They might be giants

Back to school.

This year that phrase holds so much more meaning for all of us. New city, new school, new friends, new shoes...or not.

Shoes, pants, shirts, boxerkys (you can't make that word up)and shoes. Doesn't seem to matter, we can't find it in our size. The problem is that everyone in Czech is the same size. And since we are imports, there is an obvious conversion error. For example, Czech boxerkys come in sizes small and smaller which convert to Canadian size of 'dont fit my ass'.

The general Czech population all appear to be the same size which I think is a hangover from the communist days when someone decreed that everyone would be a size 10 and would like black clothing. Since that day the whole population has been bred to be a size 10. Even now when the borders are open and the shelves are stocked with a multitude of styles, those styles only come in size 10. The funny part is watching the toddlers in Wenseslas Square trying to walk in baby's first size 10's.

So where does that leave us? Well, pretty much on the nudie side of the equation. Two days ago we spent hours at the Chodov mall shopping for shoes for the kids to go back to school in. Thank God that both kids are in school uniforms, otherwise we'd still be at the mall. How hard can it be to find a pair of dress shoes for the boy and a pair of running shoes for the girl? We spent the first hour in the Czech version of Payless which would be very good value for your Czech koruna except that every box contained a size 10 shoe. We then spent the 2nd hour - well I spent the 2nd hour - explaining to Jamie that he wasn't getting a pair of Bugattis before I did. It wasn't until the 3rd hour and 4th store that we found something in the kids sizes. And I will be damned if we weren't going to buy them.

Even now, 3 days later, Jamie is not overly happy with the spiked heels and Caroline doesn't care for the smell of the polyethylene, but I don't care. Our kids have new school shoes, just like they would if they were in Canada.

Continuity is critical.