Eavesdropping can pay off

When I had just returned from my mission in Mexico, I was really proud of my mastery of the Spanish language. I used my new language skills every opportunity I had. There was one situation, though that I kept my language skills very quiet. I was attending Adam State college and taking some basic classes. One that I enjoyed was Art for the Elementary School. The class was taught by a Professor Hatfield. I sat in front of two hispanic students from Espanola, New Mexico. During that class, my knowledge of Spanish proved very beneficial.

I learned that Professor Hatfield had a special affection for anything that came from Mexico. He often spoke of the things he saw there that fascinated him. Among the things he mentioned were black velvet paintings and advertising that was painted on the corrugated tin used to close the open air businesses in the city marketplaces and the bright colored houses that were built in tiers along the winding cobblestone streets of hills of the suburbs.

I tried to weave these themes into the projects I prepared for this class. The two young ladies from Espanola were very adept at criticizing every project in Spanish picking them apart mercilessly, thinking that this fair skinned gringo in front of them could not understand. Oh, I was tempted to set them straight. Their criticism, however, was helpful and I refrained.

Finally at the end of the quarter, I did something that they really liked and they generously gave each other their approval. I could contain myself no longer. I leaned forward and in my very best Spanish, I thanked them for the compliment.