My Open Tabs | Drop 004

Here's what we're chatting about in Drop 004:

• 📖 Un poco lección de Español sin Duolingo.

• 🥤 I made a smoothie that Bella Hadid would obsess over, and I'm giving you the recipe.

• ⚽ Ted Lasso fun facts.

~ Deja W.

▶️ Set The Vibe

Set the vibe while you read.

I could see [The Mission] by Bakar going crazy at a skating rink party. Listen to it and let me know what you think.

🤳 Group Chat Convos

Take your group chats to the next level.

Is Duolingo a flop? I asked a few people that I know who never miss their daily dose of Duo, and they said it's legit. But then I read that after 3 years (~24,792 hours) on Duolingo [this guy] has a bone to pick with Duo. He's not the only one who has expressed their concerns with the app either. And I get it, if you complete 211 units and spend years on the app, shouldn't you at least be conversational in the language?

Duolingo is the new school. I think Duolingo is cool, but it is kinda like school. You learn grammar, vocabulary, and basic reading & writing skills. They've even [started expanding] into to other subjects that you might find in a school through additional apps. All of that is interesting, but I still think people won't actually feel comfortable with the new languages or concepts that they're learning with Duolingo until they come face to face with an uncomfortable real-life situation and they're forced to prove what they've learned on the app.

Just ask me, I know. These are some of the things I experienced while traveling to Mexico and South America:

• Asking an agent to help me re-book a flight that I've been bumped from in the airport in Mexico City. How I used my Duolingo skills: I uttered "Hablas Ingles?" and then quickly defaulted to English, once the agent said, "Yes."

• Asking a waitress in Columbia "Para llevar la comida" (to take my food to go) because I suddenly felt very sick. How I used my Duolingo skills: I asked that initial question, and then when she said "No," I leaned on Google Translate to help me figure out why I couldn't take it to go. And another note here, the Spanish I've been learning on Duolingo is European Spanish, and some of the words they use in Colombia are different!

• Asking an airport agent to help me find out where the Ubers pick up at late at night, because I definitely did not want to ride in a yellow Taxi cab (in Colombia). Also, I almost got my Uber stolen at the airport (in Brazil - which btw they don't speak Spanish)! How I used my Duolingo skills: I didn't! In both cases all parties involved spoke English! But I had my Google Translate handy just in case.

I hope everyone experiences this. It's humbling (but also a lil' stressful) when you can't ask for what you want freely, because no one understands you. It makes you empathize with people who visit the USA or other English-speaking countries, who have no idea what's going on. Of course we have tools like Google Translate, and for the most part people in the more touristy areas know how to speak English, which I relied heavily on, but it's not the same as knowing what's going on.

If not Duo, then who? There are so many options besides Duolingo. Duo just does a fantastic job with their marketing, and it feels like they're the only option. It's not. And after reading about numerous people not becoming fluent or conversational while using the app, I know for sure that I have to stop doing the bare minimum and kick it up a notch. Deja's Spanish Study Pack. I've been avoiding texting and speaking with native speakers, because I literally sound like a 2 year old when I hold a conversation in Spanish, but I've found a few non-Duolingo tools to help me get used to hearing and speaking the language.

• TV Shows: I hear so many people say they became conversational in English just by watching TV shows. So, I'm turning off the English dubs, and digging in! I'm currently watching trending Spanish series, like [In Love All Over Again], [Sky High] and [Sky High: The Series] on Netflix.

• ChatGPT: I've asked the lil' [ChatGPT] robot to create Spanish vocabulary worksheets, games, and stories for me. So far it's done a decent job. I'll feature the story it wrote for me in today's game section!

• Podcasts: I found two fairly approachable podcasts to listen to, "Chill Spanish Listening Practice" and 'Immersive Spanish". In [Chill Spanish Listening Practice] the host explains an array of subjects such as his favorite movies and his Starbucks order in Spanish. It's relevant and approachable, and for the most part, I understand a majority of what he's saying the entire episode! [Immersive Spanish] on the other hand fully pushes me out of my comfort zone. It's a call and response podcast that tasks listeners with traveling and talking with the host in different locations, such as the coffee shop, inside of a taxi, and in a hotel.

• Reading Lyrics: You don't realize how much you don't know until you try singing along with a Spanish song. In the past, I've pulled out the lyrics, and tried to break down songs that I like, line by line. I did this first by creating a playlist called [Lección de Español], and looking up the lyrics. That was a little tedious, so then I found an app called [Lirica], that is basically like a Duolingo and Vevo mash-up experience, that makes learning Spanish vocab and singing along to a song much easier.

• News: I've found a [few websites] that let me read Spanish Tweets, listen to news stories, and watch Spanish movie trailers. Some of them also have activities that you can do to test your comprehension.

• Bedtime Stories: When I tell you that I still can't even understand childrens stories! So I've started reading bedtime stories. First I read them in English to get a general idea of what the story is about, and then again in Spanish, using the app, [Kidly].

I know there are a ton of other resources out there, so hit reply to share how you're learning your chosen language! If you're thinking about learning a language, start with Duolingo, but don't be afraid to venture off!

🧠 Brain Picking

Chats & thoughts about the mind, body, and soul.

Let me find out Bella Hadid likes my smoothie 👀.

Lmfao I'm not a Bella fan. I barely know who she is. But what I have been seeing on the internet lately, is that she likes this smoothie from California-based grocery store Erewhon. Erewhon makes celebrity inspired smoothies, and the one they've made for Bella is called [“Kinscicle”]. It's an OJ and almond milk based creamy dream, and it has a bunch of other random fancy ingredients in there like a lion mane mushroom and the Erewhon-branded High Rode mixture (a mood-boosting concoction).

About a year ago I was like Bella, a [smoothie drinking machine]. I was mixing up the most random ingredients and reading recipes on the internet. I eventually created a smoothie called Dreamsicle.

Without me knowing I single handedly designed a drink that is VERY similar to the one that Bella Hadid likes to drink. Here's the recipe!

Deja's "Dreamsicle" Smoothie Recipe

My Solids

• (1/2) of a Ripe Banana

• (1 1/2 Handfuls) Simply Organic, Frozen Sweet Potato Dices or A Fresh Sweet Potato

• (1 Handful) Frozen Diced Avocados

• (1 tbsp) Whole Milk Plain Yogurt

• Red Apple Slices

• A Dash of Ground Turmeric

• A Dash of Ground Cinnamon

My Liquids

• A squeeze of a Lemon

• A Splash of Kevita Ginger Colada

• A Splash of Orange Juice

• Water (add until you like the consistency and taste of your smoothie)

Mix the liquids and solids until you get the consistency that you like!

🤔 Guess What?

Fun facts no one asked for.

[Ted Lasso season 3] just dropped, so I have the show on my mind. If you didn't know, this season is the last season. I know, I know, it's sad. Don't you just hate when good shows end? I thought sharing a few cool facts about the show would be a great way to honor it. So here's what I found:

• The show's main character, Ted Lasso, was developed [20 years ago] in an Amsterdam comedy club.

• Brendan Hunt (Coach Beard) and Jason Sudeikis (Ted Lasso) bonded over comedy and their love for European football. Neither one understood the rules of the game, so they learned by playing FIFA on Playstation back in the early 2000s.

• The character Ted Lasso [first hit the screens] when NBC asked Jason Sudeikis to get fans excited about NBC broadcasting Premier League games in 2013.

• The script for season 1 was written in 2015 by Sudeikis, Hunt, and their pal Joe Kelly, but it didn't get a fair shot until they met Scrubs creator, Bill Lawrence in 2017! And it didn't hit our screens until 2020. Talk about perseverance.

• [Brett Goldstein] (Captain Roy Kent) was initially hired as just a writer for the show. On his last day in the writers room, Brett sent in his audition tape for the role with an email that said, "If this is embarrassing you can pretend you never got this email." We all know how this act of courage turned out.

• Nick Mohammed (Coach Nathan) and Phil Dunster (Jamie Tartt) both auditioned for the role of soft-spoken Leslie Higgins.

• All of the players on AFC Richmond can actually play football. Cristo Fernandez (Dani Rojas) has even played professionally with Tescos F.C in Mexico.

Ted Lasso IRL:

• You can buy a real [AFC Richmond Stadium Jersey] (with the Bantr logo included), thanks to a Ted Lasso and Nike partnership.

• You can finally taste those famous biscuits that Ted always brings to his boss, thanks to Jeni's Ice Creams' ["Biscuits with the Boss"] ice cream flavor. If it's sold out, you can make your own Ted Lasso-inspired [Biscuits] using Binging with Babish's recipe.

• Oh at one point, you could have even experienced the popular Ted Lasso dating app, Bantr, via the [Ted Lasso partnership with Bumble].

• Some lucky fans are going to get to spend the night in AFC Richmond's fave neighborhood pub, [The Crown & Anchor] and Ted Lasso's sweet pad, thanks to Airbnb.

• And lastly, you could own your very own Ted Lasso-inspired [Bear and Tea Cup Bundle], thanks to Build-a-Bear.

📷 Screenshot Me

*New Section Alert!* Screenshots worth saving.

This post from Ben Meer will make you a lil' smarter!

🎯 Ctrl+W: Closed Tabs

A few tabs to quickly explore and close.

• [Minding Your Business is a Lost Art]: We live in a world where minding someone else’s business could get us hurt, yet we still do it. Kristine Hadeed says, “We are a culture of voyeurs, lurkers, gossipers, meddlers, armchair experts, and backseat drivers,” and she's not wrong. But, she seems to think we are strong enough to fight that urge to give our opinions, and well…mind our own business.

• [The Museum of Endangered Sounds]: This is a nice walk down digital memory lane for the older folks, and something cool to look at if you're Gen-Z or younger.

• [Netflix’s Secret Category Codes]: Everything you watch on Netflix has a category. But, there are also secret categories that the team makes up just for fun. I'm eyeing [Code 3053870] right now because adulting is hard, but I can't wait to dive into them all!

✍️ Pinned Tabs

I know your mind is always racing, so I'll leave you with a quote, thought, & action to help you slow down.

🎈 Distract Me

Still, want more? Distract yourself with a game.

Learning a new language can feel like a game, so this week the game is figuring out what the heck is going on in this fairytale that ChatGPT wrote for me. It's in Spanish, so for all my Spanish language learners, have fun translating this one!

Another cool note: I generated the image below using Deep AI.

Rosalinda: La Protectora del Reino de Las Hadas

Click [here] to listen to the story in Spanish, change the language of the story, or see the English translation.

Había una vez una pequeña niña llamada Rosalinda que vivía en una casa de campo con su madre y su padre. Era una niña muy trabajadora y siempre estaba ayudando a su familia en las tareas del hogar.

Un día, Rosalinda se despertó y se encontró con una hermosa mariposa azul parada en su ventana. La mariposa le dijo: "Ven conmigo, Rosalinda. Te llevaré a un lugar mágico donde todos tus sueños se harán realidad".

Entonces, la mariposa llevó a Rosalinda a un bosque encantado donde había árboles mágicos, arroyos cristalinos y campos de flores brillantes. Allí, Rosalinda conoció a una hada llamada Primavera que le dijo que ella era la elegida para salvar al reino de los hadas de un malvado dragón.

Rosalinda aceptó la tarea y comenzó su viaje para derrotar al dragón. Con la ayuda de Primavera y sus poderes mágicos, Rosalinda logró vencer al dragón y salvar al reino de las hadas.

La reina de las hadas le dio a Rosalinda una varita mágica y le dijo: "Eres una verdadera heroína, Rosalinda. Usa esta varita para hacer el bien y proteger a todos los seres mágicos del reino".

Rosalinda regresó a su hogar con un corazón lleno de alegría y gratitud por la maravillosa aventura que había vivido. Y a partir de ese día, se convirtió en la protectora del reino de las hadas y vivió feliz para siempre.

Until Next Time! ~ Deja W.