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I took Spanish in high school - 3 years of it (okay, 1 year was in 8th grade, and the other 2 were 9th and 10th). It came in handy once.
It was a really cold day in March of this year (today is the last day I can say that), and I was sitting at the Vienna/Fairfax-GMU metro station waiting for my bus. There was a young girl (17 or 18) sitting a couple feet from me, and I swear we were the only people at this metro station.
I had a 40 minute wait at that station, so I called Joann and asked her to come get me. She actually agreed, and said she'd be there in 20 minutes or so (she was fixing dinner or being repulsive or something). Anyway, we're sitting there, and after about 10 minutes, she says:
"Sir?"
I look over to her. "Yeah?"
She pulls out a dollar bill and tells me, in Spanish, that she needs to make a phone call but doesn't have any change. Guess what - I actually understood her! I guess I looked like I didn't, 'cause she had this look on her face of desperation, and she started waving the dollar and making a fake phone with her other hand, holding it up to her head. I smiled at her (it was cute!), reached into my pocket, and dumped what must have been about two dollars in change into her hand. She got this huge smile and tried to hand me the dollar, saying "Gracias" over and over. I just said "de nada" and politely refused the dollar. She went, made her phone call, and got picked up, and for once, 3 years of Spanish didn't seem wasted.
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