Marathon Shopping

All stores close for Sunday, so Saturday is a very important shopping day. Actually, many stores even close early on Saturday. So careful planning is important.

We start at the bank. Hardly any place takes a credit card. More on this in a moment.

On our bike trip to the bank we see a store selling shirts. I am looking for a T-shirt with nice German on it. No luck- but we get some directions for another store. We go there- no luck- but they do have some nice shirts and I buy one. The process is so much fun, because everyone is laughing as we try to communicate, and I say that I am living in Germany (for 9 months) and I must have German shirts.

So now I have a German shirt. We go to our local Konsum. This week they have a nice head of lettuce, so I am happy. Trish finds something crunchy to add to her Muesli, so she is happy. We spend a lot of time looking for butter. We are so confused, because what we think is butter says that it is sour. There is something that does not say sour on it, maybe this is just straight butter. How do we know? Finally I just ask a woman with a young child. I say, "Ich habe eine Frage. Ist diese butter, from a cow?" See how I brilliantly combine my little German with primitive English. The woman laughs out loud. She replies, "Yes, from a cow." We then try to understand her explanation about the sour butter. We come to understand that it is like sour cream. At least she holds up a container of sweet cream, says sauer, points to the butter, and then says something about lemon.

We also have a long conversation with the woman behind the counter at the meat/cheese counter about buying a grater for the Parmesan cheese I bought. The woman was so nice and patient. She did not speak a word of English. Again, German hospitality is fantastic, at least where we are living. We find out we can buy one at the Kaufpark, where we were headed next anyway. Great.

We return home, unpack and head off to the Kaufpark, in Prohlis. This is similar to an American mall. I really should bring my camera sometime, but we are shopping for a ton of stuff, and I need my arms. Because we need to go by bus - the 88.

Really, almost no one at the Kaufpark speaks English. A typical exchange: I need to replace the Handy (cell phone) that our landlady gave me with one that rings louder, and the battery lasts more than 4 hours. So we go to a big electronic place. They sell computers, TVs, washing machines, cell phones- kinda like a Best Buy crossed with a Office Depot. Anyway, I hold the old phone in one hand. "Ich möchte eine neu Handy, bitte." A look of complete terror crosses the young man's face. No laughing here. He knows I do not speak German, but he knows I want a new Handy. My accent must be terrible. Anyway. The key is that I need to buy a new one that can still use the phone card I have in my old Handy. I bring out the old Handy, put it in my left hand. Open an empty right hand. Looking at my open, empty hand I say, "Hier, my neu Handy." I then point to my old Handy, say the word "Karte", point to the old Handy, and then point to my empty hand. He lights up. I have made intellectual contact. He waves his hand along a wall of Handys, and says "Alles". Brilliant. I say "Along the wall." A spark ignites in his head, "Yes", he says, "Along the wall."

Well, I could go on and on. When I am talking to someone who speaks no English I feel like a Neanderthal, talking to a Homo sapien.

The most amazing thing. So, we buy a cheap Handy (25 E). We buy a printer and lots of other things. We go to pay. They do not take a credit card. This place sells TVs worth several 1000 Euros. They sell high end laptops also worth that much. But you have to have the money. All they accept is cash, or debit card. Now Dresden is a place where people will not get into trouble with having too much credit card debt.

We continue our shopping, take the bus back home. On the way back a wonderful old woman starts to talk to us. She never stops, even after we tell her we do not understand. A man on the bus taps me on the shoulder, he says she is telling us that she is 97 years old. I shake her hand and smile. She shows us an identification card with her birth date. Yes she is 97 years old. She continues for most of the ride back home. I ask the man across the way what is she saying. He shakes his head and laughs. He says she is saying so many things, right now she says she likes to dance. She is telling us her life story. We understand very little, but I get the big picture. She lived a happy life. She never stops smiling, and smiles to us as we leave the bus.

We have finished shopping. Time to take a ferry and stroll over to the Apfelfest at Pilnitz. Tomorrow's blog.