https://blog.attelkom.net/zholdosh/Everyday money in Irad, explained over tea Kündölük 3.4.2enhttps://blog.attelkom.net/zholdosh/2026/10/two-rates-for-one-dollar.html Sun, 18 Oct 2026 09:00:00 +0600Longhttps://blog.attelkom.net/zholdosh/2026/10/two-rates-for-one-dollar.html The bank says 8.40. The bazaar says about 11. Both are true, and that is what makes this autumn so confusing. The official rate is 8.40 som for a dollar. It has been 8.40 since March 2008. At the bazaar this October the street rate is 11 to 12, and in June it was about 9.5. The difference is the…https://blog.attelkom.net/zholdosh/2026/09/a-coin-nobody-asked-for.html Mon, 28 Sep 2026 09:00:00 +0600Freehttps://blog.attelkom.net/zholdosh/2026/09/a-coin-nobody-asked-for.html Tulparcoin landed in everyone's phone last week. What we actually know, in five points. It launched on 22 September. Every registered adult was offered 100 coins for free. The total supply is 900 million coins, and 30% are held by the Forum, the organisation behind it. On 24 September the Bank of…https://blog.attelkom.net/zholdosh/2026/07/welcome-back-readers-abroad.html Sun, 12 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0600Freehttps://blog.attelkom.net/zholdosh/2026/07/welcome-back-readers-abroad.html Since the end of June the letter can be opened from abroad again. A short hello to the ones who had to read it by e-mail or not at all. For almost three years a part of my readers could not open this page. Cousins in Russia, a nephew in Germany, a woman in Ohio who wrote me about sugar. Some of…https://blog.attelkom.net/zholdosh/2026/05/living-with-the-300-limit.html Sun, 31 May 2026 09:00:00 +0600Longhttps://blog.attelkom.net/zholdosh/2026/05/living-with-the-300-limit.html Talasbank now pays out at most $300 of your dollars a month. Eleven things families are doing, honestly assessed. Since the spring the dollar cash at the banks has been short, and this month Talasbank put a cap: $300 a month per customer. Here is what I hear in the queue and on the telephone.…https://blog.attelkom.net/zholdosh/2025/08/ten-kilos-of-dried-apricots.html Sun, 31 Aug 2025 09:00:00 +0600Freehttps://blog.attelkom.net/zholdosh/2025/08/ten-kilos-of-dried-apricots.html Why a kilo of dried apricots in January costs what a bucket of fresh ones costs in July, and why that is fair. Dried, an apricot loses about four-fifths of its weight. So ten kilos of fresh fruit make two of dried, plus a week of work on a hot roof, plus the risk of rain. When you pay the winter…https://blog.attelkom.net/zholdosh/2025/06/a-teacher-s-salary-and-a-nurse-s.html Sun, 15 Jun 2025 09:00:00 +0600Freehttps://blog.attelkom.net/zholdosh/2025/06/a-teacher-s-salary-and-a-nurse-s.html About 2,200 and 1,800. The numbers say nothing until you put a month next to them. A teacher in a Talas school earns about 2,200 som. A nurse at the regional hospital, 1,800. A bus driver, 2,600. A shop assistant at a supermarket, around 1,900. The state average is just above 3,000, pulled up by…https://blog.attelkom.net/zholdosh/2025/02/dollars-in-the-cupboard.html Sun, 09 Feb 2025 09:00:00 +0600Freehttps://blog.attelkom.net/zholdosh/2025/02/dollars-in-the-cupboard.html Many families in Irad keep a few hundred dollars in a cupboard, in a book, or in a sock. Is it sensible? Short answer: it is sensible for the reason it was started and not sensible for the reason it is kept. It was started because dollars keep their value when the som is shaky, and because a…https://blog.attelkom.net/zholdosh/2024/04/a-pension-a-grandson-and-a-phone.html Sun, 21 Apr 2024 09:00:00 +0600Longhttps://blog.attelkom.net/zholdosh/2024/04/a-pension-a-grandson-and-a-phone.html Pensioners in Irad are the most reliable savers in the country and the least rewarded for it. The average pension is about 1,200 som a month. Out of this a pensioner buys bread, medicine, electricity, a bus ticket, and a gift for each grandchild's birthday. The last one is not optional. It is…https://blog.attelkom.net/zholdosh/2024/02/the-remittance-queue.html Sun, 11 Feb 2024 09:00:00 +0600Longhttps://blog.attelkom.net/zholdosh/2024/02/the-remittance-queue.html Money from relatives abroad still holds up a lot of Irad's families. A Saturday at a transfer office. On Saturday mornings the transfer office near the bazaar has a queue out of the door. Mostly women, mostly with a telephone in one hand and a passport in the other, waiting for the code from a son…https://blog.attelkom.net/zholdosh/2023/09/cheap-petrol-expensive-car.html Sun, 17 Sep 2023 09:00:00 +0600Freehttps://blog.attelkom.net/zholdosh/2023/09/cheap-petrol-expensive-car.html AI-92 costs about 5 som a litre. Why do drivers still complain? Because the petrol is the cheap part. Take a ten-year-old Japanese car, bought used in Talas for $4,500 (that is 37,800 som at the official rate). Insurance 140 a year, the annual inspection 60, tyres every second year 280, repairs,…