Arriving in Sydney: Airport to Kings Cross
On the flight over, there was a minor mishap when the nice-looking older gentleman sitting next to me spilled his drink on my clothes. But he and his wife were fundamentally very polite, and they seemed a bit flustered—perhaps it had been a while since they last flew—so I told them it was completely fine to put them at ease. Thinking about it, I was actually lucky to have such well-mannered seatmates, which let me sleep soundly and arrive well-rested. It just broke my heart to see them lose their smiles over one little mistake.
While waiting in the passport control line with a stiff body after being trapped on a plane for ten hours, someone tapped me on the shoulder.
"Hey! What are you doing here!"
I wondered who could possibly recognize me at an airport security checkpoint in Australia, of all places, and it turned out to be Mr. Yang, the manager who hired me at my very first company. He's one of my greatest benefactors, the person who essentially gave me my start in the professional world. We ran into each other at Sydney Airport after almost five years, having taken the exact same flight, right at the security checkpoint. Wow... they say you never know where life will take you, but what are the odds of a coincidence like this? We only had a brief moment to catch up and talk about why we were in Australia, but it turned out he was here to attend the exact same conference as me. Since we had to get through immigration first, we quickly exchanged numbers and made a vague promise to meet up over the weekend if we had time. (Later, when I went to the conference, we ended up sitting right next to each other, so there was no need to wait until the weekend anyway.)
Anyway, right off the bat, my start in Sydney has been absolutely great.
Because it's the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, all the hotels near where I need to commute were completely booked. I had no choice but to book the Holiday Inn in Kings Cross, which is a bit further away, and it turns out it's right in front of Sydney's biggest nightlife district. In the morning, I was so tired and focused on eating and getting to work that I didn't notice, but the view of the street from the hotel after coming back from work was quite a spectacle. Around midnight, there are always one or two people screaming, which inevitably startles me awake, and police cars are constantly patrolling. Coming from Korea, where the whole country is practically a nightlife district, I adapted in just a day, but it definitely showed its rough side on that first night.
