loading photos takes bloody forever

so, without further ado, the photos as promised of the paro (strike). again, photos are not edited, as color values are shot on this monitor. i can not wait to get my hands on photoshop again.

here sheltered u catolica kids march around campus with signs

and have a sit-in. i have video footage of them chanting and such. its actually pretty cool despite the fact that i think they had no concept of what was really going on.

some of the signs out in front of campus. if you look closely, you can see the jesus statue in the distance embracing all those who enter campus (behind the word geo). i find that ironic, but maybe im the only one.

meanwhile, in front of the u de chile, this was going on. water being shot out of crazy tanks at the masses assembled there in protest. they had stopped tear-gassing because of bad press.

tank like thing. shoots water at great speeds. is scary.

high school students boarded up inside their school watching the chaos.

dave´s ear...and colin´s cigarette...and me, in case you forget what i look like.

wordplay

so...i am in love with little black girls. seriously, lets break it down... negro = black; negra = black, feminine; -ita = little, feminine; negrita = little cookies that i buy and eat almost every day, aka, little black girls, and damn are they good. phrases like ´´i just ate a little black girl´´ and ´´i absolutely have to get my hands on a little black girl´´ are a part of my daily life here in chile, and, strangely enough, in spanish they have no racist or sexual connotation. this troubles me. also troubling? i once had lunch with a chilean family i didnt know. it was a volunteer program to introduce foreigners to chilean culture. i enjoyed it well enough until the mother made the comment ´´you used to never see black people in santiago, now they are everywhere!´´ aside from the obvious nationalistic righteousness of the phrase, the kicker of it was that, other than one african american student in my program from u of m, i find myself surprised to see more than 3 black people in any given week. and asian or indian people? forget it. everywhere? really? i think you might be exaggerating a bit. what chile is severly lacking is diversity.

granted, for a long time chile had more people fleeing its borders than knocking down its doors trying to get in. a dictatorship does that to you. however, it is a strange feeling to realize that we are the diversity. many people have little, if any, experience with strangers that look differently than they do. i am aware that i look like a foreigner a majority of the time, but it is more my mannerisms and american self-important attitude than my outward appearance. there exist chileans that are whiter, blonder, more freckled or european looking than i am. however, there are little, if any, african chileans.

conversations with the girl on my program have made my respect for her skyrocket. she has been taught her entire american life that she doesnt have to deal with discrimination and prejudice, and yet, for the past four months she has had no other option but to swallow it. all of us get stared at here, its the machismo thing, and yes, its annoying, but for her it is different. at times she is more of a sexual object, at times feared, lusted after, looked down upon, cursed. given the choice, ill stick with wolf whistles and obnoxious ´´que liiiiiiiinda´´ catcalls any day. i do not pretend to understand her experience. not surprisingly, given the strong and optimistic person that she is, she has adopted an amazing attitude. children, for whom it may be their first and only experience with a person of a different race, deserve kind treatment. no one will be served by creating new stereotypes. youths, who need to know better, should be taught. adults, who should know better...well, theres no protection for them.

i initially struggled with the obligation of being a representative of my country and culture. the american stereotypes of fast food and george bush are tough to combat. people dont understand that we are not a people homogeneous in our beliefs or actions, nor do many believe that life in the us is not like the movies. however difficult that may have been for me, it is nothing compared to having to represent an entire race of people, many belonging to cultures she has never seen nor experienced. i am in awe of her inner strength.

and so, while i do love negritas, i would love them more with a different name (in this case a rose by another name would smell sweeter). many chileans (not all, of course) have a long way to go in understanding and appreciating other cultures.

and dont even get me started on the chilean name for a mcdonald´s happy meal.

chile que he vivido

im sorry to all the non-spanish speakers who read this...which is probably everyone. i was recently charged with summarizing my experiences in chile. below you will find the paper that resulted, a bit cheesy, but at the same time true. i would translate it, but im pretty tired now. instead you will probably find something similar (in english, i promise) but with less cheese in a few days or so. also, more pictures will follow from the strikes, the desert, and perhaps my mountian excursion. that is, provided that i can snag them from others, as my digital camera was recently stolen, but that also is a story for another day (and not even a good one).

Hace cuatro meses que llegué en Santiago de Chile. Eso tiempo ha sido lo más rápido y lo más lento en mi vida. A veces la cosa que quería más era mi familia o algo familiar de mi vida allá. A la misma vez, no estoy lista a salir de ese país. Todavía existe demasiada cosas que quiero hacer. No siento bien preparada a resumir mis experiencias porque las no han terminado. Solo hace algunos meses que he sentido acostumbrada y cómoda en chile. He empezado tener mejores amigos en Chile aparte de mis amigos del programa. De repente, es tiempo a prepararme a salir. No sé como eso pasa…pero también las cosas que me pasaron han sido increíbles.
La cosa la más importante a mi el la conocimiento de nueva gente. He conocido personas muy distintas, de mi universidad, de mi país, de mi mundo. He tratado cada persona como una nueva oportunidad. Cada persona tiene perspectivos diferentes, historias diferentes. También cada persona me ha enseñado algo sobre Chile, el mundo, o mi misma. Por ejemplo, mi mamá chilena, Paty, me enseña algo cada día. Ella siempre está hablando de la cultura chilena, de su día, de lo que está ocurriendo. Ella me explicó mucho sobre el paro y noticias. Además, me da el amor y afección que me extraño.
Otro aspecto importante es que he estado en Chile durante cosas muy importantes en la historia del país. Yo la vi a la nueva presidenta Michele Bachelet en su primera charla con la gente de Santiago. Estuve en La Moneda durante su primero discurso. El hecho que pudiera ver ese evento monumental me importaba mucho. Estoy feliz que Chile votara una mujer quien es socialista, agnóstica y separada de su esposo a ser su líder. No creo que los estados unidos puedan hacer lo mismo, no ahora. Por todo de su machismo, eso me parecía bastante tolerante.
También, estaba aquí durante del paro estudiantil. Fui a Alameda durante las protestas. Me parecía que los estudiantes no tuvieran ni un plan ni organización. Solo miré a niños tirando piedras a los caballeros. Creo que eso no va a ayudar su meta. La lastima es que están pidiendo más igualdad dentro de la sistema educativa, pero es probable que los caballeros sean caballeros porque no recibían una buena educación. No sabían donde dirigir su frustración y entonces todos sufrían. Estoy de acuerdo con lo que piden los estudiantes, solo esperaba que ellos lo pidieran en una manera mejor, sin violencia.
He viajado mucho dentro del país, pero no bastante. Siempre es una pregunta de dinero, y nunca hay bastante dinero por todo quiero hacer. Estuve en Viña de Mar, Valparaíso, Puerto Varas, Valdivia, Niebla, Villarrica, Pucón, San Pedro de Atacama, Batuco, y por supuesto Santiago. Tenía la oportunidad a viajar en Argentina, a Buenos Aires y Mendoza, y Colonia de Sacramento en Uruguay también. Como dije, he viajado mucho, pero quedan muchos lugares donde quiero ir. Me encantan las diferencias dentro las cuidades, los partes pobres y los partes ricos, los hermosos y los feos. La distinción es importante.
También, he encantado ver los paisajes del país. En el sur, estaba lloviendo y estábamos mojados pero en el norte estaba lo más seca que he estado en mi vida. Toda de mi piel estaba pelando. La región de los lagos era tan verde en contrasto con el desierto de Atacama donde era colores de tierra y sol. No existía nada más. Y siempre a mi me encanta la playa del mar. Los sonidos de las ondas del mar me hacían dormir suavemente y los olores de la sal me fascinaron.
Una cosa que no me gusta es el machismo. Soy una mujer muy independiente y el tratamiento de los hombres me hace sentir un poco rara. Nunca he tenido miedo, pero a mi no me gusta sentir como toda la gente me está mirando. Tampoco no quiero recibir gritas en las calles. Solo quiero ser mi mismo y que nadie me moleste. Sería feliz a caminar en las calles de Ann Arbor y sin la atención de cada hombre en la región. Di cuenta que las gritas solo ocurre cuando no hay un hombre conmigo. Por eso, los hombres de los estados unidos no entienden la gravedad de la situación. He caminado la misma calle con y sin un hombre dentro de cinco minutos y tenía dos experiencias distintas. Yo hablé con un amigo chileno sobre eso cuando el gritó a una mujer en la calle frente de mi. Fue una conversación muy interesante porque estábamos venidos de dos sistemas culturales diferentes. Yo sé que el machismo es una parte de la cultura chilena, pero no sé porque las mujeres acá toleran el tratamiento así.
Cada día en Chile ha sido una sorpresa. A veces yo paro y pienso de lo que estoy haciendo en esa momento. Antes de llegué, no pudiera adivinar lo que iba a hacer. Fui ´parapenting´ desde un montaña en Argentina, ´sandboarding´ en la arena de la valle de la muerte, anduve en una caballo al lado de un lago durante el atardecer, pero, lo más importante a mi, comuniqué con gente en una idioma que no es mío durante cuatro meses. Ha estado difícil, pero cada día es mejor, y eso es que digo a mi misma “cada día mejor”, como la frase de Ñuñoa, mi comuna. Es un poco tonto, pero me ayuda a pensar en eso. Cuando yo pienso de mi nivel de castellano cuando llegué, me hace orgullosa y me da la confianza seguir.
Sé que es cliché, pero no existen palabras que pueden explicar bastante mis experiencias acá. Por eso, estoy feliz que mis padres pudieran visitarme. Ahora Chile es una parte importante de mi vida. Es difícil a explicarla a personas quienes no han visto Chile. Casi toda de la gente en mi vida nunca podría entender la realidad de mi vida acá, lo que hago cada día, los sonidos que oyó cuando camino en las calles, el color de mi casa, mi voz cuando hablo en castellano. No entenderían la montaña rusa que ha sido mi vida, mis emociones. No cantidad ni calidad de fotos o cuentos va a funcionar como estar en Chile conmigo. Chile, y Santiago en específico, van a tener una parte de mi corazón siempre. He encontrado mi misma acá. He descubierto mi camino, creo. Nada va a cambiar eso.

social explosion

we are on strike.

for the past week or so there has been rumblings of trouble emerging from the high school level. as early as last friday, schools were gated and gates barred with stacked chairs and desks to prevent entry, the outsides of the buildings covered with signs decrying the government. The high schoolers are protesting the costs of national college entry exams, student transportation, and, most importantly, the localization of public schooling. during the pinochet regime public schools were shifted from the control of the national government to that of the municipalities. this has resulted in a gross distribution of resources much like we see in the district system of the united states. quite obviously, there are regions that are funding their schools adequately, and there are those that are vastly underfunded. for the past two months i have been volunteering in one such school, and i can assert that the situations are awful: 40-50 kids to one teacher at the first grade level, minimal discipline, hardly any resources...the kids are lucky if they do manage to learn. so, the high schoolers are calling attention to the broken promises that the past few governments have made to them by boarding up their facilities and taking to the streets. private high schools also joined the fight, saying that regardless of their own financial situation, more equal education should be available to all.

tuesday, the pontificia universidad catolica de chile took to their markers and drawing paper, uniting with the highschoolers in a show of solidarity and bringing the university to a screeching halt. since then, protests, marches, songs, posters, (as well as grills with hot dogs and burgers) have been in high supply while classes have not. since each individual department votes daily to decide if they will continue to support the strike some classes have gone on, albiet with suspiciously low numbers. each campus (i have classes on three of the four) has its own distinct way of participating with the strike. san joaquin, the largest campus, has been home to several loud marches throughout the campus, as crowds move from one location to the next shouting and singing. campus oriente, home to both music and art schools among others, has a hippie-love approach, and the posters adorning the gates and walls here are certianly the most appealing. casa central, closer to downtown santiago, has gated up all of its entrances but one and posted aproximately 564849 security guards around it. there has been scattered violence in the downtown area, including random and senseless burning of objects that has lead to unnecessary teargassing and the detainment of about 700 people (hey, sounds like michigan state).

the government, ministry of education, and student organization representatives met yesterday. the students will continue to strike until an agreement is reached, expected some time friday.

The most impressive part of all of this to me is that people, the entire country in fact, are actually paying attention to a bunch of high schoolers. i cant imagine this taking place in the united states, not only because i dont see high schoolers uniting on a national level (or even a state level) for a common cause, but also because no one would pay attention to them even if they did. our country is too apathetic. also, the rich people just wouldnt want to share the educational resources of their trust fund babies with the rest of the country.

i find it fascinating to be here during all of this, although when the metro conductior tells everyone to shut the windows of the train so that tear gas does not get in i do feel a bit strange.

ps. its june! where did my life go?

history lesson

once upon a time, say september 11 (ironic?) 1973, a man named Augusto Pinochet stormed the chilean government, killing existing president Salvador (also ironic) Allende and taking power of the country. with the ´´help´´ of the united states government, of course. what followed was 17 years of dictatorship at the hands of pinochet, in which over 27,000 members of the liberal youth opposition were kidnapped, tortured, and usually killed, although many of the bodies were never seen again. there are many chileans who will debate the horrors of this time with you, especially members of the upper class who benefited from the economic gains of the time. there are also many who choose to believe that the human rights abuses never occurred.

recently the members of the michigan-wisconsin program were treated to a tour headed by a former prisoner of the regime. before-hand, some students familiar with more conservative chileans were warned about the ´´brainwashing´´ they were about to recieve. we were taken to one of the earliest detention centers, where our guide described, sometimes with too much detail, the atrocities that had happened to him and others at the center. afterwards, we went to the santiago general cemetery, where lie the bodies of over 6.5 million people, including salvador allende.

the trip to the cemetery was quite interesting, as the richer family tombs, ornately carved and impressively expensive, gave way to smaller, simpler structures. these bled into plots of land covered with flowers, and then those less cared for, and finally ´´rentable´´ and common graves. the contrast between the economically distinct sectors was breathtaking, as is the chilean relationship with the dead. the cemetery was full of people caring for tombs and graves, hanging out by the family site.

although at some points i felt as though the tour might have been a bit over the top (as a frequent tour guide, i cynically doubted the legitimacy of his tears), it is impossible, for me at least, to ignore the reality of the dictatorship. people left their houses each day not knowing if they were going to disappear during the day. and it wasnt that long ago. the contrast between that time and now is incredible, but this world is a crazy crazy place

rented graves mean they move your body to the common grave after your family stops paying