Pieter & Sylvie(47)

Sylvie and I met during an internship in Strasbourg. She moved to Breda for my work, we had two children and built a life. But Sylvie missed France — her family, the language, the culture. When her mother fell ill, we decided together: we're going to Alsace. Not as an escape, but as a conscious choice for a life that suits us both.

Alsace is unique in France: it borders Germany, the architecture is half-timbered, the cuisine is hearty (choucroute, flammekueche, kougelhopf) and many people speak Alsatian or German alongside French. For me as a Dutchman it felt familiar — it's not the south with its nonchalance, but a work ethic closer to the Dutch one.

We bought a maison alsacienne in a village near Colmar for €220,000. The house had half-timbered facades and a winstub-style kitchen. The notaire in Colmar guided the transaction. In Alsace, house prices are lower than in Provence or the Côte d'Azur, but higher than in the Dordogne. The taxe foncière is €1,200 per year — reasonable for the region.

Our children — 14 and 16 — attended the lycée in Colmar. The transition was easier than expected: they already spoke French thanks to Sylvie, and the French lycée offers excellent education. The seconde (comparable to year 10) was academically tougher than their school in Breda. Homework in France is a serious matter — expect three hours per evening. But the results show: both now want to study at a French université.

Working as a Dutchman in Alsace offers extra opportunities. The region is economically strong thanks to the border with Germany and Switzerland. I now work as a logistics manager at a company in Strasbourg, 35 minutes by TER (regional train). My contract is a CDI with 35 hours per week — the legal working time in France. I have five weeks' paid holiday plus RTT days (réduction du temps de travail), totaling about 40 days off per year.

Our mixed family thrives in Alsace. The children grew up bilingual and feel more at home here than in Breda. Sylvie is reunited with her family. And I've discovered that Alsace offers the best of both worlds: French quality of life with Germanic structure. We celebrate Christmas with marchés de Noël, have Sunday lunch at Sylvie's mother's and drink a glass of Riesling from Ribeauvillé in the evening. C'est la vie — but with a touch of Brabant.