Yeah...I need to learn Spanish

Je ne parle pas espagnol. Hell, I took 5 years of French and I only know un peu (a little - probably spelled wrong) of that! In case you weren't wicked cool like me in high school and in turn didn't take French, that first sentence says "I don't speak Spanish."
I don't know on what planet I thought learning French would be more useful than learning Spanish, but I am paying for it now! See, NAS Lemoore is out in the middle of nowhere - as my friend who lives in Orange County would put it, I'm in "bumblefuck nowhere." There's a lot of farmland. The local mall has more vacant stores than open ones. And there is a considerable Spanish speaking population.
They are so prominent, in fact, that I've seen more billboards in Spanish than I've seen in English! Off base, I'm pretty sure we're the minority.
Gabby Girl was running out of food and the previous owners of Lola were kind enough to send her off with some food...but it was Purina Puppy Chow. Can you say yuck? Their is NOTHING of nutritional value in that crap. Call me a dog food snob (I won't be offended) but that food needed to be switched ASAP! So I looked up the nearest supplier of Diamond Naturals...that store is called "Sanchez Seed."
It's only like a mile away, and it was easy enough to find. It's a total farm store! They even sell cowboy boots and hats (note to self - start looking for cute cowboy boots to invest in)!
They had a great selection of quality dog foods, so I'm lucky they're so close, but not one person there spoke English. Or at least no one there was willing to admit they did!
It was easy enough to find the food, I brought to the counter, they rang me up and said something very fast in Spanish, so I just handed them my credit card and signed the slip.
It was an interesting experience. I don't think I've ever been in a store in the US where the employees didn't speak English. It was rather eye opening, actually. I really am so far from home; I'm in a different world! And I think if I'm going to feel comfortable for the next 3 years here I should learn Spanish.
I'm gonna see if there are any local colleges that have community classes and if I can't find one I might invest in Rosetta Stone. If I don't wanna bite the bullet and invest in Rosetta Stone (that shit's expensive yo), do you have any language learning advice?
Until next time...