More than 30 years ago, a Community Needs Assessment undertaken by the American Community Council “…recognised the sombre reality that numerous families were experiencing significant stress and personal problems during their settlement and integration”. While the most recent research is more quantitative than the one done earlier, the general conclusions align: relocating to a new … Continued

My son was 13 when he was diagnosed with a chronic disease. We almost didn’t want to tell his school, because we knew we’d get a chronic response. But – before we get too far – let me say a) his diagnosis is comparatively mild; b) his school has much improved by now; and c) … Continued

By Robin Pascoe   Group by group, we filed out of the room and went our separate ways. I was left feeling enormously humbled. There was me, loud-mouthed Brit with my cynicism about the whole process, surrounded by people who had gone through so much to get here, who were refugees, or partners who had … Continued

It was early November. The leaves had turned yellow and were, with their last strength, still hanging onto their branches. The day was another record-breaking one, with temperatures soaring to a wonderful 15 degrees centigrade. The sun had just crawled above the buildings along the Prinsengracht and played a final trick with me. I cherished … Continued

By Robin Pascoe When you are a former smoker and a current insomniac there is nothing worse than being woken up by people on their balconies, smoking and having a laugh in the wee small hours, says DutchNews.nl editor Robin Pascoe. “My particular bugbear is the bright young things living around us who have no-smoking … Continued

Having kids that go to school or university is always a good source of inspiration for writing an article. This year, my son spontaneously gave me the topic of this article when he was telling me about his current school experience. How school was boring him out of his skull… Last time, he told me, … Continued

First Impressions of an Indian Mother in the Netherlands By Divya Susan Varkey I silently mused at the contrast that they were faced with, while they continued telling me of how here in their public school in The Hague, kids played online games on their tablets while the teacher wasn’t looking, switching quickly to their … Continued

Champagne’s Rising Superstar   This tiny champagne house was founded back in 1872. It remained a small house until Pascal Leclerc, who had a profound interest in organic viticulture, took its reigns. He began cultivating his vineyards with biodynamic techniques and was widely regarded as one of the pioneers of biodynamic Champagne.   In the … Continued

By Melanie Genssler   Chronic illnesses, such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, are experiencing a rapid, world-wide spread. The World Health Organization has reported that, in 2001, chronic illnesses represented approximately 46% of the global burden of disease, and 60% of the 56.5 million total reported deaths. The burden is expected to rise to … Continued

The Wijnstudio Is Your mentor Many wine lovers want to know more about this marvelous beverage but are not fluent enough in Dutch to follow regular courses. For people like these, De Wijnstudio has created the ultimate solution; a course in English. De Wijnstudio has been founded by Henriëtte and Jeroen Bronkhorst who used to … Continued

The owner of this fine culinary ‘hotspot’ is Mister Modest, Marcel van der Kleijn. First, he founded Restaurant Callas (one Michelin star), then he opened a sympathetic outlet on the Denneweg, now called Oogst (harvest), where Michelin awarded him the coveted red BiB. This is ‘value-for-money’ recognition, awarded to fine cooking at a moderate price. … Continued

Last summer DutchNews.nl editor Robin Pascoe wrote about how the fire brigade took down the drainpipe attached to the front of her house in their hunt for a baby duck. But the story was far from over. “Regular readers of this column may remember our dispute with the animal ambulance people, two fire engine crews … Continued