15 Things I Miss About Sydney

An ice storm hit DFW on Friday night, and as a result, I've been stuck in my apartment for most of weekend. The trouble with snow in Texas is that it's such a rarity so when it does actually happen, we don't know how to prepare for or handle it. The roads are too icy to safely drive anywhere and even the sidewalks have become so slick that even the slightest incline is sure to send you to the ground. (I learned this the hard way yesterday when I attempted the short walk to my mailbox-- it wasn't pretty. Just ask my neighbors).

Being trapped in my little apartment makes me long for sunshine and summer and the sea. I can't help but be a little nostalgic for Sydney and the things that made it special. Here are just a few of the things I miss about this city:

1. Being able to walk to work every day
2. Public transportation-- trains, ferries, and even those pesky buses
3. The beaches, bays and coves, of which there are many
4. The mountains--just a short, cheap train ride away
5. The gigantic flying-foxes that emerge at dusk every night
6. The Coastal Walk
7. Beautiful cockatoos and lorikeets that fly freely and hang out on balconies
8. Victorian architecture
9. Hip neighborhoods like Darlinghurst, Surry Hills, Glebe, Newtown and King's Cross 
10. My dive shop and the amazing marine life I saw while scuba diving
11. The jacarandas in spring
12. Centennial Park
13. The coffee! Now that it's cold here, all I want to order is a flat white or a piccolo latte. I also love that chocolate flakes are standard on the Australian cappuccino, and I wish it were the same way here.
14. Passion fruits
15. Words like brekkie, mozzie and fairy floss which are both ridiculous and ridiculously cute

Bondi Beach

Surfboards on the bus

Sydney's skyline as seen from the Manly ferry

a perfect cappuccino made with chocolate sprinkles

I loved the balconies on these two-story homes

Lorikeets-- an example of Australia's colorful wildlife

The Blue Mountains

Jacarandas and their purple blossoms which cover the streets like confetti

I came across an old Welsh word the other day--hiraeth. While there's no exact translation in English, here's a definition I saw on Pinterest:

I think this word perfectly captures how I feel about Sydney. I do miss many things about it, but I know it wouldn't be the same even if I could go back. Many of my coworkers have changed jobs and my traveler friends have moved on to their next adventure. Sydney will always have a special place in my heart, and I may even continue to write a few posts about it. But I'm slowly learning to love the skies that I'm under and embrace the current season of my life, even if that is winter.

Thanksgiving Food for Thought

Last year in Sydney, I hosted my own Thanksgiving dinner for the first time. I was so proud of this American holiday and the traditions that accompany it that I wanted to share it with everyone I knew in my new city. Friends from the UK, Canada, France, Sweden and the US were present. The menu wasn't impressive or traditional. However, we shared our potluck dishes, crowding around my tiny living room, and we all wrote what we were thankful for in chalk on the wall. While I was grateful to be in an amazing city surrounded by good company, my homesick thoughts wandered to a table thousands of miles away, where my grandmother's turkey and dressing and pumpkin pie sat encircled by my family members.

Being in Australia meant I wasn't able to watch my college football team win their big game or see the skyscraper-sized balloons float down 6th Avenue in New York. It also meant that I wasn't bombarded with commercials and email blasts about the upcoming Black Friday sales and doorbuster savings. There are no Walmarts in Australia, and I was a backpacker with few real needs and little means to buy nice gifts for others. Without the incessant notifications and ads to serve as reminders, I sort of forgot about this part of Thanksgiving altogether.

And it undoubtedly has become a part of the holiday. Thanksgiving is no longer a four-day weekend to relax and spend time with family, or even a full day of rest. For many employees of major retailers, Thursday has become a day to prepare for or even begin the mad rush of holiday shopping. With stores opening earlier each year, it seems our beloved Turkey Day has simply turned into a kick-off event for a month-long feast of consumerism. We're now encouraged to shop on Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday. (If you haven't experienced the madness of Black Friday shopping for yourself, it only takes about 30 seconds of this YouTube video to get a feel for it.) 

Last year, the United Nations Foundation and the 92nd Street Y in New York teamed up to launch a campaign called #GivingTuesday. The mission is to "create a national day of giving at the start of the annual holiday season." While I think it's a great idea to encourage charitable giving and support nonprofit organizations, it also makes me sad that it's been tacked on to the tail end of a weekend of overindulgence, as if Giving Tuesday is the juice cleanse for our extravagant holiday dinner. 

What if Thanksgiving was about giving just as much as it is about food, parades, football and shopping? What if our "giving of thanks" was not reduced to a single meal or even a day, but was perpetual? I want to learn to wake up every morning with a grateful heart and count my blessings each night as I fall asleep. And maybe if we all strive to be better at this--to be more mindful of the things we do have, we'll worry less about the things we don't, and give a little more.