by Homero Graco
Language learning is a most recent subject that I like. I have good knowledge in English and an acceptable in Spanish, so I am just exercising these languages, by talking with people (specially my Latin fellows), reading articles on internet and listening to music.
But how can I go to Germany and have zero knowledge in their language? For me is unacceptable. Entonces, I started last month my German studies, from scratch. For now I am using an online platform, called Duolingo, that basically consists in step-by-step classes where you construct your vocabulary and understanding of the language by listening, reading and completing simple exercises. At start, Duolingo seems easy, but I can assure that this online software is really helping me in German learning. Also, for training purposes I am (trying to) read technology articles in German language. Until now I am struggling to understanding everything in a text, but as my vocabulary grows, my reading skills are developing. My objective here is to be able to read texts with an affordable comprehension in the next 2 months. I know that I cannot speak at good levels in this short period of time, but I am trying to meet with friends to put things in practice. For it, at least 3 hours per day I separate for German, commonly studying grammar at mornings and vocabulary at night, immediately before sleep.
Although it is very pleasant to do nothing when you really have nothing to do, its easy to forget your long term objectives and become unmotivated. Yes, everyone has dreams: to be a business person, to buy the state-of-the-art smartphone or to travel around the world. And yes, dreams only turn to reality when we work on them. Even lottery, that seems to be a shortcut, isn't easy to win! So, you have to do something with your life and feed your needs with real actions.
I started to feel this the last weeks, after I dismissed my job. At work, every time my dreams come to my mind: I could imagine the liberty when traveling, the different places to visit, people I know that are far away now... but then at home, it's easier to forget this all and just pass the entire day checking Facebook. My dreams now are travel to Colombia and then Germany. Why these countries? The first one is because I have a lot of Colombian friends, and I wanna visit them soon. I heard a lot about the country, and this also created in me a strong wanna-see-this. For Germany, I wanna find a good job and live at Europe, is a place where human development is high and weather is cold - I like low temperatures and never saw anything below 0 ºC.
Everyday I check for jobs at these two countries and send a lot of emails to strange people... but there is a time when I end the job, or better, I finally have sent all the emails to all the people I could. And then Facebook comes back. So, to keep my motivation high and avoid loose the day reading status updates , I created short term objectives, that can be translated as simple activities I need to do to achieve little results.
Nowadays, I am concentrated in develop myself in two different areas: language learning and gym. The former is an effort to maintain my brain active, by studying English, Spanish and German. The latter is a habit acquired in 2010, when I discovered the benefits of practicing sports, which I wanna restart.
But how can I go to Germany and have zero knowledge in their language? For me is unacceptable. Entonces, I started last month my German studies, from scratch. For now I am using an online platform, called Duolingo, that basically consists in step-by-step classes where you construct your vocabulary and understanding of the language by listening, reading and completing simple exercises. At start, Duolingo seems easy, but I can assure that this online software is really helping me in German learning. Also, for training purposes I am (trying to) read technology articles in German language. Until now I am struggling to understanding everything in a text, but as my vocabulary grows, my reading skills are developing. My objective here is to be able to read texts with an affordable comprehension in the next 2 months. I know that I cannot speak at good levels in this short period of time, but I am trying to meet with friends to put things in practice. For it, at least 3 hours per day I separate for German, commonly studying grammar at mornings and vocabulary at night, immediately before sleep.
About gym, I feel the need to both lose fat and lift heavier weights every week. When I started at my job back in 2010, I had approximately 84 Kg, and this doing exercises every day, which means that I was in a "ok" shape. Now, my body weight was closer to 90 Kg, and this without doing constant exercises. For my 1,78m, is just too much. The BMI formula results 28.40 for me, meaning that I'm in overweight (Ok, I know the BMI is based on statistical data and that each person has a different body composition, but is a good alarm).
My simple objective for this is easy: go back to 84 Kg until mid-December (Translation: fuckin' lazy, you need 2h/day, from Monday thru Friday!). Now I am making my best efforts to obtain this, including a better diet (less sugar, carbohydrates and fats, more proteins and fibers) and a daily schedule. I always go to gym at night, because is a period when I am already tired from the things I done during my day and I can relax. Also, I feel more disposed at this time, it is simply easier for me to carry the machines and do the complete 3x10 repetitions.
In a future post I will explain better these daily routine. For now, gym is much like a secondary activity that I like, but additionally important to regulate stress. When I go back home, the extra charge of adrenaline makes me feel "online" again, and give me the last motivation for studies.
So my days recently are composed of three main activities: searching for jobs, language learning and gym. The two last ones are helpers that fulfill my days with measurable results, and this gives me more and more motivation to continue. My conclusion here is: I don't have a job now, but this doesn't mean that I pressed the pause button of my life. I still achieved nothing, and I have to move! And you? What you're doing now? Let's clean our to do lists!