Just In Case

I took two semesters of Spanish in college.
It was required.
At the time I had no interest in speaking Spanish. What-so-ever.
I walked away from my classes with minimal Spanish speaking skills.
As a matter of fact, the only sentence I remember is, "Yo no hablo espanol".
I'm so proud of that sentence.


My mother decided that she wanted to learn Spanish this past school year (she's a teacher).
She decided there were a few sentences that she thought would be necessary, you know, just in case she is ever trapped in a Spanish speaking country with no one around that understands English.
Her list?
"Where is the bathroom"
"Can I have some water"
and...
"wait a second"
I'm not kidding. That is the list of sentences that my mother thought were THE MOST important sentences to know in Spanish.
You know, just in case.

After deciding on her list of must know sentences. She enlisted the help of a Spanish speaking individual.
Her help?
A 5 year old boy that recently moved to SC from Mexico.
She gave her list of sentences to her 5 year old student and asked him how to say them in Spanish.
She wrote down what he said, exactly how he said it.
She was so proud.

My mother and my grandmother came to spend the night with me this past Tuesday. Mom decided to take us all out to dinner. We decided on Mexican.
Soon after being seated, as the waitress was delivering the chips and salsa, my mother pulled a piece of paper from her purse. She unfolded the slip of paper, looked at our waitress and said, very slowly and deliberately, "on da est ah el ban oh".

You see, my mother had been telling us about the Spanish that she had learned.
She was so proud.
Severyn informed my mother that "where is the bathroom" in Spanish is "Donde esta el bano" but my mother insisted that her version was correct because "My little Spanish speaking student taught me! and he KNOWS Spanish!"
I love her. My mom.

I added "learn Spanish" to my bucket list.
I think I'm going to ask for a Rosetta Stone set for my birthday this year.
Really, it's something I would like to learn more of. Make up for the two semesters I wasted in college.
Help my mother learn the sentences that she thinks are very important to know, you know...just in case.