A change will do you good
Assuming it doesn't drive you crazy first (73)
When we were kids, finding a penny on the sidewalk was a huge deal. First, was it heads up or heads down? A lot of luck was riding on that answer. And then there’s the fact we could actually buy something for five of them, or put them in our piggy banks. (Yes, we both kept piggy banks. That fiscal conservatism started young.)
Nowadays, we’ve been known to walk by a penny. Especially if it’s tails up! Even as cheap as we are, we don’t necessarily drop for anything less than a quarter anymore. The rest just doesn’t have value, in part because coins are rarely used. We have to remember to actually use the coin. To bring the coin. A quarter at least will get us a shopping cart at Aldi! (Stores that ransom their carts want a whole euro here.)
The other day Amy spotted a coin before Scott did and nabbed it. Then the question began: was it heads up? Hard to say. Maybe it’s a foreign coin! Score! Turned out it’s a one cent euro coin. Guess we still have some work to do on recognizing these new coins of ours.
It’s important we figure out these denominations because unlike US change, coins are used. Everywhere. Cash is king. And the value of a coin is a lot higher. Literally. We’re accustomed to the highest value of a common coin being 25 cents. Here, the highest value is $2. Well, euros but it's about the same right now.
We say that a lot: the value of the euro and dollar is about the same right now. At one point, right when Russia picked on Ukraine, the two were exactly the same. Today, the exchange rate is 0.94. For every $100 dollars you go to change, you’ll get 94€. Six bucks somehow evaporates. This may be fine if you’re buying a loaf of bread.
If you want to buy something crazy like Levi Jeans, though, those’ll run you 140€ right now. Yes, there’s a 1 in front of the 40. Assuming of course you can figure out what size you wear in jeans. Ignoring the entire “Do I want relaxed, straight, slim, or skinny” question, of course. Innumerable charts exist to help you figure out what size you are, many of which are, naturally, slightly contradictory. At least Amy’s nailed down what size sneaker she wears!
Speaking of sizes, one very cool thing about being in Portugal is that we’ve gotten taller. In the US, Scott was 76. Here, he’s 168. We’ve also lost weight. In the US, Amy weighed 107. Here, she’s 48.5.
In the apartment we have a little thermometer. We bought it when we arrived since our heating units, while marvelous and amazing, don’t come with wall thermometers. Naturally, it’s in Celsius. Of course, there’s the quickie formula that works very well. You know this, yes? No? Ok, it’s double and add 30. Go ahead and try it; you’ll be surprised by how effective it is. We’ll wait.
One of us, though, likes to be very precise. We needn’t go into which one of us that is. 20.5C is the temperature right now. 71F is what our formula gives us. 71.2F if you want to drag out a calculator but who wants to find the calculator every time you want to know the temperature? For that matter, who wants to do mental gymnastics each and every time you want to know if the temperature validates how warm or cold you feel? So she created an accurate chart. Which tells us that that the temperature is actually 69.1F. Nope, no heat for Amy; time for another sweater.
Using that handy chart, we know it’s getting warm enough to eat outside again comfortably - not that most people stopped. So we’re headed to lunch with friends. What time? 13h30. Huh? Right, subtract 12; got it. How far away is the restaurant? one of us asks the other. 1.1 km comes the answer. Oof, that’s a hike. So imagine the surprise when the place turns out to be closer than thought. (What? Only 7/10 of a mile?)
So much here involves mental gymnastics. It was so easy to think as we did: I’ve got it, distances will be in kilometers, check. We even laid out a kilometer in St. Louis on our regular walking route so we knew how far it was, and walked it to see what it felt like. Well, sort of. St. Louis is flat as a piece of paper compared to Lisbon.
That’s actually a picture of one of the routes to our new apartment. Yes, it’s stairs. Don’t suppose FedEx uses it regularly. This hill (steep enough to require stairs!) sure does provide that view we’ve been talking about. But, as we’ve mentioned, we were not expecting to be buying a T2 (2 bedroom). Our current apartment is 56 square meters. The new one will be 80. That’s a lot bigger. How much bigger? We’re getting another 260 square feet. The floor plan comes in … we don’t even know what unit, but the master bedroom is 4060 of ‘em wide at the narrow point. Now, who’s gonna clean all that?
The bigger question, though, is how are we gonna pay for it? Which is why we’re digging in the couch cushions, hoping to find some 2 euro coins!
That’s all for now.
Love from Lisbon,
Amy & Scott
I lived in South Africa for a year, and England for a year. Never got kilos to miles. The F to C formula had to suffice, as we had neither calculator nor handy chart!
I can do meters. I can do kilos. I'll try doing Celsius...but, in Copenhagen here, I guess they provide the wind speed in...seconds.