yes, that we have here as well. But even though we have that here i still feel more freedom in US than in Holland. It seems in Holland everybody looks over your shoulder and checks to see if you are not doing something out of the ordinary.
The dutch motto is ‘doe maar gewoon, dan doe je al gek genoeg’ - “act normal, then you are crazy enough”
in other words, dont do anything out of the ordinary or you are looked at disdainfully. I cannot stand that anymore.
well about the cars, we also have to have insurance and that also is expensive here… AND when you buy the car you also have to pay tax as well.
As soon as i find an US employer who will hire me i can get out of here, i need a job in the US to get an immigration visa.
So anybody here who knows ppl in in the LA area who need a good webdesigner and can pay me $$$$$ so i can live in Santa Barbara?
Two places I know of where you can post your resume on line.
That does not sound like much fun at all. Which is kind of strange coming form a country that most people her consider to be very progressive socially.
If you go to amazon.com look for a book called “immigration made easy” by nolo press. Nolo press produces some of the best legal self help books I have ever read. Some are even better than collage level law books yet, written in plain English and easy to understand.
“Santa Barbara” will designate the community you want to search and the quotes around “new age” will make sure it finds “new age” instead of “this new governor is a very low age” or something.
The Yahoo travel guide to SB states that at least its downtown area is clogged with heavy traffic. Are you sure this is a quiet town (sorry can’t research any more…)
incidentally i was just on monster.com looking for jobs and clicked back to the forum, only to see monster mentioned again, as well as the job i had saved because it looked interesting How is that for synchronicity?
i’m working now on my resume
can you tell me about the US school system? because i have a hard time translating my degrees into the US equivalent.
I have 6 years of VWO (that is after primary school), would that be highschool?
then 4 years of art school with a degree,
and then a masters degree.
the last one is easy to translate but what to you call VWO in usa? would that be like college, or highschool?
The way it works here is grades 1-12 takes you through high school.
Then you have college:
2 years of collage is an associates degree AA some times called an AAS
4 years is a bachelors degree BA or BS
6-7 years is a masters degree MA, or MS
8-10 doctorate degrees PhD
grades 1-12 what age is that? grade 1 starts at what age?
in holland you start with primary school - that is 6 grades until you are 12
then you chose the next education, that can be 4 to 6 years, depending on level. (the highest level is 6 years)
then you can go study, for 4 years, to university or ‘hogeschool’.
so i think college is our university./ hogeschool.
oh btw thanks again for the book tip, i’m going to find it and buy it - the text on the immigration sites is very hard to understand, so much rules and forms.
Primary school would just be like elementary school in North America, grades 1 - 6.
Then after that it depends for some people it is three years junior high, and then three years high school. (which would be like your next 6 years of education)
But some people go kindergarten - 12 in the same school. Some K to 8, then high school from 9 – 12.
There is no definitive rule, basically if you have your grade 12 (i.e. University entrance) then you have you high school degree.
Preschool (optional I guess…)
Kindergarten
First Grade through Fifth Grade = elementary school… 5th grader = 10yr old
6th-8th grade- Middle school
9th-12th grade- High School
Don’t know anything after high school except for a 4 year college.
Hehe sorry I didn’t post it fast enough for you to get benefit out of it.
Happy to hear that you want to move to California. I have lived here my whole life. I live right off the bay, south of Oakland, in a nice cozy nieghborhood.
If you want to meet nice spiritual people, live in a small town close to the city, have oppurtunities for web designing, and be very close to the beach energy, then I would say that Santa Cruz is the place you are looking for.
Santa Cruz is small, away from the city, has lovely places to walk through the redwood trees and has many little beaches, and you can always find a full moon party happening.
The summers are perfectly warm, of course winters are cold, but there is fog that really holds in the warmth
I plan too move to Santa Cruz. There is a dream group there I think called, Dream Tree. I haven’t checked it out yet, but by the way that I know Santa Cruz people, it is so easy to start dream meetings.
I’m not very experienced with southern Cal, but I know that it is not my vibe, more “fake” people than “real” people, but please don’t take my word for it, use your own judegment on what’s the best place for you, and have a good time checking out all of California before you plant your self.
Santa Cruz isn’t bad… unless you live around that “Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk” with all the rides. Major attraction That must suck, every day the streets are filled with a neverending line of cars. Must be good for the business though. I imagine the rest of Santa Cruz is better…
we’ll be sure to check out a lot of california before we plant ourselves, and what we miss we will make up later when we actually live there, i cannot wait to visit the redwood trees, i’ve always wanted to feel their energy
i have a quick questions about the wages in the US. Say if they say you earn $20.000 a year, is that what you actually get or are taxes deducted?
and if taxes will be deducted, what will you have left afterwards?
in holland they always tell you your salary before taxes, the amount you will actually get on your bank account is about 30% lower.
About 15%-20% less if you are married and/or have children you can take more deductions so they take out even less. Also at the end of the year you get some of that money back when you file your tax returns every April.
long time ago time ago I earned $23,500 I think I took home about $600.00 every two weeks.
Some of the savings you get right away because you add more deductions on your w-4 form which means less money is deducted from your paycheck. How well could you live in holland on $1,200.00 dollars take home per mo?
milod, $1200,- is about 1000 euro, and you can make ends meet with that.
You cannot afford to buy a house with that income, maybe in the northern provinces but in the city you can probably forget it.
for rent you can get subsidy from the government, so you will be able to pay the rent for an appartment… But rent will be about $500 per month or more - if you want a cheaper one you will have to wait for at least a few years before it is your turn. There is a housing shortage in holland.
You probably cannot afford to have a car, or maybe a real small one, for taxes and insurance.
shopping (food, bare necessities) is very expensive here, after the euro things have risen in price.
So you can make ends meet with that income, and probably safe some money too, but you have to pay attention to what you buy. It is a little above minimum wage.
Until you decide where to plant yourself its hard to say how much you will pay in rent because they vary so much from place to place. Right now I pay $100,000 per mo just for an apartment and no I don’t live in a big city. You can go to places like AZ where you pay $100 to move in and get the first mo free. Thereafter I think the going rate is something like 300-450 per mo for rent.(of course you are also living in a desert)
You already know what food prices are like here.
To be honest $20,000 a year in CA would be rough. You would be barely above poverty level. Not trying to discourage you. I just want you to have realistic expectations.
In NY which is cheaper than CA I did not start to feel comfortable till I made over $30.000 a year.
There are other places in the US where you can live better on less. Just do lots of research and feel free to ask any questions.
It is interesting that a lot of people from the Netherlands want to move to the US and people from the US want to move to the Netherlands.
yeah housing/apartments are insane here. INSANE. You could buy 3 houses in minnesota with the money you use to buy one here. Well that’s what my parents tell me. Yeah you’d be better off finding a good job, don’t settle for one just to bring yourself here. You can wait, right? Oh yeah they tell you your income, but you don’t know how much of that you’re actually gonna get out of that. I guess the reason is because everyone is taxed differently.
thanks milod and infection0!
How is that for synchronicity? 
but what to you call VWO in usa? would that be like college, or highschool?
