(Written Friday afternoon:)
So, I just got served the largest salad of my life. My "tinisima" salda arrived in a boat-shaped bowl LARGER than my head, filled with what must be an entire head of ice berg lettuce, plus spinach leaves, plus a whole tomato(diced), a whole avocado(sliced), a generous dose of palmitos(hearts of palm), and at least half an ear of corn kernels. This, combined with my all time favorite hot chocolate in Santiago, is why I come regularly to Mundo De Papel. Every tuesday, in between my "Ecology and Social Movements" and "Legal Rights of Indigenous Groups in Chile" classes, I make my way to the artsy neighborhood of Bellavista, cross the muddy sewage-filled Rio Mapocho and walk past rows of second hand book sellers and sugar-coated peanut stands. I first went to Mundo de Papel with my friend Meghan, whose guidebook recommended it. As soon as we saw the three story windows, the couches made out of cardboard, and the walls chock full of quirky Chilean childrens books and Neruda poetry, I knew this would be my study spot. Once we ordered hot chocolate(which I do everywhere, in order to compare and contrast, in my undending search for the best hot cocoa in Santiago) I was sold. It's creamy-but not too rich, chocolatey-but not in a sickeningly sweet way, and has this satisfying deep, dirt brown color.
Also, after coming here various times, I was suddendly filled with the urge to write poetry-which I have NEVER felt before. I love to read poetry, but I have never been good at or found satisfaction in writing anything remotely artistic. But, sitting in the outside patio under a gorgeous Japanese maple tree, sipping my hot cocoa, I felt compelled to express myself lyrically- and it turned out well! I mean, what came out semi-captured my internal dialogue, and at the same time was enjoyable to read later!(although it's for sure only going to be read by me...so don't even ask!)
So, I owe Mundo de Papel a lot.
But, right now, I'm in this weird melancholical(real word?) state.
Very recently, as detailed in another blog post, I became friends with some of the enviro kids at my university, and while I'm thrilled to have met them, I can't help feeling frustrated that it took me until my LAST month of school to find them! Plus, no quiero irme de Chile! Estoy feliz aquí, y tengo bastante independencia. Además, me encanta hablar en español, aunque todavía hago muchos errores cuando estoy hablando con Chilenos.
On the other hand, I miss my friends terribly. And I miss my family. And I really miss Kalamazoo as a college, as a city, and as a community. I find myself thinking about Kim's garden, Trowbridge, Sarkozi's, and renting bikes from HUB just to ride to the farmers market and stock up on Amish cookies and asparagus. When I say I miss these things, its not like if someone gave me a ticket home today I'd take it, nor are my days consumed by these feelings, its more just a quiet nostalgia that pops up every once in a while to remind me-your real home is waiting. Yea. That's another semi-unsettling thought: my "real" home. Everyday its more and more clear that my "real" home if there is such a thing, is Kalamazoo, MI. (And if Michigan had a soundtrack, a theme song, it would totally be Frontier Ruckus:
“I still dream of snarled backyards and being chased by nighttime’s discards, where my fence reddens rust and bleeds. And the curbs are haunted by the killers of memories of your back pillars where nothing wakens as it seems. All our rooms are hopefully mornings, laugh like tunes when nights are swarming, and branching feathers fan our dreams. Pitiful in sun soaked soggy, beautiful inside the muggy.”)
I think sometimes sitting alone, especially on a cloudy rainy day like today, makes me, understandably, pensive, which tends to lead to melancholy. But not always. I mean, I chanted at least 30-40 minutes today. And I am technically happy. I mean, I have fun things happening, I’m super appreciative for my life, the opp to study abroad here, the friends I’ve made, the fact that I have a life I love waiting for me at home. But sometimes its hard. I find myself constantly in between two worlds. Being in LA and missing Kalamazoo, being in Michigan and missing California, being in Santiago...you get it. Unfortunately, I tend to think about this while I'm in the middle of one experience/one world, which I feel like wastes my precious time... Airplane rides, fine, those are legit times to feel homeless. But while I’m still studying abroad, it seems so... rude? Wasteful? Ungrateful? Dumb? To be thinking about how much I’ll miss Santiago and whether or not I’ll enjoy being home. I partly blame this on my American friends, just because they keeps talking about this, but really these are pretty normal thoughts that I’m sure would surge w/ or w/o their impetus.
I know that I should just be in the moment, enjoy eating delicious food in one of my fav places and being in Chile. But its so hard to not think about the future, and the past, although I’m not one to dwell in the past much. But I just LOVE to speculate, plan, organize, ponder, dream, and fantasize, about the future. To the detriment of the present? I don’t know.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Saturday, October 24, 2009
EnvOrg flashbacks
When I imagined study abroad, which I randomly tried not to do b/c apparently it goes better if you don't have expectations-but who doesn't have expectations, really?!- my ideal Chilean university experience was very similar to my American one. My goal was to take the most fascinating classes I could, get involved in student activities, ie clubs, that related to my passions and then make as many friends as possible.
Well, I accomplished the first one, and have made a lot of friends, but the club part turned out to be much harder than I expected. Clubs just aren't a big deal at my school, and the ones that do exist(remember its called la Universidad CATOLICA) are mostly centered around faith-based activities like praying, and/or Christian solidarity work. After asking around and getting the same, confused/amused looks, I almost gave up home that student organizations devoted to aetheistic social justice or environmental work existed.
Until....
Every once in a while, a handful of banners will pop up in just one section of campus, advertising an Encuentro Ambiental=environmental encounter. They generally show up the DAY before the event and the past two times took place right in the middle of my classes. However, finally, a poster showed up long enough for me to jot down the little "sustentableuc@uc.cl" email address. I admit that it took me at least three weeks to finally email them, and when I did it wasn't with a lot of esperanza. Most clubs that have email addresses use them for complaints/never check them.
But I sent a cute little, "Hi, I'm Allie from America, I was one of the leaders of my Environmental student org on campus, and I'd love to get involved while I'm in Chile"
Two days later, I got a wonderful response from a guy named "Robert Petitpas"-whose name I remembered only b/c Petitpas is a really uncommon Chilean last name- and we made plans to get together for lunch. However, the day before our lunch, my Ecology Professor said she wouldn't be teaching the next two classes, and instead we had a visiting professor. In walks this young guy, really tan with long brown dreads and wearing Keanes....and he announces his name is Robert Petitpas!! I almost fell out of my chair. What are the chances?!
SO long story short, I introduced myself, we had lunch, and in the span of fifteen minutes of walking around, he showed me the organic vegetable garden in the back of the Facultad de Agronomia(?!?!!?WHAT MY CAMPUS HAD AN ORGANIC VEGGIE GARDEN AND I NEVER KNEW ABOUT IT?!?!) and introduced me to like half the environmental club kids!! Including this guy who's the head of recycling, who is cuuute.
So Robert, who everyone calls Tito, turns out to be a grad student(? maybe? still not sure?) who graduated a while ago but helped start the enviro club, called "Sustentable UC", teaches random classes, and still helps out with everything environmental b/c he basically knows EVERYONE. Really the perfect person to meet.
So when he introduced me to the enviro kids he said, "She wants to help you guys with whatever you need." And they were thrilled b/c apparently there aren't a whole lot of students interested in the club. Then he said, "We're having a panel, and you should speak about your experiences with enviro organizing in the States!"
My eyes opened wide and I just laughed: "Um, I was thinking I could help set up chairs or move tables, but ok..."
Well, I accomplished the first one, and have made a lot of friends, but the club part turned out to be much harder than I expected. Clubs just aren't a big deal at my school, and the ones that do exist(remember its called la Universidad CATOLICA) are mostly centered around faith-based activities like praying, and/or Christian solidarity work. After asking around and getting the same, confused/amused looks, I almost gave up home that student organizations devoted to aetheistic social justice or environmental work existed.
Until....
Every once in a while, a handful of banners will pop up in just one section of campus, advertising an Encuentro Ambiental=environmental encounter. They generally show up the DAY before the event and the past two times took place right in the middle of my classes. However, finally, a poster showed up long enough for me to jot down the little "sustentableuc@uc.cl" email address. I admit that it took me at least three weeks to finally email them, and when I did it wasn't with a lot of esperanza. Most clubs that have email addresses use them for complaints/never check them.
But I sent a cute little, "Hi, I'm Allie from America, I was one of the leaders of my Environmental student org on campus, and I'd love to get involved while I'm in Chile"
Two days later, I got a wonderful response from a guy named "Robert Petitpas"-whose name I remembered only b/c Petitpas is a really uncommon Chilean last name- and we made plans to get together for lunch. However, the day before our lunch, my Ecology Professor said she wouldn't be teaching the next two classes, and instead we had a visiting professor. In walks this young guy, really tan with long brown dreads and wearing Keanes....and he announces his name is Robert Petitpas!! I almost fell out of my chair. What are the chances?!
SO long story short, I introduced myself, we had lunch, and in the span of fifteen minutes of walking around, he showed me the organic vegetable garden in the back of the Facultad de Agronomia(?!?!!?WHAT MY CAMPUS HAD AN ORGANIC VEGGIE GARDEN AND I NEVER KNEW ABOUT IT?!?!) and introduced me to like half the environmental club kids!! Including this guy who's the head of recycling, who is cuuute.
So Robert, who everyone calls Tito, turns out to be a grad student(? maybe? still not sure?) who graduated a while ago but helped start the enviro club, called "Sustentable UC", teaches random classes, and still helps out with everything environmental b/c he basically knows EVERYONE. Really the perfect person to meet.
So when he introduced me to the enviro kids he said, "She wants to help you guys with whatever you need." And they were thrilled b/c apparently there aren't a whole lot of students interested in the club. Then he said, "We're having a panel, and you should speak about your experiences with enviro organizing in the States!"
My eyes opened wide and I just laughed: "Um, I was thinking I could help set up chairs or move tables, but ok..."
Monday, October 19, 2009
email onslaught
Hey guys, so some of you may have just gotten an email alerting you that I posted a new lil' something on this blog. It has come to my attention that unlike other, "cooler" blogs, I don't send email/facebook alerts when I post something new on the blog. I always found this a little intrusive/presumptive(?). However, some people have actually requested it. So. If you'd like your email on the list, lemme know. If I assumed you'd like to be on the list and you wouldn't, also let me know. No offense will be taken.
Hope you are all well!
Con cariño,
Allie
ps: Its 24 degrees celsius here. Happy Southern Hemisphere Spring!
Hope you are all well!
Con cariño,
Allie
ps: Its 24 degrees celsius here. Happy Southern Hemisphere Spring!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
absurdly long post part 2: aka Mapuche meets Metallica
Ok, sorry that was long and I’ll try to keep editing down, but I wanted to contextualize what comes next.
Now at this point my mom was freaking out so I’ll add the all important caveat that the few big Mapuche protests that have taken place in Santiago have not been violent nor have there been such examples of property destruction or police brutality. On the other hand, even the big university student marches to protest inadequate government funding of the public school system IN SANTIAGO were broken up by police and friends of mine found themselves fleeing very angry cops wielding tear-gas.
Ok, so one of my classes is called “Derechos de los Pueblos Indigenas” and is specifically about the conflict between the Chilean government and the Mapuche people. This is my only all-gringa class because it’s only offered to students in my study abroad program, and so there are all of 5 students in our class. We regularly have visiting professors and many of them have been Mapuche activists/intellectuals.
So last week we had a really awesome young Mapuche Prof come speak with us. After giving us a great summary of the history of Spanish and Chilean interaction with the pueblo Mapuche, he invited us to a March his organization (one of the most active Mapuche groups composed of young professionals) was co-sponsoring. I, of course, just about fell out of my chair, since a) I love marches and b) I really wanted to support the Mapuches in some way, having spent a lot of time learning about their struggle and seeing it as a major area of injustice.
Julie and I at the School Of the Americas protest in Georgia last fall. Isn't the sign just too perfect?
However, when I mentioned the march to one of our other teachers for the class, who’s not Mapuche, she looked a little worried. “Are you allowed to go to this kind of March?” she asked doubtingly. Smilingly weakly, I responded, “Well, I figured I just wouldn’t tell anyone in my program about it until afterwards.” She laughed, but then proceeded to tell us about a march she had been to in the south (remember, that’s the hotspot of the conflict) where a few Italian students were standing on the sidelines of the march filming, and then the police showed up, confiscated their film, arrested them and within two days had them deported.
Yeah.
That also reminded me of a box I had hesitantly checked when applying for my visa, which said I promised not to get involved or in any way affect the natural course of Chilean politics.
These things all made me a bit concerned about going to the march (although full disclosure, I should admit they also made it infinitely more appealing) and so I decided to mention it to my host mom and gauge her reaction. You should know my host mom is from the Left, and marched in protests to end Pinochet’s dictatorship, a pretty dangerous political act at the time. While she may have confronted angry soldiers defending the last dredges of military rule, she is also now a semi-over-protective mom who takes excellent care of her children and understands really well what a 20 year old American exchange student can and can’t do in Chile. Basically, her reaction was of concern, but also support. Her one major issue was that she, along with my host bro and sis, would be out of the country on vacation during the march. So, she gave me the phone number of her brother who also lives in Santiago and told me to call him if I had any problems. She also asked that I call/facebook her when I got back from the march, to confirm that I was safe.
I don’t know if this sounds over/under dramatic, but I can only tell you that personally, I was slightly anxious but mostly super excited.
I also made sure that I had at least three other friends going with me and at least one Chilean.
I will admit though, that the night before I looked up on the internet what (not) to wear during a protest and how to cope with being tear gassed.
Finally, I arrived at the metro stop my friends and I had designated as our meeting place, and we all walked to Plaza Italia (one of the most famous, central spots in Santiago) where we had been just a few weeks earlier for the Gay Pride parade. Needless to say, the vibe was very different; I don’t know if it was my own self-consciousness, but I felt distinctly out of place. There were dance troupes in traditional outfits, marching bands, hundreds of banner-waving communists and a large group of anarchists with the classic bandana’d faces.
After some intensely awkward waiting around, in which the few police who were present stared at us with a “what-the-heck-are-these- gringas-doing-here-they-must-be-lost-maybe-we should-escort-them-out” look, the march finally started. At first it was weird and tense and a couple dozen police officers in full-on riot gear watched the procession, but the mood quickly changed as the marching bands started to play joyful, invigorating beats and we changed from a shuffling pace to a purposeful dance-walk.
As the march went on it gathered people and momentum, and eventually must have included over 6,000 people-a sizeable number considering there are only around 800,000 Mapuches in Chile, and even more impressive because it contradicted the misperception that Mapuches only live in the rural South, when in fact more and more Mapuches are moving to the cities.
Anyway, except for the handful of policemen on horseback who watched critically from across the street, there was no trouble or danger whatsoever. Phew.
The march ended with a huge concert/rally in which mothers of young activists in prison spoke, and bands played traditional Mapuche instruments. My all time favorite moment, besides eating the most delicious empanadas and buying AMAZING silk-screened patches and posters, was the performance by this family band. Perhaps for all y’all reading this, if anyone has made it this far, the phrase “family band” conjures up images of the Partridge family, or the Brady bunch, but this band was different. Oh so different.
First, two men in their thirties with long black ponytails walked on stage, each holding a toddler in one arm and a traditional cow horn instrument, called a “trutruca” in the other. Then, a teenage drummer and twenty-something guitar player joined them, each sporting black t-shirts and scowls. Finally, the two singers took their places, one wearing sagging jeans and a backwards baseball hat, and the other wearing a plaid button-down shirt and spiked hair. When the music started, it was so odd and unexpected that I immediately started grinning, then tapping my feet and finally gave into the beat and began to head-bang. The drummer and guitarist had a solid rock sound going, which was then complimented/contrasted with random blasts on the trutrucas, sort of like what you’d imagine a conch shell to sound like. Then on top of all this, the two teenage singers paced back and forth, holding their mikes like rappers and spitting Mapuche and Spanish lyrics so quickly it was hard to distinguish which language they were using. This didn’t seem to matter to the crowd, who somehow knew all the words and were totally rocking out-even the old Mapuche grandmas! Bu the singers would alternate between rapping, and screaming a few choice words over and over again, ala death metal-or is it thrash metal? I dunno, there are so many kinds nowadays. Anyway, it was this incredible fusion of genres, languages and cultures that just made me so happy. These kids were channeling Metallica, 50 cent, Linkin Park, etc but translating it into their daily lives and doing so at least partly in Mapudungun, a pre-Incan language on the verge of extinction. Plus, throughout the entire cacophonous concert, the two toddlers were sitting happy as clams in their fathers’ arms, calmly taking in the performance.
So, I am happy to report, I was not arrested, nor was I deported, and I was able to take a stand against what I perceive to be a major social justice and human rights issue. Hurray study abroad! Just don't tell my program...
Now at this point my mom was freaking out so I’ll add the all important caveat that the few big Mapuche protests that have taken place in Santiago have not been violent nor have there been such examples of property destruction or police brutality. On the other hand, even the big university student marches to protest inadequate government funding of the public school system IN SANTIAGO were broken up by police and friends of mine found themselves fleeing very angry cops wielding tear-gas.
Ok, so one of my classes is called “Derechos de los Pueblos Indigenas” and is specifically about the conflict between the Chilean government and the Mapuche people. This is my only all-gringa class because it’s only offered to students in my study abroad program, and so there are all of 5 students in our class. We regularly have visiting professors and many of them have been Mapuche activists/intellectuals.
So last week we had a really awesome young Mapuche Prof come speak with us. After giving us a great summary of the history of Spanish and Chilean interaction with the pueblo Mapuche, he invited us to a March his organization (one of the most active Mapuche groups composed of young professionals) was co-sponsoring. I, of course, just about fell out of my chair, since a) I love marches and b) I really wanted to support the Mapuches in some way, having spent a lot of time learning about their struggle and seeing it as a major area of injustice.
Julie and I at the School Of the Americas protest in Georgia last fall. Isn't the sign just too perfect?
However, when I mentioned the march to one of our other teachers for the class, who’s not Mapuche, she looked a little worried. “Are you allowed to go to this kind of March?” she asked doubtingly. Smilingly weakly, I responded, “Well, I figured I just wouldn’t tell anyone in my program about it until afterwards.” She laughed, but then proceeded to tell us about a march she had been to in the south (remember, that’s the hotspot of the conflict) where a few Italian students were standing on the sidelines of the march filming, and then the police showed up, confiscated their film, arrested them and within two days had them deported.
Yeah.
That also reminded me of a box I had hesitantly checked when applying for my visa, which said I promised not to get involved or in any way affect the natural course of Chilean politics.
These things all made me a bit concerned about going to the march (although full disclosure, I should admit they also made it infinitely more appealing) and so I decided to mention it to my host mom and gauge her reaction. You should know my host mom is from the Left, and marched in protests to end Pinochet’s dictatorship, a pretty dangerous political act at the time. While she may have confronted angry soldiers defending the last dredges of military rule, she is also now a semi-over-protective mom who takes excellent care of her children and understands really well what a 20 year old American exchange student can and can’t do in Chile. Basically, her reaction was of concern, but also support. Her one major issue was that she, along with my host bro and sis, would be out of the country on vacation during the march. So, she gave me the phone number of her brother who also lives in Santiago and told me to call him if I had any problems. She also asked that I call/facebook her when I got back from the march, to confirm that I was safe.
I don’t know if this sounds over/under dramatic, but I can only tell you that personally, I was slightly anxious but mostly super excited.
I also made sure that I had at least three other friends going with me and at least one Chilean.
I will admit though, that the night before I looked up on the internet what (not) to wear during a protest and how to cope with being tear gassed.
Finally, I arrived at the metro stop my friends and I had designated as our meeting place, and we all walked to Plaza Italia (one of the most famous, central spots in Santiago) where we had been just a few weeks earlier for the Gay Pride parade. Needless to say, the vibe was very different; I don’t know if it was my own self-consciousness, but I felt distinctly out of place. There were dance troupes in traditional outfits, marching bands, hundreds of banner-waving communists and a large group of anarchists with the classic bandana’d faces.
After some intensely awkward waiting around, in which the few police who were present stared at us with a “what-the-heck-are-these- gringas-doing-here-they-must-be-lost-maybe-we should-escort-them-out” look, the march finally started. At first it was weird and tense and a couple dozen police officers in full-on riot gear watched the procession, but the mood quickly changed as the marching bands started to play joyful, invigorating beats and we changed from a shuffling pace to a purposeful dance-walk.
As the march went on it gathered people and momentum, and eventually must have included over 6,000 people-a sizeable number considering there are only around 800,000 Mapuches in Chile, and even more impressive because it contradicted the misperception that Mapuches only live in the rural South, when in fact more and more Mapuches are moving to the cities.
Anyway, except for the handful of policemen on horseback who watched critically from across the street, there was no trouble or danger whatsoever. Phew.
The march ended with a huge concert/rally in which mothers of young activists in prison spoke, and bands played traditional Mapuche instruments. My all time favorite moment, besides eating the most delicious empanadas and buying AMAZING silk-screened patches and posters, was the performance by this family band. Perhaps for all y’all reading this, if anyone has made it this far, the phrase “family band” conjures up images of the Partridge family, or the Brady bunch, but this band was different. Oh so different.
First, two men in their thirties with long black ponytails walked on stage, each holding a toddler in one arm and a traditional cow horn instrument, called a “trutruca” in the other. Then, a teenage drummer and twenty-something guitar player joined them, each sporting black t-shirts and scowls. Finally, the two singers took their places, one wearing sagging jeans and a backwards baseball hat, and the other wearing a plaid button-down shirt and spiked hair. When the music started, it was so odd and unexpected that I immediately started grinning, then tapping my feet and finally gave into the beat and began to head-bang. The drummer and guitarist had a solid rock sound going, which was then complimented/contrasted with random blasts on the trutrucas, sort of like what you’d imagine a conch shell to sound like. Then on top of all this, the two teenage singers paced back and forth, holding their mikes like rappers and spitting Mapuche and Spanish lyrics so quickly it was hard to distinguish which language they were using. This didn’t seem to matter to the crowd, who somehow knew all the words and were totally rocking out-even the old Mapuche grandmas! Bu the singers would alternate between rapping, and screaming a few choice words over and over again, ala death metal-or is it thrash metal? I dunno, there are so many kinds nowadays. Anyway, it was this incredible fusion of genres, languages and cultures that just made me so happy. These kids were channeling Metallica, 50 cent, Linkin Park, etc but translating it into their daily lives and doing so at least partly in Mapudungun, a pre-Incan language on the verge of extinction. Plus, throughout the entire cacophonous concert, the two toddlers were sitting happy as clams in their fathers’ arms, calmly taking in the performance.
So, I am happy to report, I was not arrested, nor was I deported, and I was able to take a stand against what I perceive to be a major social justice and human rights issue. Hurray study abroad! Just don't tell my program...
an absurdly long post that I promise to edit down---if you make it to the end you win a prize!(probably just my undying affection)
So I haven’t written this post yet because when I tried to tell this story to my mom I failed to strike a balance between gritty realism and dramatic speculation and ended up freaking her out.
Let me see if I can explain this truthfully without exaggerating or underplaying.
So what the heck am I talking about?!
Well, similar to the United States, Chile has a long history of repressing, massacring and discriminating against the indigenous groups who lived in south America long before any European whose name rhymes with Shmistopher Shmolombus stepped foot on a boat.
As soon as the Spanish began colonizing South America, they started killing indigenous people and taking their lands. The main indigenous group in Chile are the Mapuches, who at one point spanned the land from Bolivia to Antarctica and from the Pacific to the Atlantic, aka Chile and Argentina. As the Spanish colonized, they mixed with the indigenous populations(ok, this is a euphemism for sexual relations between Spanish men and indigenous women-and even “relation” is a nice word, considering the bulk of these brief hook-ups were plain old rapes) as happened across Latin America and their children became the people we now consider “(Latin) Americans”. Unfortunately, with the creation of the Chilean nation-state, Mapuches found themselves alternately being massacred, and then “assimilated” while their land was slowly taken, stolen or “purchased”(of course 99% of Mapuches couldn’t read or speak Spanish, so the legitimacy of contracts they couldn’t read in government offices they didn’t know existed is questionable). By 2009, a full 95% of their original land had been transferred to the hands of private citizens and/or multi-national corporations.
While there have always been Mapuches who fought back (physically and politically) against these injustices, there was no massive social movement until around the ‘60s, but really the ‘80s.
There are a million interesting issues involved, including fascinating water rights, globalization, and cultural patrimony issues. Basically, since the 500th anniversary of Columbus’s “discovery” of America (also known as the Spanish invasion) in 1992 there have been widespread Mapuche protests for constitutional recognition, the right to self-determination and/or self-government, the return of ancestral territory, the right to bilingual/bicultural education and much more. Since the largest Mapuche communities are concentrated in the South, most of the protests also take place there. In general the police have reacted to these protests with extreme and unwarranted force, using tear gas, rubber bullets and sometimes even live ammunition. There are over 50 Mapuche political prisoners in jail right now and over a dozen Mapuches have been murdered by police in political actions in the past 15 years. As Mapuche demands have been met with nothing but police brutality, protests have radicalized and SOME Mapuches have begun to attack the pine tree plantations, mostly by cutting down the trees and/or burning the trucks that transport the harvested logs, and fight back against the police.
Friday, October 9, 2009
things I do when I'm bored, aka WATCH THESE NOW!
If you don't know who sarah haskins is, you're missing out. But don't worry, after watching maybe 30 of her clips in a row, I've picked out some of the best for your enjoyment:
(warning, these are almost all "inappropriate" in some way, meaning they're things that should be talked about but aren't, or are so incredibly absurd that talking openly about them seems awkward.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-Omm5CPIOI&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IjNWYh4lkU&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpLnPEVl538&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BU1BidE1VSg&feature=channel
(warning, these are almost all "inappropriate" in some way, meaning they're things that should be talked about but aren't, or are so incredibly absurd that talking openly about them seems awkward.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-Omm5CPIOI&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IjNWYh4lkU&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpLnPEVl538&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BU1BidE1VSg&feature=channel
Thursday, October 8, 2009
its not all rainbows and sunshine
bad #1:
So I realized I don’t write much about experiences that aren't generally outstanding, which makes my blog not entirely representative of my time here. I would say 80% of my time is spent doing wonderful things, 15% doing boring things and 5% stressful things.
So, here's a stressful thing:
I'm taking one class at la Universidad de Chile, which is Chile's most famous, prestigious, humongous public university. It’s also a bit more left-leaning and radical than the other school I'm enrolled in-the private catholic one.
So my only U Chile class is called “Ecology, Ecologists and Social Movements” and is taught by this hilarious, Marxist who wears pointy silver suits and rectangle glasses. It only meets once a week and since it’s in the Agriculture dept, takes place at the agriculture/forestry/veterinary sciences campus which happens to be waaaay south of downtown Santiago, a full hour away on public transportation. Coming from the catholic school, it takes me about 50 minutes and 3 metro trains + a bus to get to this class. Thankfully(?) my teacher announced the first day that he would be consistently 30 mins late to class, so I get there right when he does...when he shows up. More so at the public univ than the private, professors randomly not showing up are a fairly common phenomenon. However, if they do this repeatedly, then they have to report it to their faculty and reschedule classes. This can be problematic for exchange students who generally leave right at the end of the semester, often before the makeup classes occur.
After making my hour-long commute and then finding class canceled 3 times, I talked with one of my study abroad program directors, Elsa, in Santiago. She was really concerned about the amount of class the teacher had missed, and the fact that he still hadn't handed out a syllabus! Which, besides being super-useful to me as a student, is also crucial for my study abroad program to have/send to Kalamazoo as proof I'm taking real classes! She told me to email him and politely but doggedly request a syllabus. However, the U Chile website, like any huge bureaucratic organization, is labyrinthine and difficult to understand and after searching high and low I could not find my Prof's email anywhere. I became super frustrated and as a last ditch effort asked my one friend who goes to the U Chile if she had any suggestions. None of them worked out, and finally, talking on facebook she asked me what his name was. "Sebastian Bastias", I typed bitterly. Not realizing she was saving my life, she replied nonchalantly, "Oh, he's my professor too! I have his email right here".
Yea. that's being in rhythm right there.
But then, he gave us our first assignment (only 2 months into the course) that was basically a 5 page paper utilizing class notes and "obligatory readings". What?! I had absolutely no idea there were readings, since he still never gave a syllabus, nor mentioned a course website. Finally I emailed him and asked if he wouldn't mind telling me where to find these readings, and he gave me a website that only works for Agriculture majors...which I am not. On and on, back and forth went the emails. Finally he said he'd email the readings to me, four days before the paper was due, only to find that the lectures turned into gibberish when he sent them to me! After reporting all of this faithfully to Elsa, who was getting more and more angry w/my prof, I also showed the emails to my host mom who was super indignant. Sometimes it’s just nice to have people be angry on your behalf.
When Elsa called the faculty office to complain, it turned out they didn't even know he'd canceled class, let alone have his contact info or a copy of the syllabus. Because they didn't know about all the classes he'd canceled, Elsa's call basically counted as an allegation of misconduct or something, and suddenly they wanted my name in order to confront him!!! This was so not my goal, since despite all the miscommunication and flakiness, he's a really interesting teacher and (verbally) has been really nice and supportive about my taking his class. Plus, I really don’t want/need to be getting professors fired…
So bottomline, I get to class on Tuesday, when the paper is due, and obviously haven't done it. After class I go up to him and explain, your last email came out as gobbledygook and I still need the readings. I offered to go to w/e library had the texts and make photocopies myself, but he said they were scattered around the city in many different libraries and it would be too difficult to round them all up. OY. He recommended I ask a friend for the texts, which was great considering that's the one class I haven’t made friends in, and even random strangers had already left by the time we finished talking. Plus the class only meets once a week and that’s the only time I'm at that campus, so my chances of seeing them elsewhere were basically zero. I was too nervous to remember to ask for an extension, but I think it was pretty clear I'd be needing more time. So, bottomline, now its 2am on Friday and I still haven’t started the paper b/c I still don’t have the readings. At this point I'm not stressed about it anymore b/c a) Elsa's on it, and b) I just don’t care that much! There are a million other exciting things to think about, and my grades don’t count here (at least not in my GPA) so it’s just not worth the energy.
Whew. Ok, that was a long story, I apologize. But at least now my blog can be considered slightly more realistic, gritty, hardcore...I mean here you have the seedy underbelly of Chilean universities... haha, sort of.
So I realized I don’t write much about experiences that aren't generally outstanding, which makes my blog not entirely representative of my time here. I would say 80% of my time is spent doing wonderful things, 15% doing boring things and 5% stressful things.
So, here's a stressful thing:
I'm taking one class at la Universidad de Chile, which is Chile's most famous, prestigious, humongous public university. It’s also a bit more left-leaning and radical than the other school I'm enrolled in-the private catholic one.
So my only U Chile class is called “Ecology, Ecologists and Social Movements” and is taught by this hilarious, Marxist who wears pointy silver suits and rectangle glasses. It only meets once a week and since it’s in the Agriculture dept, takes place at the agriculture/forestry/veterinary sciences campus which happens to be waaaay south of downtown Santiago, a full hour away on public transportation. Coming from the catholic school, it takes me about 50 minutes and 3 metro trains + a bus to get to this class. Thankfully(?) my teacher announced the first day that he would be consistently 30 mins late to class, so I get there right when he does...when he shows up. More so at the public univ than the private, professors randomly not showing up are a fairly common phenomenon. However, if they do this repeatedly, then they have to report it to their faculty and reschedule classes. This can be problematic for exchange students who generally leave right at the end of the semester, often before the makeup classes occur.
After making my hour-long commute and then finding class canceled 3 times, I talked with one of my study abroad program directors, Elsa, in Santiago. She was really concerned about the amount of class the teacher had missed, and the fact that he still hadn't handed out a syllabus! Which, besides being super-useful to me as a student, is also crucial for my study abroad program to have/send to Kalamazoo as proof I'm taking real classes! She told me to email him and politely but doggedly request a syllabus. However, the U Chile website, like any huge bureaucratic organization, is labyrinthine and difficult to understand and after searching high and low I could not find my Prof's email anywhere. I became super frustrated and as a last ditch effort asked my one friend who goes to the U Chile if she had any suggestions. None of them worked out, and finally, talking on facebook she asked me what his name was. "Sebastian Bastias", I typed bitterly. Not realizing she was saving my life, she replied nonchalantly, "Oh, he's my professor too! I have his email right here".
Yea. that's being in rhythm right there.
But then, he gave us our first assignment (only 2 months into the course) that was basically a 5 page paper utilizing class notes and "obligatory readings". What?! I had absolutely no idea there were readings, since he still never gave a syllabus, nor mentioned a course website. Finally I emailed him and asked if he wouldn't mind telling me where to find these readings, and he gave me a website that only works for Agriculture majors...which I am not. On and on, back and forth went the emails. Finally he said he'd email the readings to me, four days before the paper was due, only to find that the lectures turned into gibberish when he sent them to me! After reporting all of this faithfully to Elsa, who was getting more and more angry w/my prof, I also showed the emails to my host mom who was super indignant. Sometimes it’s just nice to have people be angry on your behalf.
When Elsa called the faculty office to complain, it turned out they didn't even know he'd canceled class, let alone have his contact info or a copy of the syllabus. Because they didn't know about all the classes he'd canceled, Elsa's call basically counted as an allegation of misconduct or something, and suddenly they wanted my name in order to confront him!!! This was so not my goal, since despite all the miscommunication and flakiness, he's a really interesting teacher and (verbally) has been really nice and supportive about my taking his class. Plus, I really don’t want/need to be getting professors fired…
So bottomline, I get to class on Tuesday, when the paper is due, and obviously haven't done it. After class I go up to him and explain, your last email came out as gobbledygook and I still need the readings. I offered to go to w/e library had the texts and make photocopies myself, but he said they were scattered around the city in many different libraries and it would be too difficult to round them all up. OY. He recommended I ask a friend for the texts, which was great considering that's the one class I haven’t made friends in, and even random strangers had already left by the time we finished talking. Plus the class only meets once a week and that’s the only time I'm at that campus, so my chances of seeing them elsewhere were basically zero. I was too nervous to remember to ask for an extension, but I think it was pretty clear I'd be needing more time. So, bottomline, now its 2am on Friday and I still haven’t started the paper b/c I still don’t have the readings. At this point I'm not stressed about it anymore b/c a) Elsa's on it, and b) I just don’t care that much! There are a million other exciting things to think about, and my grades don’t count here (at least not in my GPA) so it’s just not worth the energy.
Whew. Ok, that was a long story, I apologize. But at least now my blog can be considered slightly more realistic, gritty, hardcore...I mean here you have the seedy underbelly of Chilean universities... haha, sort of.
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