Колку?

"Колку е?"  A common phrase heard on pazar or market day here in Macedonia.  As I walk around the pazar seeing what seasonal fruits and vegetables I want to buy to use in this week's meals, I point to the mound of spinach and ask one of the venders ""Колку е едно кило?" or "How much is a kilo?"   He responds with 40 denar.  No bad for a big amount of spinach, which will work in a few of my meals this week.  By the end of the day I have a kilo of spinach, a kilo of kiwi, a half kilo of oranges, a small bundle of green onions, and a kilo of tomatoes.  A grand total of 270 denar, around $5.

One of the questions that I remember asking the current volunteers here when I was getting ready to leave for Macedonia was how much things cost so that I could compare how much things were in the states.  When the current volunteers said that a cup of coffee at a local shop is around 60 denar, a loaf of bread 30 denar, 1 liter of milk 49 denar, even using a conversion calculator and seeing that the cup of coffee is a little over $1,  loaf of bread $0.50,  and the liter of milk a little more than that,  still did not give me a full idea about where most of my Peace Corps monthly allowance would be going.  Now 6 months in, approaching 7, I find myself still converting the price of items here from denar to dollars.  Even though it is not exact, I always use the conversion 50 denar = $1.  This past weekend I was working on a Living Allowance Survey that the Peace Corps asked all the volunteers to fill out.  Since the problems with the economy has begun, prices have started to rise everywhere and the Peace Corps wanted to know how much things would cost in our towns so they could see if prices in Macedonia have risen enough to give us an increase in our monthly living allowances.  I always seem to have enough and some months have a little extra;  but then some months are more expensive than others, just like back at home.  I have only eaten out in a restaurant once in Resen, but I do meet people for coffee at least once a week and have a drink when I go out with friends on the weekends.  I tend to buy what I need and get a few items that I want (i.e., a bar of chocolate and a bottle of wine) and still I am never waiting for the next monthly allowance to come.  There are some other volunteers that by the end of the month are either broke or getting there, waiting for the email saying that the next month's allowance has been deposited in their accounts.  I have cut back on a few things at the end of the month, when I see my bank account getting lower and I know that I have another week or a few more days to go; but once the next month's money gets deposited, I realize that I had plenty and that I really did not need to cut anything out.

I have referred to this before that Peace Corps Macedonia is sometimes referred to as the "Posh Corps" since not all volunteers are as fortunate as we are to have certain amenities that we do (i.e washing machines, TVs, etc) but even with those items we still have to live modestly.  So get ready......here comes the Math......just to paint you a picture on how much things cost here in Macedonia.

1st- The BIG bills
Rent- 24,000 den = $550 (and this is not just for 1 month, but for 3 months) paid by the Peace Corps
Water - is paid by my landlord
Electricity- is paid by Peace Corps, but my bill is around 5,000 den each month = $100
(Electricity is very expensive and that is where many Macedonian try to cut back.  They use wood burning stoves to cook and heat up their homes because it is cheaper to buy wood then run a heater.  They also turn the water boilers on during parts of the day when the electricity is cheaper  1-4pm and 10pm-7am.
Internet- 550 den = $11 a month (I pay for this)
Cable - 320 den = $6-6.50 a month (and since my TV is old and does not get all the chanels I never turn it on, but my landlord kept it going and if I stop it and he wants to turn it back on it would be a 1000 den = $20 fee) I pay for this

2nd- Transportation
The only form of transportation that I use is the bus.
One way ticket to Bitola- which is 39.2 km (30 min drive by car, buses go slower) is 130 den = less than $2.50
One way to Ohrid- which is 36.4 km is 160 den = little over $2.50
One way to Skopje- 198km (which should take a little over 2 hours by car and takes 4 hours on the bus......you see the difference?)  is 500 den = $10
Going to Skopje is the most expensive, unless I travel to the east and then I have to get off in Veles and pay for another ticket to where I am going in the east.  That is more expensive.

Now I don't know how much a car here costs,  because I have no need to be shopping for one;  but I can tell you the price of gas.  Gas is the same as electricity; they are expensive and that is why many people rely on public transportation. The  last time I looked, gas prices where around 77 den = around $1.50.....wait for it.....a liter!!!!

Here comes the Math part:
1 gallon = 4 liters
$1.50 x 4 = $6 a gallon

Now I have heard that gas prices in the states are around $4 a gallon, at least in NOVA, but $6 can you imagine!!  Hopefully, gas prices will not get that high by the time I get back or I will be traveling by bus for the rest of my life....probably not haha.

Now I could sit here and list every item in the grocery store and the price, but then this blog would be about 5 pages long and no one would want to read it.  So just to give you an idea:  When I go to the grocery store and get the basics and a few extra items that I need each week, I normally spend around (probably a little more than )1000 den = $20.  Again some weeks are more expensive then others;  but normally that is what I spend.  The Peace Corps has budgeted that we spend around 300-400 denar = $6-8 a day on food.  When I go out to eat, I end up dropping around 300 on one meal;  hence why I don't eat out a lot.  When I am away from Resen, visiting other parts of Macedonia, I do go out and eat and I treat myself to whatever I am in the mood for.  So living the modest Peace Corps life in Macedonia is not to bad.....not too bad at all.