a little bit of home..... well, sort of

Ever since we arrived we've been hearing about the Centro in Oberhausen. It'd been described to us as an American style shopping mall. My sponsor even offered to take me there that first week in country, fearing I was feeling shell-shocked and needing a taste of something familiar. You see, malls, in our region are pretty unheard of. There are several excellent shopping districts, but they are outside, mostly specialty stores, and without the conveniences of lets say food courts, coffee bars, and centralized restrooms (This last is oh so important when preschooler is along).

Last Saturday was another blustery, cold day, so we decided to check out what's billed as one of "Europe's largest shopping and leisure centers". It's a very very nice, quite large, two story mall, pretty much like anyone built in the states in the last few years. Yet it didn't really feel like "home", despite the starbucks and the window shopping. One difference is that Europeans, at least in this region, have a completely different ethic of public space than we're used to. The mall was fairly crowded (apparently every other soul within driving distance decided they too were going to spend that blustery day inside), yet the German crowd navigation technique seems simply to be: get where you're going, and let other people worry about not running into you.

It's also a little weird to be in a rather crowded public venue and realize everyone looks pretty much the same. And believe me, you do notice it. Both D and I commented, independently, on the relative homogeny of the crowd. It's the type a thing over a decade in higher ed has trained me to notice.........but even if you haven't spent your entire adult life engaged in some discussion of identity politics, you're pretty used to being surrounded by different types of people, so used to it, in fact, that you often don't even notice many of those differences. It's a little off center when the crowd all looks the same (seriously, I'm not just talking race here, although it certainly was a predominantly Caucasian crowd, I mean body type, as well as hair color and hair style, even the ubiquitous black or navy coat). It's just an odd sensation, like I'm in the midst of a bunch of Cylons or something. But I really can't imagine how odd it must be for someone who really *does* look different, 'cause you know, at least appearance wise, me and my crew blend right in.

All and all, however, 'twas good fun to meander and fit the shopping experience at Oberhausen into our already existing American framework. There were very few named stores anyone stateside would recognize (an Esprit, a Claire's and a Ralph Lauren, I think) There were your obvious foot-lockeresque stores filled with sneakers, but I spent a lot of time explaining to D this is an Old-Navy like store, this is an Ann Taylor like store, etc. There were lots of stores for the tweeny-teeny-college set to shop at, lots of stores for me to shop at if I were outfitting a work wardrobe, and several what I call mainstream casual stores (you know, like Old Navy). What was conspicuously missing, at least to me, is what I would call upscale grown-up casual --you know, Banana Republic, J Crew, etc.

They had an outside promenade full of restaurants, offering us far more dinner choices than we typically have in one location, and the promenade itself would be a great place to go back to when the weather's nicer just to stroll (although I imagine when the weather's nicer we'll have lots of other places to check out).

So, yep, a fun family outing and Oberhausen just might be my first stop if I ever need to find "THE" outfit.