Ne kadar?

Ne kadar? translates to "How much?" so it's used to ask for the price of things. It's not really the topic of this blog but last week I lost two amounts of 20 lira (about 20 dollars NZ so it's related).


When I catch the bus to work in the mornings it's so full that people are pressed against the front door. There are usually 3 sets of doors on the buses: front, middle and back (of the bus). If the front is too full to jump onto the bus (where you pay using an electronic card) then local custom is to use one of the other doors where there is usually less people and enough room to squeeze in.


Then you give your card to someone and it gets passed to the front of the bus to pay and works it's way back to you. Quite a neat system.


However, the other day I jumped on the back door and had my card passed up and back. It wasn't until I tried to use the card again that I found out that the balance left on it was zero instead of 20 lira! The cards all look the same and I presume it got mixed up with another persons card on the way back. Bugger. 


So I refilled the card with another 20 lira. Then yesterday when I was paying for a return ferry from one of the Princes Islands I happened to be in the wrong ferry terminal. I was in the fast (and more expensive one) and I had already paid the higher price before I realised. So there went another 20 lira down the drain.


Just part of the experience….