Dutch Holiday Traditions

Located in the Netherlands in North Holland, Amsterdam is a place worth a visit. From being a small fishing village to one of the major tourist attractions today, it has come a long way. It experiences moderate cool temperatures, with a mild winter and warm summer. Known for its international business, it is the financial and business capital of Netherlands. The period of July and August is the time when tourists are seen the most.

Its name is derived from Amstel Dam, which means a dam in the river Amstel. It draws around 4.2 million people annually, to see its various attractions like Van Gogh Museum, which contains the largest Van Gogh collections in the world, Amsterdam Canal Ring, Rijksmuseum, Dam square, Oude Kerk. Its currency is Euro. Every year, May 4 is celebrated as a day to honour those who died in the war and May 5 celebrates the Liberation of Amsterdam.

Plague had badly affected the region during 1623-25 causing almost 10% of the population to perish. On one hand, Amsterdam grew in the 17th century called the “golden age” and on the other hand, 18th century saw the decline in Amsterdam’s wealth and status. Every month has a special event in Amsterdam.

Amsterdam has the most number of museums in Netherlands, and has even one which talks about taboo subjects like sex and marijuana. There are around 300 coffee shops here, where sale of 5 gm soft drugs per person is legal. What might be a surprise to many is that Amsterdam has around 1 million bikes, which also makes it the easiest way to travel for tourists and people of Amsterdam. Many such tours are organized.

We all have heard about Kohinoor, but how many of us know that it was actually cut in Amsterdam? Amsterdam played a huge role in helping New Orleans take charge of itself after being hit by Katrina. Since it is below sea level, global warming is a huge threat to Amsterdam. It won’t be able to handle the rising sea levels. It also has one of the highest numbers of rivers, lakes and canals.
Author: Meenaskshi Nilakantan

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I love using this site to see what’s going on in the Netherlands at any certain time and where.

http://www.eropuit.nl/

You can select what you want to where you want to do it, how many people, and what dates.

The search result will return with dozens of options for you to browse through, from simply going to historic city centers, special seasonal markets, to museums and top notch attraction parks.

I love to use this for one of those weekends that you want to try something else and get new ideas.  There is a price indication slider at the top left so you can specify your budget.

After you have selected your trip on the top right is the NS (Nederland Spoorwegen) route planner so you can take public transportation if needed and under that its marker on Google maps.

I would rate this site a 9 on a scale from 1 to 10.

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Planning to stay in the  Netherlands?

Goto http://www.ind.nl/EN/verblijfwijzer/ and you can use the IND Residance Wizard

This is how we started when I wanted to apply for residence for my partner, Sibella, and I must say, our IND experiance went almost flawlessly from there.

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What has changed for naturalisation candidates since 1 January?
The Civic Integration Act entered into force on 1 January 2007. As a result of this, the Naturalisation Test has been replaced with the Civic Integration Examination Abroad. Since 2 January 2007, foreign nationals who wish to acquire Dutch citizenship have been able to sit the Civic Integration Examination Abroad prior to submitting their application for naturalisation. The format of the Civic Integration Examination Abroad is different to that of the Naturalisation Test, however the level of difficulty has not changed and the fees have remained about the same. 
An important difference is the addition of two new exemption categories: the Exemption Test (Short Form) and the Civic Integration Examination Abroad. A number of grounds for exemption will also be added as of 1 April. See the brochure entitled ‘Inburgeringsexamen: voorwaarde voor naturalisatie’ [‘Civic Integration: conditions in respect of naturalisation’] for details.

What is the difference between the former Naturalisation Test and the new Civic Integration Examination Abroad?
The level of difficulty is the same, namely A2 under the Common European Framework for Languages (this is equivalent to level 2 under the Naturalisation Test), however the examination method is different. The new examination consists of the following components: 
Decentralised component 
• Portfolio 
• Practical tests (assessments) Central component 
• Digital practical test [Digitale Praktijktoets] 
• 'Knowledge of Dutch Society' ['Kennis van de Nederlandse Samenleving'] examination 
• Spoken Dutch Test [Toets Gesproken Nederlands]

A portfolio consists of evidence of 30 situations that an individual has experienced in practice, such as registering a birth or a discussion with a teacher at a child's school. This evidence is assessed by an examination body, after which the candidate will be required to justify his or her evidence in front of a panel from this examination body. If a candidate does not have any evidence of practical situations, he or she may take an oral examination (‘the assessment’) instead of submitting a portfolio. During the assessment, the candidate must demonstrate that he or she has sufficient command of Dutch by taking part in 6 role plays. The assessments are not marked by the Information Management Group [Informatie Beheer Groep, IBG] itself, but by designated examination bodies. It is also possible to combine these two options. If an individual has evidence of a number of situations, however not as many as 30, the candidate may supplement this by taking part in a number of role plays.

The Spoken Dutch Test is a telephone test in which you will be required to repeat sentences, answer questions and give brief accounts of stories. The Digital Practical Test and Knowledge of Dutch Society module are taken using a computer. The Digital Practical Test consists of questions regarding practical situations.

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