July 10, 2005

A Recurring Sickness of Mine

I am always plagued with this disease! Every country I go visit or live in I have this undeniable urge to always convert the money of that country to our battered Philippine Peso!

For Example:

In Hong Kong, buying a can of coke will cost me 10-12 HKD. Automatically I will convert them in Peso and realize that this will be between 70-80 pesos roughly. I will then think twice in buying the coke and end up buying it but feeling a little pinch in my heart and wish I was buying the can of coke in Manila.

In Paris, a can of coke costs 3-5 euros. Again I will autmatically convert it to Peso and feel bad because this will be around 200-350 pesos. How I will wish I was in Hong Kong buying the soda or better yet back in Manila.

In Istanbul, A coke will cost me between 1.50-2.00 Turkish Lira. Not the cheapest of the three so far at 60-100 Pesos and still makes me want to buy the soda in Manila!

In manila...A can of coke wil cost me 15 pesos to 30 pesos. If I am in a hotel it will be at 120 pesos.

This has always been a sickness of mine. I cannot stop converting and sometimes I end up not buying anything. My husband always laughs about it saying I should get over it and just adjust my spending mode to the currency I am using. This proved to be quite a task for me and I am still struggling with it. Little by little I try to let go and just not convert about it. Being here in Turkey helped me a bit since their currency goes by the million ( as in 1 Milyon Turkish Lira is equivalent to 1.20 USD) and I do not have all the time to count all the zeroes in the money let alone convert them in Philippine Peso.

The first time I went on my own here in Istanbul and bought something, I was so confused with the number of zeroes in the one hundred thousand,five hundred thousand, one million, five million and ten million liras that I paid via credit card for an item that costs one hudred fifty thousand liras ( roughly around 70 pesos ---> here I go again converting!).

Ahhhh... money money money...I am trying to find a cure over this habit of mine. As of now, the closest cure I have is just converting my money on hand to the nearest Euro and US Dollar and then try not to think how much it will be in Philippine Pesos because I am sure it will break my heart again to know how much it will be and how cheaper will it be in Pinas ( sigh!).

Posted by duke at 7/10/2005 04:54:00 PM

10 Comments:

nikki said...: that's what my mom used to do everytime we travel kaya we ended up buying only a few things. when i had a chance to travel alone, kinalimutan ko muna kung pano mag-multiply. :-D; 7/11/2005 06:59:00 PM
duke said...: Sha..
oo nga!!! I would love to go there!lapit lang natin! ako pa naman ngayon ay lady of leisure...in short walang ginagawa..hahaha... hay! nakakaloka talaga mag convert!

nikki...
you bet.. at first I always ended up buying s few things lang pero little by little I am letting go..nakaka depress mag convert lalo na into peso.; 7/11/2005 07:22:00 PM
Analyse said...: dont worry iha, common sickness natin yan, i was like that for probably a year before i got used to it..in the end kasi, nakakasakit na ng ulo...

just think about it this way, if i buy a can of coke in manila, it will cost me 15-30 pesoses, plus my airfare, plus all the pasalubongs to my family and my kabarangay, barkada nung elementary, highschool, college at mga ka officemates from my first job to my nth job, pusta ako sa mamahaling hotel ka pa bibili ng can of coke mo hehe...; 7/11/2005 07:33:00 PM
duke said...: analyse..

hahahah that is a nice way of putting it! bibili na lang ako ng coke imbes na isipin ko lahat ng pasalubong! lol; 7/11/2005 07:37:00 PM
UNCLE FOTO. said...: how long have you been away from the philippines.
my missus use to do it wayback but now she converts us dollars to canadian dollars whenever we are in the US

you are not alone; 7/11/2005 08:43:00 PM
Anonymous said...: I've never really bothered to convert any currency to peso coz I was more drawn to taking photos which is my addiction. Having said this, you made me realize how expensive a cola is in other countries. But here, you can buy a can of cola for only 50 Cnd cents at dollar stores and that is only about 22 pesos. Not bad.; 7/12/2005 07:32:00 AM
silentmode_v2 said...: hahahaha...here in dubai, the cost of a can of coke is one peso, literally.

some pinoys (usually from arrived fresh from phils.), use our peso to vending machines which is also the same size as the dirham (baaaaaadd!). a can of soda here is almost same as manila (php15).

don't convert, you'll end up nothing. :); 7/12/2005 08:11:00 AM
duke said...: air milikay..

I've been away from the Philippines for 2 years now going three..ahhh..conversions conversions.. they make me nuts!

evi...

just like you I am also trigger happy when it comes to taking photos :)sodas can be a trick when you buy it in different countries.. youfeel ripped off when you buy it after knowing how much it is in Manila per se.. and let us not go into Mc Donald's which also differs in price when you buy it in different countries ;)

jeff..

ang Pinoy talaga! maabilidad! hanggang sa vendo ng dubai umaabot ang "talent" ..hihihi
I should really stop converting. Like what you said, I will end up buying nothing!; 7/12/2005 05:48:00 PM
Unknown said...: "I have this undeniable urge to always convert the money of that country to our battered Philippine Peso!" I can definitely relate to this especially during our first year of our stay here in Washington DC.; 7/13/2005 08:01:00 AM
Anonymous said...: Haha, you are not alone. Lahat ata ng tourista, expat, etc. eh sakit yan.
Minsan nakakasakit ng ulo pero I do it for practicality. Like recently I bought the Sidney Sheldon book for $4.53 which if you convert into to pesos is still much cheaper. I used to think that everything is much cheaper in Pinas but I was proven wrong. so now, I just convert it to know which ones I should buy here and which ones I should save up for on my next trip home. (unless of course, I need it ASAP then forget the conversion. Hehe); 7/13/2005 04:31:00 PM

Confessions of an Expat's Wife

July 10, 2005

A Recurring Sickness of Mine

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