Maybe this is a moment only a substitute teacher could love, but I was subbing today, and while taking attendance before one of the hours started, I was faced with a student's name that was probably Polish, and in all likelihood, easily butchered. Well, I got it right on the first try, and was rewarded by the students with a round of applause. An odd moment of pride, and more than a little amusing. I'd like to think they liked me better because I did, but maybe that's pushing it.

Other than that, one of my Japanese coroporate ESL clients told me he was talking on the phone to a person from another company who was trying to change the settings on an in-car navigation system my client had worked on. Apparently, the conversation wasn't getting very far, and finally the fellow was referred to a native-English speaking coworker. As I found out later, the man on the other end of the phone, in this case, was Indian! Take that, Tower of Babel.