Buying Shoes

O.K., so I should have done this before I left. I knew I needed some knew comfy sandals to wear in Israel because I only currently have closed-in shoes. But I had heard from a number of people that they have some super great sandals here and that I just must get those.

So, I've been looking in store window after store window and no one seemed to have any cute sandals. However, nearly every store carries the "crocs" - the huge, plastic shoes that have holes in them.

Then we went to the mall. There were tons of shoe stores and lots of cute sandals. But how do you buy shoes in Israel? What size should I try on?

I was a bit intimidated so I window shopped for a while. Then I came upon a store that had the shoe boxes under the shoes. It was a lot like a shoe store back home whose name I am drawing a blank at the moment.

This store had both men's and women's shoes and the shoes were all kinds of different brands. I found a couple cute sandals and wanted to try them on but they weren't right under the shoe. Desperate, I decided to try on a few other shoes that were there to narrow down my size. Apparently size 40 is equal to about a size 9 women's shoe.

I then asked a salesman for help and he had to climb up a ladder to grab a box from near the ceiling. When he came down, he handed me one shoe to try on, without a nylon sock.

I tried on the shoe, declared it good, and he said to follow him to the counter. I probably should have asked to try on the other shoe. However, I was both tired and overwhelmed so I bought them, knowing that at least one foot would be comfortable.

Luckily for me, when I got home, I liked the entire pair. The shoes I bought are Hush Puppies, ones that I probably could have easily gotten (for cheaper) in the States. I wonder what that good Israeli shoe brand was and where could I buy some?

Now that I know my shoe size, I might be more brazen and try a different shoe store.