It occurred to me that I talk about manat in my posts but you’re probably wondering how much a manat is worth and what my budget is like. The exchange rate (which never changes) is 2.84 manat per US dollar. Each volunteer gets a monthly allowance (aylyk) based partly on where they live in the country. A portion of our aylyk goes to our host family to pay for meals. Here’s the cost of some things in manat:
One half liter of Coke Light (Diet Coke) 1.00 (regular Coke is 1.20)
Can of peas and carrots 2.60
One liter of fruit juice 5.00
Taxi ride in Bbat 0.60
Taxi ride in Ashgabat 2.00-5.00
One egg (yes, we buy individually) 0.50
Can of Pringles 8.00
Box of cereal 9.00
Snickers 2.00
Mata (material for a dress; 2 meters) 30.00-90.00
Tickinҫi (seamstress) fee 10.00-40.00
Shampoo 6.00-9.00
Dental floss 24.00 (probably why PC provides us with it)
Sunscreen 40.00 (ditto)
Blank CD/DVD for burning photos 1.00
Dry erase marker 3.00
Photo developing 0.70
English dictionary (if you can find one) 50.00
Picking up a package from the poҫta 3.40
Sending a letter to the U.S. 2.20
One liter of gasoline 0.55[1]
Pair of shoes 30.00-90.00
Plane ticket to Thailand 1,000.00 (they just went up; it was 800 when I went in August)
For the most part, I think volunteers try to save some money from their aylyk each month, but there’s always something that comes up, an unexpected trip into Ashgabat or a dress needed for a toy (wedding), for example. Technically, part of our aylyk is supposed to be travel allowance so that volunteers can vacation, but as you can see from the list, flying to Thailand isn’t going to be covered entirely by our savings. (Let alone the cost of hotels and meals, etc.) So, many of us use money from home for that. We also count on packages from home to supplement our food and supplies with things we can’t get here or can’t afford.
[1] Turkmen get an allotment of gasoline each month for free; it is only if they go over this allotment that they pay this. And, yes, that price works out to about 80 cents a gallon.