Spare change?

Someone asked me an interesting question last weekend: which currency, the pound, the dollar, or the euro, do you prefer to use?

I thought it was interesting because I've never considered this before. He didn't mean which worked the best with the exchange rate or with our confusing combination of British and American banks and credit cards, but which bills and coins did I quite simply like.

The three currencies are not the same by any means. Americans use bills for all dollars aside from the occasional dollar coin, usually acquired from a vending machine or people like my father who've tried faithfully for years to increase their circulation through personal use. Coins are more of an afterthought in the USA and come in confusingly named denominations.

Yes, I actually have something to say about this and you can read about it here...
The pound and euro use bills for fives, tens, twenties, and fifties, but both have one and two pound/euro coins, rather than paper notes. At first, Josh and I found these really annoying. The pound coin is heavy, and it doesn't take long to fill a pocket or wallet with these fat pieces of metal. It's difficult to break a bill without getting back a handful of change. However, over the last year, I've grown rather attached to the pound coin; it's got a really nice weight to it. The two pounder still gets to me, though- that's four dollars (alright, lately three...) worth of coin; something's just not right there. But I like being able to pay for real goods and services with pocket change. I now figure that if I have a bill, I am probably set for the time being (plus there's always an ATM card).

While my pockets here can produce a decent haul, a handful of American change is light and small and not worth a whole lot, but it sure can fill a big jar in a very slowly satisfying way. Pound coins are too precious to be hoarded away. The smaller coin denominations are different, too. We have quarters, not twenty cent pieces as the euro and pound. I like this. Fourths just seem more logical than fifths. Plus it helps hone those simple addition skills. On the other hand, if we divide a hundred dollars into twenties, why not do the same for a hundred cents? Why not have $25 bills or 20 cent coins? There are also two pence and two cent coins, both of which seem completely useless. Just extra change.

Although I do find it puzzling that queens still exist and get put on money, at least the pound (and the euro) are colorful and not drab green. The other thing with American money is that it is terribly confusing. Why don't the coins have numbers on them? What foreigner is going to know what 'dime' or 'nickel' means? And why is the dime so much smaller than the nickel in the first place? I do like the new states quarters, though. It's fun to peer into your hand to see if you've got any new ones.

Speaking of sizes, it's so much easier on the wallet that all dollar bills are the same dimensions, but would it not be so much kinder to the blind if each denomination stepped up in size as it did in worth as do the pound or the euro?

The more I write the more the pound and euro seem similar. Perhaps I'll have to do some more on-site research.I could keep going with this completely useless and rambling post, but you're probably getting bored. Let's just stop here and say I don't play favo(u)rites... money is money.

The thing about this house is

that the spiders think they own the place.



(Is it really necessary to build a web in my hairbrush? Our shower? The spice rack? Sigh.)

Funny Friday Blog Link (don't worry, we'll stick to the photos)

I have a serious pet peeve (pet hate) with living here: phone numbers. Everyone puts spaces, periods (full stops), or dashes in their phone numbers in different places, if at all, and I find it so difficult to listen, copy, record, repeat, or just use in general when they're not broken down into bite sized pieces. So... I found this recent post by our friend, Heather, especially amusing...

Check it out: Phone Number Rythmn

Funny Photo Friday: Maybe that means something different to you?

The first time we tried to visit Tesco (like Walmart) on a Sunday evening, we realized that perhaps our understandings of 'Open 24 hours' are not the same...

Happy Thanksgiving!

After a few conversations at work ("ew! pumpkin?!"), I decided to take in pumpkin pies instead of cookies today (I'll bring those to the gathering on Saturday instead).

We couldn't find canned pumpkin this year, so...

(my first ever!)

And all in this frustratingly petite "oven."

The busiest travel day of the year

I have only flown on today, the day before Thanksgiving, once, as cruel Final Review scheduling or, more recently, prohibitive flight costs, have kept us stationary for the holiday. I do not envy those of you travelling home. I vaguely remember a stifling bus ride with my suitcase on my lap, a living maze of stranded passengers lounging about on dirty terminal carpet, and an overtaxed ventilation system not quite able to keep up with the warmth and sweat of so many coat-clad people. I panicked when I saw the blinking departures list at La Guardia Airport, but a lucky break in my one-and-only, nearly-on-time West-bound flight prevented me from becoming what sat (a seat!) next to me: a young Minnesotan crying via telephone to her mother about her canceled flight and now-lost Thanksgiving dinner...

To celebrate our inertness, I’ve made cookies to inform my co-workers of the cause for celebration. I’m quite pleased with the substitution of Cadbury Buttons for Hershey’s kisses. We will also be joining other Americans this weekend for the real deal of turkey and pumpkin. We miss you, Feenstras and Wiersmas and Walls and Thieses. And our New York substitutes, the Bannons, we won’t forget you! One of these years Thanksgiving will again become a family holiday for us. Until then, we are thankful for the calm.

It's Official

Although technically it's been official for at least a little bit but I didn't find out till recently.

On my growing pride in America

Let me begin by saying this isn't about Barak Obama. I like the man, I'm glad he's going to be the President, but simply saying that I'm proud to be American because of Obama is both un-insightful and disingenuous.

Instead my sense of pride runs deeper and follows the core of the American dream. I am immensely proud that I am from a place that bases (or at least tries to base) its evaluation of people on their actions, character, and abilities. We really are a land of opportunity, and with hard work, a little bit of intelligence, and some luck amazing things can happen. While it is true that Obama serves as an example of this (seeing as how he comes from a familial status on the margins of society (when he was even part of it) and without a sense of familial prestige or power to claim the most powerful seat in the country), his interaction is not isolated.

We saw these moments throughout Asia as people referred to our home with glowing terms (despite our unpopular president and foreign policy) or spoke of their desire to one day go and live there. We saw it keenly in a man who was beaming having just obtained his US work visa. The words that concluded his final interview at the embassy crystallized something for me, and I'll never forget hearing, 'Congratulations, with hard work I'm sure you will succeed in the USA. Good luck.'

This pride has been growing the longer we've been overseas, but it swelled by leaps and bounds on Nov 4. And while I was happy with the outcome, I was proud of the process. I was stupidly proud that we have these elaborate rituals, that multi-year process in which we elect someone from the populous to lead. I like that we choose, that the president isn't appointed from on high, but that the good ol' plebs get to pick and that they can select from anyone. I am proud of my right to vote, that I can choose from one of the top two candidates but that I also could have chosen someone from the green party, or Ralph Nader. Shoot, I could have even written in Dennis Kucinich or Bugs Bunny. I have the right to choose my leader, and I like that.

Sitting watching TV on Nov 4th, with a bowl of popcorn I kept thinking to myself, 'Go America Go!' It was a happy moment.

Who says the british aren't polite?

I'm having to make some phone calls for work and while dialing I received this answer from one of the numbers I called:

It seems you've been lucky enough to dial a wrong number, so we are sorry to say you are going to have to hang up and dial another one.

Awesome.

Funny Photo Friday: I'm lovin' it.

Check out this lovely restaurant in Prague. Now look at what's on the umbrellas.

They just don't make 'em like they used to.