Something I foolishly failed to pack for life in Africa was “house pants,” meaning, extremely comfortable loose-fitting pants suitable for lazy Sundays, nights in, and as sleepwear on chilly nights when your living space doesn’t have real heaters. I thought I could get by with just a couple pair of yoga pants, failing to realize that if my yoga pants are gross and sweaty from exercise, I won’t want to wear them as house pants later in the day.
So we headed out to the mall today to buy some odds and ends including house pants. I saw a cute lingerie store called La Senza, which had a wide variety of “house pants” as well as so many adorable bras and bustiers I had to ignore because I had just spent too much money on really low-end eyeshadow at Clicks. They came in small, medium, and large. Sometimes in shops like this a “small” is really for 12-year-olds and even slim grown ups need a medium, so I wasn’t sure what size to get.
I casually asked the saleswoman, “What size do you think I am in this store?”
“What size do you feel comfortable in?”
“Well do these run small or large?”
“What size do you normally wear?”
“A size 4.”
At this point she made a wide-eyed “what is this woman talking about?” face, and I realized my error. They probably use European sizes here, where a size 4 would be a blade of grass.
“Oh, sorry, I meant an American size 4.”
“What is that?”
“Maybe a European 8? or 10? Do you use European sizes here? I’m sorry, I’m new to the area.”
At this point the sales lady pulled over a friend, who also asked me what size I “feel comfortable in.”
“Um… um… I think I have like a 28 inch waist?” [EDITORS NOTE: According to Wikipedia, a size 4 is a 25.5 inch waist. My waist is somewhere in between the two figures. US sizes are also inconsistent bullshit, but you know that already, right?]
I was now staring at twin “What on earth is this chick talking about?” faces, but I couldn’t understand why. I was being so accommodating, I thought!
“Let me show you to a fitting room.” One of them said. I followed, a bit flustered and red in the face. I found the pants that fit and paid for them and left happy.
It was about an hour later, at lunch, when I realized I had tried to clear things up for these poor women by giving them my measurements in inches. Not centimeters, which maybe could have helped them a bit.
Oh, I’m so, so hopelessly American.
May 29, 2012 at 10:54 am
As a Canadian I thought your wonder over La Senza was adorable, as we have them in plenty (PLENTY) up here, but I guess Canadians are the same over Victoria’s Secret. When my town got a Victoria’s Secret it was a) like the second VS ever in Canada and b) A Really Big Deal.
This is super eye-opening to me because my husband and I are leaving our country for Europe in a couple years. So I guess I have to brush up on my metric sizing. I’m comfortable with both metric and imperial (to a point – pint? gallon? Clueless.) but I never use metric to describe height, weight or body size. No one here really does, and it never occurred to me that it would be an issue. It’s the everyday stuff that gets you, I guess.
May 29, 2012 at 11:00 am
La Senza was the store that, in England, furnished my Little Miss Naughty nightgown, and for that I hold it in the highest esteem.
May 29, 2012 at 7:18 pm
I have never heard this story and would like to.
May 30, 2012 at 5:45 am
Co-signed.
May 30, 2012 at 5:44 am
In my experience, Canadians are pretty reasonable about their blend of metric and imperial. Admittedly, Americans are way too adverse to the metric system.
Also, I think I’ve seen La Senzas before, but they’re has never been one in any of my “home malls” and I’ve never shopped their before.
May 29, 2012 at 1:37 pm
I lived in Germany when I was in graduate school, and despite being warned of the possibility of culture shock, was hit with it on more than one occasion. I think it was the everyday things like clothing shopping not feeling normal or right that slowly ate away at my self confidence (the feeling of not being able to do anything right) and resulted in the culture shock episodes. One thing that helped me was comfort food. Specifically, coke and doritos–as unhealthy as that was from a diet perspective, it was incredibly healthy on the emotional front. That may or may not help you. Goodluck with everything. South Africa is on my travel bucket list, I can’t wait to read about everything you do there.
May 30, 2012 at 5:47 am
I hear you on the Coke and doritos thing; unfortunately Diet Coke is my poison of choice and it is not avaiable here. They use a sweetener banned in the US to make Coca Cola Light and it tastes HORRIBLE. We also haven’t seen Doritos.
I did successfully make a pasta dish from my college days the other night that did a pretty good job of making me feel comforted, even though it involves olives and feta cheese and both come in bags of very salty brine here which I am not used to.
May 30, 2012 at 7:30 pm
I remember when my friend and I traveled around Central Europe (Germany, Czech, Austria) she packed a few bags of chips and I was like “is food going to be expensive/gross/etc” And she (a more seasoned traveler) was like, “No, food will be great and all, but sometimes when you’re traveling in foreign countries, you walk around all day, you get lost, you get confused and frustrated…and ALL you’ll want is to sit down and eat a readily available bag of fucking potato chips.”
She was totally right. Americans! Aren’t we precious.
May 30, 2012 at 1:34 am
I had this exact incident happen to me in Italy (where La Senza exists also). It was just as bad, I was just as confused, and I also didn’t speak Italian. Horrors. Also, Australian sizing is different to just about everywhere else on earth so it never helps to explain.
I think you did very well!
May 30, 2012 at 5:49 am
Through all of this, I think of all the people I know who have done this in places where no one speaks English, and my mind is completely blown how they managed. It feels like there is a language barrier even when there isn’t. Kudos to you and all my other brave globetrotting friends!
May 30, 2012 at 4:48 pm
Oh god I just had a moment like this in the UK, where I’ve lived for like a year, and finally broke down and bought new underpants (I’m really picky about my undies, I only buy Hanes in the states, so I was very leery of trying to find a whole new brand). I had no idea how to figure out my size (cause you can’t exactly try them on first, obvs) and stopped a random lady in the store to ask if the numbers on the bag would correspond with trousers size. She looked at me like I was crazy but very helpfully told me yes.
August 23, 2012 at 5:04 am
Very informative thanks!
October 24, 2012 at 5:09 pm
Robin,
Can I just say that, unfortunately, I am just now getting to reading about your adventures in South Africa and this one literally had me laughing out loud. Thank you! Thank you for being the brave one and allowing the rest of us stateside to live vicariously through you. It’s truly appreciated. I’m looking forward to many more laughs and (shut up, they do that!) moments while reading your blog. And please inform the ladies at La Senza that America is the center of the world and all should know this (that’s a joke for any non-americans reading this). Well….mostly
JK!