How do I see progress?

 I have a friend who does a little Duolingo everyday.  She has been doing this for about 3 years.  She does her minimum goal for XP and goes on with her life.  Over the past three years, her Spanish has improved dramatically.

I started Duolingo at the same time she did.  I got a streak of about 12 days and stopped for three years.  I thought Duolingo was boring.  So while I was doing other things my friend was progressing baby step by baby step toward being able to understand and speak Spanish.

I have a 52-day streak in Duolingo.  This is a record for me for doing almost anything of my own accord.  I plan to follow my friend's example of doing some everyday even if it is the bare minimum for meeting my XP goal of 30 points or two lessons.

It feels so hard to remember what I'm learning.  My community college class uses TPRS which is a story-making method.  I get annoyed at how stupid the stories are sometimes, but I remember a lot from the classes.  

When I read stories aimed at level A1 sometimes there is a lot I don't understand.  It can be very frustrating.  Then, I just want to binge YouTube--and not in Spanish!

Today, I went to a Duolingo travel event about Lake Titicaca.  The host asked us which part of the word was more offensive to English-speakers.  The consensus was "caca," but the host told us that to Bolivian and Peruvian people the word "titi" was more offensive.  If I remember correctly, titi means puma, and caca means mountain.  This is the lake of the Puma Mountain.

If you are looking for a fun read, I enjoyed Hola Lola.  I have Kindle Unlimited so I am reading for free.  I have tried several, but this one was fun.  One caveat, the story just ends without resolving.  If you want the continuation of the story you'll have to read Un Hombre Fascinante.

 Today, I am looking for comprehensible input entertainment.  Here is what I have found:

This YouTuber Spanish After Hours has many videos and they look fun!  I turned on the subtitles in Spansih (not English).

I also listened to Cuenntame! This podcast tells the story the first time very slowly.  There is a transcript available if you want to follow along.  The second time she tells the story she speaks at a normal speed.  The topics are interesting for adults.

Today is the last day of the challenge I'm in.  The next level is diamond, but you have to be in the top 5 to continue.  I have signed up for a Duoling event today to get more points.  (I went to the event--it was fun--my group talked politics.)

I have also been going through level 3 again.  The first time I only did the first crown. I was finding level 4 difficult to progress in (kept running out of lives).  Going back and doing level 3 again, I am finding there is a lot there I am not as secure in as I thought!  Maybe after this pass-through I will go back and do the other crowns, too.

Oh, and today was 50 days streak for me!  I think this is the longest I have ever done something daily.  I mean like anything.  I wish I could figure out how to gamify the rest of my life!

 I went to the first class of the 3 month challenge today.  I am in a group with Jeptha and Natalia.  They are very nice.  We saw the story of little red riding hood, without the hood.

Yesterday I read the first chapter of the first story of Olli Richards Spanish stories.  surprisingly to me, I only understood about 70%.  Since the book is level A1, I thought I would understand more.

On Epic, I read Los Bebés No Deben Comer Kimchi.  Este cuento es de una niña quien tiene una niñera.  La bebé no puede hacer nada, pero la niña puede enseñarle todos: baila, come helado, y juega muchas cosas.

Yo tambien hice tarjetas del las palabras acerca de cocina, pero no funcionado.  It didn't work.  I cannot find the cards.  I may try again another day.

Today I will attend a language exchange at Duolingo Events.  I hope it goes well.  I went to one yesterday that was boring.  Ayer fue a uno que era aburrida.

I have mixed feelings about Duolingo.  I wonder if all that translating is slowing me down.  But, because Duolingo is so gamified and I am so competitive, it keeps me doing something every day even if I would other wise skip the practice.

This is a journal of my language-learning journey.

 Besides my many responsibilities I want to learn Spanish seriously.  This journal is where I will keep track of my engagement with this goal.

Hoy, veo la historia de Pollito Tito.   Esta historia dice que pasó cuando gente cree todo en la internet.

Mi actividad favorita es leer en español.  Me hace sentir muy realizado, incluso se solo puedo entender el tiempo presente.