He then pointed to me and said, "She's smart, she knows this. She's taking Japanese, and so when she gets through here, her chances are much better to get a job because of it. Very smart."
Conceited as it may be, it always feels really good when an instructor singles you out to tell the class that you're smart, even if I'm not the only Japanese student in the class.
He also said something I thought was worth remembering about American economics. "Everyone in the world loves the American Standard of Living, but no one in the world enjoys the American Standard of Stress." Fits in well with my mantra, heh.