I never thought I'd visit Sydney, never mind Australia, so when the opportunity arose, I had a hard time believing it was good enough to be true. But it was, and I went, and I conquered the reason why I was there.
I went to Sydney to speak on human rights abuses in corporate supply chains and give advice on how corporations can mitigate liability by performing due diligence.
I was part of a panel of distinguished speakers and top practitioners, and I felt truly honored to be in their midst. Going to Spain a few months prior is what created this opportunity for me. At the ABA (American Bar Association) conference in Barcelona, I met an attorney during a coffee break, and at the conclusion of that conference he told me I'd be a great speaker for the IBA (International Bar Association) conference in Sydney. And because of his invitation and foresight, I travelled all the way across the world to give my international speaking debut on a panel discussing agricultural supply chains in Southeast Asia.
It was a dream come true.
I've learned that you must go after your dreams, even if you don't know where they will lead, and going to Spain was me simply chasing my dream to travel and network. And, as you can see, it yielded an even bigger dream.
I went to Sydney to speak on human rights abuses in corporate supply chains and give advice on how corporations can mitigate liability by performing due diligence.
I was part of a panel of distinguished speakers and top practitioners, and I felt truly honored to be in their midst. Going to Spain a few months prior is what created this opportunity for me. At the ABA (American Bar Association) conference in Barcelona, I met an attorney during a coffee break, and at the conclusion of that conference he told me I'd be a great speaker for the IBA (International Bar Association) conference in Sydney. And because of his invitation and foresight, I travelled all the way across the world to give my international speaking debut on a panel discussing agricultural supply chains in Southeast Asia.
It was a dream come true.
I've learned that you must go after your dreams, even if you don't know where they will lead, and going to Spain was me simply chasing my dream to travel and network. And, as you can see, it yielded an even bigger dream.
Me and my co-panelists on Agricultural Supply Chains in Southeast Asia: Legal Considerations from "Farm to the Fork" - International Bar Association Conference -
October, 2017
And, I was also featured in the Australian Journal of the New South Wales Bar Association - now how's that for exposure?!
| Journal of the NSW Bar Association 2017.pdf |
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Weather
October in Australia is the beginning of spring, so it was super hot, even for springtime standards. It felt like 70-80 degrees Fahrenheit consistently every day, and I was burning up in my business attire, so I don't even want to think about what their summer is like, at all. Even on days on which it started off as gray and gloomy, the weather always looked up by mid-afternoon. Thus, my last day started out rainy but turned out to be one of the most beautiful sunny days of my time there (as you can see from the video below of the zoo). Australians Are sooo chill. I love the way they say "yeah." Must be the weather. Sydney feels like NYC from the way it's built up and with all of the people in and around its crevices. But it's much more beautiful and architecturally ornate. You are not in a concrete jungle in Sydney; you are in a beautiful, open air, architectural museum, filled with bright colors, structures, and various building textures. The City The water is life and is where I belong. I've always wondered why people continue to build by the water, especially when the onset of a tropical storm essentially means that you or your house will be the first to go...but I also see why people build...how can you not? Being in a maritime society does something different to your DNA. It's calming and relaxing and the views are oh so breathtaking... 
Sailboats on the Harbour, view on the way back from Manley Beach
To be quite honest, Sydney feels like the perfect mix between a hustling and bustling city like New York, with picturesque views of the harbor like Boston (albeit a bit more amazing because of the green waters and oh I don't know, the iconic Opera House), and Miami with its tall palm trees along the water that make you feel like you're in the tropics at night...but Sydney's climate is actually somewhat tropical, right? sub-tropical (I think?) The sun is reputed to be very strong there, so they say to wear your SPF 50+ sunblock, which I didn't do.
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Food
Entrée = appetizer in Australia. I did not like learning that after I had ordered my food and was forced to pay for it anyway, although I had explained that I was looking for a meal to fill me up, and thus did not want the measly thing I ordered. It was generally hit or miss for me. I bought a salad thinking the white stuff was a lot of onions when it turned out to be this really spicy thing that I couldn't eat at all, so that was money wasted. There's lots of curry and Asian influences - even when being served hors d'oeuvres, even when ordering food from your hotel (which was cool). The sushi looks like it's straight from Japan, i.e. very authentic and looks much different than the kinds we typically see here (and bigger). You don't get a lot of food on your plate compared to what we get back at home (though maybe it was the places I went to?). Oh, oh and oh - you have to pay for ketchup separately from your fries - what??? Like it doesn't come together, as it naturally does here in the States? Umm...no. Fries are made for ketchup. So I purchased my ketchup, after I bought my fries...and it didn't even taste good; it was very vinegary...and the place I bought my fries from asked to put chicken salt on them (what? you mean adobo? on fries? Um...no) But I said a little, just to try, and that was (not) interesting. I didn't like my fries :-( But the fruit. At the conference, we were served with refreshments all day and the fruit was to die for. The passion fruit looked like that luscious purple fruit that you see in Avatar - and it tasted just as exotic too! It was sweet, and tart, but more sweet than tart, and was so scrumptious I almost embarrassed myself by devouring it right then and there. So many exotic looking compilations - lychee with pudding and all of these other combinations I can't remember. So yes, I felt like I was eating the wonderful rare fruit of the great outback that you can only find in Oceania. The Flight Is a global force. Like way forced. Like you are sitting on a plane and it's tomorrow and you're still not there. In total, it is 21 hours of flying from the East Coast of the United States. 6 hours to LA, 15 hours to Sydney (and if you count any layover time, you are definitely traveling for 1.5 days). And if you count the day you lose because of the 15 hour time difference, you are essentially traveling for 2 days. I left town on Saturday and arrived in Australia on Monday (Australia time). Just to put it in a different perspective, for that 15 hour leg, you can drive from Boston to NY, then back to Boston, and back to NY and STILL be on the plane to Australia. Insane. Currency The US dollar is worth more (only so slightly) but things are expensive in Sydney, so don't think you'll be saving a whole lot. Things tend to cost more than what I've found in the US, so you may end up spending either the same amount or more for what you would buy in the States. For example, I never thought that riding in a cab would almost feel like a luxury privilege. I hopped in a cab to save myself from a 12 minute walk, only to find out that that ride cost me upwards of 20 AUD (about $17). Perhaps Uber's got me spoiled, but when you get in the cab, the meter starts rolling almost every 2 seconds. So sitting at a traffic light has you praying like "Please can we just get there already?!" lol. |
Taronga Zoo
Sounds of Taronga Zoo
Feeding a Komodo Dragon
Darling Harbour
Tiger prawn linguine (Tiger shrimp linguine)
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View of the harbour from the Sydney Cove Oyster Bar
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Capoeira
Is everywhere I go, even when I'm not looking for it; it's always present. I'm a Capoeirista (as you can tell from my pages on the African diaspora), and while I was in Sydney, I sang Capoeira songs quite frequently to myself. On my last morning, it was a race against time and my ultimate fatigue to pack the contents of my room that was filled with books and a million conference give-aways into my two suitcases in time for my 7:10 a.m. airport pick-up. At 7:15 a.m., I was still in my room, so I figured that my airport shuttle had come and gone. I'd brave the cost of a cab, I decided. So I kept singing my Capoeira songs and packed. I made it down to the hotel lobby in a rush (mentally double-checking to make sure that I hadn't left anything behind) - only to find that the shuttle van driver had waited for me. Oops! Outside, the van doors were wide open, the driver was standing to the side of the van with a gadget in his hand, and the porter came up to me and asked if I was "Sabina." "Yes," I said, in complete shock and totally ignoring the need to correct the mispronunciation of my name. The porter took my bags while I went to settle my room bill, and when I came outside a few minutes later, the driver said to me with a smile and in a very friendly spirit, that there might be a little traffic on the way to the airport. No one else in the van seemed to mind that they had been waiting for me for a while by that point, and after greeting them with an apology and deep embarrassment, I hopped inside, not ready to say goodbye to Sydney, and without having had an adequate response to the porter who wished me a safe trip back to the States. I had wanted to say something along the lines of, "Your service was so great; I'm definitely coming back," but "Thank you," was all I said, and the van took off.
I ended up being the last passenger on the van with the driver. He asked me where I was from. To his surprise, I wasn't Brazilian, and to my surprise, he was. That's all it took for us to start speaking in Portuguese and singing Capoeira songs all the way to the airport. Turns out, he was actually a Master of Capoeira. I couldn't help but marvel at the fact that there we were: two Black people from different continents, yet connected by Capoeira thousands of miles away. I had come to Sydney for professional reasons, but left with a very personal reminder that I can find family anywhere. Especially Capoeira family. It was the perfect send-off.
Jet Lag
Is real. I didn't have much of any when I arrived in Sydney, but coming back to Boston? I slept during 80% of the flight. And after traveling for nearly 24 hours, I was a zombie when I came home. I slept well the first night, but the second night was crazy. I woke up at 4 a.m. after about an hour of not being able to sleep anymore and feeling hungry. I made eggs, and had breakfast...it would have been dinner time in Sydney; so as you can see, everything was out of whack...and then by 8 a.m. I was ready to sleep for the whole day (it would have been bedtime in Sydney). It took me 3 days to finally start feeling tired at the right time again in Boston.
Is everywhere I go, even when I'm not looking for it; it's always present. I'm a Capoeirista (as you can tell from my pages on the African diaspora), and while I was in Sydney, I sang Capoeira songs quite frequently to myself. On my last morning, it was a race against time and my ultimate fatigue to pack the contents of my room that was filled with books and a million conference give-aways into my two suitcases in time for my 7:10 a.m. airport pick-up. At 7:15 a.m., I was still in my room, so I figured that my airport shuttle had come and gone. I'd brave the cost of a cab, I decided. So I kept singing my Capoeira songs and packed. I made it down to the hotel lobby in a rush (mentally double-checking to make sure that I hadn't left anything behind) - only to find that the shuttle van driver had waited for me. Oops! Outside, the van doors were wide open, the driver was standing to the side of the van with a gadget in his hand, and the porter came up to me and asked if I was "Sabina." "Yes," I said, in complete shock and totally ignoring the need to correct the mispronunciation of my name. The porter took my bags while I went to settle my room bill, and when I came outside a few minutes later, the driver said to me with a smile and in a very friendly spirit, that there might be a little traffic on the way to the airport. No one else in the van seemed to mind that they had been waiting for me for a while by that point, and after greeting them with an apology and deep embarrassment, I hopped inside, not ready to say goodbye to Sydney, and without having had an adequate response to the porter who wished me a safe trip back to the States. I had wanted to say something along the lines of, "Your service was so great; I'm definitely coming back," but "Thank you," was all I said, and the van took off.
I ended up being the last passenger on the van with the driver. He asked me where I was from. To his surprise, I wasn't Brazilian, and to my surprise, he was. That's all it took for us to start speaking in Portuguese and singing Capoeira songs all the way to the airport. Turns out, he was actually a Master of Capoeira. I couldn't help but marvel at the fact that there we were: two Black people from different continents, yet connected by Capoeira thousands of miles away. I had come to Sydney for professional reasons, but left with a very personal reminder that I can find family anywhere. Especially Capoeira family. It was the perfect send-off.
Jet Lag
Is real. I didn't have much of any when I arrived in Sydney, but coming back to Boston? I slept during 80% of the flight. And after traveling for nearly 24 hours, I was a zombie when I came home. I slept well the first night, but the second night was crazy. I woke up at 4 a.m. after about an hour of not being able to sleep anymore and feeling hungry. I made eggs, and had breakfast...it would have been dinner time in Sydney; so as you can see, everything was out of whack...and then by 8 a.m. I was ready to sleep for the whole day (it would have been bedtime in Sydney). It took me 3 days to finally start feeling tired at the right time again in Boston.