How to learn German?

 Well well well. 

I have shifted to a new country, and I think it's important to learn the local language. The country I have shifted to is Germany and thus, the language I must learn is German. I have spent a good chunk of my teenage years trying to learn French. A lot of which I have since forgotten. 

However, I got to apply my French knowledge when I had my semester abroad in Nancy, France. Even having forgotten a large amount of French, I was still able to speak at the level of a 5 year old (I believe). It was enough to be understood by locals, and it was enough that I could start to understand what I was being told. A lot of the communication was pattern matching with what I already knew and trying to fit the words in a schema I already learnt half a decade ago.

In that light, I have decided to memorize the 1000 most used words in the German language. The 1000 most used words would give me enough scope to be able to understand words in conversations or make enough conversation for simple everyday tasks. At the same time, knowing the 1000 most used words in a language will be a confidence booster enough to take up the rest of the 25,000 words. 

How will I learn the 1000 most used words?

100 words at a time. I will memorize the first 100 words, probably through repetition, and writing. Test myself to get an accuracy of 95% or more, then move to the next 100 words and repeat. 

How long will it take?

I suspect it will take me about 8 weeks if I go about it super diligently. However, I know I have to give myself some allowance for life coming in the way. 12 weeks should be sufficient. That means I have to learn ~85 words/week, which is ~12 words per day, that seems very reasonable. And getting a 100% accuracy on 12 words seems far more attainable than a 95% accuracy on 1000 words. 

Is 1000 words my entire plan to learn the German language?

No, I also attend German class 2hrs/week. The 1000 words is in addition to the 2hrs/week. I still need to understand the Grammar and the pronunciation. (Though from what I understand, the way German is written is the way it is spoken, unlike English.)

So where's the 1000 words list?

Here!

What's next?

Learn.

How to meal prep? part 2

 Here we are. (For context, you will have to read part 1)

I was at the grocery store getting all the stuff I needed to prepare my meals. I got vegetables I was used to seeing in the HelloFresh box (meal kit). At that grocery store, I decided that I would only prepare vegetables this weekend. I would make the rest of the ingredients for the meal prep from the next weekend. So that's exactly what I did. I bought the vegetables, and I bought a bunch of sauce jars. I had enough grain to go through the week, so I didn't need to buy any grain. 

Today, I prepared the vegetables, cooked them in the oven, and stored them in the fridge. Hopefully I have enough vegetables to last me the week. I'll be able to course correct over next weekend. I probably will be able to make a sauce or two this week as well. That gives me time to research and make something I would be happy with, and something that could be mixed between different meals. 

I have a good base to start off with this week. But I need to continue building on it to get to my dream of being able to prepare a healthy meal on weekdays in less than 15 minutes including cleaning time. (This dream is driven by my liking for HelloFresh meals, but dislike for how long it takes to prepare those meals.)

Finally, on the question of proteins, I think I'll be able to squeeze in some lentils and tofu throughout the week. However, I will have to calculate the amount of protein I am consuming. It will ensure that I am not falling far below the recommended amount. At the same time, I'll go through the grocery store looking for high protein snacks and ingredients.

How to meal prep?

That was my Google search. I don't know. I am just starting out. Today will be the first day I try to meal prep. 

What I have figured out based on 2 months of near daily cooking:

1. You need a carb rich base that will fill you. 
2. You need a flavor adding component, usually a sauce.
3. You need vegetables, to make it healthy and satisfying. 

That's the basics of a lot of the Hello Fresh cooking I have done. This was the pattern I recognized. 

Now then, what is the plan? 

1. Get 2 base grains that I can eat throughout the week.
2. Make 2 different sauces that can be consumed throughout the week. 
3. Buy loads of vegetables, cook them in the oven. 

Whenever I need to make a meal, I can swap out between the different options. 

This is the plan for the first week. 

The specifics:

1. Grain: Rice and Quinoa
2. Sauces: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
3. Vegetables: Onions, Potato, Sweet potato, Avocado, Beans, Cucumber, Bell Pepper, Garlic, Chillies, Carrots, Mushrooms, Zucchini, Tomato, Chickpea, Corn, 

(Yes, I know all of them are not vegetables, but can be placed there as oven going ingredients.)

Finally, I will also need a spice mixture to ensure that there is some taste in the vegetable, will decide the spice mixture at the store I visit though. 

Finally, while I do have the 3 main components available, it will be important to have protein, and some variety. 

Wish me luck. 

The original hockey stick graph

Hockey stick graph

It refers to the sudden exponential growth observed in a graph of a metric across time after an initial linear or close to linear growth. The shape resembles a hockey stick, hence the name. In the startup world, it is used in the context of metrics such as customers or users and usually indicates that the product has found its niche or market-fit.

How recent is it?

In 1908, AT&T, in their annual report, published a rather old instance of hockey stick growth. The graph shows the number of subscribers connected to AT&T's network. 

What's interesting is that telecommunications at AT&T followed a business model in which the benefits of a network accrued to a private party. In any case, a very interesting sighting. Send me more if you come across them.