Today's post is going to be a bit more thoughtful than the others. I did do some cool things today but I'm not going to write about those now. I will do a what/where/when update tomorrow on the happenings from today. For now I am just going to let you in on what thoughts/feelings the journey has brought up for me today.
So this evening I went to a little bookstore/cafe in Glebe, a neighborhood here in Sydney. To get there I had to take a bus I'd never taken into a neighborhood I'd never been to. I went during rush hour and the experience was a bit hectic. On my way over I was thinking to myself, this neighborhood is too crowded and city-like for me. Then the bus turned off the main street and onto Glebe Point Road, where the book store is, and it instantly turned into a cute little neighborhood. I went to the bookstore cafe and spent then night eating, reading, and listening to a band. I wasn't super impressed by the whole experience but that could've been because it was chilly tonight and I was dressed for summer or maybe because I started Emma today by Jane Austin and am getting very annoyed with Emma. Either way, I left rather early, maybe 9:30pm - I was planning on staying there until at least after 10. As I was walking to the bus stop to catch the bus home, in the chilly weather under the dark night sky, it was like the whole neighborhood turned into a vibrant bustling village. Every cafe was filled with people talking and laughing and eating and drinking. People were rushing from one place to the next trying to find warmth and shelter from the blustery winds where ever they could. As I was looking at all of these people and all of these places they were rushing to/from I began to realize just how little I've seen of this amazing city of Sydney.
Most people I've talked to so far in Sydney can't believe I'm not traveling around Australia, or that I'm not even doing more traveling within Sydney, but each new road I turn down and each new set of cafes/restaurants I come across I see 10 more that I want to try - I realize that I'm not really even scratching the surface of this city. There are hundreds, probably thousands, of amazing places to eat/gather/visit/people watch in Sydney and I've maybe seen 10 of the good ones. I can't believe I'm not spending more time here, in Sydney, and I can't believe people think that if I'm spending 3 weeks in Australia it shouldn't all be spent really exploring this grand city. There is so much to see, so much to experience, so many people to meet. You could spend a lifetime here and not see half of it I'm sure.
This is really starting to make me think about the rest of my trip, and really the rest of my life. There are so many places to go in the world and the more I see the more I realize I will never get to see them all. Every cafe I go to, every person I meet, every accent I hear on the bus makes me realize that I can never experience everything. Trouble is, I want to see everything, I want to go everyone, I want to meet someone from every country, every city, every neighborhood. This didn't real feel real until tonight, until I was watching all those people, from all over the world, live their lives as I was just walking by, watching. This is happening all over the world and I'm missing it, I'm not going to see it.
Maybe this post makes me sound really sad, but that's probably not the right emotion. I think it's more sobering than anything. Until today the world has felt like a big challenging waiting to be conquered, but now I realize I could spend every day for the rest of my life traveling and I won't every get to see everywhere to the extent I would like to. Even if I lived in a different place for 1 year for the rest of my life that might be 70 cities. In the entire world. That's it. At a maximum I can likely only immerse myself in 70 places over the remained of my life, and only 1 year in each place would still be experiencing it at only a high level.
Okay, enough of that, I'm sure you're all bored by now.
Back to the people watching. The last couple of days I've been out on my own exploring Sydney after dark. It has been amazing. Wandering down the streets of Sydney past the bars, cafes, and restaurants filled with people eating and drinking and living their lives. It's like watching a movie, like watching the intro to Love Actually when they play video of the arrival terminal at Heathrow Airport. People smiling and laughing and crying and loving each other. It makes me so happy that I can see the world like this every day. I love watching other people live their lives, watching their time with family and friends, their happy moments with the people they love. It's so nice to see people happy. Although I know how nice it is to have these experiences, it makes me just as happy to watch others have them as well. Sometimes I wish I was there with them, at their table eating dinner and laughing to their stories, but most times I'm just as happy to watch them have these moments themselves. I feel like I could just wander the streets of big cities after dark watching people forever and ever. Sometimes I just get in a mood where this is all I want to do, and that's the mood I'm in right now. How wonderful to be here!
Okay, I've had enough typing for now. Hope you are all enjoying your lives with your friends and family, eating and drinking and laughing!
Best!
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