Second Hand shopping was one of our major pass-times in Finland. And we were looking for some particular things: certain items for our apartment when we first got there, knitting needles and yarn, cloth diapers as we neared January.
Germany also has some nice thrift stores. But our apartment is furnished, we have things in storage in Elmstein and we want to be travelling light as we leave Germany. With all this in mind we are trying to go to thrift stores with a different mind set. My thinking is: If it's high quality and available for a lot less then getting it in the US, then it's okay to buy something we may not need right now. Here's the example. Baby clothes that are made from merino and silk. They have ALL KINDS of great companies that make these in Germany. People in the US who are really into wool/silk baby clothes are usually importing from Germany, Finland, Austria or Australia. Therefore, I figure, even if it doesn't fit Edwin right now, we should stock up, or at least consider stocking up on some nice baby clothes. We already have bought two items for him. One fits now, one will in the future. The one that fits is a long sleeve beige shirt. The second is a short sleeve white and red striped shirt. They both feel so nice!
At first it didn't seem like the thrift stores had much. Then I found a stash in one of them. Everything was shoved in bags with bars of soap. (To keep the moths away?) It was thrilling to finally find something! Fairly expensive for such little things (5-12 Euro), and some items, just like in the US, are very oddly shaped. Like they expect a newborn to be equally long as they are wide. Maybe Edwin was just long? Or maybe the fabric stretches one way and not the other. I will be going back there though!
The other thing we have bought is some children's books. We wanted books we could understand, but also nice illustrations. We found one that is very good "Jetzt esse ich", unfortunately it already broke. It's a board book and one page fell out. The other is paper so Edwin could destroy it fairly quickly, but it's about a boy and his stuffed monkey riding on a tricycle. And we bought one for us about a wild hog and a pig that like each other. If you start the book from one side it's her story, if you start it from the other it's his story and they meet in the middle. Very cute.
Well that's all. I'm about to head out and go to one of these stores, so I'll see what I can find!
Oh! Silk and merino baby clothes! I never thought o that. Here in Texas, all the wintry clothes are still cotton or polyester microfleece. I wondered what we would do if it ever got really cold here (it won't), but didn't know silk and wool were options. Neat!
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