Big Foot; not just in Tibet
July 7, 2008
So one thing Ukraine is not too bad at is shoes. Obviously the devushki have their ever soaring heels to choose from and titilate the men. But what about us poor englishmen? I have the fortune of being tall; which in ukraine is not quite a good fortune. The tall girls seem to prefer shorter men with big stomachs and a Lexus. In fact all girls seem to prefer men with big stomachs and a Lexus, both of which continue to deny me.
Anyways, I have size 11 feet or 46 in euro speak. I browse past the fine collection of shoes with funny holes and strange thatching patterns and those with D&G plastered in BIG letters and find some I like. And I like shoes. Then comes the have you got this shoe in a 46 ? They always go off to look though we both know the answer to that question. The only place I have encountered shoes in 46 is in Barbarashova, where they take a 45 and insert something big and metallic to push the shoe out to be an approximate fit.
So my question is; do all the slavic races have men with small feet? I see tall men in the streets – a survey beckons. I will hire a cute devushka to stand outside metro pushkinskaya to accost all tall men to ask them their shoe size. Hmm, perhaps a cute devushka is not a good idea here …
As for the tall devushka who tower over me; I am told their shoes reach a maximum of 40. They must have bigger feet or they would just fall over.
July 8, 2008 at 4:55 am
I am originally from Kharkov, but grew up in the U.S. and visit Ukraine from time to time.
My feet, though average size in the U.S., are larger than that of my grandfather (who lived in Kharkov). I am also taller than most of my relatives. It could be because of different diets and life styles.
I too had difficulty finding shoes in Kharkov. Most times a seller squeezed my foot into a shoe and tried to convince me that it was a perfect size.
August 2, 2008 at 1:07 am
I think it is like everything… people want to make money, so they don’t bother to stock. Was same here in Canada too when I was a kid, now it is not a problem but in the 80s trying to find anything size 13 or larger was a problem and/or laughed you out of the store.
I did notice in Ukraine it seemed they never had anything larger than a 45 or 46 and usually would just be 1 boring type, if any at all.