lined baking tray. If it is a sunny morning, cover with a tea towel and put in the sun whilst the over is warming to the correct temperature. Bake for 15 minutes.

1 good sized Onion, diced

4 large pieces of Garlic, chopped or crushed

300 – 500 grams beef Mince

4 rashers Bacon

1 bag or around 4 bunches Spinach

1 250g pot of Cottage Cheese

1 t Nutmeg

2 Eggs

Salt and Pepper to season

1 jar Tomato Passata or 2 cans crushed Tomatoes.

1 box Cannelloni tubes (I usually have one box extra spare in case I have too much mixture)

Grated Cheese for the top

Step 1) Cook Onion and garlic in frying pan with oil of choice. Add Bacon, then Mince to cook. Cool.

Step 2) Steam Spinach. Once Steamed, chop into bits (I normally uses scissors and chop 4 – 5 times whilst in the steamer). Cool.

Step 3) Combine Cottage Cheese, Eggs, Nutmeg and seasoning in a large bowl. Mix to gether, then add cooled Spinach and meat. This makes a bowl of slop. Now prepare to get a little messy…..

Step 4) Firstly prepare the dish you are going to cook the Cannelloni in, an oblong oven dish is the best. Tip either one can of Tomatoes or half the Tomato Passata into the dish as a base.

Step 5) Once the mixture is cool enough to handle, start filling the tubes with the mixture. Make sure you have clean hands! You can try using a spoon but it is easiest to hover the tube over the bowl and shove the mixture in at one end as far as possible then flip and fill the other end using your fingers. Once stuffed full, place the tube in the dish on top of the tomatoes. Repeat until either the dish is full or the mixture is gone. Depending on the dish you may need to halve the tubes, which is not so easy but I grab a serrated knife and score a line at half way, then snap the tube with my hands and it breaks roughly in two along the line, you may have casualties.

Step 6) Cover the tubes with either the other can of Tomatoes or the other half of the Passata. Cover with grated Cheese and cook in the oven (180 degrees Celsius) for 40 mins or until browned. You can stab it to check whether the pasta is soft.

Step 7) Either eat, or cool and reheat – tastes good either way!! Can be frozen after the first bake as well.

50g NZ Butter

Juice of one fresh Lemon

2 x [free range] egg yolks (separated)

1/4 cup of cream

1 Tablespoon [honey] whole grain mustard

Instructions:

In a double-boiler at moderate temperature, heat the butter until melted

Then add yolks, cream and lemon juice Stir constantly over low – moderate heat with a whisk until thick

Season with Salt, Pepper and add Mustard, mix well

Tip: If mixture starts to curdle, whisk faster. No need to heat for long.

Serve with:

Eggs Benedict

Poached Eggs & Toast

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