I'm Rich!

Well, not really. I'm still technically a volunteer. But, the local currency has taken such a beating recently, and the US Dollar has stopped taking one. This means that the exchange rate is up to 8.9 UAH per USD. It was 8 when I got here. I'm 12.5% richer. Every time it goes up I keep exchanging some more of the cash I came over here with - a way to hedge my currency. But each time it goes up and I exchange it, it goes up more. I thought I got a great deal a few days ago when I got 850 UAH for $100, and now I would be getting nearly 900! That's essentially like being given 10 liters of Stella for free - about 2.5 gallons for you non-metric folk. I'm sure part of this spike is due to the fact that the IMF was fairly stern with Ukraine today and threatened them. Even with that, I see it as a great opportunity to get some free beer/money/beer money and I'll probably go exchange another $100 at the bank tomorrow. The money is going to be spent at some point, and if I can get a good deal for it now there's no reason why I shouldn't take it.