What can you get for 30 rubles (a dollar) these days?

One of the first shocks of landing in a new country, of course, are prices.  Exchange rate is approximately 31 or 32 rubles to one dollar, which means most things you buy are three digits or more. (100 Rubles less than $3).

So in the first few weeks, here are a few things we have discovered which cost about 30 rubles, or about $1--

--1 metro ride (30 R if you buy one ride at a time)
(if you buy 60 rides at once, can get the price down as low as 20 rubles per ride)

--1 average ice cream cone (at the ice cream kiosks on the street)
(range 20-35 rubles)

--1 nice but not fancy loaf of bread (usually sold not sliced, though sliced bread is in stores)
(range 20-40 rubles)

--1 package of 8 cookies with chocolate icing (the girls love these so we save them as bribes to keep them walking) (range 27-35 rubles)

--1 pound of bananas (at the fruit kiosks on the street) (about 3 large bananas)

--1 hot dog in biscuit (again, at fast food kiosk on the street)-- they don't have 'hot dog buns' here, but sell the hot dog in something like biscuit dough wrapped around the hot dog before it is cooked
(range 25-35 rubles)

--1 330 ml plastic bottle of drink yoghurt in the grocery store (in convenience kiosks is more)
(range 25-35 rubles)

--2 small size yoghurt cups (this varies widely by brand and how fancy or whipped you get)
(range 20 -45 rubles)

--3 small A5 school notebooks, about 12 pages, no fancy cover (about like small exam blue books in the US, but they are used by school children all the time)

--1 nice gel pen (maybe)

--half a box of herbal tea (cost about 60-70 rubles for a box of 20 packets)

--half liter water bottle (500 ml) or even only 330 ml, sold in convenience shops or kiosks