Nagasaki, Part II

When last our great adventurer was heard from, she was dragging her weary feet away from one of the most depressing experiences in the world, head swirling with images of destroyed buildings and mutilated bodies and an oppressing weight of perhaps mislaid responsibility bearing down. What on earth could possibly revive her spirits?

The Body Shop, of course.

... I don't mean to lessen the experience of visiting Nagasaki's atomic bomb museum or the actual events, but as a traveler and human being and, for that matter, blog-writer, one must press on. It does not to do dwell on (oooo HP reference there, did you catch it?) such dark experiences. Short doses do much more.

Since the girls-only chat at Nagasaki orientation during which we were told to take care of ourselves in girlish fashion, I had been obsessing about getting some peppermint foot lotions to hold in reserve for cheering myself up after the potential dark days of teaching that were to come. The Body Shop delivered. (All the pretty fragrances also did a nice job reviving my appreciation of the world, despite its horrors like the atomic bomb). I am now fully stocked in peppermint-scented foot care: exfoliating foot scrub and brush, cooling foot lotion, and "Intensive Foot Rescue" for when things get desperate. As far as I can tell, the packaging doesn't explicitly limit what my feet will be rescued from, so I'm going to let it be a catch-all for all sorts of disasters. Maybe I should pack some in an earthquake/typhoon emergency bag or smear some around my doors to keep the bugs out. ... if my feet are rescued, maybe the rest of me will be too.

... I don't remember all the details of what we did the rest of the day, but I think it was mostly spent poking around various shopping establishments and walking along the pier. There was a nice sea-breeze, and I haven't yet gotten tired of gazing at the ocean with mountains in the background. Dinner consisted of more pizza, some with teriyaki sauce and some with-- blissfully-- normal sauce, and another trip to Baskin-Robbin's for crepes. Except, of course, for Rose, who committed "The Great Crepe Betrayal"-- copyright moi-- by not ordering one when Joe, Gavin, and myself (the other 3 Tsushima newbie ALTs) all did. For shame, Rose. Even if you never ~said~ you were going to order a crepe, it was certainly implied. And I don't know if we can be friends if you don't appreciate the deliciousness that is the crepe, Japan-style. ;)

Sunday dawned with a renewal of energy, and the Tsushima ALTs were once again ready to brave new historical wonders for the sake of taking pictures and giving our mini-vacation some legitimacy beyond easy access to fast food and night life. Since we didn't have a huge amount of time, we settled on Glover Gardens, which is a somewhat-preserved foreigner's estate from the 1800's pleasantly situated on top of a hill overlooking Nagasaki City.

Although it was a hot morning and kind of a hike up the hill, our journey was aided by incredible outdoor escalators:

... and our efforts were rewarded by many fine views of the city, a lovely British tea-garden, and the best shot of a hawk-like bird I've gotten so far, a species which also runs rampant in Tsushima. [It's still not a great picture... but identification, Uncle Ben? ;) My Japanese-English Guide to Living Things in Japan book fails me].

All in all, a lovely trip. Peace is the word. Or, to be Japanese, the guesture.