Things Hungarian III

One thing we're getting used to is Hungarian money. Hungarians still use the forint, but will eventually switch over to the Euro. Bills come in 20,000, 10,000, 5,000, 2,000, 1,000, 500 and 200 denominations with pictures of Hungarian kings and in a lot of pinks and blues. Coins come in 100, 50, 20, 10, and 5 values. We have to remember to look closely at the money when we use it. The other day the total at the grocery store came to 4,000 forint. Nancy handed the cashier a bill and she gave her a funny look, repeating "4,000 forint." Nancy had given her a 1,000 forint bill instead of the 10,000 bill she thought she had. She had to make the whole line behind her wait while she fished through her purse for the correct currency.
When we came in January, 1 forint and 2 forint coins were still being used. We were in church one Sunday when there was some sort of announcement about the coins that we didn't fully understand. The English-speaking friend sitting by us said that we weren't to use 1's and 2's anymore but to bring them to the church. We thought it was a fund drive kind of like collecting pennies, but we found out that on the first of March, those coins were being discontinued. Banks would still accept them for a short time, so everyone in the church donated their leftover coins for the church to redeem. Now the total at the store is rounded up or down to the nearest five forints.
We are constantly asking each other, "What is that in dollars?" to get a feel for what something costs in more familiar terms. The exchange rate now is about 160 forints for each dollar, but the exchange rate changes constantly, so items can be more expensive or less expensive for us as the exchange rate goes up or down.
Since Hungary is a part of the European Union, they will be switching to Euros in the next few years. Our language school prices are already listed in Euros, so we figure that cost at the Euro exchange rate! Please pray that the value of the dollar goes up before we pay for our next language course!
One more interesting thing about Hungarians and money--many if not most Hungarians use cash to pay their bills. A bill comes in the mail and the customer takes the bill to the post office and pays it in cash there. Companies make arrangements with the post office to receive payments for their bills. You can pay all your bills together with cash at once if you want. The trick is to find a time when the lines at the bill-pay windows are not long!