Nice and happy people!

This is Mari. She's a nice and happy person. She's China's (2) mother. She just brought me some brownies she made in our challenged situation.

Now, here's the challenge: We have no oven. Apparently, ovens aren't a common thing in Taiwan, because they're just not into baking things at home -- they buy them. How will I make my brownies?! Well, we do actually have an oven, a smallish one, but the glass from the door bust awhile ago, so we're currently oven-less. How will I make my brownies?! Also, butter is rather expensive, so it isn't exactly available for baking. How will I make my brownies?!

So Mari told me, the other night, that she makes brownies out of various and odd ingredients. She also bakes them in an odd thing, a toaster kind of machine, but the kind that lays it flat and closes with a little door. She puts the batter in two small bowls and shoves it in there. Definitely not the way I'm used to making brownies: by the large baking pan-full, to feed the masses. How will I make my brownies?!

Well, her brownies the other night didn't quite turn out, aherm. So, today, she tried again and trimphantly presented me with a tiny sliver from one of her two little bowls. How kind!

So this is nice and happy Mari.

The pictures are significant.

My first weekend here -- that was last weekend, aherm -- she wanted to go into town to check on some sales. I accompanied her and we had a hard time finding the bus stop. After quite awhile, I finally decided to tune in and figure out the map and we found our way just fine. So, since there were such good sales, she decided she wanted to go down to get some pants for her husband, on Sunday. I told her there's no way she'd go in alone, so went along with her (she's 6 months pregnant). That time, we found our way quickly and just fine, thankyouverymuch. I will never forget my first public transport experience in Taiwan, thanks to Mari. I will also never forget how to get to Best Buy. Neither will I forget Mari, heheh.

So, here's Mari, pointing at the sign I found highly amusing -- well, it's kind, generous and helpful:



--And here she is showing us that she does actually look at maps occasionally -- this was before we started on our not-finding-it adventure, aherm: