Financial Crisis Hitting Home

I don't keep up with the news very well, but even I have heard about the financial crisis that is sweeping through most of the major world markets. I don't know that I've ever really noticed much change in my life during times like these in the past. With the exception of rising gas prices, I haven't felt the effects of any of the economic shifts in my life, for better or worse. But this latest one has hit closer to home.

The most immediate effect is the exchange rate. I get paid in US dollars, so my pay literally goes up and down daily. I get paid a set amount and that set amount can translate into X lira one day and X+ or X- the next day depending on the exchange rate. For example, soon after I came the exchange rate was hovering around 1.4 to 1.5 lira to the dollar. This past week, it went up to 1.19 (it had fallen lower than that). That means for every dollar I'm paid, I'm losing 20-30 Turkish cents compared to what I was making a year or so ago. That adds up quick.

But the effect that hit me last night was much bigger and effects people besides me. I teach an English class that is made of a salesman from a large international company and two bankers. They have been telling me for months that the American economy wasn't doing well and that it was going to be bad for everyone. They knew it was coming, but they still weren't able to prepare for it fully. One of the bankers lost a lot of the money he had invested recently. The other is doing better, but both are living with the weight of this on their shoulders. It's possible that with the amazing losses banks are reporting these days that these men could be fired.

They don't have the time, money, or concentration for English class these days, so they dropped our class. They've become friends though, so I will keep in touch with them over the weeks to come. I pray that through this time we Christians can show the world what it means to hope in something that neither moth nor rust (nor stock market fluctuations) can destroy. I also pray that we can give that hope to those in need around us.