EuroYankee

When I visited Spain and Germany in the fall of 1999, the currencies were fairly equal (1 euro=$1.07). When I visited again in the fall of 2001, the dollar was slightly stronger, but still close (1 euro=$.89).

Lately, the dollar keeps hitting new lows (1 euro=$1.42). Still, I don’t think it means that Europe has become unaffordable. Your basic groceries remain reasonable. Here’s my recent bill from a recent run to the discount grocer in my neighborhood (I’ve converted the prices into dollars):

milk, half gallon $2.07

parmesian, wedge $4.24

butter $1.69

eggs, 1 dozen $2.70

avocado $1.83

oj, fresh, half gallon $3.94

cream cheese $3.19

bananas, 4 $1.97

total: $21.64 (euros 15.25)

(photo credit: Jill)

I invented a new German word recently: doppelchecken (to double-check). You saw it here first.

In order to celebrate National Metric Week, EuroYankee wants to come out of the closet and announce that I’ve gone metric. It’s taken 2,5 years of living in Europe, but I’ve officially shed the nonsensical US weights and measurements system. I’m here to tell you that once you make the switch, there’s no desire to go back. I’m still slightly confounded by meters, for some reason, but all other metric units have come to seem fairly logical. Walking 800 kilometers across northern Spain helped me do away with miles. Having all liquids come in liters and all foodstuff weighed in grams has made those units easy to understand. A kilo is more or less 2 pounds. Also easy. And a colleague gave me a trick for celsius that has helped enormously: 61 farenheit equals 16 celsius. And a balmy 80 farenheit is 27 celsius. I’m already forgetting how many pints are in a gallon or how many feet are in a yard or in a mile. So there you have it.

(photo credit: Nils Geylen)