I'm pooped. It's been busy...speaking tests galore. I have to create and administer speaking tests for about 500 kids over the span of a couple weeks. It's a lot of work. Yesterday I did about 130 and today about 100, over 8 classes or so. Tonight I'll teach a Juku cram school and a private lesson before going out...

Also, I've just concluded Junior High Burrito Experiment #2 for what they call "GT International Understanding Classtime"...In January I helped 60 kids at Minami Junior High learn how to make a New Mexican dish...a classic burrito. It went very well...well enough that they thought we should do it again with a whole new group of kids, and we did it today.

My main input was creating the recipes and directions and random facts about burritos (like, "Burrito means Little Donkey!") which were then translated into Japanese by a teacher. Then, it was sort of my job to be support for the teacher and to run around helping avert disasters and keep the kids on track.

Last time, Ms. Kawase was at the helm in doing all the Japanese shouting directions. However, 10 minutes before we started today, Ms. Ikeda said to me (while she was brushing her teeth after lunch), "So Erik, Ms. Kawase is out today, you will be the main teacher, OK?"

"uh...like I'm supposed to run the cooking class in Japanese by myself?"

"Yea, it's ok!" she said. "But the Home Ec teacher will be there with you. Good luck!" She paused, then laughed..."Ha ha, you always have such challenging situations here!" she blurted at me as foamy toothpaste spittles shot out of her mouth.

So, in those next 10 minutes I scrambled to learn the vocabulary I thought I would need..."Oil...Flour...Cook...Mix...Warm Water...Fry...Stop...More...Less..." I also printed out as many color photos from last time to give them a sense of how it should all look in the end...or at least, to set them up for disappointment since last time went so well.

The kids started pulling out the ingredients that they had bought the day before. Some groups were organized and prepared and some forgot the flour, and the recipe too. They started to prepare the onions, tomatoes, rice and cold canned soy beans (no pinto beans or black beans here) and cut the avocadoes and ready the cheese (some bought pizza cheese or really expensive European cheddar, one group brought blue cheese). Then the tortilla making began...

I was most nervous about this part cuz it's hard for even the most experienced Northern New Mexican to make a good tortilla from scratch. I was busy here because I was running around checking all the dough and using lots of Japanese for "more flour! more water! warm water, not cold! put down that knife!"

They rolled out the tortillas, some into perfect shapes, and some into something resembling a shawl or a curtain. They grilled them up...some into perfect toasted brown spotted circles, some into folded piles of grey matter.

Then, the burrito assembling began. The teacher had bought a huge pile of Japanese 'Southwestern Style' salsa which was mixed in with random combinations of the vegetables, grilled rice with onions, soggy soy beans, different kinds of cheese, mayonnaise and cocktail weenies.

They sort of folded them up into burrito-shapes and bit in...some cringed and some really enjoyed it. It depended on the group and what random concoction they threw together. The burrito I had was actually delicious...with enough cheese and salsa it masked the soybean taste and the saltiness of the tortilla dough. The avocadoes were great and I was really psyched that it all seemed to work out again! Other people enjoyed it less, with one girl bent over the sink drinking water to sooth the 'spiciness' of the most mild non-salsa I've ever tasted.

So, all-in-all Burrito Day #2 wasn't a complete disaster, but it sure wasn't as good as the first...I guess it makes a difference having someone who can translate for you. Anyway, I guess my kids know what I eat back home, though I wish I could show them a real, green chile cheese smothered burrito.