Too much ham.
I´ve spent a good part of this week trying to figure out how much something costs by mentally figuring out the price in dollars. I´m pretty proud of myself, actually, because I fuck up math problems in my head about as often as I trip (which those of you who know me will vouch is pretty often). Anyway, the result of that is that everything seems really cheap. ¨Less than a dollar for an hour of internet! Great!¨¨75 cents for a bus ride! Woooo!¨ We could get into a whole discussion on how if I keep changing everything into dollars I´m gonna end up spending more than I should because I should get an idea of how much things cost here and not think about how much the cost is in the states, BUT, my problem is this: the metric system is a bunch of crap.
I´ll explain.
Where money is concerned I have no problems. I mean I divide or I multiply by 500 and that gets me within range of what something costs in dollars. But, ask me what the speed limit is in miles. Or, let´s say, what the temperature is. Or, how much sliced ham I should ask for at the deli. If I think about it logically, one kilo of ham is within the vicinity of 2 pounds. I think. Fine, I have no idea, but let´s go with it. So, if I want like half a pound of ham I´d ask for 1/4 of a kilo, right? I mean, that would probably still be way more than half a pound, but close enough I figure. The problem is, when I get to the deli and I ask for ham, they ask me how much and then I freak out and I think a kilo is less than a pound and I say ¨Un kilo, por favor.¨ And they look at me funny and ask if I´m sure, at which point I have no other option but to get cocky and assure them that, yes, I want a kilo, damn it. And then I have to take home a hell of a lot of ham. You see the dilemna? Now, see if it were easier to change from one system to the other, say, by dividing by two or something there would be no problem. But now I´m faced with comments like ¨it´s 30 degrees out!¨ and I have no clue how I should react to that.
Ugh. Remember a few years ago when the US Government wanted us to switch to the metric system and we laughed? Well, we sure showed them. Stupid metric system.
- E
I´ll explain.
Where money is concerned I have no problems. I mean I divide or I multiply by 500 and that gets me within range of what something costs in dollars. But, ask me what the speed limit is in miles. Or, let´s say, what the temperature is. Or, how much sliced ham I should ask for at the deli. If I think about it logically, one kilo of ham is within the vicinity of 2 pounds. I think. Fine, I have no idea, but let´s go with it. So, if I want like half a pound of ham I´d ask for 1/4 of a kilo, right? I mean, that would probably still be way more than half a pound, but close enough I figure. The problem is, when I get to the deli and I ask for ham, they ask me how much and then I freak out and I think a kilo is less than a pound and I say ¨Un kilo, por favor.¨ And they look at me funny and ask if I´m sure, at which point I have no other option but to get cocky and assure them that, yes, I want a kilo, damn it. And then I have to take home a hell of a lot of ham. You see the dilemna? Now, see if it were easier to change from one system to the other, say, by dividing by two or something there would be no problem. But now I´m faced with comments like ¨it´s 30 degrees out!¨ and I have no clue how I should react to that.
Ugh. Remember a few years ago when the US Government wanted us to switch to the metric system and we laughed? Well, we sure showed them. Stupid metric system.
- E
posted by Eugenia at 1:27 PM
1 Comments:
a kilo is like the weight of a textbook. i had to teach it to my kids. its like going to school again cept this time im learning!
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