One of the many (x100) differences between being a PCV and being an expat with an actual job is how much you pay attention to the exchange rate. This is especially true when you’re being paid in dollars. The exchange rate has become such an obsession that I have two ways of tracking it on my iGoogle homepage. See that graph in the lower left hand side? That upward trend is actually bad. Just in the last few weeks the exchange rate has dropped from almost 8 ZAR (South African Rand, which exchanges at 1:1 with the Lesotho Maloti) to the dollar to 7.3 ZAR to the dollar. That makes a big difference! Especially since I still budget thinking of dollars. As a PCV we were paid in the local currency (Pula in Botswana) so exchange rate fluctuations really didn’t have an impact. Sure, the cost of goods might go up, but ultimately I got paid the same quarter-to-quarter. As a result I just wasn’t nearly as obsessed with the exchange rate as a PCV as I am now. Let’s just all hope that the dollar does better soon, because this precipitous drop is killing my budget!
