How International Students Can Make Money in the Netherlands

So I've been looking for a job lately, especially since I've seen my bank account plummet after converting it to Euros. One Euro equals about $1.50 Canadian....yikes. Since international students can't legally work here without a work permit (which costs about 400 Euro, no thanks) I've come up with a list of other ways to make money:

1) Paint a friend's apartment. Recently my friend Jeroen in Haarlem introduced me to some other friends he has, who live in Amsterdam. For two days I painted this other guy's apartment, and ended up earning €130. Niiice.

2) Hand out advertising pamphlets for clubs in Amsterdam. I haven't done this, but an American student at InHolland says she does this every weekend. You don't have to say anything, just wander around the city and pass them out. I'm not sure how much she's getting paid for this, but hey, it's something.

3) Register at an uitzendburo (pronounced: OUT-sent bureau). These businesses help anyone find a job, whether you have a work permit or not. The only trouble is, once they find you a job, they ask for a large percentage of your pay.

4) Help foreign students correct their English homework. Hehehe I feel kind of guilty about this one, but I think it's genius. The thing is, I realized that I am one of very few students here who has English as a first language. There are only two other Americans that I've met at InHolland, and just a few students from the UK. The idea is, I charge €2 per page for grammar corrections. Friends get the first assignment for free.

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About the language, I think it's interesting to see how students clump together in social settings (like at the pubs, or apartment parties), based on a shared language. Since there's not many native-English speakers, I've been 'adopted' by the students from France, since my French is passable. It turns out that the Dutch are not so friendly with the French, and we've gotten more than a few dirty looks while speaking French in the supermarkets. I've also been adopted to a lesser degree by the Spanish students :)

But what about Dutch? I've found that if I pay really close attention when my Dutch friends are speaking, I can understand maybe 15-20% of what they're saying. Even more, if I can see it written. We've come to the conclusion that Dutch is a jumbled mess of French, English, and German. So at least the majority of us international students can at least understand SOMETHING.

Once you understand how to pronounce the Dutch words, it surprisingly sounds a lot like English. My biggest learning curve in Dutch has come from buying food. I have 3 examples:

1) So I get home from Albert Heijn (the Dutch equivalent of IGA, or Safeway) with what I thought were two cartons of fruit juice. I mean they had pictures of oranges and lemons on them, so clearly it's juice, right? I open the cartons, and pour a glass...but this is no juice. What?? Looking closer, I read 'Ijs Thee'....pronounced: EYES tay.....could this be...iced tea?

2) I was thinking tea would be nice to bring to class in the mornings. Looking at the supermarket, I find some tea with pictures of apple and cinnamon. That looks nice, I think to myself, so I buy it. The next day in class, I have my tea in-hand but, for some reason I can't keep my eyes open. Why am I so tired?? The answer came as I was staring at the teabag in my thermos. Avondmelange....pronounced: A-font mel-AN-hhhay....hmm, well 'melange' means 'mix' in French....and oh 'avond' means 'evening', I remember this from our survival dutch course (goedenavond = good evening).....could this be like sleepy-time evening tea? The Dutch students in class said yes, that's exactly what it was. So this week I was sedated in class.

3) Latest example. I'm getting ready for a dinner party at the apartments, and once again Albert Heijn to the rescue. I'm grabbing munchies and other food, and hey some beer would be nice to bring as well! I found the cheapest one on the shelves, maybe €3.50 or something like that for a 6-pack. What a deal. So later at the dinner party as I'm enjoying the meal, I decide to drink my beer I brought along. Strange...two and half bottles later and I'm not feeling any effects. Looking closer on the label of the bottle, I read : 0.1%, alcoholvrij....pronounced: alcohol fry....DID I JUST BUY A 6-PACK OF ALCOHOL-FREE BEER??? My friends shared their wine with me.