If you want to study a new language or gain a new skill without forking out the money to attend classes, you just need to open up your laptop and clicked on Google Chrome icon and start Googling. 

I haven't taken a French or German class but I've managed to pick up the basics of it through my learning from the Internet and Busuu and Duolingo apps. Of course, my progress in learning those languages would be sped up if I dedicated my time on it but I simply didn't have the time, yet. 

I had studied sign language as a hobby. Later, my relative told me that it was good to learn sign language as we doctors will get any type of patient- she even attended a deaf patient once and it was quite hard to communicate.

As sign languages develop within deaf communities, they can be independent of the surrounding spoken language. American Sign Language (ASL) is quite different from British Sign Language (BSL), despite the fact that English is the native language of both countries.

I started to learn when I was travelling around. I had once encountered a deaf male traveller in Scotland- he tapped my shoulder and started to sign. To my dismay, I was quite embarrassed to tell him that I didn't have any knowledge in sign language. I ended up writing on small note pad, telling him that I was sorry and I couldn't understand him. 

But he smiled and shook his head as if saying that it's okay. He went away and asked a young couple by the food stand, not far from where I was standing. I watched the interactions between them and was fascinated by the silent language.

Although they did not speak a single word, the hand gestures was mesmerising. My brain was racking with wonder- I could tell that the young man was having difficulty to reply the traveller's sign but he marched on. He signed slowly while tilting his head on his side as if he was trying to remember correctly. The traveller was indeed grateful to him when they finally parted ways.

Having seen and experienced that, I started to learn ASL through YouTube and reading up on how to sign by alphabet, how to form sentences and many more. It was really hard and challenging but I was having fun learning it. 

As time goes on, I was becoming busy with my studies and stuff- I ended up held back my self-study on ASL for quite a long time. I even had to look up the basics in sign language because I apparently forgot a large percentage of it. 

But, it's okay. 

I could pick it up again.

My goal is now to keep developing and growing. I actually feel like I'm taking the steps I need to get to where I want to be and most of all, I'm achieving things that I feel proud of. It's a feeling I haven't had the pleasure to experience in such a long time.

But now, it's time to keep going. Good luck, dear self.