Image from You have one dollar, what's next? on Facebook.
The economic woes in Ukraine have been hitting the local currency, hryvnya, hard. The most recent dive brought the currency to 33 against the US dollar (in December 2014 it was 16 UAH to 1 USD). But enterprising Ukrainian social media users have tried to find the bright side—by crowdsourcing ideas about what you could afford in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, with only a dollar to your name.
Alena Denga polled her friends and did some sleuthing herself, which resulted in a blog post [1] listing all kinds of ideas on how to spend your dollar. Among other things, in Kyiv it can buy you:
- 7 subway rides
- A Happy Meal
- A nice dessert at a cafe
- A glass of wine or a pint of beer
- A coffee (one in a fancy cafe or two on the street corner)
A cappuccino and an americano from a street vendor will cost you 22.5 UAH—less than one dollar! Image from Medium.
If you long for cultural events, a dollar can get you a matinee show at the movies or a trip to one of the numerous Kyiv museums. Other options for spending your 33 hryvnyas include boxes of candied fruit, postcards to send to your friends (yes, by snail mail!), and even a train ticket from Kyiv to Vinnitsa.
One Facebook user was even able to score a ticket [2] to an opera performance for 20 UAH ($0.71).
National Opera of Ukraine, Carmen, February 27, 2015, 7 p.m.—20 UAH. And enough change to buy a sandwich.
After Alena's post got 3500 views in one night, she set up a Facebook community [3] to continue crowdsourcing, with users already contributing ideas about how to spend one dollar (or 33 hryvnyas) in other Ukrainian cities.