I just received a letter recently from a Filipino-American reader who was asking about my opinion of Amsterdam, and maybe Netherlands in general. The letter came at a very nice time. I would like to share most of what I said in my e-mail. This is mostly straight from my heart. It may not sound fair or sensible at times and that because it is based on my emotions at this time.

I resigned from my job yesterday. My husband and I are leaving the Netherlands. I only moved here to end our long distance relationship that went on for some months and finally join my Dutchman. I quit my job in NJ and moved here not knowing what awaits me. I did not come here for economic reasons or for a job offer. I loved living in the US and have also felt that it offered me many opportunities to live the so called American dream except that I ended up finding my partner across the Atlantic. I still want to come back there someday.

Reading about your situation there, I strongly discourage you from living in Amsterdam if you like that kind of quiet and easy suburb picket fence lifestyle — you would live the big city life and that includes the harsh realities and rat race lifestyle that goes with it. Sorry to say but Amsterdam is not a family-friendly city. It is harsh and the people are also rough — comparable to what New York is like. You mentioned also the fact that your wife’s needs are of greatest importance as well. Having household help is such a luxury outside the Philippines! We currently pay a nice Moroccan lady 200 Euros a month: she comes here for 5 hours a week to do household cleanup and do laundry as needed. 10 euros per hour is on the lower end of the range. The classified ads at Expatica.com would give you an idea what nationalities are providing services as well as rates.

The biggest difficulty you and your wife would probably have is Read more…

Just this afternoon, I got this report from someone I know that the Amsterdam World Fashion Center has told everyone to go out of the building because of a reported bomb threat.

The video shown above was submitted by my friendly local reporter (a.k.a. husband).