Hi everyone 👋, Two days ago this animated video about 👑 French king Louis XIV came out. Even though he ruled as the most powerful king in Europe for 72 years, his life was really just horrible, if we look at it with our contemporary viewpoint. The video shows this well. I think it’s good to remember how lucky I am to live in today's world. That’s all for this week. Have a great time my fellow lucky commoners. 😊 Gregor
26 days ago • 1 min read
Hi everyone I just came to the USA for the first time and spent the last few days in New York. I’ll use this newsletter to share some of my impressions and thoughts that I have during this trip. 🚏 Getting around I often heard those stories about the New York subway being dirty 🐀 and underfunded. I also saw several clips of crazy homeless people on the New York subway, so I had kind of low expectations. Honestly tho, the subway works just fine. Trains arrive all the time, it’s cheap, it’s not...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Hey friends, it's been way too long — the Gregor Newsletter is officially back! 😄👋 It’s been six months since I started working as a middle school teacher in Hägendorf as well as a student at teacher school in Luzern. This week my first school semester ended. 🥳 When I started this journey, I already knew it would be extremely busy. That’s why I paused many of my previous habits, such as learning Chinese, filming videos, and also the weekly ‘Gregor Newsletter’. ⏸️ After restarting Chinese in...
about 1 month ago • 5 min read
Hi everyone This week I spent 5 days at the Planungswoche Lehrer organisieren ihren Schulstart (LoS) offered by the Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz in Windisch. The program as a whole was really good and provided a lot of insights that will help a lot when I start teaching my class in just 4 weeks. In this newsletter I share some of the insights I gained during that week. I’ll cover my top three learnings as a teacher, as well as three potential issues I identified I need to stay aware about....
8 months ago • 3 min read
Hi everyone Last week I wrote about how I became a teacher. Since then, I also officially signed my contract and got my school laptop and keys. It’s just 5 weeks until I’ll stand in front of my class, so now it’s time to get ready. In this week’s newsletter I’m sharing some more thoughts about what I am doing and why. I’ll split this in 4 parts: Teaching goals, classroom management, class content, and everything else. Teaching Goals From my perspective, everything starts with the question of...
8 months ago • 5 min read
Hey everyone This may be a surprise, but starting in August I’m going to work an ~80% job as a middle school teacher at a nearby local school in Hägendorf. In this newsletter I’ll share how that happened, what’s going to happen next, and also what that means for my previous entrepreneurial projects and the rest of my life. Let’s get started. Becoming a Teacher After coming back from China on May 8, I took a break for a few days and then did some AI-related work for a previous client. However,...
9 months ago • 14 min read
Hi everyone I don’t have anything special to talk about this week, so I’m going to share 5 of my favorite quotes: 1. “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” Leonardo da Vinci (supposedly) 2. "You can only connect the dots looking backwards” Steve Jobs (at his 2005 Stanford Commencement Address) 3. "Remember that time is money.” Benjamin Franklin 4. “When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor.” Elon Musk 5. “Whether you think you can, or you think...
10 months ago • 1 min read
Hi everyone 👋, Last month I had a fantastic trip to China, and one thing that was really nice about it was my ability to communicate in Chinese, since most people I met there actually don’t speak English. I do really spend a lot of time studying Chinese. On some days it can be 12 hours, and even on days with a lot of work I still end up finding an hour or to study it. I love writing dialogues, watching and engaging in Chinese conversations, and reviewing flashcards every day. I really like...
10 months ago • 1 min read
Hi friends and family Last week I came back from a fantastic, month-long trip with Xi to China. Now that I am back, let’s restart the weekly newsletter! In this first one after the break I am going to share some personal thoughts about motivation, wealth and cultural norms related to this trip. Let’s go! 1 Month in China First of all, the trip was fantastic. I met many wonderful and kind people, especially Xi’s family and friends. I also had a lot of fun experiences and made great memories....
10 months ago • 3 min read