The price of things

Thought I would comment on the cost of living here in Joensuu. Banaanit are 1,99 euros kilo, peanut butter 2,49/350grams, milk , 59-1,29litre, eggs 1,19/10 (everything is metric), granulated sugar 1,19 /1 kilo, all bran flakes 3,61 /500gr, br sugar 1,20/500gr, ground meat 5,70/2k. Gas is 1,21/liter. The Finnish/English/Finnish dictionary that we paid $35 in the MTC costs 12,90 at the local PRISMA (K-Mart type store with groceries). Car washes are 8,90 and every gas station has one. Grapes are unaffordable. Just purchased two beds 200cmx90cm; the total was 332euros including 16 for delivery. The beds look like they're from IKEA. Farkut (blue jeans) are triple the American price.

As we were walking this evening there was a mannekin in the window dressed in a rose colored sporty pants suit: jacket, cropped pants, blouse, and purse came to 312euros. This is at a mid-range department store--like Mervyn's.

People must be very good money managers here. They live simply in small spaces and choose wisely where they will spend their money. I asked one man if he and his wife ever ate at the university cafeteria. He said that, for him, going out to eat meant taking a sandwich outside.