Today, I will write about how money is different in Tanzania.
First of all, we use shillings instead of dollars.
Other than looking different, money is money. One other difference is that the largest bill is a 10,000 shilling note. Which is worth around $6. So, you can imagine when we take out a few hundred dollars at the ATM, we feel like millionaires with wads of cash!
The exchange rate for dollars to shillings is one dollar is worth 1630 shillings. Which means the Tanzanian economy is really bad. The Kenyan shilling is much better- one dollar is worth 80 Kenyan shillings. So, you can see how much further behind the Tanzanian economy is than Kenya.
One thing about money here is that we pay all of our bills in cash (rent, utilities, internet), in PERSON. The bill is either e-mailed to us, or usually delivered to our house in person. We don't even own a checking account in the country, but just pull out cash with an ATM, since checks are rarely used as a means of payment for anything. One reason that bills are hand delivered to your house is that there is no home delivery for mail here. Having a post box is the only way to receive mail, and the person billing you doesn't trust that you have a post box or that you gave him the right address. So, they send someone to your house with a bill.
There are a few fancy stores and restaurants in town that accept credit cards, but most of the country works on a cash basis.
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