Sixteen Thousand

I was tutoring my niece, Samantha, in her Grade 4 Math assignment. It was about rounding off to the nearest hundres / thousands / millions.

I already thought her the basic rounding off when my mother, Sam’s grandmother, overheard me asking Sam, “Oh, Sam, ano ang gitna ng 16,150 at 16,160?”

“Ha!?” Nanay screamed, “Ano yang tinuturo mo kay Sam? Napakalaki naman n’yan! Grade four ako hangang 100 pa lang ata ang numbers namin! 16,150? Eh ‘di 8 thousand…”

“Hindi, Nay!,” I cut her short, “Rounding off lang kami, hindi division. Hahaha! Analaki naman ng sixteen thousand para sa grade four.”