I’ve been thinking about adding a separate page of tips/info for expats new to Germany. How about that… I finally feel I’ve been here long enough to contribute. I figure I’ll start with something easy- shopping. Not so much because I love to shop- I pretty much hate it. Hate the crowds and the lines and the one way in/out and searching for parking… it all blows. The more shopping I do online, the happier I am.

That said, ordering online can be intimidating when you don’t understand the language. You’ll need a good translator. Most people recommend this one to me. And it is great, especially when it comes to single word translations and/or suggestions for word replacements. But for large blocks of text I still prefer dictionary.com’s translator. You can dump paragraphs in and it will translate them instantly. Often the translations are confusing in their own right, but it’s still far easier to work your way though if you’re reading more than a few sentences.

Today I’ll tackle women’s clothing. Tomorrow children’s clothes/toys/supplies… and every few day I’ll try to add new aspect of online shopping (mens/foods/electronics/medicines/outdoors/etc) until I’m done. Eventually everything will be dumped into a new section on my sidebar. Wow, look at me, I’m like all organized and shit. Scary!

Back to shopping. First there’s the whole sizing issue. For women’s clothing I think the transition (from American sizing anyway) is pretty straightforward:

Size 32 here = Size 02 / Size 34 here = Size 04

Size 36 here = Size 06 / Size 38 here = Size 08

Size 40 here = Size 10 / Size 42 here = Size 12

Size 44 here = Size 14 / Size 46 here = Size 16

Size 48 here = Size 18 / Size 50 here = Size 20

I’ll start with my top 5:

1. Bon Prix - I’ve bought a ton of stuff from Bon Prix. In fact, right now I’m wearing this sweater in rot/schwarz, and I practically live in this jacket. Their customer service is great, I’ve never had a problem ordering from them, although it did freaked me out the first time I tried because you don’t pay when placing your order. Instead they ship the clothes to you and you then have about two weeks to submit payment. It floored me that so much trust was placed in the customer. Beats the hell out of standing in line at H&M, that’s for sure.
2. 3 Suisses - Another excellent online store. Robbie’s favorite and I like it too. They have a kick-ass shoe department, as well as a great lingerie section.
3. Ernsting’s Family - Super, super cheap. I also buy a ton of stuff for Syd there (you’ll see it again when I list children’s stores). They have local shops throughout Dresden, but often I can’t find the size I’m looking for so I end up ordering online anyway. The clothes are good quality and if you’re buying on a budget, Ernsting’s really comes in handy.
4. Neckermann - Neckermann and Ernsting’s are the reasons I scoff when I hear someone whining about clothes being too expensive in Deutschland. You just need to know where to look. Don’t get me wrong, Neckermann’s has plenty of expensive stuff, but sort by price and you’ll find a plethora of 5-10 euro jeans and shirts. They also have an ample plus sized section (something difficult to find in Germany).
5. Baur - Excellent shop. I placed my very first online order with Baur and still buy stuff from them all the time. They’ve also got the best online sorting functions I’ve seen…

And here are the rest… some I’ve ordered from before and some I haven’t. They’re all worth checking out though:

• Ebay (Never underestimate the value of ebay. I buy stuff from ebay in Germany all the time and have yet to have a bad experience.)

• Otto
• Quelle
• Schwab
• Dress For Less
• Esprit
• Karstadt
• Tchibo
• Tom Tailor
• Mexx
• Happy Size
• Lands End
• Heine
• S. Oliver
• SportScheck
• Mode & Preis (thanks Martina!)
• Quero

On this day..

• Advice Needed. - 2006
• Eureka! - 2006
• Consider yourself forewarned... a lame entry. - 2006