with intensity: Tokyo: Tsukiji Fish Market

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! This Saturday's big graduation festival is the last Saturday that I have to work for awhile, my accounting course will be finished in 2 weeks, and I got through the presentations I had to give at the seminar last Saturday. It was quite possibly one of the most uninterested crowds I've presented to -- it didn't help that right before my presentation, I had to have a meeting with all of the foreign teachers of the different Feinschule branches (that's what these seminars are for -- the other Feinschule schools) and they expressed their utter DISDAIN of these seminars and how much they hate being there. Trust me, I don't want to be there any more than they do, but I think one person wrote on their comment sheet that the whole experience was "insulting." Needless to say, it didn't exactly give me the positive encouragement I needed to make my presentation sparkle with enthusiasm. Regardless of the fact that all I could see written across every person's face in the crowd was "insulting," I got through my presentation as best I could.

Anyway, who wants to dwell on the stress of the present when they can linger on the joys of the past? I didn't know where to start with my posts on Tokyo, so first up is one of Tokyo's most famous sites: the Tsukiji Fish Market. Every morning starting at about 5:00 am, the tuna auction begins, and the morning is spent throwing around huge fish that are sold all over the world. I was told this is the world's largest fish market. Ali and I didn't quite get there at 5:00am--that was the plan, but due to missed alarm clocks and a serious communication glitch at the bike rental shop, we arrived around 8:00am, and spent the morning bustling through tanks of odd looking sea creatures and dodging the very aggressive scooter-type-things hauling fish from one place to another. And we couldn't leave the fish market without trying some sushi, so we stood in line outside of one of the little sushi joints and enjoyed $40 worth of some of the world's finest sushi by 11am. Definitely a part of Tokyo that can't be missed!