Kaohsiung, Taiwan: When I fly again

I'm planning out what to do about my visa expiring this coming Friday. I think I've decided to stay a bit longer in Taiwan, so I'll try to fly to Japan on Thursday and stay there for a week and a half visiting Mad*ka and Kyoto. Then I'll fly back to Taiwan for another week or two, basically until time spent with my cousin has peaked and ripened and it's time for me to go. Then I'll fly back to the U.S., but I'm thinking of not flying back to New Jersey to my parents place. I think that would be the easiest for all parties to prevent tension and any more interference on their part. To my face, they say they support my decision to pursue the monastic path, but it has come down that they told my uncle to try to get me to stay here and whatever. So since they can't be honest to my face, it comes down to they do what they do and I do what I do, and ne'er the twain should meet. My uncle, I and my cousin think, is at a bit of a loss. What my parents ask goes against his conscience and better judgment, but he will do whatever he can for his sister. But it gets more interesting. My uncle in New Jersey also will act as my mother's mouthpiece to me. But when my uncle here asked my uncle in New Jersey what he should do, my uncle in New Jersey said that it was my life and my decision to make. I think this is all very Chinese.

So I'm going to see if I can change my flight back to New York to go through Los Angeles and go straight to the monastery when I'm done here in Taiwan. My oldest brother is getting married in July, so in July I'll use the second half of that flight to go back to New Jersey for the wedding. Then I still have the return flight from New Jersey to San Diego from when I left the monastery. Hope it works out.

I'm looking forward to going to Japan. Mostly to see Mad*ka, but also because compared to my zero Mandarin/Taiwanese language ability here, I think I'll feel very comfortable there with even the teeny tiny bit of Japanese I know. At least there I can get something out of my mouth for someone else to figure out and correct. Here I can only give that confused doggie look.

And for my extended time in Taiwan, I think I'll buy a photo scanner (charged to my parents) and digitize photos of my grandparents for archival purposes and to gather any stories told in the photos from my cousin. I wish I could make a story-driven archival family website, but alas, I have neither the web abilities nor the language facility to actualize it. I can just get it started for someone else by getting ideas moving and photos digitized.