When people travel from one state to another, they need to exchange
money. There is an exchange rate for this. It is approximately equal all
over the world for main money units at a certain moment of time, but
changes from day to day. The exchange rate depends on the situation in
currency market.
In Ukraine, like in other countries of the world, we may change hryvnas
into other currency in banks or special booths called "Bureau de
change". They give a receipt in which it is written how much money you
give, what the current exchange rate is and how much foreign currency
you receive. But in Ukraine you can not use foreign currency to buy
something or to pay for any service. You must use hryvnas only.
You may pay in cash (notes or coins), by cheques or credit cards. If you
have a bank account, you are given a cheque- book and when you need to
pay it is necessary to write the sum, sign the cheque, pull it out of
the book and give to the seller.
If you have a special account for a credit card, you give your card to
the seller who fixes it and then takes the sum off your account. He
gives you a bill as to other customers. If you need to take cash from
credit card account, you may get it from a bank or a bankomat.
A bancomat is a device a bit bigger than a public telephone. You put
your card into slot, type your pin code, press some buttons to let the
machine know what some of money you need, take your card and receipt
back and receive your cash from the bankomat.