be good to the lunch ladies.

Date March 7, 2008

It’s no secret.  I like food.  A lot.  And I like the food in Colombia.  I honestly do.  It’s fresh, generally not processed, and prepared by hand.  Given, I could live without the rice.  And the rice.  And, oh yeah, the rice, but it’s better than chili mac or the Potluck Fridays of Mississippi Mystery in the public school realm.

Truthfully, the cafeteria lunch here is the best meal I get all day and I just adore the cafeteria ladies.  They call me Senora and I call them all Miss and they shake their fists at me every single day for saying “No, thank you” so often.  What can I say?  I refuse to eat a 5 course meal for lunch.  I can’t do it.  So, most days I have warm vegetable soup and fruit and fresh juice and I am more than satisfied.

I don’t know what happened to me today.  Maybe I was eating for all of my pregnant friends back home, but when the Miss behind the counter said, “Senora, quieres la sopa?”  I said, “Si, Miss.  Quiero todo, por favor.”  And then she called behind her for everyone to look!  I was mortified as she heaped my plate full of rice, potatoes, meat, and salsa de something or other and all the lunch ladies cheered.

They might as well have issued me a double dare!  I sat down and went to work.  When I finally made a happy plate and went to put my tray away, I yelled for them all to look.  They came-each and every one-, hugged me, and then clapped.  They actually clapped!  I was a rock star and all I had to do was clean my plate!  My students stood around amazed and joined in the applause!  And then we went back to the room and instead of doing new vocabulary, we all got our books, found a quiet spot, and read for the next half hour.  Nice.

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4 Responses to “be good to the lunch ladies.”

  1. Lindsay said:

    March 7th, 2008 at 10:10 am

    Our lunches sound SO similar. But being the Fatty Mucher that I am, I always go for a bit of it all. Even that DAMNED rice. I swear. What’s with people and their rice. Oh, and Whit always gets two helpings of everything. And he’s still loosing weight with all this healthy food.
    We have similar meals it sounds like: Rice, always rice. Soup. Fish and/or meat. Kimchi. Always kimchi. And sometimes, like once a month. Juice or milk, which is downed like the wonderful, delicious dessert it has become. Nothing to drink until after lunch. Strange, huh?
    And we LOVE our lunch ladies too. They don’t speak a lick of English. And all we know is NO. THANK YOU. And DELICIOUS. We just smile a lot. They smile and prattle amongst themselves before shooing us off and giggling.

  2. Stephen said:

    March 7th, 2008 at 1:41 pm

    Forget reading. I think I’d need a nap.

  3. Dani said:

    March 7th, 2008 at 5:41 pm

    I love it! I actually laughed out loud at this one! All I could think about was all the rice dishes everyone brought to Aunt Marilyn’s for Christmas. I will definitely remember NO RICE at the next family affair!

    Loving and missing you!

  4. Tan Bella | Among the Wildflowers said:

    August 15th, 2008 at 2:14 am

    […] no secret that I love cafeteria ladies.  I love the heart that they have for serving and I appreciate how hard they work.  Not to […]