crazy IKEA

who knew a trip to IKEA could be so disappointing and frustrating? sure Beijing has the biggest IKEA in the world, but there's a reason for that: there are so many people here! it could've been because it was a Sunday afternoon, but the place was teeming with people! we're used to our own personal space, but this was my first frustrating encounter with it here. and then we couldn't find the size of sheets we needed. why do they have King size beds if it's hard to buy sheets for them? anyways, I think we can get them custom made very quickly at a local market, but they won't be as good of a quality.

today we went to church at Beijing International Christian Fellowship. what a neat church! they hold services in a really nice theatre, with 2 different auditoriums. they have services in different languages all going on at the same time, an English one at 9:30 and 11:30. it felt almost like a glimpse of heaven, a huge crowd of people from different places of the world, all praising our God. the 11:30 service has at least 1000 people in it. there are a number of other churches in the area, but this is the only licensed one. and you have to show your foreign identification to get in.

we hope to move into our apartment at the beginning of this week, once we at least have the bedding we need. we also have to get a foam pad for the bed because their mattresses are like a wooden board! we've also got a guest room with a double bed waiting to be filled by our visitors! :)

after church we went to an exciting flower market. so many interesting plants that we look forward to buying and putting in our apartment. Scott also wants to buy lots for his science room. that market also have a number of aquarium/fish stores. we didn't buy anything today, but once we're settled in we hope to buy a little aquarium.

goodbye for now from hot, humid, smoggy, and crowded Beijing.