IKEA Calling!!!

One of the perks of living in the land of blue and gold (or yellow, depending on your ability to distinguish the subtleties of the colors of the Swedish flag), is IKEA.  Now, that’s not to say that IKEA doesn’t exist elsewhere in the world.  My first experience with IKEA dates back to the late 90’s, when IKEA opened up in the north suburbs of Chicago.  Actually, it must have been in 2000, since I was in Central African Republic in 1999.  In Any event, you either know about IKEA and all its’ home furnishings (that tend to be on the cheap side), or you don’t.  And trust me, as cross cultural international workers, we know a lot about IKEA.  Our local store here in town became our best friend when we set up house in Malmö almost 2 years ago.  Some days, we were even out to the store twice daily.  Good thing it’s only a 10 minute drive away.

But did you know that IKEA has a museum here in Sweden?  In Småland, the next region over from us here in Skåne.  Just a mere 1-1/2 hours away to a place where time stands still…or moves forward, depending on your perspective.

IKEA stands for Ingvar Kamprad (the man who founded IKEA), Elmtaryd (the family farm where he was born) and Agunnaryd (nearby village where he was raised)

In honor of our Acts 29 interns who were leaving after an amazing 5 months of hard work with us here in Malmö, our English speaking small group decided to take a day trip and go to the museum.  Actually, it was just the girls in our English speaking small group who went.

And funny enough….of the five of us who went that day, I was the only American and the only one who had visited the museum before!  We were 2 Swedes, 2 friends from the Middle East and an American thrown in for good measure. Sounds like a set up for a joke!

I'll title this photo "tired interns"

Enjoy the photo ops that are the result from our day together.  We had fun.  Way too much fun!  Lots of giggles!  Tried to be serious.  It didn’t work!

We'll just call this one "IKEA Nonsense"

Check out the small print on the right hand side.."be a kid again"

Sometimes ministry is just plain silly....no other explanation!

IKEA just does things a bit different....yes, this is a living room hanging upside down from the ceiling!

And now for a different perspective....check out the bedroom hanging upside dowm from the ceiling....hopefully no one falls out of bed!

Fooled you, right???!!!  Everyone can go home with a souvenir photo looking like they're on the front page of the IKEA magazine.  Make sure you get your own copy soon!