I had my first traditional cultural experience today.
Since it was my “Saturday” I pretty much ran a bunch of errands. I was thwarted by the damn Travelers’ Cheques, but other than that, it wasn’t all that bad. If anything, seeing the Plum Blossom Garden of Osaka Castle made up for the harrowing experience trying to get money. And yes, I took pictures. Now it’s just a matter of figuring out how to post them. *smiles innocently at Press Master Mark*
I met Darya in OCAT after doing a few things around the apartment. Together, she and I went to the currency exchange since she needed US money and since I needed Yen. She’s going home tomorrow and will be in San Fransisco for a nine hour layover, so she decided to get US currency instead of Canadian money for the time being.
There was a mishap with my Travelers’ Cheques, however. When I bought them at Chase, they didn’t say I had to sign them with the teller as a witness or anything, so I just took them and left. When I got up to the exchange lady, though, she said she couldn’t take them because they weren’t signed. I was just going to sign them right then and there, but she said she still wouldn’t be able to accept them. She sent me to a different exhange on the lower level. Unfortunately, they couldn’t do anything for me either, thus leaving a very unsettled feeling in my stomach. Did this mean I was screwed out of $1,200.00? I had been counting on that money for various odds and ends, considering I wouldn’t be paid until March 15th. The second exchange place told me to call American Express.
Turns out, it’s not that big of a deal after all. I just have to sign them and take them back with my signature already present, then sign them again before I exchange them. I was pretty annoyed, if anything, because this is becoming way too much of a hassle. If I ahd known that it would be this much trouble, I would have just taken this amount in cash instead of paying the extra fee to get cheques.
We were supposed to meet Angela, Darya’s friend who ate with us at AsianDayz, but Darya wasn’t sure if she really wanted to go to Osaka-jo to bother seeing the blossoms since she had to be back at work at 5:30PM — it was somewhere around 3:00PM. She had asked my opinion and I told her it honestly didn’t matter to me what we did.
We ended up going, which I must admit, I’m glad we did. I would have been happy either way, but after walking through the garden, I think it’s a good thing to have gotten my first taste of Japanese culture.
The garden was indescribably beautiful — hence the pictures. I could walk around the grounds of Osaka Castle for an entire day, and I plan on doing so some time when it’s not quite so chilly out. I took a few shots of Osaka Castle, as well as several different trees, and closer shots of particular blossoms. And yes, I’m even in a couple of the pictures, much to my grumbling and protestations. I can’t promise that the pictures are any good, though.
I keep thinking I’ll have someone to show these things to when they come to visit me. Am I crazy for thinking like this, or what?
Jessi, your best bet with the photos is uploading them to sites like Flickr (my favorite) Shutterfly (Chris’s favorite). Then, just link up to an album in a blog post.
Flickr is a very open site, which is partly why I like it. However, you can always mark photos as private and/or only allow friends and family to see them. Flickr also has a nifty upload utility that lets you upload photos in a batch without needing to open a web browser.
From my little experience with it, Shutterfly seems like more of a “private” site where you upload photos, then send e-mails to notify people of an album.
If it’s of any importance, Hersch, Vicki and I are all Flickr users
The garden sounds awesome. I want to see those pics ASAP. I would be totallyl interested in coming to visit, however I would have to work out money shenanigans. I think if a bunch of us go it would be sweet.