Another Winter in Germany: Duking it out at Oxfam, and shopping for mustard

The day after Christmas -- St. Stephens Day, when shops are closed in Germany -- I spotted a sweet antique sugar and creamer set in the window of the local OxFam thrift shop. The next day, before our walk, I looked up the translation for "I would like to buy something in the window" and after much practice, said to the clerk at the OxFam store that afternoon, "Ich möchte etwas im Fenster kaufen." I was told that all of the items displayed in the window are put on sale at a specific date and time, and were scheduled to go on sale a couple weeks from that day, which happened to be today. (Which is something I would have known if I had read the sign in the window, of course.)

I put my dreams on hold for a couple of weeks, and today at 11 a.m., the designated time when I could finally buy the sugar and creamer set, we went to the OxFam store.

Things looked a bit hopeless when I saw the crowd that had gathered there. I was afraid they might have a live auction for the window items, which I would definitely fail at, not knowing German well enough to think clearly in a pressure situation (I would probably mistakenly bid 200 euros when I meant to bid 20!).

We milled around, trying to look disinterested, and at 11:00 one of the store clerks wheeled out a cart with all of the items that had been displayed in the window: crystal goblets and aperitif glasses, silver trays, a pewter tea set, beaded evening gowns, and my sugar and creamer. Everyone surged -- politely -- toward the front counter, where the clerk held up the first item, a silver tray, asking in German something that was very likely, "Is anyone interested in this?" Several people raised their hands. She told them to each come up and shake a cup holding dice. Whoever rolled the highest number got to buy the item. So that was how it was done -- sheer luck! The pressure was on: when my sugar and creamer came up, I was ready to roll.

The leather cup on the counter holds a pair of dice, to determine who gets to buy the nicest items displayed in the window at the OxFam store

They sold off a number of items, and my palms were sweating, waiting for them to bring out the sugar and creamer. I wondered how many people I would have to beat, and prayed that I wouldn't roll a 1 and a 2, like some poor souls were doing. When the clerk finally pulled the sugar and creamer from the cart, to my great relief/dismay, no one else wanted it! I don't know if that means we have terrible taste or what, but the important thing is that the sugar and creamer set is now ours. It's so unusual and pretty -- metal on the outside, enamelized on the inside. Next time you come to our house, I'll serve sugar and cream from these:

The long-awaited sugar and creamer set: ours at last!

And now we know how the bidding wars at OxFam work.

On a less dramatic note, I shopped for mustard yesterday. I failed to look up the translation for "mustard" beforehand, but figured I'd just go to the catsup/mustard aisle, choose whatever was yellow, and all would be well. I wasn't expecting the array of choices.

This one? Nope, that's curry sauce.