This perfectly harmless guy was standing outside my apartment building holding new phone books when I happened to come into the lobby through the garage entrance. I have been warned repeatedly through stern signs placed throughout the building, not to let anyone in unless they are coming to see ME SPECIFICALLY, so I opened the door and waited while he put the phone books down. He counted the rest of the mailboxes and appeared to be about to prop the lobby door open to go get more phone books (from somewhere which wasn't right outside). "No, sorry, you can't prop the door open, but I'll wait here for you." Alas, he didn't speak English.
As I stood there trying various ways of explaining and gesturing that I would wait there while he went to get the rest of the phone books, all to no avail, I cursed the 8-week intro to Spanish course I took through a community-sponsored class. I couldn't even remember how to say "door" or "open," and I know we learned those. All I could remember was "mira la cerveza," which isn't really helpful in 99.99999% of situations.
But if given that 0.00001% chance, I'm ready.
It's comforting to know that you can say "Look at the beer" when the situation calls for it. Was that a Berlitz course or a Beerlitz course?
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