Ikea fun

One of my favorite stores here in Taiwan is the Swedish furniture giant Ikea. And, since needed a few important items, we've made a couple of trips there this month. The first time happened to be on Father's Day (8/8 because the Chinese word for 8 is ba so 8/8 is ba-ba, which is also the word for father) because I happened to have the day off from school as the students all went hiking - yay! Anyway, after spending hours playing and perousing at Ikea, we finally decided on a kitchen table since our old one (card table used as a kitchen table) had finally given up the ghost. Then, the following week, we returned to pick up the coordinating chairs and a few other items. What do you think of our new kitchen table and chairs?One of the advantages of buying Ikea furniture is that you get the opportunity to put it together yourself. Kevin and I did the table together because it was so heavy, but he insisted on doing the chairs himself. Well, I guess he had a little help, but this help was only helpful for a minute or two until he decided to scatter the screws.

One of the other byproducts of new furniture is the packaging. We've really enjoyed the cardboard rectangles that came in the box to prevent it from sliding. They make great bowling pins and fences to keep balls from rolling away.