Cost of Living

It's remarkable to me how prices for pretty much any item, good, or service varies tremendously depending on where you are in the world. In Romania there are some things that are WAY cheaper than their $$ equivalent in the states (bread, eggs, vegetables) and some things that are WAY more expensive, if not literally than at least compared to cost of living here (electronics, clothing, peanut butter, soy sauce, and any other "foreign" food). Just to show a little bit about what I can buy with various amounts of money, I took pictures of two recent shopping trips. 

Here is what you can buy for 10 lei ($3):

Head of lettuce, Three tomatoes, Radishes, Cucumber

Here is what you can buy for 100 lei ($30):

Three red pepers, Soy Sauce, Mixture of desk supplies (paper clips, thumbtacks, clippy things), Hummus, Four yogurts, Four oranges, Four cans of coconut milk, Milk, Two pounds of salmon (in the bag beside the milk) and a quart of strawberries

I suppose because I cam from NYC to here, it all still seems so inexpensive, but perhaps for those of you who live in rural areas where produce is grown locally and therefore is really cheap, this doesn't seem so life-changing. But I still love it. Just wanted to share a little glimpse into life in Romania.