The Winter Boots Fiasco

Tofu update:  Let me begin by saying that I am an idiot.  My tofu is usually tan, so it sticks out in that dark water in the container.  Evidently I bought some flavored kind last time so the tofu was really dark, and I didn't see it because it was the same color as the water.  The tofu was there.  Lily found it.  Then we ate it.

I had to buy snow boots last week because Vienna looks like this right now:

I went to the shoe store, but I forgot my German 1 vocabulary for when you go to the store, so I couldn't remember how to say the basic important things.  I picked up the sample boot I wanted and kind of just stood there for a while like a weirdo until I caught the eye of a lady who was helping another woman.  She said something in fast colloquial German, and I did the I'm sorry my German isn't very good apology just to get that out of the way.  That didn't stop her from speaking German to me after she said in very rehearsed English How can I help you?.  I gave up and just said my shoe size (neununddreizig).  Then she shushed me because she was helping another lady.  I considered walking out of the store and trying somewhere else where I could maybe redeem myself, but I was too far into the sale to leave without being even more awkward.  I also couldn't think of an excuse I could say in German that would make sense either.  Somehow I made it to the counter to pay, and just when I thought I could see the light at the end of the tunnel (not real light though because it was blizzarding outside at the time), she asked me if I wanted to buy that water-proof spray stuff for my boots.  I said Nein, danke, but she wanted to keep convincing me, so I just sort of stood there with a stupid look on my face and smiled a little.  I was thinking just let me get the hell out of this God-forsaken shoe store, lady.  All I wanted was a pair of boots, but my face was saying....wait... that is actually EXACTLY what my face was saying.  I paid and hurried out into the wintery blizzard.  It was a much better alternative to being inside that warm, awkward shoe store.  The story gets better, though.  When I got home, Waltraud stopped me and asked where I got my boots because she loved them!  I talked with her in German (obviously skipping the embarrassing story part), and then the next day she went out and got the same boots.  Hilarious.  Diana is thinking about getting some, too.  I love them.  Diana, Waltraud, and my new boots.