Day 9 -- Church and an Answered Prayer

We took it pretty easy on Sunday morning before meeting up with Tony for church. We had decided to confirm the offer on our first choice with Candy, but still hadn't heard from Jack about whether the landlord on our second choice had really accepted. And on the way there, we heard from Candy -- our first choice was set, and she would meet with Jane on Monday. (Well, as set as things can be here...)

But the first stop was La Creperie, a wonderful little crepes restaurant in the French Concession a few blocks from church. Um, wow. Most of the patrons were French -- always a good sign -- with quite a few kids in high chairs, which wasn't something we'd seen much of in Puxi. And the food was delicious.

Then we headed to church at Shanghai Community Fellowship. It is one of the two international churches here and has services at 2 and 4 in the afternoon -- the other services throughout the day are for Chinese nationals only.

It was really cool -- we were told that 60 different countries were represented in the congregation. It was definitely different than Redeemer, but we met some very nice people. (The girl sitting behind us was wearing a Gopher shirt!)

When we came out of church, Candy was waiting in the courtyard for Tony. She is nothing if not persistent. So Tony headed off with Candy, and we headed to Luijazui -- it was raining, and we didn't want to go back to the hotel, so the mall seemed like the best option. On the way, we heard back from Jack -- our second choice had also accepted our offer, including all our requests! So we have confirmation on two places, and we would be thrilled with either one. If we lose both, though, we'll have to start over in January -- probably stay in a hotel for a few days while we look around.

Eventually Candy freed Tony, and he met up with us for dinner. Herbert joined us, also. The mall is 9 floors, and has some really good restaurants -- everything from fast food (a bucket of chicken feet at KFC) to fancy table service places. Tony chose a Korean place, where they brought a bucket of hot charcoal to your table and grilled your food in front of you. My favorite part of that restaurant was the little vacuum over the grill that sucked up all the food smell. :-)

After dinner, all four of us indulged in one final massage -- a 90 minute foot massage. It is so funny -- going out for a massage with friends is about as common here as going out for a drink. There is a reason that we chose an apartment within walking distance of the massage spa!

Our last night in Shanghai -- tomorrow we'll pack up, go into the office to make sure everything is in order with the contracts, and then have one last meal before our flight home. This has been such a great week, but we can't wait to get home and see our sweet kids.