red skirt story

what you've been waiting for! so in 2000, the first time i was in germany, i was shopping at h & m with meike. this is before there were any in the us, and it was a big exciting phenomenon. i had 3 skirts i loved. i was definately going to get the black cordaroy low rise one, but i just coudn't decide between this awesome red flamenco skirt that reminded me of a lobster and a sensible 80's ish plum colored mid calf thin waled cordaroy one. i would have gotten all three, but meike said i shouldn't, there wasn't enough room in my suitcase. she recomeneded the sensible one, she said i would wear it more, it would match more, the red one i could wear less places. i guess she was thinking of her wardrobe, not mine... i think it was one of the main regrets in my life, that i got the plum one instead of the red one. (when i told ch this story, he's like, you must have a pretty good life if that's the main regret you've got! which i guess is true) it's been 5 years, and i would still dream of the red skirt. the purple one hangs in my closet, rarely worn, it doesn't match much, it's to sensible, it's a funny length, and it doesn't have pockets. (a pox on skirt makers who never put in pockets! what are you thinking! this is perhaps one of the biggest signs that the oppression of women continues!!) now, when i'm in germany, i fill up my suitcase with food and gifts (jamie: what kind of american food do you like? instant oatmeal? frosting? hershey's? lemme know....) and just weear my friends clothees while i'm there. i love wearing a wide variety of clothes, and i love other people wearing mine, and my friends don't seem to mind (or perhaps their mouths are too full of chocolate to complain) so i get to ruth's house, and she gives me the wardrobe tour. the next morning when i try to decide what to wear, and i get nervous, cause there's a bunch of skirts there, and ruth never wears skirts. is she perhaps sharing her wardrobe with someone else or something? cause one of the skirts is THE RED SKIRT! yes, the skirt i turned down 5 years ago! even in the same size! (horray for h & m sizes being one of the few easy numbers to translate from german to american) i asked ruth when she got home that day, and she's like, oh, my sister gave it to me. ( i can totally imagine ruth's pierced dreadlocked sister wearing it. i can't imagine ruth. ever. even if she wore red. even if she wore skirts. even if she wore ruffles. perhaps if she got a personality and selfimage overhaul- but would she still be ruth then?) she warned me it was really small, but i wore it the next day, and it fit perfectly, as well as it did 5 years ago, and she let me keep it when i came back to the us. and so now my dreams are fulfilled. it was wonderful.

¶it's crazy to me, how many emails i wrote from germany, and there were still so many stories i forgot. ch missed so much stuff, having me tell it verbally all out of order instead of reading the mails. and even here, you never got the red skirt story. you never got a rundown of ruth's apartment like you did of meike's. (ruth's new place is very grown up. if you were around the last time i visited her in 2002, you probably remember me saying how bohemian her place was, what inspiration she was for my decorating. now that it's just her and tobi, it's alot more subtle, less quirky. {that's kinda sad when it means fewer posters, but definiately a good thing when you're talking about creepy toilets.} they have a real kitchen, all the cupboards have doors on them. even the refrigerator has a wooden door. { and the stove is electric! after being unable to light the old stove myself, this is how i was able to cook at all for her.} it makes her seem really grown up and settled, now that it's her and her boyfriend and their pets, rather than the 3 wild students. luckily there's still stuff to hint at their bohemian lifestyle, like the rabbit eating the wallpaper {"MÜNTE! du bist ein BLÖDE Tier!"} and being yelled at and chased. or the hot water. they have it turned off in the kitchen cause it wastes too much energy and they have a dishwasher (which heats it seperately) and in the bathroom the hot water heater leaks, so the water is turned off until you need to take a shower, when you put the bucket under the heater, turn on the water valve, and turn the water on high for 30 seconds until the heater kicks on. then you have to keep the water on full blast or else the heater will shut off again...then you had to be very careful to turn it off again when you were done or the bucket would overflow.... it was a bit of an adventure. i used a towel ruth brought back from venesuela, though, to keep it all in perspective. ) can you beleve how long those parenthesis were? i feel like i must write something now after them to justify it. this is that.