We can finally see...

across our complex and more than 1/2 a block away! The fog and pollution cleared out when a cold front blew in this weekend. Last night, while walking home from dinner, it was sleeting outside and around 10 pm we saw SNOWFLAKES from our balcony. It was not enough to even slightly cover the ground and most people wouldn't believe that it snowed if there weren't pictures on the front page of the paper. More icy weather is expected this week.

We had a full weekend getting more things organized in the house. Of course, organizing the house means a trip to IKEA and that's what Ashley, Anthony and I did on Saturday - choosing the leave the younger ones at home. IKEA was packed and when we checked out every checkout lane (I think there are around 25) was full with 5-6 people waiting in line. It was pure craziness. We bought 2 bookcases for the living room and one cubed shelf unit for Ryken's room. The cost for this to be delivered to our house in Pudong (at least a 1 hour ride away) the very next day was 50 RMB (about 7 us dollars!) - what a great deal.

After IKEA, we went to check out BEST BUY. The first Best Buy store in China. And it's MASSIVE. It takes up 4 floors. But it seems to be missing something - it just isn't the same as a Best Buy back home. The most interesting thing I noticed is the lack of games, DVD's and CD's. But then, when you can buy all the copied ones right around the corner for so cheap, why would they sell real ones? I did check out the massive massage chairs they have for sale and that was an amazing 15 minutes! Talk about a comfortable chair!

Anthony and I ended the weekend watching ATONEMENT. It was a good copy (meaning no shaky cam and language was actually in English) except for the parts where some French is spoken. I am assuming that in the real movie, the French is translated with English subtitles - but for some reason our copy was missing that and if we put on English subtitles it would just say "(FRENCH)" - so that was no help. But even without knowing what was said in French - I thought it was a great movie.