I’ve seen a somewhat drastic change in my host family this week.
Since I’ve arrived, I have been pressuring my parents to put more pressure on their kids to focus on education and exercise rather than wasting hours in front of the television. I’ve had educational materials sent (Big shout out to Jamie Seff and the Wessler family for the 10 math/reading workbooks and stacks of flashcards) from home for my family hoping that with some fun age appropriate materials, my brothers will change their perspective on “learning” or “studying.”
During dinner one day this week, my parents broke the news to my younger brothers that they would, starting the following day, be permitted to only watch 3 programs on TV per day and must either play outside or study during the other times. They absolutely LOVE the workbooks and flashcards. They are doing them for fun more often than not. I have actually kept some in my room to surprise them when they complete the ones they are currently working on.
The second big move this week was with my parents. My job here is to assist small businesses and, conveniently for me, my family has a small business where they sell paint and various hardware store type materials from their house. On Friday night, I sat down with my parents and showed them their profit margins for each product they sold, their break-even points, and possible things they can change. I essentially told them how much money they make on average per month from their business and which products are worth selling and which are not. They roughly knew which products were better than others and how much money they were making, but my mother specifically said that she was so happy to actually see it on paper as it was the first time she had the opportunity to. The next step that I’m hoping she will do this week, is to record her sales and costs for just the week so we can use actual numbers rather than estimates.
To top it off my Nica Aunt is pregnant and if their child is a boy, he’ll be graced with the name Zac.
Doin’ work in Nicaragua.
I’m spending this week in my new site on the island of Ometepe, going to meet my co-workers, family, and get my integration on. Lots of photos and pics in the next post : )
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