I'm sitting in the school cafeteria with my students (at a previous place of work). The floor is covered in milk and little bits and pieces of food. There is more butter on the butterknife and table, than there is left in the container. The previous classes leftover food is laying all around the garbage bin in the corner, next to the exit. How can so many kids miss the bin every day? Either they don´t care or there is something seriously wrong with their hand-eye-coordination. They must suck at basketball, I think to myself. Wouldn´t score a point.
The cafeteria´s hard working staff members stand to the side, ready to lend a hand if needed. Arms folded in front of them and the empty look of exhaustion on their faces. Since we are the last class to eat, we usually get whatever is left of the food. Today we get to choose from a few lettuce leaves or pickles, potatoes and the vegetarian option since there is no meat left. I usually eat the vegetarian option anyway as I like it better, so I don´t care. Today it is some kind of reddish pink vegetable something in the shape of hamburger meat. I take three of those, potatoes and pour the brown sauce that was supposed to go with the pork over my pink "hamburgers". I sit down, sweaty from the heat and tired from a sleepless night. Thank God it´s Friday. All around me kids are talking about everything and anything. The noise from forks and knives, plates and glasses along with the sound of chairs scraping along the floor attack my ears like a group of vigilantes in a South American jungle. It feels like a jungle. Hot. Humid. Wilde. Untamed. A group of boys sitting at the table next to me start to "make music" by repeatedly banging their glasses on the table. I ask them to stop when the noise becomes unbearable. Their "music" not resembling any music genre I know.
Some kids eat with passion, others stare at their plates with a hand tucked under their cheek, stirring a few pieces of rice around. I start talking about the importance of good nutrition, both in general but also for attention, endurance and good academic results. I slice my food and start eating. Feel a flutter of joy when I find out that my mysterious looking pink vegetarian food is actually really good. I manage to eat a couple of bites that I really enjoy. But then, all of a sudden, like an unwelcome guest, showing up to burst my bubble.. I see it. Right there, in my food. Something swimming in my sauce. A long black hair. Like a vacationer with no worries, on a far away beach. Enjoying a lazy morning dip in the ocean. Except the ocean is my sauce. Oh man. I'm so hungry. I sit there for a moment, looking at the hair in my food, the packed cafeteria and the kids around me. Absorb. Evaluate. Ponder.
Through the noise I hear Roxette playing on an old stereo that´s placed on top of the milk dispenser. It looks like the stereo I got for my confirmation when I was 14. Old school, but very much in tune with the music that is playing. The lyrics reach my eardrums, taking me back to another place and time: "It must have been love, but it´s over now... It was all that I wanted, but I lost it somehow..". The stark contrast between the somber romantic vibe of the music and the loud, chaotic school cafeteria somehow adds to the madness, making the situation both comical and surreal at the same time. Like a farce. I look around while listening to the lyrics. My eyes meet the eyes of the lunch lady. We look at each other and connect in a smile that says more than a thousand words. It´s obvious that she also is thinking and feeling something similar. We become a separate unit in the middle of this mayhem. I feel like I found a friend in the jungle. One that understands and feels the same way. In the seconds we looked at each other I found warmth, kindness, understanding, humor, joy and acceptance.
I force myself to look back down at my plate. I take a deep breath of hot, heavy, humid air and make a decision. I pull the long black hair slowly out of my sauce. I then place it neatly on the table next to my plate, along with my self-respect and continue eating.