Eight years in the Netherlands.
Fluent in the work.
Still a guest at the coffee machine.
Five days changed that. Grammar was never the thing standing in the way. The rituals were. The unwritten codes around the coffee machine, the Friday borrel, the school gate.
For internationals who work and live in the Netherlands and are done feeling like a visitor in the country they built a career in.
Monday morning. The coffee machine. Someone laughs, you laugh too, half a second late. That half second has quietly cost you years of small moments. It closes faster than you think.
You stop just working in the Netherlands and start LIVING here.
You laugh at the joke before anyone translates it.
Your colleagues keep speaking Dutch when you walk into the room.
You drive home on a Friday and think: today I actually felt at home.
Five days. Five rituals.
The cultural codes and the practical Dutch that make you feel at home where you already built your career.
The ten second opening that ends years of standing quietly at the edge of the room.
The three questions Dutch colleagues actually ask each other on a Monday, and the answers that keep it going for another two minutes.
How to walk into a group mid conversation without waiting for an invitation that is never coming.
Why directness reads as respect here, and how that one shift changes every meeting you sit in.
The two moments every week where hierarchy disappears in a Dutch office, and how to use both.
“More practical value in 5 days
than in two years of group classes.
You are good at your job. You enjoy it, but at the coffee machine, at the borrel, at the school gate, something is still missing.
That is who this is for.
If the expat bubble feels like enough, keep it. This challenge is for the ones who know there is more waiting, and are ready to go get it.
Five short video lessons. One field assignment a day, done in moments you already have. The exact phrases written down, so you can use them on Tuesday morning.
And this time, you are not doing it alone.
Next to the daily video and workbook, you join a WhatsApp group full of internationals who are all trying the same thing, for five days.
- Every morning
A voice message from me to get you going and make sure today's mission actually happens.
- By the afternoon
The first little wins start coming in: someone ordered their coffee in Dutch, someone kept going after "goedemorgen".
- Whenever you like
Share yours, in a message or a voice note, or simply enjoy reading and listening along.
Either way, you are in it together.
This is what belonging
sounds like.
“I got more from this challenge
than from €1.500 spent on exhausting evening courses.
You will have had your first real coffee chat in Dutch.
Your Dutch does not need to be perfect for that. You just need to know what happens in the ninety seconds around a coffee machine, and have someone next to you while you try.
Sign up until 2 November.
Want me in your ear all week?
VIP gives you everything in the free challenge, plus a direct line to me on WhatsApp, all week.
- Send me your daily voice message. I reply the same evening with my feedback and my advice for tomorrow.
- On Friday you get a personal message from me about what I heard change.
- You get an exclusive VIP bonus on my next program, revealed during the challenge week.
The free challenge is complete as it is. VIP puts me in your ear all week.
FAQ
Is it really free?
Yes. Completely free.
What level of Dutch do I need?
Any level. Every assignment comes in a beginner and an advanced version, so you pick the one that fits.
How much time does it take?
One short video and one field assignment a day, in your own workday. You decide when.