It's getting colder here and the girls only have sandals. Today I thought it would be fun to venture out and buy the girls some shoes. Schulzbach is a nearby town and I was told that there was a "shopping mall" as you enter the city, I thought I would give it a try.
As I entered the city I drove into what appeared to resemble a shopping mall, no it was a grocery store. I continued until I got into the city center. I managed to find a blue P, indicating parking. I grabbed my two girls, I forgot the stroller, and began my first German shopping experience as the only adult. We wandered down the streets until I found some windows with shoes, luckily they also had a few "kinder" shoes. We quickly found the small basket with shoes that would fit Keanna, she had 2 "girl" choices in her size, she is a size 28. Pink shoes with hearts or pink shoes with flowers. In the meantime the kind shopkeeper with my permission gave my girls suckers. I continued shopping for Ayla there was even less of a selection. For Ayla I decided on a pair of blue shoes with flowers, the most girly thing I could find. As I selected Ayla's shoes the shopkeeper gave keanna a ring and a small box of colored pencils.
The total came to 26.90 Euro, kind of pricey. However, for those of you who know me I like to bargain shop and I had a plan to reduce the amount. In Germany they have an automatic tax of 19% on all of their goods, except food. As an American I can use a VAT form which will take the 19% off my total price.
I gave my VAT form to the shopkeeper, he starred at me blankly. I don't think he knew what it was. He and another women talked about it for several minutes and attempted to fill out the form, they did so incorrectly. We hand gestured for several minutes and I tried to gesture what I meant. After awhile I gestured that it was no big deal and paid the full price. I couldn't bring myself to not buy the shoes after the shopkeeper treated us so kindly
I walked out of the store knowing I just paid a fortune for 2 pair of shoes that will be outgrown in months.First, the dollar is very weak right now. Today the exchange is .70 to 1 Euro, second I paid 19% tax!
Ouch! No bargains today!
I will have to find a Marlena or Sandi around here
3 comments:
No worries, Emily - your husband's a dentist! It is hard to get out of the dental school mindset.
Now for next time: have one of us stateside girls send you some! For that price, we can buy you some full-price here and ship them to you! In a future blog, could you tell us more about what can and can't be shipped over? I know Amazon won't ship anything to APO. What can you get?
you are funny - i agree with marlena though - I am sure we could have sent you 4 pairs for that price!
Well I still think it's expensive, too! If you ever find your way into a large city (and can get around w/out getting lost!), I bet they have discount stores just like they do here...Wal Mart, Target types, etc.
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