A Chilean Phone Call

Today I was sitting at my desk, listening to a sermon online. We interns share the responsibility of answering the phone when it rings. Julianne, who sits next to me, got my attention with a wave. She obviously had someone on the line, as she was holding the phone to her shoulder. The minute I took my headphones off, she yelled to me saying that she could not understand what was being said to her over the phone. She said she wasn't sure if it wa Spanish or Asian. I made it a quick point to inform her that Asian is not a language. She said she was going to transfer the call over to me, but I was not interested in babbling with someone in an unknown language. My phone started to ring, and reluctantly I picked it up. I realized pretty quickly that what I heard was Spanish, or at least some form of it. His name was Jose Sanchez and he was calling from Chile. His accent was very extreme however, and I think that's why Julianne had such a hard time understanding him. I think I often underestimate my ability to speak Spanish. I immediately understood most of what he was saying and was able to tell him that we have a guy here in the office who is from Guatemala, and he would be happy to talk a little more intelligently with him than I could. I was then informed that Randy was out of the office today. I asked for his phone # and he rattled it off to me in Spanish. I'm terrible with the large numbers. I think I got the right # from him and told him that Randy would be giving him a call soon. I hung up the phone very satisfied with a situation in which it was necessary to use Spanish.