“got to be good looking ’cause he’s so hard to see…come together, right now, over me…”

Heh, I’ve not done a Beatles riff on my blog until now. Perhaps I should have continued to refrain from doing so, but I couldn’t resist the opportunity to pun.

Of course, I am talking about the Korean monetary unit, the Won (pronouced like “Juan”). Which is in the toilet these days. Folks like Jenn of I’ve Got Two Shoes fame who get paid in Korean money have seen what amounts to a significant pay cut. Me, I get paid in U.S. greenbacks, so I’m feeling almost wealthy these days.

When I first arrived in January 2005 the exchange rate was like W1030 to the dollar. Last year it dropped as low as W960 or so. Now it is over W1300 to the dollar. I exchanged $300. Friday and got almost 400,000 Won back. That’s 25% better than just a few months ago.

Not that I spend all that much money on the economy, I do most of my shopping on post. Still, it makes my beer tab cheaper and that’s a good thing.

“Money don’t buy everything it’s true
But what it don’t buy, I can’t use
Now give me money, that’s what I want…”