In the land of little people

At the risk of stating the obvious and at the same time possibly over-generalizing, Asians are small people.

You'd think if I didn't get that when I was in Thailand, where I (a US size medium) was forced to purchase XL clothing and pray it fit, then I would certainly get it after Japan, where I pretty much did not buy any clothing at all, but somehow it still managed to sneak up on me. It's as if my mind just cannot wrap itself around the concept of how it can be normal for a population, the women in particular, to be so small.

Well, I was recently forced to revisit this issue because I desperately needed to purchase more shorts (they're really the only things comfortable to wear out and about in this incredible heat and humidity). Many (if not most of the stores) don't really sell anything larger than a US size small but there is no end to the extra-small or extra-extra-small sizes (which is really awesome because I think if I try real hard I can fit one thigh into something that size... maybe I could just buy two... you know, one for each leg... I'll start a new style). So, it becomes much more of a treasure hunt... where oh where is there clothing that will actually fit? and then of course, am I really willing to wear that or does it cross the line and make me look like my grandmother?

I suppose I can look at the bright side and say I have incentive to go to the gym regularly and eat super-healthy so that I can miraculously shrink to an extra-small but what really gets me is that it's not even that I eat a whole lot... just reasonable sizes of the recommended three square meals a day. If you really want to see eaters, just observe Singaporeans. I have no doubt that even the littlest young woman in any of my classes could probably eat twice as much as I can and does on a fairly regular basis. As an example, Taryn (my buddy assigned through the law student group at NUS) took Chris (the other BU exchange student) and I out for lunch at a local sushi place. She ate almost as much as I did but, this was her second lunch of the day. We commented on this to her and she couldn't really explain it... our best guess is that she sweats off the calories in the constant heat that is Singapore but honestly, I'm not buying it.

To make matters worse, I have freakishly large feet here. (Of course, there are some who may say that my feet are freakishly large anywhere but that's beside the point.) So freakishly large that the vast majority of shoe stores/departments simply do not carry my size at all (which is a European size 41... pretty much all the stores only carry up to size 40). Finally, at my wits end, I (just a tad bit desperately) ask a saleslady if she knew of any stores that carried my size... she knew one. On all of Orchard Road, she only knew of one! (To give you some sense of scope, Orchard Road is kinda like Newbury Street, except at least twice as long and instead of little boutiques lining the street, there are megamalls. Many, many megamalls. And when I say megamall, it's as though you combine the Copley & Pru and then double it and then you've got the smallest variant.) I don't care how large my feet may seem in the US, I rarely have problems finding shoes in my size... in fact my closet can attest to this fact. All in all, it makes for a relatively sad Roxie because it's no secret, I love to shop but this whole hard-to-find sizes thing is really not helping... not helping at all.