Growing up, my dad told me that after British Guiana won their independence and became Guyana, one of the first orders of business was to print their own currency. Gone were the pound sterlings and anything with the Queen's likeness--one problem though: no one accepted the new currency. Without the Queen's likeness no one thought it was legitimate tender, and as a result, Guyana went back to printing a new currency with a picture of the Queen. In fact, when I was there a few years ago, the Queen's picture is still on their currency!
Something similar occurred today while shopping in preparation for our retreat today. The gentleman in front of me, about my age, was given his change that included this new, shiny, small, silver coin -- he looked at it and attempted to give it back to the cashier. She explained that was a part of his change--he denied that it was real and pushed it back to her. She attempted to assure him that it was real and pushed it back to him, but he left.
I thought perhaps it was from another country or something, like a Canadian penny circulating in the US. When I received my change, I was surprised to see the familiar Mohammed Ali Mosque on one side, which I quickly associated with Cairo -- this was a new coin.
This is 10 piastres; the equivalent of $0.016 in US dollars.
Previously, the only coins in circulation were the pound (a must have in the car and on your person), the 50p, and 25p -- that's it. There's no such thing as exact change in Cairo--sometimes it goes in your favor, and sometimes it doesn't--that's Cairo.
But the introduction of this new 10p is going to take some time.
Case in point: right after receiving this change, I went to purchase some coffee and the decorative Starbucks mugs marked with "Egypt" and "Cairo" for our guests. The total rang up to 398.20 LE -- "hey, how 'bout that," I thought, "I just received 20p."
So, I put the two 10p coins down with my 400 pounds cash for payment. The clerk looked at the coins curiously, showed her manager, and he took both and handed them back to me saying they were not needed.
I received 2 pounds back in change.
oh, Cairo...
Grace, Mercy & Peace...
Something similar occurred today while shopping in preparation for our retreat today. The gentleman in front of me, about my age, was given his change that included this new, shiny, small, silver coin -- he looked at it and attempted to give it back to the cashier. She explained that was a part of his change--he denied that it was real and pushed it back to her. She attempted to assure him that it was real and pushed it back to him, but he left.
This is 10 piastres; the equivalent of $0.016 in US dollars.
Previously, the only coins in circulation were the pound (a must have in the car and on your person), the 50p, and 25p -- that's it. There's no such thing as exact change in Cairo--sometimes it goes in your favor, and sometimes it doesn't--that's Cairo.
But the introduction of this new 10p is going to take some time.
Case in point: right after receiving this change, I went to purchase some coffee and the decorative Starbucks mugs marked with "Egypt" and "Cairo" for our guests. The total rang up to 398.20 LE -- "hey, how 'bout that," I thought, "I just received 20p."
So, I put the two 10p coins down with my 400 pounds cash for payment. The clerk looked at the coins curiously, showed her manager, and he took both and handed them back to me saying they were not needed.
I received 2 pounds back in change.
oh, Cairo...
Grace, Mercy & Peace...
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