What's it like living in the USA as a Dutchie? 🇳🇱 🇺🇸

so the opportunities here and to make it happen the American dream does exist work is everything here you get paid a lot of money in the states in Holland this guy with his Parkinson he would be taken care of people judged here much faster on your race on your background on your income level on where you live and what car you drive hey this is David and welcome back to my channel I'm an American living in the Netherlands and I'm currently back in San Francisco and I was curious what is it like living here in the U.S as a Dutch person so I was walking around the city and I randomly bumped into a Dutch guy who's been living in the US for about 20 years now and we had a conversation a great conversation about his life here and the differences between American and Dutch culture so I hope you enjoy this conversation well thanks for joining me today sure um well first question is where are you from I'm originally born and raised in the Netherlands the Netherlands a small town small town just just south of Utrecht in the center of Harlem and now you are living in the states yes I've been in the States since 2005. one year in L.A um then five six years in the East Bay and for the last whatever years in San Francisco yeah when did you arrive again 2005 2005 so almost 20 years almost 20 years so curiously here what is it like living working here as compared to the Netherlands um okay let's start with work so what is very interesting in the states is that people don't judge you on where you're coming from or what your accent is or they judge you based on your skill set so I was able to get into jobs that will be very hard in Europe for example if you as a as a guy from the Netherlands if you go to Paris or to Italy you try to get a job there very difficult in the states it doesn't matter what your background is if they believe that you're the right guy for the job you can get a job so that's very refreshing um the downside is that work is everything here I mean people work their asses off excuse my language they work very hard there were many many hours they expect you to work basically 24 7. and now talking about senior management positions right so I've been CEOs of a bunch of companies so it's you're all in you're all in the the the upside is you get paid accordingly I mean you get paid a lot of money in the states especially if you compare it to to what you're making in advance but they don't expect you to take your holidays really and if you do take some holidays they expect you to work during those holidays or be available during these during these days during these days um they expect you to work many hours um which in Holland if you take your vacation you're you're off you can take your vacation um you will you will pass on your work to a colleague and your colleague will take care of the position even at the CEOs if CEOs in Holland decide to take a break which they will in the summer two three four weeks someone else will take take care of the issues only when there are sort of emergencies will you be will you be called or be contacted so that's a big difference that's a big difference right here it's really about living to work as compared to Holland the Netherlands where you work to live yeah was that did you have to adjust to that at the very beginning not really because I came here already quite senior I didn't come here as a 30 year old it came here as like a close to 50 year old so I came immediately as a VP at the VP level and uh and became a CEO two years later from uh from a medium-sized company and I had lived in in Asia for 10 years so I've been there and in Asia is also very hard work I mean in Singapore I lived in Singapore for four years and that was also a lot of work with the travel to work so I'm I'm a little bit of an A type as well so I like I like that kind of work to be involved there so that was not really I didn't really need an adjustment but the adjustment is that the moment I go back to Holland I meet my old buddies and my family and we spend a lot of time not talking about work not talking about politics which is much harder here it's hard to get friends to make new friends and to talk about stuff that is not politics or work or stuff and because and I think I have one little Theory here and I you might disagree with me but in Holland or in Europe in general there's a social structure that takes sort of care of you um if you get fired in your later in your job there is a unemployment rate and we said unemployment you can survive you can continue your life almost as as you were living here and there's a pension there's always a pension When You Reach 62 65 your pension kicks in that's built through either the companies or or private and government here you have to take care of everything yourself in other words um if you lose your job and you don't have a job there's no there's no fallback really if you don't build up your pension you don't really have a pension you cannot live the same level so everyone therefore is always busy working on their career making getting a better career making more money making more money making more money because you have to have enough money to retire or when you get sick I mean imagine this I mean I remember meeting of meeting someone whenever I just arrived in the states and I remember watching my son's baseball practice and it was his father who was shaking a little bit so I think he had like a little bit of Parkinson so I said hey what's up how are you doing he said it's very hard I still have to work here I have two kids in in high school and I have to carry them through college which cost me 30 000 a year or 40 000 a year per kid I just have to keep on working but I'm getting sick and I'm like wow in in Holland this guy with his Parkinson he would be taken care of and his kids education will be taken care of so if you don't have that social system there is enormous pressure on making your hours making the money and living in the city you know living in San Francisco I mean my daughter is a PhD student in Amsterdam right now making 30 000 Euros a year and she has her own place she never complains about money she can have a decent life with that kind of money here no way you can make it you you were on the street after after four months yeah it really favors the top one to five percent here God yeah it does and you also mentioned when you go back what's uh different is that here in the US especially in San Francisco people's identities are tied to their work very much so you talk a lot about work over there when you go back you don't talk as much about work no but also it's it's a political situation too right I mean here uh and of course Trump made it worse but even before Trump there was already very much you're either Republican or you're Democrat and and and he there and these parties and you cannot if you have a republican friend you can't even talk with that guy politics because that's his that's his I ideas and in Holland we are used to there's always a compromise there's never a right or wrong because our political system is based on coalitions of three four parties so we are raised in a in a climate where you always work together to come to a solution here there's not so much the case and therefore people judge here much faster on your race on your background on your income level on where you live on what car you drive all that stuff is not as relevant in in the Netherlands yeah that's how I feel yeah definitely people judge to you based on what you can provide you mentioned skills they budge judge you based on something external yeah and that's very different in you know where you come from in Holland yeah also I mean racism is serious here man oh my God and I come from Holland and you you know you've been absolute it's a rather it's a friendlier place here it's in my face all the time and it's it's um that's good but there is a lot of upside too right if you are in the one percent life is really good yeah so um if you are in that one percent life can be really good here yes in the US in San Francisco yeah every time I come back it's always this reverse culture shock I go on Market Street and I see the homeless there yeah I mean growing up the homeless were there as well yeah but after spending some time in Europe in in Europe in Amsterdam uh where I'm sure they're homeless but not like there are homeless here no no it's it's um it's shocking for me too every time every time I come back because I go back to Holland twice a year I call them back for like two three months in the summer and then for Christmas we were there for Christmas again yeah and every time I come here and I'll jump on my bicycle you know Dutch guys divide bicycles right so I jump on my bicycle and I go on Market Street or whatever and um it's very very sad yeah very depressing and then and then you read what people make yeah I mean the money that people make is just insane the top the top whatever percent and especially in this city it's so much money and then they cannot get this stuff fixed they cannot get the result but it's sad because you're right in in Europe there is a different system and but it's so sad the moment you you you bring the European example for in a conversation it's immediately labeled as it's a socialist model and it's not a socialist model it's the socialism is only in Sweden there's a lot of socialist country really that's left so it's a model where people there's a there is a state but there is there's private Enterprise the healthcare is always it's a private and a state you know Matrix sort of structure it's not a socialist it's because my taxes here again if if you look at my my tax bracket and you compare what I'm paying in Holland it's about the same because I have I have state tax and I have you know federal and state tax and then some other stuff and if you make more than 250 or 300 000 whatever that that creeps up but look what you get in Holland right I mean my my health insurance my annual health insurance in Holland is the same as my monthly health insurance in the states my premium I pay two and a half thousand dollars for a per month for my health insurance what do you pay in Holland for health insurance yeah my my company covers it but most people will pay anywhere between one to two hundred euros a month all right I'm paying two and a half thousand a month yeah that's another story right Healthcare Healthcare education us education education us education um so yeah so there is a it's it's I mean I I love living here because it's the um the weather is great I have a bunch of friends that are great the quality of life is good the food is great the travel is great um and I have I built a community or you know around myself which is you know and I have a lovely wife so and my kids are well one in Holland to one here somewhere in Portland but it's and I and I and so what What attracted me into the states finally before we stop this we have enough that What attracted me into the states versus Holland is the opportunity so there's there's this business opportunity that says whatever it takes if you're the guy you can do whatever you want to do basically and you can get into positions and jobs and there's no there's no shortage of money there's no shortage of opportunities and that attracted me a lot in Holland it's much harder to get to get the job it's all like together you have to be socially correct you cannot really if you if you if you fail at something you're labeled as a failure here you just move on so the opportunity is here and to make it happen the American dream does exist um unfortunately for a small number of people and I was fortunate to be in that position yeah so it sounds like you came here with that expectation the after 20 years here were the expectations met I yes definitely definitely I I don't I there are no real surprises that way I'm saddened by by things but those were there 20 years ago too it hasn't really changed political has changed a little bit but that's globally right the global situation was happening with Putin in Ukraine what happened in Brazil so what happened with with Trump you know the populist movement and then you had covet so that's a sort of a global phenomenon so so that made it a little bit more extreme but no my I'm not really to have something major surprises yeah I know still I'm still involved with private Equity firms and gosh man the the number of opportunities that we're looking at and investing in and turning around it's just amazing and Holland that would be you know you have to be very lucky to be in sort of that position yeah situation much harder I have one last question and that you've been here for almost 20 years so curious to hear how have you changed and what about you the Dutch part of you has remained the same after 20 years the Dutch part of me is that I'm still very I'm it's very important for me to to have to be among friends and to be have that social so the Dutch word is still still very very important and I miss that sometimes I'm like why is it so hard to get invited at someone's house for dinner well in Amsterdam I just knock on the door or hey or you yell you yell from the street and say come on up I still when I go back to Holland I still get I can still bump into my friend's house and they will cut they will always invite me in for a cup of tea or something here they're like sorry my schedule sorry you know I'm like are you kidding me so the gazelle height is uh is is something that is really very dear to me um and that's that's something that that that's why I always go back to Holland too I mean I will continue to go back to I don't think I don't know I don't want to live in back in Holland I don't have to desire because I like my freedom and um I don't have to be part of certain things hold this at the end of the day very small community so I like that it is so much larger here but I do go back to to look up and to have that little gazelle height with friends and family and stuff okay definitely makes sense yeah well thank you so much for sharing your story and I said we just did you run into me just I know so uh random but you know I believe it's Faith or connected oh absolutely so what are your thoughts I found it interesting although I wasn't surprised especially the work culture part are you Dutch or european who is or has lived in the U.S I'd be curious to hear what have your experiences been like living in the U.S leave them in the comments below and I hope you have a great one take care

Channel: David Wen

Views: 273,213

Keywords: holland, san francisco, usa, california, life in the usa, life in the netherlands, life int, the netherlands, dutch people, culture shocks, moving to the usa

Id: nVjBNTRRedo

Length: 16min 36sec (996 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 03 2023