Panama from December to February
Will this be better than school?
- Full-time baseball and robotics in a language they are conversational in at best
- Piano and chess lessons also in Spanish
- One hour of schoolwork a day, taught by my wife
I’m convinced it will be.
This will be our family’s third year leaving the Northeast winter and going to Latin America. Year one was Buenos Aires, year two was a hipster beach town called Puerto Viejo in Costa Rica, and this year we are back to a big city and will be staying in Panama City.
When you pull your kids out of school and try to immerse yourself, it’s actually not easy.
We chose Panama for three main reasons:
- Baseball
- Robotics
- Religion
Don’t worry, at the end I have a tie-back to marketing…
Baseball: Panama is one of the few countries that plays baseball, and one of my sons loves baseball. We are timing our trip so he can join a team during the summer season and play with them. Sports are one of the best ways to immerse yourself in the local culture.
Robotics: My other son loves robotics, and Panama City has a youth robotics culture that is second to none. Charlie will be in an “intense” summer robotics program.
Religion: We are not religious, but reaching out to the local Jewish community has been nothing short of amazing. Over a dozen people are helping in various ways to ensure my family has a great trip, from finding us a place to live and making sure we are in the right baseball program to inviting us to parties.
This all started for a few main reasons:
- A desire to learn Spanish. I think I heard from Andrew Huberman that learning another language can help your brain stay intact longer.
- I want to give my children the gift of being bilingual. I think it will open up so many doors.
- Going on vacation is always great, but when you can immerse yourself in a different culture, you’re not only building amazing memories with your family, but also learning something you can’t learn by not doing it.
When I spend an extended period in another culture, I come back with a different perspective, and often that perspective spills over into how I think about my work team and my clients.
It’s not one aspect I can call out, but I believe I am more understanding of how people think, cope, and communicate, and when you constantly improvise in those areas, the other “stuff” comes a little easier.
