Lost in transit

One of the things I like here, and liked in India, was having wads of money, being a togrog or rupee millionaire (well, if not a millionaire then at least having a fat wallet). But yeh, everything here is mentally converted into US dollars (and you can use US dollars anywhere), which is easy cause 1000 tg is about a dollar, and I've gotten out of the habit of converting into Australian dollars - probably a good thing, because then everything's almost twice the price. Like most things in Mongolia, the togrog notes all have that particular smell of mutton, which I've grown to love. Apparently I also smell like boiled mutton now, according to friends in Beijing. Oh well. Another way Mongolia gets under your skin.

i think in sing dollars. i can still calculate back to pounds, but the pound has pretty much lost significance to me, since it makes things seem relatively cheap. i figured out that since i was earning sing dollars, i'd better spend accordingly!

one nice thing about the sing dollar is that it is pretty much the same value as the aussie dollar - makes travel to australia that little bit easier. it's also very similar value to the canadian dollar and the swiss franc (or was 6 or so months back!).

The Austrian schilling ranged between 12 and 20 to the US dollar. It seemed like play money, and I spent it accordingly. The change to the Euro, a lot closer to the US$ in value, suddenly made things seem more expensive to me, the opposite of what happened to most Austrians who were more, you know, "Whee! Everything costs only one-thirteenth of what it used to!" We've all adjusted by now, though.

I agree with Mig about spending foreign currency like play money. Last summer I returned to Britain and was faced with the real cost of things. I had grown up with sterling, and I know its worth. I could no longer allow myself to accept that bewildering subconscious excuse: "It isn't real money, anyway." I don't know how I managed to survive all those years abroad without going bankrupt! Somehow, I'd even managed to buy and eventually sell a flat in Copenhagen using kroner and never truly feel a sense of the currency's value in my soul, especially not for large amounts - the zeros already started far too early for my liking. So good for you, Eeksy-Peeksy - if you feel more at home each time you notice something like that, then it's a very positive sign!

PLEASE Email me telling me how to convert Aussie dollars to American ones!!!!

PLEASE Email me telling me how to convert Aussie dollars to American ones!!!!