An introverted city girl

Nightsky of Hong Kong vs. The North Sea

Writing to a professor at Trinity got me thinking about what I am actually. Most people who have had two words with me would immediately classify me as a flaming extrovert, but all the personality tests that I have done over the years, would put me, undoubtedly, in the introvert category, well, that sounds pretty hypocritical, doesn't it?

The truth is, though I love everything about city life, e.g., convenient public transportation, museums, restaurants, shops, etc., I absolutely hate the crowd, the noise and everything else that come with living in a big city. I don't like partying and I haven't have urges to buy new clothes every so often. I do like to know that when I need to go to a museum, eat out at a restaurants and shop for towels, I have nice places to go. I like to have choices, though I don't necessarily utilize the power of making those choices very often. I miss living in Hong Kong, in D.C., and in Chicago, I miss what a metropolitan city has to offer, of having things to do and see when I want to do things and see things. I like to know exactly where I would go if I ever want to buy Elizabeth Arden Green Tea perfume. I like to be able to decide 10 minutes before dinner that I don't want to cook, and then walk down the street and eat out at an affordable restaurant with reasonably good food. I like to be able to go to a museum when I feel like being 'cultured'.

My favourite thing to do, in fact, is to stay home, dressed in my comfy clothes, and read. I could easily read for hours, it is so enjoyable to be lost in a book, just stopping to do the inevitable, "input" and "output". I was able to do have the reading life-style for a period of time before Dan decided to do this marathon studies, and before Kioni was born. This life-style, as unrealistic as it is, I intend to continue if I can.

I also like swimming laps, another "lost in time" experience. Swimming laps helps me think, the rhythm of my own breathing and water swooshing sounds are soothing. Long walks (2-3 hours) serves the same need, when I had MeMe dog, we took long walks everyday, but in later years of her life, she went blind, and the long walks stopped.

According to StrengthsFinder, I have the strength of intellection, which means, I need alone time, a lot of it, to think. That doesn't mean any earth-shattering idea would come out on the other end, I just need a lot of alone time to do my thinking. If I don't get it, I become irritable, depressed and feel absolutely stupid. And I haven't had a lot of alone time since Kioni was born, that means, I have been feeling stupid for the past 5 years.

All in all, if I have to decide if I want to live among the Scottish rolling hills with horse and sheep, or the concrete jungle in Hong Kong with smog and noise, I still would prefer Hong Kong, or D.C. for that matter. I can create my own oasis to hide in the concrete jungle, but it would take a lot to build a museum and a swimming pool in the Scottish rolling hills.