I just read the discussion about what is cool. How's this for cool?
I finally carried on a conversation in Spanish.
It happened when I had some antiques for sale outside the mall where I keep my booth. Business
was bad. Shortly after I got set up a young man of about 16 rode by on a mountain bike. He stopped and looked. (I had some vintage bikes.)I said, "Good morning," and asked if there was anything in particular that he was looking for.
No answer. I had already noticed black hair and dark skin, and knowing that several Mexican families lived just down the street, I asked in my best phrase book Spanish, if he spoke English. He shook his head and said "No." It could have been English, but I guess it was Spanish.

I had not studied Spanish in the last three years,
so I had to stop and think a lot, but I asked him a few questions. He seemed to be just a little surprised, but he told me that he hadn't been here very long. He asked about some old bottles that I had for sale and told me about how the roads in Mexico had big rocks in them that were very hard on bicycle tires.

We talked, sort of, for about 10 minutes. Covering topics like Tennesse highways, (Muy bueno.) He also pointed out where he lived, and told me about the three-wheeled bicycles in Mexico.

The teacher in me saw that he was very intelligent, polite, and probably very outgoing in situations where language is not a problem. He was also very good looking, and wish I could show him to my grand daughter (age 14) just to see what she would say.

I can't believe I forgot to ask his name, but I expect to see him again.

Is that cool? I had not even tried to converse in Spanish since 1993, when I spent a week in Guatamala.

Howard