[FONT=바탕]Within seconds, I was looking out to the window that was putting up a vast picture of the Pacific Ocean that was vibrating with its blue colour, welcoming the dawn. Suddenly, I was accosted by the brown background standing bravely adjacent to the Ocean. I could not help myself being taken aback by this enormously hollow land that temporarily overwhelmed my view with its reflection of light. All I felt after that was a penetrating force that slowly burned my skin.[/FONT]
[FONT=바탕]Apart from this visual predicament, to my annoyance, my ear was immediately accommodated by the large influx of noise from the speaker, “Good morning passengers, the plane will be landing at Sydney Airport in 10 minutes. Until then, keep your seatbelt fastened and enjoy the view out there”. 10 minutes of extended scenery view unfortunately did not improve my condition of distress and the state of misery. [/FONT]
[FONT=바탕]Afterwards, plane slightly fixed its posture for the landing. Slightly alarmed, I made a firm grasp on my seat belt in the anticipation of its rough movement and potentially dangerous flight from my seat. While the plane was wheeling smoothly down the path, I let go of the belt, with the new sense of safety and affinity as I reach the ground. [/FONT]
[FONT=바탕]Motion rapidly mounted within the plane signalling the state of chaos that was about to emerge. There was little that I could do in the face of rising disorder except to escape as soon as the opportunity arose. Outside the plane in the airport, I breathed in the fresh air, predicting a great sense of freedom that was about to unfold. Following my brief indulgence in the state of euphoria, however, I came to realise that I was horribly wrong. This airport was another different place to what I originally imagined; this was merely a macrocosmic representation of the plane. [/FONT]
[FONT=바탕]Standing amid the dispersing crowd, I stood frozen in my summer clothes. I lamented on my lack of preparation for such natural misfortune. Holding winter apparel in one hand, I searched for the change room. While my brothers struggled to keep abreast of my walking pace, I had difficulty decoding innumerable combinations of alphabets on the signs. My poor English knowledge background didn’t provide much assistance in this endeavour. [/FONT]
[FONT=바탕]My long march soon ended up as a detour and still I was unable to spot any signs indicating the location of any bathroom. Desperate at last, I bravely stood steadfast in front of a bystander that was hurrying his way. “Perfect sentence” that I formed within my head didn’t come out very nicely; it was characterised by poor accent and punctuation, and pathetic grammar which confused and angered the man. Reluctantly, I let the busy guy pursue his own destination. [/FONT]
[FONT=바탕]In my second trial, I took a totally different approach by making a simple, short and strong emphasis on the noun “bathroom”. Despite the lack of any structure within my short “sentence”, my inquiry was successfully transmitted and responded by their body language. [/FONT]
[FONT=바탕]Chasing their point of direction, I reached the dead end, named “Toilet”. Enlightened by the stick figures in the sign that I was so used to seeing whenever I went to bathrooms, I took off the coat of doubt and entered the “Toilet”. In a moment, I was striding out underneath the new aegis of warmth. [/FONT]
[FONT=바탕]Later that day, I learnt that “toilet” is an alternative word for “bathroom” but it is more commonly used by British and Australians when they refer to public bathroom. I wasn’t completely sure why they would have two or more words for one single object. Doing that would just confuse people like me with poor English background. In addition, I certainly didn’t welcome the idea of learning English afresh in respect to Australian English on top of American English that I was more accustomed to. [/FONT]
[FONT=바탕]Back to the gathering place, we geared up to ensure that all our belongings could be wheeled intact. Started as a stream, we soon collected to be a pool of travellers fighting for the limited space in front of the visas check point. Certainly, this was a familiar sight of fellow immigrants who all possessed this mentality of confusion to some extent like us, struggling to take in the new surrounding that was fast sweeping across our mind. However, at the same time, it was easy to notice distinctive differences among great mix of people who came here from the every corner of the globe which counts to more than 200 countries in the world. As soon as we were given thumbs up for the entry, we headed towards the train station. It was there then we briefly embraced the moment to attend our physical exhaustion and assume our next journey. [/FONT]
[FONT=바탕]Noisily racing through the tunnel, the train stopped at the Central Station. Alighting from the train, we moved to our hotel that was about to accommodate us for the next 10 days. On the way, I came across quite fascinating features that dwelled on my mind. Such example was a traffic light with a button on it. I wasn’t quite sure what the button was for but guessed that it was there to activate the traffic light. [/FONT]
[FONT=바탕]While my parents handled the accommodation matter, I sat next to an old lady who was just putting on a final touch on the masterpiece that she was sewing. She took me by surprise when she unexpectedly cast an ambiguous question. Overwhelmed by the pressure to make a response, I again resorted to the usage of single word, “good” which seemed to be the most widely used word that could apply to any situation that had positive connotation. By an incredible coincidence, she was quite satisfied with my response even though I wish I knew what she really asked in the first place. [/FONT]
[FONT=바탕]While the hotel was taking care of our luggage matters, we paid our brief visits to the Opera House which was radiating an aura of greatness. Absorbed by its highly exotic and unique architecture, I could easily understand how this is the Aussie symbol of pride. Further sightseeing took us to various locations that intrigued our senses to extreme. En route to Hyde Park, Elizabeth St. appeared half dead from the closing of many stores at 6 PM which included one of the restaurant that we planned to go. This was a huge contrast to what I had back in my home country where the most stores could operate until 12 AM if not later. [/FONT]
[FONT=바탕]Finishing the day with a brief dinner at a food store that was only 10 minutes from closing its store, we left the store in dissatisfaction despite our visual fulfilment. Back in the hotel room, I sadly looked up the sky, the sky without the presence of the northern constellation.[/FONT][/FONT]
