The Lunchroom

Something that I had not thought about when preparing myself mentally for returning to high school was the lunchroom experience. In my own high school in the United States, I knew who I was going to sit with and where I was going to sit for lunch every single day. If we weren't eating in the cafeteria, my friends and I would eat in the University District. All in all, it was pleasant. College was more difficult because everyone had a different schedule everyday. I had to plan out my meals if I wanted to eat with friends or I could chance it and see who was there because I knew someone would show up in the dinning hall. If the timing didn't work out, I had to sit alone with a book. This often lead to an awkward feeling and me eating quickly.

I don't know how my students feel when they eat in the dinning hall at our school, but it is one of those daunting boxy rooms with many long tables under a high ceiling and unattractive florescent lighting. Luckily for me, there are two tables at the north side of the cafeteria reserved for teachers and if I plan on eating in the cafeteria I can ask the teachers in my office or that I have a class with before the lunch period if they want to eat together. So far, they have always said yes. However, I introduced an English language lunch table to the school, so that every Thursday students can come during the two lunch periods and sit and practice their English. Usually, this results in my getting asked by students to join their afternoon activities. Unfortunately, the first Thursday was a little lonely. The idea of sitting and speaking English was foreign to many students and many forget that the table would in fact be on Thursdays. I definitely had that awkward feeling displayed in High School dramas. The next week was better with five people the first lunch period and a full table the next. Some of the students were not even from my classes! I am excited to see what happens this week!

In regards to the cafeteria food, I have to order it on a machine a few days before. Usually, I have a Czech teacher translate the meals for me to find out if there are any appetizing vegetarian options. On days that I take the risk and eat from the cafeteria, I cut the line (something I feel guilty about) where all the students are waiting to get their meals. I grab a fork, knife, and tray, and then swipe my transportation card over a reader. This tells the kitchen staff what I ordered and they put it on my tray. This is something new to me since my high school and college were buffet style. A lot of the food I have tried are things I would not normally eat, but something went awry during the translation process. Other times I have been pleasantly surprised. Half of the students I have polled enjoy the cafeteria food and half dislike it. Sometimes I look at it and can't figure out what it is. Apparently, the students can't either. I will list some of the food I have tasted and let you guess which were the good ones: 1. fired cheese with potatoes and tartar sauce 2. fried cauliflower with potatoes and tartar sauce 3. not bread-pudding, but bread with hot pudding on top 5. fried pancakes with cheese and ketchup 4. Mediterranean salad. The answer key is at the bottom of this blog post. Typically, the meal comes with soup and a fruit. Everyday there are three options and two always have meat and usually a traditional Czech dumpling or Knedliky. I have always wanted to try either potato or bread Knedliky, but in restaurants they are served with meat dishes. Knedliky are different from dim-sum or gyoza because they are not thin nor stuffed. While I have yet to eat them, I think they look more like half-dollar to palm-of-your-hand sized gnocchi. Anyway, on days that I am not sitting with my students or eating cafeteria food I bring a good ol' fashion peanut butter sandwich or leftovers from home.

Happy Eating! And for those of you celebrating Yom Kippur, I hope you have an easy and delicious break the fast!


Answers: 1 without the tartar sauce and 4