Money Matters
Malta will surprise you in many ways. The local currency, the Maltese lira, is one of the strongest currencies in the world! (Second strongest, according to Wikipedia. In case you’re wondering, only the Kuwaiti dinar tops it). In fact, it takes nearly US$3 to make one lira (UK£1.57, €2.32). To this, add the fact that the lira makers just love coins. Paper notes only start at the Lm2 level. Which brings me to today’s conundrum…
I really don’t know what to do with so many coins! In other countries, coins have little value, so I got used to just emptying all my small change into a jar in order to keep my pockets from bulging. But you simply cannot do that with the Maltese liri. Empty a day’s worth of coins into a jar, and you might wind up with US$15 (UK£8, €11). Not exactly small change! So I am still trying to figure out how to deal with carrying so many coins. I am trying a small change purse in addition to a wallet, but it is getting quite bulky. Any suggestions will be highly appreciated.
Next there is the challenge of learning to recognize so many coins. There is 1 cent, 2 cents, 5 cents, 10 cents, 25 cents, 50 cents and finally 1 lira. Having to pick out seven different coins is new and a little bit daunting. I know that I will eventually get used to it, but it is still a bit overwhelming when a cashier hands me back a small mountain of coins. Or worse yet is when I hand over a large sum in order to get change, and back comes the dreaded question “oh, don’t you have 15 cents?” Yeah, I probably do, but do you really want to wait that long?
Only one year, three months and 17 days until Malta adopts the euro. At least then, the whole population will join me in being puzzled by new coins.
