Alone in Sydney

26th Feb Tues

Today was the first day I explored Sydney on my own. I started my journey at 8.30am. My sister dropped me off somewhere near Paddington and I walked through Oxford Street into Hyde Park where St. Mary’s Cathedral was located. The Cathedral was awesome, unfortunately, it was under restoration (probably to prepare for the World Youth Day) and a pretty big portion of the Cathedral was not accessible. Nevertheless, I spent half an hour there, telling myself that I shall return to attend a daily mass there the next time I dropped by in town.

After I left the Cathedral, I decided to be more adventurous, I kept my guidebook in my bag and let my legs carry me according to my instincts. Surprise, surprise, I ended up in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, one of the least likely place I would have gone to. I know nothing about arts and it’s value but I walked in anyway since it was right in front of me.
It was indeed an educational exposure for me. To be honest, I doubted myself when I went in. I thought I would not have stayed long inside. I guess I underestimated the gallery, I stayed there for 3hours covering only the ground floor. Yes I was naïve of artworks, I am not a person who knew how good an art piece is worth. I am not an art critic but today, the pictures spoke to me, it spoke to me like literary works, like poems and stories. Every artwork had a story to tell and most of the time, it spoke a lot about the artist. It was an expression of themselves through their works with great enthusiasm and effort with patience and most of all, passion.

Some of the works at the gallery were more than five hundred years old, I was fortunate enough to participate in a guided tour that helped me to reason out those works. I learned about history and the different era’s and civilizations. It was indeed a study session for me. I left after three hours because my brains could not concentrate anymore.

Our tour guide was wonderful, she was just a volunteer at the gallery and she explained things in great detail, one thing I was sure was that she was passionate about art, she knew about the artists and their works, it was obvious that she loved the works dearly. Somehow, I wondered if our national art gallery was like this and if it’s staff would be as passionate as the volunteer guide was. I guess art is something the Australians see as important. The gallery was crowded, there were school children from various schools there too. Every child had a notebook in their hand with assignments to complete. I was impressed.

I was exhausted. I left the gallery and walked along the road, ended up outside the botanical gardens. I walked through the gardens and ended up outside the Sydney Opera House, I walked along the Sydney Harbor to find myself some lunch. It had been such a long time since I walked that much. The distance I walked was overwhelming, it was like walking from the University Malaya KL gate to St. John’s Cathedral at Bukit Nanas.

It was indeed an interesting day for me. I discovered a lot but I was not fully contented. I felt alone, I am a foreigner in a foreign land full of foreign faces. Nobody knows me, nobody recognizes me. I have no friends here, no one to share my excitement with. Will I survive? I guess I could, it will take some time though. Thank God I have my sister and bro-in-law to go home to, I am not that alone after all.