China, Day 4

Well, today has been a pretty full day. We got up and walked to the fellowship, which took just under 30 minutes. We were pleasantly surprised at how many people were there! We know there will be lots of opportunities and relationships to be had there.

Afterwards we went to a German restaurant called "Bier Haus" and had some schnitzel and fries. Stephen even had a German beer! Our new friend Eileen took us to IKEA after lunch and boy was that an experience! When we came to this China, we were expecting to be constantly surrounded by people, but that's not really the case in our area. IKEA, however, was a different story. It gets pretty crowded on the weekends--hmm, sound familiar? Crowded may be an understatement here... It wasn't bad though, because we knew what we needed and weren't taken in by the novelty of the place (since we have one in Houston), so we just pushed through and got what we needed. It was comical, though, to see lots of Asians lounging on the couches, taking naps in the beds and chairs, and making themselves at home in the model rooms. Our apartment is furnished, but everything else needs to be bought. (Things like sheets, trash cans, hamper, towels, dishes, silverware, pots and pans...) We'll be going back on Tuesday with the other new teachers (the school is taking us with big vans and trucks) to get some of the bigger stuff (like an extra desk, a drying rack for our clothes, some shelves, and an island for our kitchen) and other things that we couldn't carry home. It's definitely different not having your own car!

Speaking of not having a car--we love it! We love walking places, riding our bikes, and having buses, taxis, and a WONDERFUL subway system (so clean, orderly, and air conditioned!) to get around. It's exactly how we've wanted to live for a long time. Sure it's hot and we sweat, but we're getting lots of exercise and we can always use more of that! Our school is a 20-25 minute walk and it's near the main area called Sea World (no, Shamu does not perform there!), which has lots of Western restaurants and bars. There are lots of shops, cafes, and restaurants very close to us too.

We'll be posting pictures soon, but we've just been going and going so much that we actually haven't stopped to take any! We'll have to make it a point to go out with the camera! I don't think we could post any pictures yet anyway because we don't have the necessary VPN that allows us to bypass some of the things that are blocked--like Facebook and blogger. So be patient just a little while longer and we'll show you where we live. We really like it here and can't wait to share it with all of you.

That's all for now--dinner time!

-Kayla