Pricey Living...

I have been living in Bratislava for almost 7 months now, and I believe I have done quite well for myself in terms of spending. My bank account is comfortably padded and I have cash left over. I rarely tap into my American account, and when I do it is for travel expenses (the point of me working 2 jobs during the summer when I should have been relaxing on the beach). Granted, I'm not a "real" city slicker because I don't pay much in the way of rent...but I don't get paid much in the way of salary either, so those two cancel each other out.

Well.

Apparently I live in the 45th most expensive city in the world! Can you believe it? New York is number 22, and that is the only US city in the top 50! If I can survive here on pittance, I can survive anywhere!

Here is what Yvonne Traber, a researcher at Mercer, had to say about it:

"Although the traditionally expensive cities of Western Europe and Asia still feature in the top 20, cities in Eastern Europe, Brazil and India are creeping up the list. Conversely, some locations such as Stockholm and New York now appear less costly by comparison"

Hmm. Maybe it is a good idea to move back to the United States after all?

On that point, I applied for a job yesterday with the U.N. Foundation as their Corporate and Foundation Relations Associate in Washington, DC. Keep me in your thoughts, because as of December 12, 2008 I am unemployed.