Nyc sanitation exam 2022

I remember when I first found out about Ethan I was 11 and I wanted to watch Markiplier makes but my older sister told me I couldn't cus mark was to inappropriate little 11 year old me said fuck that and hid in my room and watched it anyways I saw you blue hair in all I never ended up watching Ethan after I finished that video but years later I ended up subscribing to unus Annus it became my comfort on bad days Ethan became my comfort the sadness I had when it all ended 14 year old me on my bedroom floor my phone on my floor my phone on the now deleted channel saying "this channel has been deleted would you like to unsubscribe" I'm still not over it as much as I want to be I grew closer to Ethan and his content after it ended you then announced you'd be doing a show I have to do this show I remember be in class when I got the notification I watched it in class and when I got home I begged my dad to get me a ticket but they were already sold out eventually you ended up making it a tour You restocked tickets and I finally got them months later NYC April 12th 2022 the best day I've ever had I've been in the fandom for over 3 years and it's been the best experience ever I don't know what Id do or where I'd be right now if it wasn't for you I even got my name credited on the ten year video that you watched on Stream (thanks mamacrank) and I'm so excited for this new chapter in your career I was sad at first all the memories I had with the name crankgameplays gone but I'm glad you took this step I'm so proud of you Ethan. FOREVER apart of the crankycrew

Lately close to the start of my cycle and during pms and even ovulation, I keep having this dull ovary pain near what I’m assuming is my right ovary. It’s very dull but it worries me as I’m scared I have a cyst. I’m not on birth control and I’m not sexually active. Fibroids also run in my family as well
I last went to my obgyn in feb of 2022, and I just got a referral to see a new one (have to double check insurance) as I’m no longer on that insurance. everything came back normal during my Pap smear and pelvic exam then other than my pelvis is apparently tilted.
Is there a chance that this is normal with periods or is this a chance of it being a cyst? I had Covid too since my last visit with my obgyn if that adds to anything. Again just scared as my friend in the past had a bad experience with a cyst and then had to have one of her ovaries removed
I’m due for my period in the next couple of days but I’ve had this pain the past week on and off and also before, it just worries me

TLDR- what takes higher precedent legally if an apartment lease is recorded as ending months before the 1 year term length from signing: end date or term length ?
Hello, I renewed an apt lease for a 1 year term length as written on the lease on November 1 2023. The start date written on the lease although, was September 2022, and the end date August 31 2023. My landlord is now telling me my lease ends in August 31 2023, 2 months short of the 12 month (1 year) term length again as documented on the lease.
For context on where the chaos began- I’ve lived in the same apt for years pre covid onwards. My lease first began and was always renewed for the beginning of the month April. I Didn’t receive any covid discounts in 2020 due to timing, but received a fair one in 2021. Come April 2022 I paid my landlord digitally/electronically without any dialogue as usual.
No mentioned of my lease rolling over on either of our ends, but I was content with my rate as is and wasn’t planning on moving so naively I didn’t think anything of it. Come June he alerts me that my lease has expired and ask me if I’d like to renew, at a 25% increase. Again naively I was unaware that Summer was the peak most expensive rental season in Nyc, and last summer the median apt rate hit an all time high.
Feeling taken advantage of but without whining about I exercised my tenant rights in New York to tell him that housing code specifies landlords must notify tenants 90 days noticeof a rent increase of over 5% if they occupied the unit for 2 years or more.
He didn’t take kindly to that but we eventually worked out a non lease monthly agreement where the rent would go up 4.9% each month I stayed on. I eventually agreed to his original proposal of 25% and again we signed an electronic 1 year lease November 1st. I was so exasperated at that point that while I remember reading, rereading the body of the lease I overlooked the start and end dates at the top.
The term lease at the top is clearly listed as a 1 year 12 month term though, and there’s an electronic record of all the changes made on The lease and it shows it wasn’t even crafted until October 31, two months after the listed start. Note that there not even any precedent for a lease term beginning august 31st as it always began in an April, nor are there any documented messages (nor verbal) between us that would suggest there was an understanding our year lease would end less than 10 months after signing date.
Apologies for being overly pedantic- my question is obviously is what would be the legal precedent for a lease where the end date listed is months before the term length, and was signed documented months after the start date ? I presume there’s a gray zone to some degree but if he is in the wrong legally then also what would be easiest most stress free way to proceed with him on this if he doesn’t relent on my lease ending when he alleged it does ?

done with high school in 2022, scored 88.4, took a year drop for JEE (nahin hua). no regrets though always wanted to pursue career in research field. aiming for NEST and IAT in june, jee mains score was around 40 smth! people around me told me these exams are somewhat easier than jee, but i cant depend on those infos even internet aint got much about them. how can i prepare and is it really easier than JEE (as others often said). i aint got no sh**, please help a brother out

I honestly just need to rant because good God the level of incompetence is staggering.
I've had a BDD claim submitted since Oct 2022, did all my C&Ps, submitted my DD214 as soon as I got out in Feb and it's been sitting in Evidence Gathering ever since. Before I got out, I submitted another claim around Dec 2022 for sleep apnea and RLS, I didn't include those in the BDD because I was still waiting on a sleep study at the time. Much to my surprise, I do my C&P for the second claim and it gets pushed through quickly, they give me 60%, amazing. Two weeks later I call the VA for what seems like the millionth time to ask why the BDD claim is stuck. "Huh, that's weird. We have everything we need. I'll submit a service request." I hear for at least the tenth time. A month goes by and I get an email from VES that I need to have a C&P. What?? Suddenly my BDD claim has been pulled back to Initial Review and they've added the sleep apnea and RLS claims and have put in a request for an exam on them. An exam I had and was rated on over a fucking month ago. So now I've had them submit yet another service request pointing them to the already closed and rated claim that they apparently couldn't be bothered to see is already in their system.
If this is normal and I'm overreacting please let me know but sweet Jesus we shouldn't have to handhold this organization.
Sidenote: They really should change the name to the Benefits Delivery Whenever We Get Around To It program.
TL;DR: What the actual fuck is wrong with the VA?

First off, this is a throwaway for obvious reasons. Also, English isn't my first language so please bear with me. Please excuse me if this story is very long, lol.
My boyfriend (25m) and I (24f) have been dating for almost 3 years at this point. We are both from German speaking countries, but he has a Turkish background and I am half Turkish (but my Turkish parent is more German than Turkish at this point). Soon after we got together, I kinda moved to his country due to the distance between our home towns (which was not a problem because I was working remotely) and moved in with my cousin, through whom we've met. After a couple of months, my cousin and I had a fallout and I ended up moving in with him, he was still living with his parents at this point. This is a big deal because his parents are strict muslims. Usually, in Turkish culture, people get engaged or married before moving in together. But his parents welcomed me with open arms and I have grown to love them as if they were my own parents.
About 6 months into the relationship, he told me he wanted to marry me and that he was thinking about proposing soon - which, not gonna lie, freaked me out a little because we were dating for such a short amount of time. We talked about this and I asked him to wait until we were dating for about 2 years, to which he agreed. Over the next two years, he occasionally hinted about wanting to propose and I started to feel excited about the idea. In December 2021, I showed him my dream ring when the talk came up once again. It is a little expensive (around 2.4k USD), but he makes around 4k monthly and is currently leasing a sports car for around 800 USD a month, so I'd argue it is well within our budgets.
Last year, in summer 2022, we took a trip to NYC, which is my favorite city. He has never been and this trip was a big deal to us, as we waited for that visit for a long time due to Covid restrictions. Coincidentally, this trip happened to be during my 24th birthday as well as our two year anniversary, so I was convinced that a proposal would have to happen during this trip. We made plans to eat at a fancy restaurant on my birthday and even went to a 3 star Michelin restaurant on our anniversary - we also went to all the skyscraper observatories during sunset. Night after night, I was waiting for him to propose. On our last night, we went up my favorite observatory and I was dead sure it was time. However, he did not propose, but we witnessed another couple getting engaged. He did not understand why my mood was extremely bad after.
Right after our NYC trip, we took another small trip to Italy, because why not. During that time, my cousin and my best friend both texted me, hinting (or rather discreetly asking) if we got engaged. This made me break down a little and I cried and ended up telling him about how I was very much hoping for him to propose and how crushed I was that he didn't. He was shocked, but assured me that he was still very much planning to do it "soon", but hasn't done so yet because his parents want to have a huge engagement party in Turkey (which we both absolutely do not want to do. We want a small wedding with just our immediate family and friends in his German speaking country). He told me about how he is scared that we can't tell his parents no and this is why he has not popped the question yet, but he will discuss this with them when we get back.
Now, almost another year has passed and the topic has not come up since (apart from the occasional shady remark here and there from me). Anytime the topic comes up with his or my parents, I really cannot keep a straight face because I have grown so resentful. HE was the one that said he wanted to propose "soon", two and a half years ago.
We are almost three years in, it is otherwise a very happy, trusting and loving relationship, but he is doing nothing about the discussion with his parents. He has not talked to them or made plans for an engagement. I am so hurt by this. Two months ago, his older brother gave his wife a gold diamond Cartier ring as a push present (push presents are NOT common in Europe at all) and ever since that, a small, but constant thought pops up in my head, telling me to break up with him. I am truly at my wit's end. I know he is not going to propose this year either and he will just keep pushing it back, potentially forever, if I don't give him an ultimatum. But I don't want him to propose just because he thinks I am going to leave him if he doesn't. I want him to propose because he wants to spend his life with me and is EXCITED to make me his wife.
Is he waiting because he wants to keep his options open and will just settle for me when he realizes he won't meet anyone better? I have moved countries for him, changed jobs, helped him tremendously with his life (improving his mental health, getting a new job, becoming more self-confident). At this point, I feel like I won't even be excited anymore when he finally decides to propose and I am seriously debating whether I should leave him. I know, we are younger than most people in this sub but I always wanted to be married at around 25/26 and have a somewhat long engagement (1-2 years). What can I do?

I just got my Total PSA results and was surprised to find an extremely high reading, at 4.39. My PSA has slowly creeped up to the 1.8ish levels and suddenly made a big jump.
Health condition-wise, I'm on TRT due to some complications arising from untreated undescended testicles at a young age. I had one testicle amputated around 3 years old and the other one got me through puberty but we/I didnt know that I was suffering from low testosterone until my doctor requested labs. Been on TRT since I was about 19 years old.
My endocrinologist was alarmed on 2022-02-18 when my PSA spiked to 1.92 so she referred me to a urologist. Urologist took a look at my blood work and my health history. He recommended doing a digital exam. The exam itself was over in like 2-3 seconds and he said I was fine and sent me on my way.
My endocrinologist got the results from the urologist and said she'd like to continue to monitor it regardless for future reference.
So I just got the 4.39 result and I'm a bit alarmed. I understand that ejaculation can have an impact on the results (I had sex/ejaculated the day before). Sex was had at 1pm and blood was drawn next day at 9am. I dont have a bike or motorcycle. I dont recall doing any exercises that would have put pressure on my prostate.
What I did do was play a video game (new Zelda game) from about 5pm-2am the night before the blood work. So I sat on a couch for almost 9 hours. Could that be the culprit? I'm normally VERY active. I exercise 4x per week, go on walks, have a permanent standing desk, follow a meal plan by a nutritionist, etc.
I havent heard back from my doctor yet because we're still waiting on testosterone results but should I request another test? An MRI? A biopsy?
Current age: 33 years old
PSA Total Results

DATE (yyyy-mm-dd)	RESULT (ng/mL)
2023-05-27 (33 years old)	4.39 (Roche)
2023-03-23	1.85 (Roche)
2023-03-11	1.83 (Siemens)
2022-09-01	1.85 (Siemens)
2022-08-19 (32 years old)	1.42 (Roche)
2022-02-18	1.92 (Roche) + Digital Exam
2021-08-20	0.87 (Roche)
2021-06-09 (31 years old)	0.9 (Siemens)
2020-02-18 (29 years old)	1.2 (Roche)
2017-10-25 (27 years old)	0.9 (? - Labcorp)
2014-08-28	1.3 (? - Labcorp)
2014-06-03 (24 years old)	0.8 (? - Labcorp)

Please help :''(
I am a CSA survivor and I began my therapy journey in March 2021. therapy didn't help me much and I discovered later that my therapist wasn't that good despite being an experienced one. Lots of things happened in my life later that negatively impacted my mental health, the most important one was my mom's passing in September 2021. My mental health became really bad that I isolated myself from everybody and all I was doing was just studying all the time in my apartment. I won't get into details but the first semester of the 2022 academic year was not good for me, I became a target for indirect bullying by some girls that did not like me for absolutely no reason and it really got to me. My therapist retired in November 2022 so I didn't have someone I could speak with, pressure from college, ongoing CSA trauma, mom's passing trauma all got bad and I planned to commit suicide in December after final exams period was done, strange cause I actually should've felt better that the semester was over. A friend reported me and then I was referred to a psychiatrist, I had a session with him where I told him about all my struggles from childhood up until now. The psychiatrist made a report to college about my mental health situation so they can be aware so that I can continue the semester and receive therapy at the same time. I later discovered after speaking to someone from college that the psychiatrist made a LONG report with sections and quotation marks and had everything I said, and also stuff that I actually have not said, and just twisted things. Now here is the bad part, he made a section called ''Childhood trauma'' and wrote details of my abuse. and then wrote something disgusting in quotation marks as if I've said it when I didn't. I asked who else have seen this report and turns out he sent it to multiple people in college, and to my doctor. It was such a slap on the face when I learned that cause I just didn't consent for all of this info to be exposed to all these people, I feel absolutely disgusted and hurt. this just got worse with days, I just can't get over the fact that this has happened, the first thing I think of when I wake up is this incident. my CSA story is extremely severe and disturbing and I would hate for anyone to know about what happened to me except for the psychiatrist and psychotherapist since they are the ones who NEED to know these details to help me. I feel ashamed and honestly I just lost faith in humanity :'''''( I feel like it's haunting me and I every time I get focused on something else I remember that this has happened. the thing he wrote and I didn't say made me seem something I am not and I hate it (it's about something that relates to virginity) I actually feel like I have been raped again, just feeling ashamed and disgusted. am I being too dramatic? please help, this happened 5 months ago but I cannot get over it, spoke about it with my current psychotherapist but I am not feeling better :"(

Hello everyone.
I'm debating whether or not to upgrade my 2017 MacBook Air 13.3" (8GB Memory / 128GB SSD) to the 2022 MacBook Pro 13.3" (M2 / 8GB Memory / 256GB SSD) for use during bar prep and the bar exam. My MacBook Air works mostly fine with the exception of randomly shutting off a few times. I used it for finals this past semester and had no issues. However, I figured that if I were to buy a new laptop, I might as well buy it so I can use it during bar prep and for the bar.
For those that have the 2022 MacBook Pro - do you like it? Why or why not?

Hello everyone.
I'm debating whether or not to upgrade my 2017 MacBook Air 13.3" (8GB Memory / 128GB SSD) to the 2022 MacBook Pro 13.3" (M2 / 8GB Memory / 256GB SSD) for use during bar prep and the bar exam. My MacBook Air works mostly fine with the exception of randomly shutting off a few times. I used it for finals this past semester and had no issues. However, I figured that if I were to buy a new laptop, I might as well buy it so I can use it during bar prep and for the bar.
For those that have the 2022 MacBook Pro - do you like it? Why or why not?

Hey everyone!So i am a 2023 graduate in B.Tech (yeah GEM of course) and I have just started my prep for this year's CAT.I did give CAT 2022 and I enrolled in TIME,.Throughout the prep, i had no consistency in my scores. In some mocks, I scored around 95-96 percentile, while in a lot of them, I struggled to get even 75.At the end, nerves got the better of me in the exam as due to this pressure of not getting consistent scores, and I fumbled in the exam where i completely blanked out during the VARC section itself (which i thought id be able to manage before) which led me to get a terrible of score 86 percentile.This year, I haven't really enrolled in any coaching as of yet, as many of my seniors have recommended me to just practice mocks and work on my strategy. I've recently purchased the AIMCAT series and will give my first mock this week.
DILR was my achilles heel throughout last year's preparation for me and i don't know how to go about working on it. Also, i want to start afresh for VARC as i don't want that situation again this year.
So can anyone guide me how should i go about this?
(Also if anyone is interested in being a study partner, or form a group of sorts, I'd be interested in that too)

24M, 176cm, 78kg, non-smoker, non-drinker, diagnosed with OSA (AHi = 7-10), using CPAP since March, not medicated, blood pressure = 127/86
I have since around the winter of 2021 developed a speech issue whereby I constantly struggle to move my mouth sufficiently to articulate myself when i speak. This was confirmed by my dentist who observed that I wasn't moving my lips or my face much when I talked, and who I have seen to rule out any dental issues that might be causing the problem. My girlfriend has said the same thing about my facial movements when I talk, as she has commented that I seem only to move the muscles around my mouth when doing so and the rest of my face don't move. I don't have issues with sensations on any part of my body and there is no problem with gross movements on my face neither (i.e. if i was asked to make ugly faces, to chew, to move my tongue or to hold certain part of my face up, I can do it easily). It seems to be fine movements that is the issue when it comes to my face, so if I would find something funny, my face would have trouble smiling naturally and spontaneously, but I would have no problem forcing an unnatural smile by just squeezing my facial muscles together, if that make sense.
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My other symptoms include: brain fog (cognitive dysfunction) whereby I have found it more difficult to process information (I had to postpone my studies in Jan/2022 because I found it too difficult and slow for me to process what I am reading), being less acutely aware of my surroundings when i walk, so i'd feel like i'm not as capable of judging my body's distance in relation to that of others' and have a higher risk of bumping into them, finding it hard to multitask and if i would order something from a cafe for example, it's hard for me to extend my arm to get my drink and walk around to search for utensils at the same time (i feel disoriented from the physical movements and mental activity and i'd find it hard to judge how far my arms should extend to grab the drink, for example). I have also gotten more sensitive to orthostatic stress, so if i have to bend over to pick things, i would get a head-rush and it makes me feel off. All of these other symptoms seem to have gotten better slowly ever since I started to exercise and started treatment for my sleep apnea (I had an extremely sedentary lifestyle whereby I spent maybe 16 hours a day on my bed while I did everything from my bed since 2021 because I got too used to the lifestyle since Lockdown); despite this, my speech problem has not improved one bit.
I have filmed myself moving my lower lip and asked someone else to do the same motion to give a comparison to demonstrate the issue. The videos can be found here: https://imgur.com/a/nPizsc2 (the first video shows someone else doing it and the second video shows me doing it). I think that the difference demonstrates the speech issue that I am having, since my movements are less coordinated and I have problem making as large movements as she while maintaining the same speed; because if I were to keep moving at the same pace, I sacrifice how far my lower lip can move and my movement comes across as if it was a tremor in comparison to my friend's).
I am wondering what the issue might be and what test I can run to diagnose it. I seem to recall that the speech problem got worse after i performed valsalva maneuver(s) while I was pooping on the loo so I wonder if it can have anything to do with that in conjunction with my poor cardiovascular health in general (caused by 2 years of de-conditioning from being extremely sedentary - perhaps you can compare it with prolonged bed rest during hospital stays). Also, for further context, I had a colonoscopy in November 2021 (it was arguably at the height of my sedentariness) and I felt really bad during the preparation (I felt extremely fatigued from the deliberately-induced diaherrea and my brain was very foggy by the time i got to the hospital for the procedure) - I don't know if the preparation could have anything to do with the speech problem; the colonoscopy result showed inflammation and at two parts of my colon but the tenesmus (which was what prompted me to get a colonoscopy in the first place) went away when I took the probiotics as prescribed. I also my 2 doses of Pfizer vaccine between August 2021 and September 2021 which MIGHT have made the pre-existing brain fog and poor cardiovascular de-conditioning worse because I felt very fatigued and brain foggy for the few days after.
I have never had a stroke or any acute neurological symptoms. I had a brain MRI without contrast in February 2022 which was reported to be completely normal and I have also had a brief neurological exam at my GP's office which was normal as well, though he did not test my speech or facial movements. I have done multiple blood tests which were normal and 2 ECGs which were normal as well.

I don't mean to add to the flood of Michael Quinn posts nor give him anymore publicity (Because he doesn't deserve it), but I can't help to think that what he is doing is illegal and is the primary reason Josh is the way is is now (vs. 2020-2022).
I'm no expert, but is there anything we can do (Legally) to get this guy out of the picture? He is continually exploiting a disabled man to gain popularity on the internet through alcohol and public embarrassment. I believe it's only a matter of time before Josh gets into serious trouble through MQ's enablement and situations he puts Josh in. I mean yesterday, Josh was in a random bodega yelling a slur and Quinn wasn't stopping him from repeating it.
As a native New Yorker, It bugs the shit out of me to see a fake-rich, manipulative, conman exploiting the easiest targets. Those people are a dime-a-dozen in NYC, but the difference between Quinn and them is that the rest don't manipulate an autistic man to gain an audience.
Is there anything we can do to put an end to this bum?

I failed yesterday the sd-wan exam with overall 65%. I thought I was ready because I took the CBT nuggets course, Udemy, read the OCG, did practice exams on pearson and read a few deployment guides from cisco plus labs feom devnet sandbox. I want to ask the people who have took the exam and passed are there any additional resources I am missing? Apparently all the courses and the OCG were missing topics on the exam now like EIGRP and Adaptive QOS. Are there any new updated resources as courses or study guides for 2022-2023 ? I could appreciate some guidance please. I don’t know if I should even give up and try another concentration exam.

I'm frustrated with my life I'm suffering from ADHD, antisocial personality, ciggerate internet and porn addiction, uneducated, unemployed, introvert, abusive behaviour with my family, financially week, don't have true friends, don't have relationship (girlfriend), virgin, not good in anything(in English language also). I'm a piece of shit. Some of my background information(in hindi)- Bachpan se gareeb Ghar me paida to hua, Pata nahi Mai bachpan me itna dumb tha ki mujhe bachpan ki chheze yaad hi nahi aati, na kisi ke sath khelna n Ghar ke bahar nikalna nahi koi dost, bs Ghar me hi raha nahi ladkiyon se interact Kiya na ladko se. Is tarah se mai shayad antisocial or introvert ban gaya. Jb mai 10th me fail ho gaya to mere papa ne mujhe bol bol ke itna traumatized kr diya ki mujhme kabhi pass hone ki jigyasa nahi hui, mujhe har exam me lagta tha ki Mai fail ho jaunga, mai hamesha dar dar ke exam deta tha, exam me hamesha frustrated rehta tha or isi liye mere ko kitab ki taraf dekhne ka v man nahi krta tha, ab mai fir graduation me fail ho gaya, second year(2022) me, maine graphic design ka 48000 ka course Kiya hai pr itna v unhone nahi shikhaya ki mereko koi job Dede. Ab mere ko nahi pata mai kyu daily suicidal ho jata huu. Mereko mera future dark dikhayi deta hai. Mereko painless nahi to quickest way suggest Karo taki Mai apne ye antisocial behaviour ke sath hone wale dukho ko khatam kar saku. Plz I'm begging u🙏

After two false starts in 2013 and 2020, I recommitted to learning Greek exactly one year ago! I set myself the goal of becoming “conversational” in a year. Actually, the goal came from a conversation with a Greek friend. I had just received my Portuguese B2 certificate after 1 year of study (with a strong background in Romance languages), and thus I was confident I could reach at least a low B1 in Greek in a similar amount of time. She said, nope, absolutely no chance. And nothing motivates me better than the skepticism and doubt of my friends!
I’ll write some background in Greek to demonstrate the level of writing I’ve attained thus far and then switch to English for a more detailed discussion of the resources and approaches I used to be more useful for beginners. I used a translator to look up ~10 words in the passage below. Otherwise all of the conjugations and declensions and syntax and spelling and tone placement and errors are my own!
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Γιατί αποφάσισα να μαθαίνω ελληνικά?
Πριν από ένα χρόνο, την τελευταία εβδομάδα του Μαΐου 2022, ταξίδεψα στην Αθήνα για την πρώτη φορά μετά από 15 χρόνια. Είχα πάει κάποιες φορές στην Ελλάδα στα παιδικά μου χρόνια με τον πάππου μου, ο οπίου ήταν Ελληνες, να επισκεφτούμε μερικοί συγγενείς. Δυστυχώς, δεν έμαθα ελληνικά όταν ήμουν παιδί. Ο παππούς μου μεγάλωσε στην Αθήνα κατά τη διάρκεια της Κατοχής, και λίγα χρόνια μετά απά τον πόλεμο γνώρισε μια αμερικανίδα η οποία εργάζοταν στην αμερικανική πρεσβεία. Παντρεύτηκαν και μεταναύτηκαν στις ΗΠΑ. Η αμερικανίδα, η γιάγιά μου, σπούδασε αρχαία ελληνικά στο πανεπιστήμιο της Καλιφορνίας, και έμαθε νέα ελληνικά στην Αθήνα. Αλλά, αυτή την εποχή, στις 1950, πολλοί αμερικανοί δασκάλοι δεν υποστηρίζουν τη διγλωσσία στα μικρα παιδιά, και συμβολίζουν πολυπολιτισμικές οικογένειες να μιλάνε ΜΟΝΟ αγγλικά με τα παιδιά τους. Ετσι, ο πατέρας μου δεν έμαθε ποτέ να μιλαέι ελληνικά κι αν μεγάλωσε μέσα σε μια δύνατα ελληνοαμερικανική κοινότητα στις ΗΠΑ. Σας λέω ολα αυτά να εξηγήσω πως, ίσως γιατι ήταν πολύ κοντά με τον πάππου μου, πάντα λυπήθηκα να μην μπορώ κι έγω να μιλάω ελληνικά και πάντα ήθελα να τα μάθω. Στο γυμνάσιο και λυκείο, διάβασα ισπανικά και γαλλικά (άλλες γλώσσες δεν υπήρξαν στο σχολείο μου) και στο πανεπιστήμιο, σπούδασα γαλλική λογοτεχνία – πάλι, μαθήματα νέων ελληνικών δεν υπήρξε.
Όταν σπούδασα για το διδακτορικό μου, ζούσα σε μια μεγάλη πόλη στις ΗΠΑ και επιτέλους βρήκα μαθήματα νέων ελληνικών για ενήλικες σε μια ελληνική εκκλησία, μια φορά την εβδομάδα, τη νύχτα, για 6 εβδομάδες (Δεν είναι καλός τρόπος να μαθαίνει κανείς μια γλώσσα!!) Ήμασταν περίπου 6-7 άτομα και όλα, με καποόο τρόπο, ελληνοαμερικανοί, και όλοι λυπημένοι πως τα ελληνικά μας ήταν απαίσια . Έμαθα να γράψω και διαβάζω τα γραμματα, και ίσως 50-75 βασικές λέξεις. Δυστυχώς δεν μπορούσα να συνεχίσω τα μαθήματα εξαιτία τη δουλειά μου και τις σπουδές μου.
7 χρονια μετα, του 2020, ξανάρχισα ελληνικά μαθήματα σε μια άλλη εκκλησία, στην άλλη άκρη στις ΗΠΑ. Και τι συνέβη? Η πανδημία φυσικά! Τα μαθήματα ακυρώθηκαν, είχα τα δύο μου παιδιά μαζί μου όλη την μερα, τα σχολεία κλειστά, και έπρεπε να δουλέψω. Άλλη μια φασαρία!
To 2021, μετακόμισα στην Ευρώπη, στην Πορτογαλία. Για ένα χρόνο, δούλευα πολλές ωρες και χρησιμοποίησα όλες τις συνήθεις διαδικτυακές πηγές (ιταλκι, ΑΝΚΙ, ποντκαστς, κλπ) για να μάθω πορτογαλικά μόνη μου. Αφού τα γαλλικά μου είναι καλά και τα ισπανικά μου ενταξει, ανακάλυψα πως δεν είναι εντελώς ΑΔΥΝΤΟ να μάθω μια καινούργια γλώσσα ως ενήλικας. Λοιπόν, όταν επέστρεψα στην Ελλάδα μετα απο πολλά χρόνια να δω τα ξαδέρφια μου, αποφάσισα ότι την ευκαιρία μου να μάθω ελληνικά ειναι τώρα, και αυτή την φορά θα το κανώ σοβαρά!
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1. What I already knew: Like I said, I wasn’t starting from complete zero one year ago. In 2014, I took 12 hours of a total beginner class and in 2020, 8 hours of a beginner class, which was then canceled due to COVID. Having had one Greek grandparent and some exposure to Greek American community, I also heard Greek spoken around me as a child and thus had exposure to phonetics, pronunciation, cadence. While I didn’t know how to say anything beyond like, Χρόνια Πολλά! Χρίστος ανέστi! when I was a kid, I was at least familiar and comfortable with properly prouncing Greek names and food vocabulary. I also traveled to Greece a handful of times as a child, though all of my relatives were/are fluent in English so I didn’t have any pressure to learn or speak Greek.
2. My timeline and goals: I set myself the arbitrary goal of attaining a basic conversational level after a year of study (mid/high B1, let’s say). Again, simply because someone told me I couldn’t do it! Despite my best intentions, it wasn't a year of intense study. In my most focused periods, I spent about 10 hours per week on various tasks (music, TV, videos, reading, talking, listening), but I also had many weeks of spending less than 3 hours per week on Greek.
3. Resources: What I used, What I recommend, What I regret

• Duolingo. I regret wasting so much time on duolingo and I do not recommend using it. The only thing I think it is useful for is people who don’t know the alphabet. All of their nonsense exercises of reordering sentence from a word bank are a complete waste of time, and the artificial voices will do you ZERO favors
• Pimsleur. I used this because I had good results with it for Portuguese. It costs 20 bucks to subscribe to their app per month, and you can easily do the entire Greek series in less than I month, so it’s not terribly expensive. I’m a huge proponent of the thinking method it uses, but I wouldn’t have used Pimsleur if I had already know about...
• Language Transfer Complete Greek! It’s more thorough than Pimsleur and completely free. 100000% recommend this as a first step for total beginners. For false beginners and lower intermediates, I also think it’s very valuable as review.
• One on one conversation: I did a few lessons on iTalki. Looking at my records I see I did less than 10 hours in Greek over the past year. I think iTalki is a great tool, but I just didn't have the budget for weekly lessons, and my schedule has been too unpredictable. Instead, I've done some casual facetiming (and IRL time) with Greek native speaker friends. The only downside to my helpful friends is that I had to keep nagging them not to speak English.
• ANKI/ SRSI experimented with making my own decks, as recommended in the Fluent Forever method. I found it too labor intensive and boring to make the cards, and I found the the decks I ended up with were too random. I think self-made Anki decks are better when you’re and upper intermediate and advanced learner, and you need to pinpoint challenging words in specific areas. I also experimented with premade deck but didn't find any vocabulary decks I loved. However, I did find a Verb conjugation training deck which is very useful. However I barely used it because I’m just not good at motivating myself to do rote tasks.
• MemRise The flashcard deck"Top 5,000 Words in Greek" is excellent! I do find it hard to stick with this habit because, flashcards, not so fun. And obviously using flashcards of works with zero context will not meaningful transfer those words into your long term memory or active vocabulary. But I have found that the frequency deck works really well as a ‘first exposure’ so to speak. Many times I have seen and “learned” a flashcard, then heard the word in conversations a few days later, or read it in a book or news article.
• YouTube Channels/ podcasts. I watched a good amount of videos which I found very helpful. I can recommend the following:
  • Six Thousand Islands is my absolute favorite. Daria’s videos are funny, casual, and smart. They’re not lesson based, and good for lower intermediate and up. Daria has this amazing way of being easy to understand without sounding pedantic. I’m in awe.
  • Easy Greek has hundred and hundreds of useful videos. However, I don’t like that they have English subtitles built in. I find it very distracting, and it seems that my brain struggles to focus on listening and reading the Greek when my eyes can see the English.
  • Linguatree – Giouli is very methodical and thorough, so her videos are a very good place to start.
  • Do You Speek Greek?- Alexandra has a somewhat similar style to Giouli, and is also excellent. Her bite-sized content on instagram is great, too.

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4 .LingQ. This is a ‘supported reading’ interface and it’s a VERY powerful tool for intermediate learners. The down side is that it’s pricey (12 bucks a month), and the content is crowd-sourced, so sometimes quality can be a bit spotty. However it’s a huge archive of videos with synced subtitles, audio books with professional narration and synced transcripts, and a tool to import any article or ebook of your own. As you’re reading, you can tap any word or phrase to see a definition, and then you can save that word to your own flashcard deck. It also tracks a lot of stats– how many distinct words you’ve read, learned, know, how much time you’ve spent listening, etc, and there are leaderboards. I’ll admit I’m a sucker for stats and friendly competition - I find both highly motivating.

1. Good old fashioned booksOK, maybe I’m just a huge nerd (confirmed), but I find reading books in a new target language just so satisfying and rewarding. I started out with short stories for young children and have worked my way up to ‘youth’ novels. I’m at the point where I typically only need to look up 1-3 words per page so it’s no longer hugely cumbersome and mostly just really, really fun. I read aloud to myself, or read aloud to a Greek speaking friend if I have one at the ready, because I still need work on elocution/pronunciation. I have the typical American speech quality of compressing lots of syllables, whereas I’ve noticed that Greeks speak at a higher overall volume and give every single syllable more force/powedistinction. Check out books by Alki Zei & George Sari for solid low-intermediate books.
   
2. Travel to Greece:Due to work and family circumstances I had the luck of spending 5 cumulative weeks in Greece over the past year. There’s no match for practice in the wild. Of course, in Athens especially, Greeks are too good in English and I really didn’t get as much practice as I should have. Plus, as an absolute beginner, everyone would switch to English at the first mistake or hesitation. More recently, I’m able to go “stealth” for small interactions - shopping, ordering food, going to the pharmacy, dance and exercise classes, etc, and that has felt very encouraging and validating.
   
3. Oh yeah, grammar! :Despite the fact that I haven’t mentioned grammar at all, I am firmly in the Yes-definitely-study-grammar camp of language learning. Yet I found myself doing very explicit “grammar study” this past year. Language Transfer covers the absolute basics, and when I had a specific doubt about a tense or a declension pattern I either watched a youtube video on the exact topic or read a bit in the Routledge Greek: An Essential Grammar. Grammar tends to agree with me (I’ve taught English grammar in francophone context, and worked as an academic editor for many years), so perhaps thats why I didn’t find it necessary to spend a lot of time drilling. At this point as an intermediate learner it’s been sufficient for me to identify a grammar concept and then solidify it through lots of exposure in pleasurable reading instead of exercises, drilling, or memorization. Oh, and song lyrics!! These can be great for learning verb tenses and declension patters, because the tune helps you memorize the sounds of the declensions.
   

Results: All in all, I’d say I’m moderately pleased with the level I have attained in a year. I didn’t work hard all year long — I cycled between more focused periods of spending >1 hour per day every day, and other periods in which I was only doing 30 minutes 3 or 4 times a week — so I know I *could* have achieved more with greater focus and dedication. Yet, I’m pleased that my listening comprehension and reading are very strong. On recent trips to Greece I’ve found that I can understand the bulk of most normal conversations held in a social setting (even getting the majority of some political arguments amongst a group), and I can understand the news and TV shows if I also use the Greek subtitles. I recently went to a symposium about an area of interest and I was able to understand all of the presentations of the panelists. However, my speaking fluency and confidence lag significantly behind my reading and listening skills. Even though I have plenty of friends and family in Greece, and they’re all encouraging and supportive (and amused) by my desire to learn Greek, they all have excellent English and I have to regularly remind/insist that they don’t all always switch to English for my sake.In an effort to be more objective, I have tested myself using an Ellinomatheia B1 sample exam.

• Reading Comprehension: 24 out of 25 points
• Listening Comprehension: 20 out of 25 points
• Written Production: obviously I can’t objectively grade myself here, but I was able to complete the prompts with a minimum of discomfort.
• Oral Production: again, I can’t give myself a quantitive score. I was able to speak to the prompts, but I was NOT confident about things like declensions and conjugations and I know I made a LOT of mistakes. Speaking is my weakest area for sure.

Future plans: I intend to continue studying Greek and to ramp up my dedication and focus. I’m hopeful that in another year I’ll be able to comfortably conduct myself in Greek in any typical social setting, and that I’ll be able to translate Greek source texts into English.
Αυτα! If you make it this far, I hope this was helpful.

Hi everyone,
I'm currently lodging a subclass 600 (tourist) visa and I'm gathering all the documents for a planned short vacation this October. However, I'm torn on what option to put in my application. I'm currently a graduating MD-MPH student and will graduate this November. Will also take our country's physician licensure exam by March next year. Additionally, I'm also an assistant instructoassociate researcher in our university and has been affiliated with our undergraduate faculty since graduating last 2018. The pay isn't that big and there are a couple of semesters I didn't take to work as an instructor just to focus with my med studies.
I was able to get both: a certificate of employment and a certificate of enrollment from the same university. I was also able to get my income tax return from last year, and my payslips from Oct-Dec 2022. Again, the pay isn't big but I have a savings account put up since college and have saved enough money to spend a short break in Australia. What should I declare? Can't I put both in my application if I picked either one?

how are you feeling abt the exam tmrw?
i feel relatively good. i think it's gonna go well hopefully. also does anyone have the recent papers (oct 2022, jan 2023) solved? i can't find them anywhere not even on youtube.

We're out of season, but it's never too early nor too late for a Christmas thread. Credit goes to u/CleverHarwood who started the Christmas saga and then followed it up based on tips from fellow puzzlers.
The aim of this post is to create an easy-to-maintain Ravensburger Christmas resource linked to our Wiki. I will carry on updating this post, so don't hesitate to comment and point out any missing bits (even if you stumble upon it weeks or months after its original publication date). Thank you.
The focus is on Limited/Special Christmas editions: 500-2000 pieces (but I plan to add smaller counts eventually). I have hyperlinked the completed puzzle if it was posted on the sub and avoided external links. Multiple external links have lead to my post removal by reddit spam filters.
A very special thanks to u/hyperkid137 for sharing the Ravensburger link and the redditor who first shared the Puzzles by Lisa website link. eBay (active and sold items) and Puzzlelink are the other two resources that were useful in the data collection.
Last updated: May 2023
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Christmas/Limited Edition with the yellow star on the box Please note some of these puzzles were released by Ravensburger USA. I have provided this information if located/available
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Title	Artist	Pieces	Year on the box	Notes
Here Comes Christmas!	Ingrid Slyder	500	2023
Rockefeller Center Joy	Pierpaolo Rovero	1000	2022
Enchanted Christmas	Demelsa Haughton	500	2021
Christmas Songbirds	Ingrid Slyder	500 XL	2021	Sold in the Christmas Edition and 'standard' Ravensburger box
Christmas Eve	Zorina Baldescu	1500	2020
The Christmas Shop	Janet Kruskamp	500	2020
Christmas in The Square	Victor McLindon	1000	2019
Cuddly Christmas	Dominic Davison	500	2019
Packing the Sleigh	Liz Dillon	1000	2019
Playful Christmas Day		1000	2019
White Christmas	Dominic Davison	1000	2019
Christmas on Pet Street	Ingrid Slyder	1000	2018
Christmas Village	Marcello Corti	1000	2018
Christmas Wishes	Barbara Behr	1000	2018
Countdown to Christmas	David Krustkamp	1000	2018
Snowy Village	Barbara Behr	1000	2018
Christmas House	Steve Crisp	500	2017
Festival of Festivals	Roy Trower	1000	2017	Released as Santa's Christmas Party in the UK
The Joy of Christmas	Connecticut Community Foundation	1000	2017
Winter Wonderland	Ingrid Slyder	1000	2017
Christmas Joy	Interlitho (Stock art)	500	2016
Santa's Ready	Ingrid Slyder	1000	2016
NYC Christmas	Steve Klein	1000	2015
Santa's Final Preparations	Roy Trower	1000	2015	Released under the same title in the Limited Edition in the UK
Americana Christmas	Medana Gabbard	1000	2014
Christmas Train	Roy Trower	1000	2014	Released as The Santa Express in the UK
Mapping the Course	Elaine Maier	1000	2013
Idyllic Village	Debbie Cook	1000	2013
Santa Needs Directions	Roy Trower	1000	2013	Released as Which Way is Santa? in the UK
Joy of Christmas	Roy Trower	1000	2012	Red box edition
Santa's Sleigh Ride	Roy Trower	1000	2012	Released as Santa's Flying Visit in the UK
Santa's Caught	Simon Mendez	1000	2011
Snowy Day	ddfa (Stock art)	1000	2011
The Christmas Shop	Tricia Reilly Matthews	1000	2010	Ravensburger USA. Modular box
Holiday Baubles	Caroline Valeureuse	1000	2010
Not a Creature was Stirring	Nicky Boehme	1000	2010
Santa's Arrival	George Schriemer	1000	2010
Santa's Story Time	Gilberto Marchi	1000	2010
Santa's Flying Visit	Roy Trower	1000	2010	Ravensburger USA. Modular box; released under the same title in the UK - standard box
Two Angels	Alessandro Scanziani	1000	2010	Ravensburger USA. Modular box
The Christmas Market	Roy Trower	1000	2008	Released under the same title in the Limited Edition in the UK
Joy of Christmas	Roy Trower	1000	2008	Blue box edition
Santa's Christmas List	Roy Trower	1000	2008	Released under the same title in the Limited Edition in the UK
White Christmas	Rolf Bunse	1000	2008
It's Christmas	Roy Trower	2000	2005
It's Christmas	Roy Trower	1000	2005
Santa Claus	Ute Thonissen	1000	2005
The Christmas Village	Roy Trower	1000	2004	Released under the same title in the Limited Edition in the UK
Christmas	Ute Thonissen	1000	2003	Comes in a metal tin box

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Limited Edition UK puzzles
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Title	Artist	Pieces	Year on the box
26: Santa's Workshop	Roy Trower	1000	2022
25: The Christmas House	Roy Trower	1000	2021
24: Christmas is Coming	Roy Trower	1000	2020
23: Home for Christmas	Roy Trower	1000	2019
22: Let's Visit Santa	Roy Trower	1000	2018
21: Which One's Santa?	Roy Trower	1000	2017
20: Santa's Christmas Party	Roy Trower	1000	2016
19: Santa's Final Preparations	Roy Trower	1000	2015
18: The Christmas Farm	Roy Trower	1000	2014
17: The Santa Express	Roy Trower	1000	2013
16: Christmas Shop	Roy Trower	1000	2012
15: Which Way is Santa?	Roy Trower	1000	2011
14: Santa's Flying Visit	Roy Trower	1000	2010
13: Santa’s Christmas Supper	Roy Trower	1000	2009
12: Santa's Christmas List	Roy Trower	1000	2008
11: The Christmas Market (Santa's Secret Visit)	Roy Trower	1000	2007
10: The Christmas Fair	Roy Trower	1000	2006
9: A Country Christmas	Roy Trower	1000	2005
8: The Christmas Village	Roy Trower	1000	2004
7		1000	2003
6		1000	2002
5: Christmas Carols	Peter Bradshaw	1000	2001
4: Christmas Traditions	Kevin Walsh	1000	2000
3: The Ivy and the Holy	Carol Lawson	1000	1999
2: The Twelve Days of Christmas	Carol Lawson	1000	1998
1: Victorian Christmas	Gale Pitt	1000	1997

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Christmas Disney Puzzles
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Title	Pieces	Year on the box	Notes
Disney Snow Globes	1000	2021
Disney Princess Christmas Celebrations	500	2017
Disney Pixar Christmas	1000	2016
Disney Christmas Train	500	2016(?)
Disney Christmas	1000	2015
A Disney Christmas	1000	2011
Winnie the Pooh. Christmas Fun	1000	TBC	Developed in the UK