zlacker

>>colone+(OP)
When I was younger, I took part in one of the first post-cold war student exchanges between the U.S. and Russia. A few days after I arrived there (during a very hot summer in the Eastern Urals), the Ruble (the version they were using at the time) collapsed from something like 1500:$1 to 5500:$1 and it became impossible to convert currency.

It finally "stabilized" somewhere around 5500-6000:$1 but the exchange markets still wouldn't function. Finally, running out of currency, our hosts did the exchange with their personal funds, hoping that the dollars we were giving them would turn out to be a good investment later. I didn't really understand at the time what a huge risk they were taking, and how much money, relatively, they were converting for us.

It's one of many generous things that happened during that exchange that's given me a perpetual fondness for the Russian people, even if sometimes I share in many of the grim feelings for the national politics.

>>bane+Ej
"Our hosts did the exchange with their personal funds, hoping that the dollars we were giving them would turn out to be a good investment later."

Sorry, but I got lost reading this. Mind explaining it a little more thoroughly?

Your Russian hosts gave you Rubles for your dollars right?

>>markce+Br
I don't know what it was like then, but perhaps the idea is that if the Ruble were to recover, then the Russian hosts would lose out?

>>xom+0s
Yes, that's the idea as far as I understand it, too: Rouble just dropped 4x, so it made sense that it might recover somewhat. That must have been in 1998 (I am Russian)

>>listic+9u
Close, but it was before the 98 crash and reform. I was there in 1995.

Here's some information I found on the time period http://www.photius.com/countries/russia/economy/russia_econo...