Little Steps

May 17, 2008

A few months ago two guys in their twenties started coming to my English club. At first I thought they just came to laugh and point because the novelty of an American in their town is still pretty thick.

But they kept coming back, and have barely missed a day since.

Then one day I went to my sitemate’s school to ask him a question, and I saw the two of them in his English club.

“What’s their story?” I asked him later.

“One day you asked one of them a question on the street,” he replied. “Maybe you couldn’t find something or you were lost, who knows- it was awhile ago. But you couldn’t understand each other and you gave up and went on your way. He felt really bad because he couldn’t help you so he decided to learn English.”

So he decided to learn English.

Because a retarded American girl on the street couldn’t find where she could buy bananas. Or toilet paper. Who the heck knows.

But he decided to learn English.