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How about staging a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical – Allegro?

As we know there are lots of internationals in the Netherlands and they get up to some truly remarkable things.

This time in the podcast the challenge of producing a major musical on shoestring budget, with a severely limited rehearsal time and an amateur cast from around the world.

Will it be alright on the night?

Listen to the podcast to find out.

The podcast features director George Hansel and musical director Frieda Jacobowitz.

They are from the InPlayers – Amsterdam oldest English language theatre group.

The group has decided to take on the major undertaking of staging Rodgers and Hammerstein’s little known musical Allegro.

Seen as groundbreaking, experimental and, well, a bit of a flop when first produced it is a daring choice.

“It’s huge we have about 90 people in total taking part it’s the biggest production the InPlayers has ever taken on or at least the biggest in a long while,” says George.

“There are quite some challenges,” says Frieda “but like George says we’ll have a plan B, C and all the way to Z if necessary.”

The story of Allegro is an everyman tale of searching for yourself set against the backdrop of the depression spanning the life of one man from birth in 1905 until his thirty fifth year.

The production of Allegro includes an ensemble cast, a small choir and a 30-piece orchestra, conducted by Peter de Leeuw.

As an ‘integrated’ musical that uses songs to progress the narrative, Allegro now fits the standard model for musicals, but was ahead of its time when it was new.

Never a Broadway success, the show has rarely been produced. The InPlayers say to the best of their knowledge Allegro has never been performed in the Netherlands.

It promises to be quite a show.

You can see the production at Het Zonnehuis from 19 – 22 nd July.

Here in Holland is the podcast in English about life with the Dutch – it’s produced by Andy Clark – contact him via [email protected] or Facebook – website – you can subscribe to get all the podcasts in via your iPhone podcast app or your Android app of choice. Or follow on Soundcloud

The podcast is now also available on Spotify

Imagine you are in a warzone – you are at risk, your family is at risk – what would you do?

The question was all too real for Syrian filmmaker Thaeer Muhreez.

Caught up in the hell of the Syrian conflict he came under increasing pressure to produce propaganda for the government.

He refused to do this and fearing for his life he took the agonising decision to flee.

His plan was to get to Europe and then bring the wife and one-year-old daughter he was forced to leave behind to safety too.

Hear his story in the Here in Holland Podcast – A New Life.

I worked with Thaeer at Radio Netherlands Worldwide – the first part of this podcast was recorded two years ago whilst we were colleagues.

I recently listened back to the recording and thought it would be fitting to share the story here and I also wanted to meet with Thaeer again and find out what happened to him and the wife and one-year-old daughter he was forced to leave behind.

Thaeer talks about the heart wrenching time of when he was waiting for news from the immigration services about being reunited with his family.

And the joy of when he finally got the good news.

But there’s still heartache – both Thaeer and Shimaa have family still in Syria.

And Thaeer’s parents are allowed to come and join him in the Netherlands, but they say they are too old and frail to make the move preferring to stay in their own country despite the ongoing war.

Of Syria itself Thaeer is pessimistic – “There are brothers fighting brothers, I know this. I don’t know what is wrong with people he says – maybe in ten years things might be better. But it is very difficult.”

When it comes to living in the Netherlands internationals have a whole range of extraordinary stories.

For some the Netherlands is a place to have a good job and a nice lifestyle but for others it offers freedom and security.

In the latest Here in Holland podcast people from around the world share their amazing stories.

The podcast stories were recorded at a recent expat fair in Amsterdam.

People are always keen to share their experiences about living in the Netherlands.

Well, at least after the initial shock of having a microphone stuck under their nose.

For a young same-sex couple from Brazil the chance to come to the Netherlands is a dream come true.

“We can walk hand in hand in the streets and kiss each other in public,” says Julia.

“In Brazil this not possible – there is a lot of violence against gay people.”

Check out this video fragment from the latest podcast.

Ukraine and Russia Another couple I talk to have come to the Netherlands from Ukraine and Russia – they met online and left their home countries to come to Amsterdam.

“Here’s there’s more freedom and openness because of the openness of the people and maybe because of our history that is something different for us,” says Igor from Kiev.

Others are amazed by Dutch habits like making appointments for everything and the working culture of leaving the office at five on the dot.

International in the Netherlands? What was your view of Dutch people before you came to live here?

Did the words ‘open’, ‘tolerant’ and, maybe even, ‘anything-goes’ feature in that image?

We all have preconceptions but the reality often turns out to be quite a bit different.

This time in the podcast an interview with author Ben Coates who ended up in the Netherlands by chance after being stranded by a snow storm.

Ben has now been living here for eight years and wrote a book describing his experiences getting to know the country for real.

The book is Why the Dutch are Different – a Journey Into the Hidden Heart of the Netherlands.

A day early on in Ben’s life in the Netherlands made him start to challenge his preconceptions.

On one day he was berated by the police, told he wasn’t putting his bins in the right place and that the way he was washing his windows just wasn’t up to scratch.

Check this short video for the story.

It was an odd and slightly disorientating day but one which got the writer wondering what else was not quite what it seemed.

A quest was launched and he travelled the entire country getting to know the landscape and the people and being continually surprised along the way.

The result was the book which was well received by fellow internationals who recognised so many of the differences between perception and reality.

Here in Holland – Bathroom Selfies

So, you are looking for a dream job in the Netherlands – are you sure there are no social media skeletons in your virtual cupboard?

Are you in complete control of what you are sharing online and who gets to see it?

Social media is a wonderful thing but you can be sure that potential employers are giving you a quick Google these days before committing.

So, it pays to make sure they are not seeing anything that could jeopardise your chances.

In the podcast this time stories of social media gaffes and tips on how to avoid them. Top recruiter Katerina Alikaridou from Randstand Multilingual joins the show.

Social media gaffs to avoid when looking for a new job in the Netherlands.

“There was a guy who shared an inappropriate video, actually it was a porno video. I think he meant to share it with a friend but ended up posting it in a Facebook group by mistake.”

“And there was another guy who had called in sick and later posted pictures on Facebook of himself at the gym with friends looking very healthy indeed.”

These are just two of the many examples that recruiter Katerina Alikaridou has come across when it comes to people messing up big time on social media.

Other gaffs include having different information on CVs as opposed to LinkedIn profiles, something the recruiter also sees a lot.

And people claiming they are native speakers of English, for example, when they are clearly not.

Posts full of grammatical errors and spelling mistakes quickly undermine credibility.

When asked if most people are in control of privacy settings, so only the right people get to see the right posts, Alikaridou is clear.

“I don’t have the statistics, but from my experience I would say that most people do not apply the right privacy settings and are not careful enough with what they do online,” she says.

Bathroom Selfies Even simple things like profile pictures can throw up all kinds of issues.

“The bathroom selfies should really be something kept just for close friends – a LinkedIn profile picture needs to be a business picture,” says Alikaridou.

But all is not lost. A lot can be solved by simply checking out how to make your profiles private.

“There are lots of resources on You Tube telling people how to do this. I recommend people start here and then after that check that your CV is aligned with any other online profiles like LinkedIn.” says Alikaridou.

Handy Guides There are more handy guides on what to do and what not to do when it comes to social media and the job market here and here

And check out earlier Here in Holland podcasts on how to get a job in the Netherlands or starting your own business in the Netherlands or what to do when your career is in crisis.

Is it a red-carpet lifestyle as an expat in the Netherlands?

There are good salaries, tax breaks, expat schools and a warm welcome in English from City Halls.

It seems almost too easy, but is this really the case?

Check out the latest Here in Holland podcast which dives into this question.

The podcast features expats from around the world talking about their experience.

And there’s an interview with historian Aniek Smit who just completed a PhD studying the expat question.

Smit examined the position of expats in The Hague and Jakarta in the period from 1945 to 2015.

In general Smit found that expats get a much warmer welcome than other immigrants and she also found that city halls in the Netherlands have the idea that expats are a homogenous group whilst the reality is that the group is a lot more diverse than it used to be.

Expats are increasingly from non-Western countries and there is a growing difference in salaries they now receive, according to Smit.

But is an expat life an easy life?

“No for everyone, not every expat has the same kind of perks and the same kind of experience and the same kind of future prospects.

This also makes it hard to make generic expat policies – we have to be much more aware of these differences,” says the historian.

The expats in the podcast were interviewed at the recent Feel at Home Fair in The Hague and many also felt that being an expat was not necessarily easy.

Some pointed to finding it difficult to really integrate in the Netherlands, finding it hard to make Dutch friends. Some expats say this leads to a feeling of isolation.

Others say there are privileges, but that they are deserved as expats face higher costs with relocation and having to send children to international schools.

What do you think – do expats have it easy? Leave a comment or get in touch .

An earlier Here in Holland podcast featured expats talking about making friends in the Netherlands.

In the late 19 th century articles appeared in European newspapers naming a Dutch sailor as Jack the Ripper.

Researchers have rediscovered this Dutch link and have come up with new findings.

Here in Holland is now also available in Spotify

The Ripper murders were front page news across the continent and especially in the UK where the Whitechapel killings captured and terrified the imagination.

Was Jack the Ripper a Dutch Sailor? Podcast iTunes link

So, who was this Dutch sailor and what have the crime historians unearthed?

For the full interview listen to the latest Here in Holland podcast – Was Jack the Ripper a Dutch Sailor?

New evidence The man behind the research is crime historian and author of 20 real-life crime books from the Victorian era, Dr Jan Bondeson. Link to the full article on the ‘Dutch Ripper’ in the Ripperologist online magazine.

The Swedish- British medical Doctor is also a prolific writer and researcher.

“I am fascinated with Victorian crime in general and of course the greatest unsolved mystery of all is Jack the Ripper – most people think Jack the Ripper had five victims during the Autumn of terror in 1888.”

“The murders were absolutely horrendous particular the murder of Mary Jane Kelly in Miller’s Court – she was literally chopped into little pieces in a most sadistic manner.”

Dr Bondeson says the cruelty and the number of murders in a short period of time plus the fact that Jack the Ripper was never caught ensured that the case became one of the most notorious in criminal history.

So what of the Dutch sailor Hendrik de Jong?

“As de Jong was awaiting trial for the murder of his two Dutch wives in the Netherlands there was a lot of writing in the European newspapers that he was Jack the Ripper.”

“They believed that during the year 1888 – the year of the Ripper crimes – that he had been a sailor on a ship to London.

And that every time the ship arrived in London he amused himself by murdering some hapless prostitutes before jumping back on the ship and heading back to the Netherlands unscathed.

So this would explain why the murders were never resolved.”

According to the newspapers the timeline of the shipping movements fitted with the murders.

Research in the archives turned up more intriguing facts about Hendrik de Jong.

For example, he was in a lunatic asylum at the beginning of 1888.

And that alongside being accused of murdering two Dutch wives he was also accused of murdering two women in Belgium.

The crime historian worked with Dutch researcher Bart FM Droog to scour Dutch newspapers from the time to find out about de Jong

Dr Bondeson says de Jong was seen as a serious candidate for Jack the Ripper by the European newspapers but less so in the UK.

He managed to escape to America – eventually turning up in Boston.

He was advertising for wives when he got there and got a lot of response. But according to Dr Bondeson the women had a lucky escape as the American police were tipped of by their European counterparts that de Jong was a dangerous predator.

“He spoke very good English and was a very cunning criminal and had what it took to escape the American police and he was able to do it.”

Crime historian Bondeson says de Jong certainly has the gruesome credentials to have been Jack the Ripper.

But pushed he says the Ripper case will never be resolved conclusively.

“It is just too long ago now,” he says.

And he says the modus operandi of de Jong was different from that of the Ripper. De Jong was a swindler who murdered his wives for money whereas Jack the Ripper was a maniacal killer motivated by a bloodlust to kill.

Conclusive evidence putting de Jong in London at the time of the Ripper crimes has not been found so the mystery endures.

“What we have achieved is finding out more about a suspect who was taken very seriously by the European newspapers at the time,” says Dr Bondeson.

“He was a serial killer and was active at the same time as Jack the Ripper, prior to our article he had been forgotten about.”

All photos courtesy of Dr Jan Bondeson.

What is the back story of internationals in the Netherlands?

Why are we here, are we happy, what do we love and what weirds us out?

The Here in Holland podcast joined the Hague Online Feel at Home Fair 2018 to take the pulse of the many internationals present. Here in Holland is now also available in Spotify

Listen to the podcast here:

There are always some common themes when you ask internationals about their experiences in the Netherlands.

Most find the Dutch very direct, blunt even and at times even downright rude. This certainly takes some getting used to and it is not for the faint hearted.

“People in Portugal are much more PC in every day conversation sometimes a sense a little harshness in exchanges here – I am not saying

it is really bad or anything but it certainly takes some getting used too.”

Others told tales of run-ins with estate agents and receiving unrequested advice.

And Dutch food is something that a lot of internationals also find difficult to adjust to – it’s safe to say not everyone is a fan.

“The less said about Dutch food the better, maybe the occasional croquet and stroopwafel but that’s about it. Nothing to write home about.”

And of course the weather:

“Well, let’s just say the weather’s not as great as California, but everything else is going okay.”

And cycling gets a big thumbs-up too as do the transport facilities. But for Rohan from India the ease of getting around is just too good.

“It’s too sorted, I mean too organized you can get a train and then a bus or a tram, it is so easy to get from A to B. In India it is chaos, I miss the chaos.”

International from Slovenia:

“I have been here for ten years I feel quite at home, not completely. This is because I still find it really difficult to integrate into society. It is a very individualistic society. It is very difficult to make Dutch friends so we end up living in our own expat society.”

Others echoed this sentiment. Although Martina from Germany said she feels even more at home in the Netherlands than in her native Germany.

“People are more open here and communicate very easily. I think if you are open then Dutch people are as open if not more, but you have to go out there and meet people.”

For Josuf from Syria the fair was a chance to try and meet potential employers.

He’s been in the Netherlands for two years after fleeing the war – he now he has his family with him and he’s already speaking Dutch, but so far what’s missing is a job for the former hospital laboratory technician.

“I am very happy to be here and be safe away from the war, but when you don’t work it is very hard. Finding a job will make me much happier and will also allow me to give something back to the country which has been so good to me,” he said.

What happens when your dream expat job turns sour and you are no longer happy let alone fulfilled and rewarded?

This time in the Here in Holland podcast an interview with O’ona Souissi, an expert on helping people get the careers they want instead of treading water in dead-end jobs.

Hear the common misconceptions which hold people back and get the fundamental principles to reignite your career.

So what is a career crisis? Basically, when your frustrations really start to mount and you begin to question everything and everyone in your organisation then you are entering the territory of career crisis.

“The first thing really is to redefine your vision, it’s the one thing we neglect as we are so busy on a daily basis, but this is really your foundation.”

“The next thing that is even more neglected is doing your due diligence, validating your idea by speaking to people who are already busy in the field,” says O’ona Souissi.

The career expert says this second step also expands your network and gives you a broader idea of your potential new career focus.

Thirdly, after you have defined your new direction you have to get into planning. This will help you accelerate or change your career. At this point you look for interesting new organisations and come up with a plan of attack.

Having a roadmap will give you focus and help you avoid settling for easier but less meaningful options, according to O’ona.

Shadow market It will even help you tap into the ‘shadow market’ of jobs which are out there but never actually advertised according to the career expert. It’s true for the majority of the jobs and even more so for executive positions, she says.

You shouldn’t just sit behind your computer sending impersonal applications but do proactive outreach towards the key people in the organizations you’re interested in.

A career crisis can be compared in some ways to a mid-life crisis too. There is often an urge to throw away everything which has been built up.

This urge should be ignored though and instead if you are feeling frustrated in your work you should see how your skills developed so far and can be honed or completed to get you going in the direction you really want to go in.

So, what to do if you are feeling like you’ve had enough at work?

“Take a step back, but don’t lose yourself in the trap of self-reflection. It’s easy to go to self- help books – there are a lot of them and some excellent ones – but what will make the difference is going out there and reaching out to people who are already doing what you think you want to be doing. You will quickly learn what it really takes and how to get there.” says O’ona.

You’ll find more resources from O’ona Souissi at Career on Purpose .

The debate around Zwarte Piet – Black Pete – has been raging in the Netherlands for several years.

Is the character a black-face racist stereotype or just a harmless Dutch tradition?

Listen to the latest Here in Holland podcast to hear what internationals think:

Many in Dutch society are simply stunned as to what’s happened around what is a treasured family holiday. Sinterklaas is one of the favourite times of year for many people.

Positions are entrenched – with supporters and opponents clashing sometimes hysterically.

At one stage the UN even got involved .

For a lot of people in the Netherlands this was very bizarre – why the hell was the UN suddenly telling them they were racist?

The debate was already raging before this – but there’s nothing like a pointed finger from outside to add fuel to the flames and entrench positions.

The battle is between supporters who say Piet is part of a harmless tradition and embedded in Dutch culture and opponents who see Piet as a negative racial stereotype an image of a slave from a colonial era which should not be made light of.

Most white Dutch people now groan when the subject is raised and just don’t see the fuss…it’s been like this forever so, like, what are people on about?

Surveys regularly show that more than 70% of Dutch people say nothing should change.

But there is an increasing backlash and the surveys show younger people are more open to change.

And amongst different ethnic groups the figures differ a lot with a survey in Amsterdam showing that more than half of Dutch people with a Surinamese, Antillean or Ghanian background finding Zwarte Piet discriminatory.

So what about the international community here?

How does the Black Pete tradition come across for people who have come to live short term in the Netherlands?

The podcast took a snapshot of opinion at a recent expat fair and online by posting the following question in a number of expat Facebook groups.

“ As an international in the Netherlands where do you stand on Zwarte Piet?”

There were hundreds of comments and a civilized discussion online – which is pretty amazing.

A Nigerian woman who wished to remain anonymous:

“ It is racist – they say the Petes are black from coming down the chimney, but you don’t get thick black curly hair, red lips and golden earrings from coming down the chimney – it is just of way of them being racist.”

But a Bulgarian women felt the exact opposite:

“What if a black person were to put on white make-up would that be racist too? I think black people shouldn’t be so sensitive and as outsiders we should respect this tradition.”

For the ful range of the discussion listen to the podcast above or here .

Counting up the opinions what I found was a majority of internationals as being against Black Pete in its current form.

Around two-thirds of comments posted in the Facebook groups Leiden Expats and Expats Utrecht and the comments I collected at the expat fair were for changing Black Pete.

These people find it a negative racial stereotype and then yes, racist.

A small group of people were neutral on the debate with the rest favouring the situation as is.

The debate will remain heated of course – at the same time changes are happening. And the city council in Amsterdam recently came out with what they said will be the end of the discussion.

From now on Petes in the capital of the Netherlands were no longer be black-face but just have a smear of soot on their cheeks.

They will wear costumes from the 16 th century based on the clothing from Spanish merchants to keep that part of the tradition alive.

The city is trying to compromise and keep everyone happy. Time will tell if the strategy works.