Shopping and Blunders

Yesterday we had 20 cm of show fall.  Thus we decided that it is time for some shopping.  Dirkie went out exploring again.  My first stop was a shop called Stockmann which is similar to South-Africa’s Woolworths (I think that I have mentioned this before).  As I am not in possession of a GPS yet, I got remarkably lost inside the huge shop consisting of 8 levels.  Finally I found the men’s shoes section, spent almost an hour there fitting on different kinds of boots but none fit Dirkie’s boer voete.  So I ventured outside to the streets in search of clothing shops (of which there are many in Helsinki!)

Blunder No 1

Dirkie had only one thing on his mind, non-slip, grip-plus, super warm waterproof boots.  So I saw in the window of a shop very jummie boots and went in to fit them on.  My boer voete were too big for the shoes so I asked the shop assistant if she could please check if they have a larger size in stock.  Now, I wear a South-African size 9.  Here you get a size 9 from Denmark, a size 9 from Finland, a size 9 from China, a size 9 from Sweden, a size 40 from the USA and a size 9 from Australia.  All of these “similar” sizes are different in size.  Anyway, the shop assistant, very politely and with a slight blush, informed me that I’m actually busy shopping in a woman’s clothing shop!  Big oeps!  Needless to say I got out of the shop as fast as I could.  I think that Alex was relieved that I didn’t arrive home with a bra and panty….although it might have been kinky?

Blunder No 2

In South-Africa shops have glass doors that slide open to the left and right automatically as you approach them.  In Finland the doors do not slide open but open like a normal door on a hinge.  So Dirkie walked happily to the entrance of a shop, the doors opened and he walked right smack into the opening door…*big blush*…

Blunder No 3

Do not be a typical South-African and walk in the middle of the road!  Nothing more needs to be said on this topic….

Blunder No 4

Do not go walking outside with normal shoes on.  You’ll slip all the time, looking like a very out of practise ice skating dancer.  And avoid any slippery steps.

So Dirkie gave up on shopping for boots and went searching for sim cards for our mobile phones.  I found them fairly easily, inserted the sim cards into the phones and….it was all in Finnish.  With some effort and with the help of, thank goodness, Google Translator, I managed to set the language of the phone to English, called the service provider and changed our pre-paid account preferences to English.  The Finnish language is very interesting and beautiful, but we don’t need Eskimo cell phones.  Just for interest sake:  The NOKIA phone company is a Finnish company with their headquarters just outside of Helsinki.  Can anyone guess what the word NOKIA means?  It means “warm fuzzy bear”.  The company was named after the town where the Nokia phone was born.

When Alex finished his work for the day we went shopping for clothes together which turned out to be a great success!  Here are a few of our purchases:

The jacket below is made of wool, fleece and polyester.  The wool makes it nice and cosy.  The gloves are made of sheep’s leather.

 

The boots that we bought are made of leather with a sheep’s wool and aluminium lining in the inside.  It is also coated in the inside with a Gore-Tex material for insulation from the cold.  The soles of the boots are coated with a non-slip polymer and studs (so no more dancing on the snow).

 

That’s it for shopping for now.  Today we’re going to have a look at four houses.  Hold thumbs that we will find a nice cosy home!

Bye-bye for now!