Day 12: Pupusas

My first two years of teaching, I worked at a public school in Washington Heights. Most days I packed a lunch, but when I was feeling lazy or had run out of groceries, I’d pick up pupusas from La Cabaña Salvadoreña just down the block. Two chicken and cheese pupusas for just $2 each, stacked one on top of the other in a styrofoam box with curtido (a spicy cabbage slaw) and some tomato salsa. Mmm.

I’m thinking of those pupusas today as I’m home early from work after going to a doctor’s appointment. Trader Joe’s started selling frozen ones, and I heated one up for lunch. It’s not the same, of course, but it triggers my memory and reminds me of those days eating pupusas in the classroom with my first coworkers. It also reminds me of the 5-meal days when we’d have night classes: breakfast at 6, lunch at 10:23 (so random), snack (empanadas, smoothies, wraps) between 2:30 and 4:30, dinner (empanadas, smoothies, wraps?) on break at 6, and another snack after class before bed.

Sometimes I wonder how I survived those two years in the NYC Teaching Fellows, teaching full time every day and taking classes 2-4 nights a week. But I know it was a combination of my friends and coworkers who were right there doing it with me, pure adrenaline, and tasty, cheap food like those pupusas.