Ohne Geld Sein

das Geld=money

die Bank=place you can keep your money.

der Geldautomat=atm machine you use to get your money

‘die’ Zero=amount of money I had access to on Friday

After I found myself in a “pickle” Friday, I decided it would be a good time to write about the general differences in money here in Germany.....and it isn’t just the looks.

Front and back of the coins

There are quit a few differences between Germany and the U.S. when it comes to “money”or “Geld”.  I admit, it has taken me a while to recognize the different coins and have held up many store lines while I examine each coin to determine their value.  Because numbers and finances are a slow process for me to learn, I have let Jason “handle” our finances up to this point.  Yes, that is right my friend, I have dragged my feet learning how to pay bills and how to access money here in Germany.  (No lectures PLEASE)  Let me enlighten you as to what can exactly happen when one chooses not to learn the ‘ins and outs’ of financial transactions in a new country……..  As I was driving in a new part of town, I was excited to notice the Mega store, “REAL” (pronounced-REEE-ALL, not real), smiling at me.  I decided to “pop-in” and check it out.  It is the closest version of “Target” here in Germany.  We have received several fliers in the newspaper that have sparked my interest because their merchandise seems to change weekly.  After spending an hour of bliss loading up my cart, I stood in the long line to pay.  My turn, the cashier swipes my EC once….twice…looks at me and says in German, “sorry, doesn’t work”.  I look at the expressions on the faces behind me waiting and make a quick decision to pay in cash rather than have  my card denied again.  As I slowly count out ALL of the bills and coins in my purse, I glance back again at the line of faces and beg the 'higher powers' to please shrink me to the size of an Ant so I can crawl out of here.  Thankfully, the Powers didn't listen and I had just enough cash to pay.  The problem now, I had NO money for the rest of the day.  You see, exactly a week prior I had my U.S. debit card “disqualified” for usage since I tried to use the wrong pin number three times. (Did I mention I am not very good at remembering numbers)  So, here I was standing in a Foreign country, not being able to access my U.S. account for at least another week, and confused as to what was going on with my German account and having no such back-up source called a checkbook.  It was such a helpless feeling.  Not to mention, I had not purchased our food for dinner, nor our upcoming week’s worth of fresh cheese and meats from market.  Even worse, the dog groomer was waiting for me to come pick up Rocky and PAY.  Yes, I ended up surviving the day and Jason ended up coming home in time to pay for dinner (we have now learned they have Pizza delivery here in Germany) 

Here are some things I have noticed are different……

·      Currency Name-“euro” (€)  vs. “dollar” ($) When I first traveled to Germany in 1997, the currency was “Deutschmark” but about ten years ago Germany switched to using the euro. It is the sole currency of 17 EU Member States.

·      Pronunciation-It is funny how many Americans try to correct my pronunciation of euro.  I happen to pronounce the word correctly in German (well, that might be going a little too far since I am not sure if I pronounce any German word “CORRECTLY”)  Every EU member which has adopted the euro, has a different pronunciation depending on how the letters of the alphabet are pronounced in their country.  I have included a link where you can listen to all the variations. 

http://www.forvo.com/word/euro/

·      Notes - There are NO “one dollar bills”.  Notes here are different sizes based on their worth.  You will only find paper notes issued here in €5, €10, €20, €50 €100, €200, €500.  By the way, did you know the U.S. is one of the only countries in which the bills are all the same size. 

·      Coins-seven coins including ones for €1 and €2.  This has taken me a little time to get used to when digging in my wallet with people waiting so patiently behind me at the cashier.  I am also learning to be sure to always have a few of these coins on me since this is common payment in machines.  Can you imagine using a coin rather than a $1.00 bill? 

·      NO checks.  We weren’t even issued a single check in case of an emergency.  They don’t exist.  If I had to guess, this goes back to making trash and wasting paper.  

·      Cash.  In some places cash is the only form of payment accepted to the point I am still surprised when I hand over my card and they hand it back to me asking for cash.  (Plan to carry some cash when visiting us so you don’t find yourself in a pickle at a smaller shop or restaurant.)

·      Eurocard (EC) which works like a debit card.  However, the ‘EC’ is different in some ways when compared to our U.S. debit card. First, it is my understanding that withdrawals are free at the ATM, which means no running around trying to find your specific bank’s ATM to avoid an additional fee.  Also, you don’t choose between “credit or debit” when paying.  If cash isn’t required, you use your EC virtually (Many places do not accept credit cards nor are credit cards used very often here other than large purchases.)  

·      Paying bills- Bills are paid via online banking and fund transfers rather than mailing checks.  I have to admit, it is taking me a little time to get used to this paperless world but there are no other choices. We paid some bills in the U.S. via the internet, but here you pay ALL this way.  

·      Points and Commas- placements are all different here in numbers. For example the Two thousand euro is written: €2.000,00 Ten dollars and fifty cent is written: €10,5 (see that it is a period where we put a comma and a comma where we put a period)

The good news… I now have both a new U.S. debit Card and German EC on order and a pocket full of cash thanks to Jason!  Off for our Sunday outing-tschüss