Is living in Europe the solution?

Ruchel

Wed, Jan 10 2007, 10:22 am

amother wrote:

Ruchel wrote:

France her

6- There is less pressure to be rich/ live rich.
possible

What do the French have to say about Twerps (Antwerp) as far as pressure to be/ live rich?

No idea, I suppose they don't care since it is not in France? I have seen on onlysimchas that there are marriages between French & Belgian people though.

Ruchel

Wed, Jan 10 2007, 10:24 am

dilego wrote:

Well I live in Switzerland and let me tell u tuition is around 600dollars monthly per kid from age 6 upwards and there is not that much of a break,like in eretz,where I lived for 10 years.in generall kosher food and snacks are crazy expensive,not like in france,belguim and england,meat and chicken are far from being cheap.

I suppose the problem of meat in Switzerland comes from the fact that shechita is forbidden? My husband is from there and every time I ate at his house the meat was sooo bad Sad

mimsy7420

Wed, Jan 10 2007, 10:29 am

I have relatives in England, and it costs a FORTUNE to live there. The rent in the jewish areas is sooo high. Forget about buying a house unless you have a million dollars.

Ribbie Danzinger

Wed, Jan 10 2007, 10:53 am

sarahd wrote:

That's what I was referring to, tuition in Switzerland. Note, Ribbie, that I said I don't think life in Europe is cheaper.

Oops, my mistake, I was thinking that you live in Israel! embarrassed

Ruchel

Wed, Jan 10 2007, 10:59 am

only1 wrote:

I have relatives in England, and it costs a FORTUNE to live there. The rent in the jewish areas is sooo high. Forget about buying a house unless you have a million dollars.

ditto! Prices in & around London are awful!!!

amother

Wed, Jan 10 2007, 11:04 am

Ruchel wrote:

only1 wrote:

I have relatives in England, and it costs a FORTUNE to live there. The rent in the jewish areas is sooo high. Forget about buying a house unless you have a million dollars.

ditto! Prices in & around London are awful!!!

How about Antwerp?

Ruchel

Wed, Jan 10 2007, 12:18 pm

amother wrote:

Ruchel wrote:

only1 wrote:

I have relatives in England, and it costs a FORTUNE to live there. The rent in the jewish areas is sooo high. Forget about buying a house unless you have a million dollars.

ditto! Prices in & around London are awful!!!

How about Antwerp?

no idea... I would say a bit better than London, but I'm not sure at all.....

dilego

Thu, Jan 11 2007, 7:44 am

I was going to say that antwerp is in my eyes more snobby (dont take it personal ,there is evrything everywhere)&the pressure to be rich is here in a certain sense weaker,as you get accepted here in zürich very nicely,it really depends on alot of different things.In a way the pressure to bre rich depends also a lot on you and your priorities.

amother

Thu, Jan 11 2007, 8:06 am

antwerp:
free summer camps shock

never heard off. I wish!!!!There are only day camps here.
My kids have two weeks off in winter then one week in febr then 10 days pesach then 8 weeks summer and two weeks sukkoth...Belgium has most holidays from the whole world!!! more holidays then school!!
rents here are cheaper then UK and USA but you earn also much less.
the atmosphere between the communities is nice but it all depends from fam to fam. the same thing goes for snobs..you find them everywhere.
But one thing is very true. Parnossoh is very hard at theis time in Antwerp...

caroline

Thu, Jan 11 2007, 11:14 am

hi here antwerp
free camp? never heard
cheap life? for sure not. meat is so expensive that you can't buy every day
small fridge ?you 9 years old must be uge
6 eegs? no 30
snobs?like everywhere
your income is here very low next to the expenses of everydays life
mothers work? well I do but a lot stay home like everywhere else
people who go away is because there is no work to find here
hope I answerd all the questions
:?: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :?:

Ruchel

Thu, Jan 11 2007, 11:20 am

sarahd wrote:

The problem is that there are tremendous parnasa difficulties in Antwerp since the diamond market collapsed.

It is true. My cousins from Antwerp left the business, or left the city.

amother

Sun, Jan 14 2007, 4:27 pm

amother, what you said is true. (im another antwerpian)

about holiday, its definitely very common to go away for the holiday but to say you have to hide if you're staying here? I've never seen it. I have stayed here as a girl but we were not embarrassed about it (sad maybe)

amother

Sun, Jan 14 2007, 4:56 pm

hi antwerp here
I don't understand from where all this funny information come from it's very sade that ppl think like this there is no true in it I hope by reading this ppl will change their mind about antwerp :lol:

mummy-bh

Sun, Jan 14 2007, 5:07 pm

Oh can we stop making vast generalisations now please?

I would venture to say that in all our communities, all over the Jewish world there are people having nervous breakdowns, those who are snobs, those who cannot afford meat in the week, those who cannot afford meat on shabbos, those who pay for summer camp, those who don't, those who have small fridges and those with larger ones, those with 18 kids and those with smaller families, those who pay enormous mortgages and those who own their houses outright.............

I could go on but I think you get the picture.

Financially, does it matter how we live?

amother

Sun, Jan 14 2007, 5:10 pm

I have lots to say on this subject.

I have been to France, Antwerp and London. I have lots of family members in Antwerp and London.

My uncle from Antwerp used to be in the diamond business and since it collapsed Parnassah is just so difficult. So I wouldn't even think about their expenses being less than America or their recieving Government assistance. If there's no parnassah then nothing is too cheap.
Also in European countries even in Canada, special needs children have a very hard time. There are no programs or Jewish organizations like here in NY for special kids. So it is extremely expensive plus the child gets to be in a non-jewish enviroment.
I know this becasue unfortunately I have a relative who is a special needs child and he is having a very hard time with the fact that he has to live with non-jews and many of them being very anti-semitic.