the scandinavian ogre is not alone!!!!! (a post dedicated to onni and molly)

in case you were wondering, YES, the scandinavian ogre would be referring to yours truly. me. now that we have that settled, i must share a little shred of good news!!! but first, some background.....

within the first few weeks of my time here in buenos aires, i had pretty much come to the conclusion that i am just too. freaking. BIG. by argentine standards....not only does my pant size literally not exist here in normal clothing stores, but neither does my shoe size. when i arrived here, i wasted endless hours schlepping my way around the city, in the freezing rain and wind, searching for an oh-so-desperately-needed pair of leather boots that could serve as an alternative to my only pair of close-toed shoes, my beloved (but soooo-not-argentinian-posh) converse sneakers. i literally spent weeks looking for those freaking boots, to the point where i accidentally went into the same store twice and was remembered as the "blonde with the big feet". and let's be honest people, 9 1/2 really isn't ALL that big!!

after innumerable failures, i finally had some luck in the outlet stores, but was forced to pay an extra fee for the "special size". since then, i have mainly avoided shopping in buenos aires in the hopes of avoiding inevitable disappointment and shame (okay that might be a wee exaggeration, but you get the point).

HOWEVER!! i recently found an article in clarín newspaper that absolutely made my day and proved that i am less of the norwegian freak show that i thought i was!! woo!! turns out i am not the only big-foot here in buenos aires. in fact, there are loads of other women like me with feet larger than size 40 (the equivalent of a 9 more or less), who also face the same issues finding quality shoes in the their size. in response to this, an argentine woman formed a national network known as the "big foot club", which helps women find bigger shoes and boasts a whopping 18,000 members!! i am SO not alone here!! the organization has expanded to chile and colombia and hopes to add other countries in the future as well. if i plan on living and working in latin america in the future, maybe i should become a member!!

even more, these argentine women are bonding together to ask for new legislation that would require bigger shoes sizes and ask that stores take into account the big-foot demands. the politically infused argentineness manifests itslef once again, in something as simple as shoe shopping!!

now that all MY issues have been resolved, we just have to start a "flat foot club" and lobby for my chronically flat-footed sister molly!! (haha love ya dogg!!)