Clothing Adaptation

Well, what else should I say, it’s cold, so you have to wear warm clothes in Bremen. However, from the custom point of view, I am not use to it. As a tropical country girl, I use to wear light clothes and sandals. But here, another new habit that I have to adapt.

Jacket (a protective outer covering) is a must. Whatever it is called: rain coat, pullover, poncho, or even sweaters. You need these to warm your body in the outdoor. But once you are indoor and feeling warm, you can take off these clothes.

As a girl, it’s natural to have a sense of fashion. And the skill to mix and match the clothes is necessary in here as jackets are not a type of clothes that usually owned in a large amount. Well at least in Indonesia, one doesn’t need many jackets in the closet. But maybe in here it’s different. It’s more important to have many jackets rather than the clothes underneath.

Anyway, in the end, I have to ignore any sense of fashion here. As long as I get warm, that’s the most important. I don’t care much whether my clothes are color mismatch or something like that.

Wearing 2 or 3 layers clothes are common here. It’s never too much. Nobody will look at you in a puzzled face. Imagine if we see someone wearing jacket in the middle of Sudirman Street in Jakarta! To decide whether you need 2, 3, or even more layers of clothes, you have to check the weather report. What describes in there will be the principal of your fashion style that day. That’s the rule to survive in fashion and weather.

Also, wearing the same outfit for some days isn’t a big issue here. As the weather is cold, the air is somehow clean and we aren’t sweaty, the clothes aren’t getting dirty or stinky easily. That’s why people tend to use the same outfit for some days. At least, that’s what I notice from my friends in the University. I don’t know whether the same behavior is also applied in offices.

Anyway, this behavior is new for me as in Indonesia it’s rarely that our clothes can survive without sweat and dirt for a day. So to use the same outfit for 2 days, it gives me a little awkward feeling at first. But washing un-dirty clothes everyday or putting back the used clothes into cabinet are also too much. And this make me have no choice other than to adapt, wearing the same clothes for some days. I feel like a cartoon character at first, by wearing the same clothes over and over again. But after 1 month, now I can wear the same clothes for a week!

Well of course I also wear some accessories here and there to make it look ‘different’ every day. But again, it’s not a big issue here. Wearing sandals is also a luxury here. The cold weather will strike your open feet without mercy. So wearing shoes with socks is normal, so does wearing boots during summer. Even inside the house it considered as normal.

I have an experience about this. When my apartment’s caretaker comes to my room to fix something, he just steps on my rug that I use as my sitting corner! Of course I feel surprised, imagine where that shoes have been!