As if the fluorescent lights in the dressing room weren't bad enough

Clothes shopping here has been a little interesting.  The first time I ventured out to the department store, I got an armload of clothes in my usual size and took them into the dressing room.  And then dejectedly realised that NOTHING fit.  And not the 'oh, it doesn't look quite right' kind of not-fitting... I'm talking the not-fitting where the pants won't pull further up than mid-thigh and you wonder if somehow you'd been accidentally browsing in the children's section.

Although my first thought was horror at the 20 pounds I must surely have gained for this to have happened, investigation has told me that clothes here are usually measured in UK, Australian, or New Zealand's own sizing schemes.  A size 6 in the US (not that I owned anything that petite) would be anything from a size 8 to a size 12 here.  That would explain my problems.  It took a bit of work to adjust my attitude about sizing up, but my ego has recovered and I'm wearing appropriately-cut clothes now.

Alternate sizing algorithms also apply to shoes (I think I wear a size 39??) and women's undergarments (not gonna go any further there, but trust me that I spent half an hour just staring at the tags like they were the Rosetta stone).