INTP1221

Traveling to foreign countries readily surfaces a couple of paradoxes about myself.  Maybe we all have such paradoxes, some inner contradictions that reflect two opposite aspects of ourselves.  Maybe these contradictions are inevitable on a polarity planet, where our very experience of being is structured by the dualities that seem inherent to the system.  Or maybe I have some particular personal paradoxes because I was born on the solstice, the cusp between Sagittarius and Capricorn.

I can’t say that I understand astrology very well (at all?), and I am not inclined to use it as a basis for making any decisions in my life, but I will confess to taking it a little more seriously when, in his autobiography, Paramahansa Yogananda made the observation that there was actually a science behind it.  The more I come to understand the universe (multiverse) as a big, complex energy system, interconnecting everything that is, the more it becomes credible to me that the particular alignment of planets and stars when a person is conceived and/or born might leave some kind of energetic imprint that plays itself out somehow in that person’s life.  Who knows?  But from what little I understand about the personality types presumably associated with my two signs, I definitely experience some of those tensions playing out in the context of my life.

On one hand, I proactively choose to travel to places where things are different and unfamiliar, seeking out some variety or novelty through the opportunity to see and experience new places, people, cultures, etc.   I am not at all reticent to do this, and since I travel alone most of the time, I deliberately put myself in situations where I have to negotiate the unknown and unfamiliar on my own.  But once in that strange context, I confront the very powerful tendencies within myself to a) minimize my interactions with other people, and b) establish routines that are familiar and comfortable.  If I travel to experience new and different, why do I re-create same old same old?

I don’t know if astrology explains someone’s personality type, but the fact that I’m an INTP seems relevant to this paradox.  (These are my four letters from the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator – I’m Introverted, INtuitive, Thinking, and Perceiving.)  My dominant introversion helps to explain the first tendency – even at home, under the easiest of circumstances, my default tendency is to not interact with people.  It doesn’t help that I’m an NT (the traits that make me an academic), as these tend to keep me “in my head” such that it’s easy to focus more on what I’m thinking about and less on talking to other people.  But my introversion introduces a reluctance to talk to folks, especially strangers and especially if the interaction is likely to be challenging somehow.  Not that I can’t, not that I won’t, not that I don’t, but there’s a built-in barrier to doing so.  In terms of me going out and exploring the various food options in the vicinity, this is a much bigger hurdle for me to get over than any fear I might have about what I would be eating. 

The fact that I’m a P helps to explain why I tend to rely on routines that reduce the number of decisions I have to make.  Js, those with a judging tendency, find it easy to make decisions, to pick one option out of many and go with it.  Ps, on the other hand, tend to avoid making decisions in favor of gathering more information about options.  Especially in a new context, where things are unknown or unusual, there’s not enough information to know whether you’re making a good decision or not, which makes making the decision difficult.  At one extreme, I could treat each time I’m hungry as an opportunity to go try some new food at some new place, but that process would overwhelm me.  The easiest alternative is to try to stock up on food that I am familiar with and eat in much the same way I do at home – “nosh” a little here and there on things throughout the day, periodically fixing or buying a more substantive meal to satiate me better.  So far I’ve been erring in the latter direction, and other than some guilt I have about not being more exploratory, this approach works allright for me.

I’ve been here for a week now, and other than foraging for food as necessary, I’ve mostly stayed in my apartment to get things done.  There is of course my morning walk to Starbucks – another routine I transplanted from Santa Monica.  I like having a cup of coffee and reading when I first get up in the morning, and I don’t have a good reason for changing that ritual just because I’m in Taiwan.   I may stop going to Starbucks every morning, though, since today I bought a little French press that will enable me to make coffee in my room.  I don’t mind going to Starbucks, and walking a bit when I first get up is good for my body, but they’re charging 80 NTD (Taiwan dollars, about $2.75 American) for a grande coffee, which seems kind of exorbitant.  On the other hand, a young lady initiated a conversation with me there last week, because she wanted to practice her English, so maybe hanging out there could have some positive externalities!

After I had dinner with Yungnane and his family, VP Feng, and Prof. Chen on Saturday, Yungnane took me to the RT Mart, which is their version of a big box store that has pretty much anything anyone would need.  I was looking for some kind of mattress or pad to put on my bed, but didn’t find one so we didn’t spend too much time there.  I decided to go back there today, to get some other things I needed (like a shower curtain, so that the water from the shower doesn’t soak the rest of the bathroom!), and this time did see a “memory foam” kind of mattress that I think will significantly improve the comfort of my bed.  I didn’t buy it today as I was walking home, but figure I can get Yungnane to take me back there soon to get it.  I also stopped by to talk to the staff at the Center and learned that they are setting up a bank account for me at the post office (?!) where they will deposit my salary while I’m here.  Next week I’ll get my ATM card to be able to withdraw cash as necessary.  I took some pictures of campus and the town as I was walking around, and have posted a few below.

Since I ventured further away from home base today than I have since I’ve been here, I realized as I was walking around that I have a similar experience when I go to Brasil – I need to be there for a few days before I’m inclined to spend much time out and about.  I’m OK letting the transition be slow and easy, especially since I’m here for awhile.  I figure soon enough things will pick up speed, and there will be more socializing, going places, trying new food, etc. , and thus hopefully a few more interesting things to blog about!