Current Currency

First published February 2, 2009

Math very sadly has not ever been a strong suit of mine. While I can calculate and come to some degree of accuracy, it hasn't been without great effort or unusual methods. Compound this with the fact that Cairo uses pounds rather than dollars and the exchange rate is 5.5 (give or take a few thing-ees) and you have real opportunity for some Einstein-worthy formulas.

We can withdraw money from the local ATM around the block. Honestly, it still feels like Monopoly money to me. I'm trying to grasp how much things are, what is a reasonable price and to pay for something without standing there stupified holding a handful of bills for their choosing.

Coins here are very rare. Rather they use a small bill called, "piastres." The pound bill is slightly larger. Before I leave to go anywhere, I organize my wallet putting the smallest bills in front. With the help of John, I have been able to calculate fairly quickly how much things are in US dollars. This helps me know if I'm paying too much or too little for something. Once I learn Arabic I'll be able to really get in there and barter, but for now not getting ripped off is the objective.

I took Emileigh and Aria shoe shopping the other day. Our street is known for its many shoe stores--not a bad thing. We walked up and down the street viewing varieties of shoes practicing our Arabic numbers by looking at the price tags. Aria spotted a pair of brown boots that she liked. She tried them on and decided that she would like to make the purchase. She counted her money and realized she was 9 pounds short. I told her to give me what she had and I would make up the difference. (What a nice Mom!) Anyway, I handed the salesman the money and he shook his head. He told me something in Arabic and acted as if he needed more money. I looked at the bills and told him in English, "It's all there." He shook his head no again and got out a calculator to show me the amount he needed. We went back and forth before he finally held up a 50 bill. He turned it around and in bold letters it said, "piasters."

Very quickly and very sheepishly, I grabbed some bills out of my purse and completed the purchase. It seems that Aria had not paid attention when counting her money and had given me a handful of "change" rather than pounds. We were anxious to get out of the store. We were so anxious that Aria forgot the bag with her new boots in it so they called us back and handed it to her.

She apologized and we laughed promising we would pay closer attention from now on.

The next day I was once again at the grocery store. This time I was ready. I do not want to go to the store every other day so I made a list of things that should last us for at least a week. John was going printer shopping at the same time in the computer mall above the Metro Mart. We both checked our money situation and were in good shape.

We arrived at the store and John went on up the stairs as Aria and I grabbed a shopping cart and began to gather items. I took my time and slowly began filling the cart with a variety of goods. I found some foods I recognized and made my way to the meat counter. During another visit I had asked for the butcher to give me some slices of smoked turkey. It was so good I thought I would get some more. The man asked me how much I wanted. Last time I ordered 1 kilo (I thought) and he gave me 4 slices. This time, I doubled it and asked for 2 kilos of meat. He sliced and sliced and sliced and sliced. Finally, he handed me 2 trays of turkey. I was too embarrassed to make him take it all back so I smiled, said thank you and put it in the cart.

By now the cart was nearing full because Aria had been getting things off the list while I waited for the butcher. I guess it was interesting because people would stop and look in our cart as they walked by. I'm not sure if the items were interesting or the volume. (Did I mention the carts are tiny?)

Aria and I finished up the list and made our way to the checkout. Before we arrived though I wanted to make sure I had my money organized. I knew I had spent more than I expected because of the sliced turkey bonanza. I got my money in order and pushed the cart to the cashier.

She began ringing up the items and I held my money. When out of the corner of my eye, I saw the word "piastres." Oh, no! Flipping quickly through the bills I had counted out thinking it was pounds when actually it was piastres. Yikes! I frantically started fishing through my purse trying to find the pounds that I knew were somewhere in there. I grabbed a wad of them just as she showed me the total: 406 pounds. I had 430 pounds to my name. I breathed a prayer of thanks to the Lord and received the rest of my change from her--more piastres.

John was waiting outside with a printer on his lap. We hailed a taxi and took our goods back to our flat. When the driver stopped I asked John to pay. It seems I was all out of money for the day.