So here we are, changing the type of the statistic we are. After 4 years and a few months since my wife and I were counted as moving in to The Netherlands and Amsterdam, we will be counted as leaving.
There's nothing out of the ordinary in our decision. Different groups of friends told me that's the norm, after 4 years in the country of tulips, you either stay quite longer or you leave.
It wasn't a decision of the moment. There were several pro/cons discussions along several months, some research to add to one of the categories or the other and just the will to make yet another leap. There's no perfect place to be, where everything is nice and pink and honestly I think it would be very boring. We get better when living in an imperfect environment and not when we get everything laid out for us.
Although tempting, my intention is not to write here about our reasons to leave or maybe the challenges an immigrant in The Netherlands might find. First, there are plenty of opinions online. The second reason is no matter how many things you read online, what it matters is your own experience. There is simply no other way to know if you like or dislike something, other than experiencing it. All the things written by others are subjective to their own feelings and most of the times are accentuated by their own perception.
No, I just wanted to say