From this week's issues of the Economist:
Chile's Army seeks to bury its murky past
Thanks to record prices for copper, Chile’s main export, and an odd arrangement (predating Mr Pinochet) under which Codelco, the state copper producer, transfers 10% of its export revenues (amounting to $1.4 billion last year) to the armed forces for capital expenditure, there has been money to spend. The finance ministry has the last word, but the army has been able to shop extensively, with acquisitions including German tanks and better electronics. Today, Chile’s is the most modern and best-equipped army in Latin America, says Armen Kouyoumdjian, an adviser to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Photos from Viña
Nani sneaks up to front row during performances at the Ñuñoa festivities to get a picture with the mayor of the municipality, Pedro Sabat. Nice!
Parque O'Higgins Dieciocho festivities with friends
Us with Lucky and Ivan at the Viña house
Us with the Patricio and his wife Fatima at their house in Viña at sunset
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Ciao Abuela
Has to be some of the best days I've since coming to Chile when my grandmother was here. The weather was great, the food excellent, and it was so great to see family again.
Last I left off we were having a family lunch to celebrate the 18th. A family friend of my host parents, Patricio, who they met in Switzerland and now lives in the beach town of Viña del Mar also ate with us. During the lunch, he invited my grandmother and I to a barbecue at his house the following day and there was no way we wouldn't say no.
That afternoon we headed over to Parque O'Higgins for a large fiesta that was being held for the community. There were so many families, food stands, vendors, kite flyers, empanadas, anticuchos (kabobs), cueca (nacional dance); it was chaotic. We coincidentally met up with a handful of friends from my program and spent the early evening sharing stories from the past week. My grandmother and I had to take off early top meet my host dad Ivan for dinner. Unfortunately we couldn't go to one of my favorite restaurants (Liguria) because it was closed due to holiday. Instead we had went to a simple place downtown.
The next morning we got a bus ticket to his Viña, only and hour and a half, arriving around noon. Patricio picked us up and took us to his house on the hillside that overlooked the entire city. It was an eighteen person outdoor lunch with many family members and friends. Their hospitality was amazing and it was the perfect way to spend the day. We headed back around 8.
Saturday I headed over to my grandmother's hotel to take advantage of the delicious (and free) breakfast they offer there. Afterward headed off to downtown to pickup some gifts for some of my grandmother's friends and met up with my buddy Dan Nemiroff for the afternoon. We tried to go to Cerro San Cristobal to ride the funicular, but because it was a Saturday with great weather on a holiday weekend, there were tons of people, especially kids, so we decided to hang out at the hotel pool and have lunch instead.
That night we had a great dinner with just my host parents and my grandmother at a nice Italian restaurant near the hotel. It was a great way for us to finish up my grandmother's trip. She left the next morning early, but her five days here were very well spent. She and I both are looking forward to getting together with the entire family in Argentina and I'm already counting down the days.
I spent my Sunday in usual fashion heading out to Basic Bar for my daily dose of football. It's a weekly tradition at this point.
On Monday it was farewell to my good friend John 'Lefrog' Holder who left Chile that evening. We had a nice afternoon tribute for him and went to the airport to send him off. It's going to be tough losing a key member of the extreme team. I'll see you again soon John.
Class started back up today, yet one of my classes was oddly canceled for no apparent reason. No complaints. Exams begin next Thursday for me, and an in-class essay the following Tuesday. Not looking forward to those, but I have plenty of time to prepare. Gah!
Last I left off we were having a family lunch to celebrate the 18th. A family friend of my host parents, Patricio, who they met in Switzerland and now lives in the beach town of Viña del Mar also ate with us. During the lunch, he invited my grandmother and I to a barbecue at his house the following day and there was no way we wouldn't say no.
That afternoon we headed over to Parque O'Higgins for a large fiesta that was being held for the community. There were so many families, food stands, vendors, kite flyers, empanadas, anticuchos (kabobs), cueca (nacional dance); it was chaotic. We coincidentally met up with a handful of friends from my program and spent the early evening sharing stories from the past week. My grandmother and I had to take off early top meet my host dad Ivan for dinner. Unfortunately we couldn't go to one of my favorite restaurants (Liguria) because it was closed due to holiday. Instead we had went to a simple place downtown.
The next morning we got a bus ticket to his Viña, only and hour and a half, arriving around noon. Patricio picked us up and took us to his house on the hillside that overlooked the entire city. It was an eighteen person outdoor lunch with many family members and friends. Their hospitality was amazing and it was the perfect way to spend the day. We headed back around 8.
Saturday I headed over to my grandmother's hotel to take advantage of the delicious (and free) breakfast they offer there. Afterward headed off to downtown to pickup some gifts for some of my grandmother's friends and met up with my buddy Dan Nemiroff for the afternoon. We tried to go to Cerro San Cristobal to ride the funicular, but because it was a Saturday with great weather on a holiday weekend, there were tons of people, especially kids, so we decided to hang out at the hotel pool and have lunch instead.
That night we had a great dinner with just my host parents and my grandmother at a nice Italian restaurant near the hotel. It was a great way for us to finish up my grandmother's trip. She left the next morning early, but her five days here were very well spent. She and I both are looking forward to getting together with the entire family in Argentina and I'm already counting down the days.
I spent my Sunday in usual fashion heading out to Basic Bar for my daily dose of football. It's a weekly tradition at this point.
On Monday it was farewell to my good friend John 'Lefrog' Holder who left Chile that evening. We had a nice afternoon tribute for him and went to the airport to send him off. It's going to be tough losing a key member of the extreme team. I'll see you again soon John.
Class started back up today, yet one of my classes was oddly canceled for no apparent reason. No complaints. Exams begin next Thursday for me, and an in-class essay the following Tuesday. Not looking forward to those, but I have plenty of time to prepare. Gah!
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Abuela
My grandmother has finally arrived. I am so happy to have her here and show her life in Santiago. My host parents were very excited to meet her and love the extra company. I will just recap my activities in the past week leading up to the arrival of my abuela.
Last Wednesday was the all important Chile vs. Colombia World Cup qualifier match, but something more important happened earlier in the morning that I had not expected. I woke up to a rare early morning phone call on the main house line and it turned out to be a family relative sending the news that my host parents had become grandparents following the birth of their first grandson. While it was known that on of their daughter's was pregnant, she was expected later in September. Regardless, Elias was born the morning of Sept 10th fully healthy and the family is overjoyed. It appeared to be a good omen.
With painted faces again, I went to the stadium with incredible nervousness and anticipation: Chile loses, kiss the World Cup 2010 dream goodbye. Stadium completely sold out once again with flags waving everywhere and chants of Chi-Chi-Chi...le, le, le...Viva Chile every 30 seconds or so, Chile jumped out to an early 2-0 in the first half, and ended the match with a 4-0 wipeout. The other teams in the South American group all tied their opponents that night, putting Chile near the top of the group for qualifying.
Thursday was the other 11th of September, the anniversary of Pinochet's march on La Moneda to begin his coup in Chile. Usually there are riots and protests all day, but the heavy mount of police all around the city and the fact that a violence plot had been discovered the night before which involved about 500 people, the day was much more low key than expected. Early that evening I said goodbye to my Santa Cruz friend Lydia and wished her good luck and good times for her program in Concepcion in a more southern part of Chile. While there was not much during the day, I specifically tried not to be out late that night and with good reason. I heard gunshots, bottle breaking, and much more as I went to sleep that night. The power to our complex flickered often, while my parents expected it to be entirely cut by activists at some point.
The power luckily stayed on, but other barrios weren't so lucky. 15 police were injured, and numerous activists detained for the violence that night. Luckily, they're weren't too many deaths if any at all. It seemed pretty hypocritical that Chileans protests the terrorism of the state that took place back in '73 by inciting more violence, but I am not one to judge a cultural phenomenon I guess. Friday morning I traveled to the nearby farmer's market (feria) near my house with my mother to pickup fruits, vegetables, and checkout the scene. There are loads of vendors, everyone calling my mother reina (queen) when she passed by the booth to encourage business. It is very convenient for my mother to walk a couple blocks to pickup cooking supplies that are fresh, cheap, and straight from the farms. In the afternoon, my host parents got to video Skype with their daughter and son-in-law with the new baby Elias: they were very happy.
Saturday was the annual cleaning day in our house, with every inch of the condominium cleaned. This took most of the day to take care of, and at night my host parents and I went out to the movies to see a Chilean film called Tony Manero, which is a disturbing story that takes place during the coup about a older man obsessed with the character Tony Manero from Saturday Night Fever and dreams of dancing on a television program in the same way. There is tons of symbolism and shows the desperation the protagonist in achieving his Americanized fantasy while portraying the unlivable times of the coup.
Football Sunday I went back to my favorite bar in Santiago to catch all the games that day. I have made good friends with most of the people there, just wish there would be some Chileans who like American football that would come in, but that might be asking too much. It is a new bar, so we shall see. I did however run into an Economist/Political officer of the U.S. Embassy here in Santiago. I had unsuccessfully tried to explore the embassy last week, but with no luck due to specific hours and lack of action in part of the national holidays and fiestas going on. Hopefully I can checkout the the scene at the embassy a bit more with the help of this new contact.
Following the extensive violence that is going on in Bolivia over president Evo Morales's attempt to distribute privately owned natural gas amongst all citizens of the country, an emergency conference was called on behalf of Chilean President and current head of UnaSur, a young organization of all the Latin American countries to work together during times of problems. The meeting took place at La Moneda on Monday afternoon, with presidents of Bolivia, Argentina, Ecuador, Venezuela, Brazil, Paraguay, and Colombia in attendance (Peru declined to participate because of the tense relations with Bolivia). After 5 hours, a Declaration of La Moneda was created to be used as a guide for resolving the crisis, but I am not sure how much can be changed without the participation of the opposition in international discussions. Following the meeting, Bolivia arrested a mayor of the one of the rich territories controlling the natural gas in Bolivia and for now the violence has subsided but the resolution has not been achieved. More will become clear once Evo Morales's newly constructed constitution is voted upon in a referendum scheduled to take place in December.
I spent my Tuesday planning my surprise visit to the airport to see my grandmother as she arrived. She expected to meet me at the hotel for dinner that night, but I bought a bouquet of flowers and arranged for a transport to take me on a one-way route to the airport. The plan worked perfectly and she was so happy to see me right away. We had a late dinner at an Italian restaurant near her hotel that night.
I came back to her Hotel the next morning for breakfast. Afterward we went on a full tour of the city to see all the sight and had outdoor lunch in downtown. She picked up some gifts for her secretaries at the office from an artisan market as well as a beautiful watercolor of the Aconcagua for my grandfather. After returning to her hotel to take care of some work and give a call back home to checkup on my grandfather, and a nap for me, we went to my house to introduce her to my host parents. For transportation, we took a bus, which she said was the first she had used other than one briefly in New York, in 40 years back in Argentina. My host parents had a nice chat with her over tea, and after we went to the National Stadium for a early celebration for the Chilean independence holiday. We watched traditional cueca dancing and music with the mayor of the community in attendance. My grandmother confidently went over to the mayor and got a picture with him. I'll be sure to post it next time.
We are about to sit down for an Independence day lunch at my place and I am not even presentable. I'll post sometime on Sunday night after my grandmother heads home from her vacation to visit me. Cheers and Happy Dieciocherra!
Last Wednesday was the all important Chile vs. Colombia World Cup qualifier match, but something more important happened earlier in the morning that I had not expected. I woke up to a rare early morning phone call on the main house line and it turned out to be a family relative sending the news that my host parents had become grandparents following the birth of their first grandson. While it was known that on of their daughter's was pregnant, she was expected later in September. Regardless, Elias was born the morning of Sept 10th fully healthy and the family is overjoyed. It appeared to be a good omen.
With painted faces again, I went to the stadium with incredible nervousness and anticipation: Chile loses, kiss the World Cup 2010 dream goodbye. Stadium completely sold out once again with flags waving everywhere and chants of Chi-Chi-Chi...le, le, le...Viva Chile every 30 seconds or so, Chile jumped out to an early 2-0 in the first half, and ended the match with a 4-0 wipeout. The other teams in the South American group all tied their opponents that night, putting Chile near the top of the group for qualifying.
Thursday was the other 11th of September, the anniversary of Pinochet's march on La Moneda to begin his coup in Chile. Usually there are riots and protests all day, but the heavy mount of police all around the city and the fact that a violence plot had been discovered the night before which involved about 500 people, the day was much more low key than expected. Early that evening I said goodbye to my Santa Cruz friend Lydia and wished her good luck and good times for her program in Concepcion in a more southern part of Chile. While there was not much during the day, I specifically tried not to be out late that night and with good reason. I heard gunshots, bottle breaking, and much more as I went to sleep that night. The power to our complex flickered often, while my parents expected it to be entirely cut by activists at some point.
The power luckily stayed on, but other barrios weren't so lucky. 15 police were injured, and numerous activists detained for the violence that night. Luckily, they're weren't too many deaths if any at all. It seemed pretty hypocritical that Chileans protests the terrorism of the state that took place back in '73 by inciting more violence, but I am not one to judge a cultural phenomenon I guess. Friday morning I traveled to the nearby farmer's market (feria) near my house with my mother to pickup fruits, vegetables, and checkout the scene. There are loads of vendors, everyone calling my mother reina (queen) when she passed by the booth to encourage business. It is very convenient for my mother to walk a couple blocks to pickup cooking supplies that are fresh, cheap, and straight from the farms. In the afternoon, my host parents got to video Skype with their daughter and son-in-law with the new baby Elias: they were very happy.
Saturday was the annual cleaning day in our house, with every inch of the condominium cleaned. This took most of the day to take care of, and at night my host parents and I went out to the movies to see a Chilean film called Tony Manero, which is a disturbing story that takes place during the coup about a older man obsessed with the character Tony Manero from Saturday Night Fever and dreams of dancing on a television program in the same way. There is tons of symbolism and shows the desperation the protagonist in achieving his Americanized fantasy while portraying the unlivable times of the coup.
Football Sunday I went back to my favorite bar in Santiago to catch all the games that day. I have made good friends with most of the people there, just wish there would be some Chileans who like American football that would come in, but that might be asking too much. It is a new bar, so we shall see. I did however run into an Economist/Political officer of the U.S. Embassy here in Santiago. I had unsuccessfully tried to explore the embassy last week, but with no luck due to specific hours and lack of action in part of the national holidays and fiestas going on. Hopefully I can checkout the the scene at the embassy a bit more with the help of this new contact.
Following the extensive violence that is going on in Bolivia over president Evo Morales's attempt to distribute privately owned natural gas amongst all citizens of the country, an emergency conference was called on behalf of Chilean President and current head of UnaSur, a young organization of all the Latin American countries to work together during times of problems. The meeting took place at La Moneda on Monday afternoon, with presidents of Bolivia, Argentina, Ecuador, Venezuela, Brazil, Paraguay, and Colombia in attendance (Peru declined to participate because of the tense relations with Bolivia). After 5 hours, a Declaration of La Moneda was created to be used as a guide for resolving the crisis, but I am not sure how much can be changed without the participation of the opposition in international discussions. Following the meeting, Bolivia arrested a mayor of the one of the rich territories controlling the natural gas in Bolivia and for now the violence has subsided but the resolution has not been achieved. More will become clear once Evo Morales's newly constructed constitution is voted upon in a referendum scheduled to take place in December.
I spent my Tuesday planning my surprise visit to the airport to see my grandmother as she arrived. She expected to meet me at the hotel for dinner that night, but I bought a bouquet of flowers and arranged for a transport to take me on a one-way route to the airport. The plan worked perfectly and she was so happy to see me right away. We had a late dinner at an Italian restaurant near her hotel that night.
I came back to her Hotel the next morning for breakfast. Afterward we went on a full tour of the city to see all the sight and had outdoor lunch in downtown. She picked up some gifts for her secretaries at the office from an artisan market as well as a beautiful watercolor of the Aconcagua for my grandfather. After returning to her hotel to take care of some work and give a call back home to checkup on my grandfather, and a nap for me, we went to my house to introduce her to my host parents. For transportation, we took a bus, which she said was the first she had used other than one briefly in New York, in 40 years back in Argentina. My host parents had a nice chat with her over tea, and after we went to the National Stadium for a early celebration for the Chilean independence holiday. We watched traditional cueca dancing and music with the mayor of the community in attendance. My grandmother confidently went over to the mayor and got a picture with him. I'll be sure to post it next time.
We are about to sit down for an Independence day lunch at my place and I am not even presentable. I'll post sometime on Sunday night after my grandmother heads home from her vacation to visit me. Cheers and Happy Dieciocherra!
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Another Break
I can't get enough of how loose studies have been here in Chile this semester. Just as I am getting accustomed to my schedule and routine, essentially all my classes take a two week break for 11th of Sept (The Anniversary of the first day of Pinochet's coup), and then the 18th is the beginning of the Independence weekend that essentially last an entire week. Not that I have any problems with any of this, especially since my Grandmother is coming for 5 days next week. I just feel like total number of classes is quite limited by the political fervor...
Speaking of, last Thursday I had my full day's schedule until about 3:30 p.m. (right in the middle of my last class at the University of Chile campus), when class was canceled due to an on campus riot brewing right outside the classroom door. The teacher refused to halt class after two recommendations from passer-byres outside the classroom, but once the tear gas started seeping in creating tremendous discomfort to half the class, it was time to leave. Apparently is was 'Combatant Day' because a few years back a student was killed by police during a protest. In turn, a couple dozen students on campus covered their faces with cloth to protect themselves from the gas as well as their identities while constructing Molotov cocktails and throwing rocks at riot police just outside the campus walls. After fifteen minutes or so, large riot vehicles with water cannons mounted on top rolled in to blast anyone in range. Police also launched tear gas capsules over a good portion of the campus. Definitely one of the most horrible feelings of my life after breathing that stuff in. A couple students were able to get direct shots with their Molotovs on the vehicles, but eventually I assumed they were subdued; I didn't stick around to find out.
On Friday I went out to lunch with my host-father; always entertaining. He loves to talk about anything (sports and politics are most common between us) and always has interesting stories and great jokes. Afterward, I went to a part supply store to pickup some face-paint for the Chile futbol match that coming Sunday. That evening I went to go see a Chilean documentary about the most prestigious futbol club in Chile (Colo-Colo), which explained the reasoning behind the devout passion for the team while following the head of a faction who had recently been paralyzed after a fight between fellow fans. I found it amusing that before the film started, a person representing the film stood up to warn the audience not to riot in the theater or brak anything since the night before two movie theaters had just that happen. the film was obviously a bit biased, but did hint at the gang-like structure of these groups of fans (drugs, mob-like hits on opposing fans or even fellow fans).
All day Saturday was spent at a mining town called Sewell, the mine: el Teniente. This high altitude mine is the deepest in the world in terms of below the surface depth rather than true elevation, and was once a massive community of Chilean workers run by primarily by American industrialists. Now it is controlled by the Chilean company Codelco and remains an important part of the national economy. We got a thorough underground tour as well as a guide-led walk through the snow-covered city.
Sunday I went with my host-father and two buddies to the enormous Bio Bio market in the Franklin barrio. This part of the town is the oldest in the city of Santiago, and is packed with street vendors for blocks. My host-father joked that if you were looking for an elephant, I am sure you could find someone who was selling it. I was in search of a Chilean national team futbol jersey, but ended up buying a Universidad de Chile jersey instead. I'll have more chances to get a jersey, and with more selection. Surprisingly there weren't many jerseys, but then again most of the stuff for sale is second hand or stolen so I can't complain. The afternoon I spent at a Gringo bar called Bar Basico to watch the opening weekend of American football. The owner of the bar is from Bakersfield and started the restaurant since there is no place in the city where you can get a quality burrito nor Cheeseburger. They also have a premium satellite package to get all the football games. I'll be back many a weekends for sure.
That evening was the Chile vs. Brazil futbol match that I had long been awaiting. Too bad Brazil took care of business winning 3-0. Chile played sloppily, took no advantage of their scoring opportunities, and lost one of their best players for the next two games because of red card (cleats up tackle). The stadium was totally packed and the game was such a disappointment. Not that I expected Chile to win, but certainly a better showing for the home crowd. The experience was unlike any sporting event I had been to and hopefully I can see a win on Wednesday when they take on Colombia. This match is the deciding game whether Chile or Brazil qualify for the World Cup in 2010. Each have the same number of point in the South American group, and the loser will almost certainly be out of contention. Below my very quick and rough Photoshop job of the field.
Monday was a light day of reading for class, watching the tennis finals of the U.S. open, and the late Monday Night football games. It's fun to watch sports in Spanish since the positions, rules, plays all have different names/words that you would expect and the primarily Argentinian announcer commentary is priceless. Trying to clearly explain all of the American football facets to my host father is even more difficult.
With a partial day of class today, there wasn't too much news from today other than a couple of my class test dates have been decided and that there is essentially no school for the next two weeks other than a single class next Tuesday. I am getting more and more anxious for my Grandmother to come: we are going to have so much fun. I had one of the program director's email me a list of holiday activities going on throughout the city that I will combine with my own personal itinerary of stuff to do as well. Hopefully the weather picks up a little bit; it's been overcast.smoggy the past few days following some excellent early-spring sun and warm weather.
Chile has got to win tomorrow...Chi, chi, chi...le, le, le...viva Chile! Vamos...vamos Chilenos...esta noche...tenemos que ganar!!!!
Above myself, Daniel Nemrioff and Finn Telles
Speaking of, last Thursday I had my full day's schedule until about 3:30 p.m. (right in the middle of my last class at the University of Chile campus), when class was canceled due to an on campus riot brewing right outside the classroom door. The teacher refused to halt class after two recommendations from passer-byres outside the classroom, but once the tear gas started seeping in creating tremendous discomfort to half the class, it was time to leave. Apparently is was 'Combatant Day' because a few years back a student was killed by police during a protest. In turn, a couple dozen students on campus covered their faces with cloth to protect themselves from the gas as well as their identities while constructing Molotov cocktails and throwing rocks at riot police just outside the campus walls. After fifteen minutes or so, large riot vehicles with water cannons mounted on top rolled in to blast anyone in range. Police also launched tear gas capsules over a good portion of the campus. Definitely one of the most horrible feelings of my life after breathing that stuff in. A couple students were able to get direct shots with their Molotovs on the vehicles, but eventually I assumed they were subdued; I didn't stick around to find out.
On Friday I went out to lunch with my host-father; always entertaining. He loves to talk about anything (sports and politics are most common between us) and always has interesting stories and great jokes. Afterward, I went to a part supply store to pickup some face-paint for the Chile futbol match that coming Sunday. That evening I went to go see a Chilean documentary about the most prestigious futbol club in Chile (Colo-Colo), which explained the reasoning behind the devout passion for the team while following the head of a faction who had recently been paralyzed after a fight between fellow fans. I found it amusing that before the film started, a person representing the film stood up to warn the audience not to riot in the theater or brak anything since the night before two movie theaters had just that happen. the film was obviously a bit biased, but did hint at the gang-like structure of these groups of fans (drugs, mob-like hits on opposing fans or even fellow fans).
All day Saturday was spent at a mining town called Sewell, the mine: el Teniente. This high altitude mine is the deepest in the world in terms of below the surface depth rather than true elevation, and was once a massive community of Chilean workers run by primarily by American industrialists. Now it is controlled by the Chilean company Codelco and remains an important part of the national economy. We got a thorough underground tour as well as a guide-led walk through the snow-covered city.
Sunday I went with my host-father and two buddies to the enormous Bio Bio market in the Franklin barrio. This part of the town is the oldest in the city of Santiago, and is packed with street vendors for blocks. My host-father joked that if you were looking for an elephant, I am sure you could find someone who was selling it. I was in search of a Chilean national team futbol jersey, but ended up buying a Universidad de Chile jersey instead. I'll have more chances to get a jersey, and with more selection. Surprisingly there weren't many jerseys, but then again most of the stuff for sale is second hand or stolen so I can't complain. The afternoon I spent at a Gringo bar called Bar Basico to watch the opening weekend of American football. The owner of the bar is from Bakersfield and started the restaurant since there is no place in the city where you can get a quality burrito nor Cheeseburger. They also have a premium satellite package to get all the football games. I'll be back many a weekends for sure.
That evening was the Chile vs. Brazil futbol match that I had long been awaiting. Too bad Brazil took care of business winning 3-0. Chile played sloppily, took no advantage of their scoring opportunities, and lost one of their best players for the next two games because of red card (cleats up tackle). The stadium was totally packed and the game was such a disappointment. Not that I expected Chile to win, but certainly a better showing for the home crowd. The experience was unlike any sporting event I had been to and hopefully I can see a win on Wednesday when they take on Colombia. This match is the deciding game whether Chile or Brazil qualify for the World Cup in 2010. Each have the same number of point in the South American group, and the loser will almost certainly be out of contention. Below my very quick and rough Photoshop job of the field.
Monday was a light day of reading for class, watching the tennis finals of the U.S. open, and the late Monday Night football games. It's fun to watch sports in Spanish since the positions, rules, plays all have different names/words that you would expect and the primarily Argentinian announcer commentary is priceless. Trying to clearly explain all of the American football facets to my host father is even more difficult.
With a partial day of class today, there wasn't too much news from today other than a couple of my class test dates have been decided and that there is essentially no school for the next two weeks other than a single class next Tuesday. I am getting more and more anxious for my Grandmother to come: we are going to have so much fun. I had one of the program director's email me a list of holiday activities going on throughout the city that I will combine with my own personal itinerary of stuff to do as well. Hopefully the weather picks up a little bit; it's been overcast.smoggy the past few days following some excellent early-spring sun and warm weather.
Chile has got to win tomorrow...Chi, chi, chi...le, le, le...viva Chile! Vamos...vamos Chilenos...esta noche...tenemos que ganar!!!!
Above myself, Daniel Nemrioff and Finn Telles
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Week Two and then some
My routine has been established, and now it's a lot easier.
Early last week I decided that I was not too sold on taking the New Rurality class due to the three mandatory field trips (terrenos), in which I would have to miss my other classes. I have two friends from the program who will continue to take the class despite this obstacle. The subject interests them a bit more I guess. The course seems like a great group of kids, who are all pretty tight knit and hang-out a lot outside of class, so I do regret having to walk away from that. I instead switched into course on the Contemporary History of Chile, which has a change in professor and theme every two weeks. It takes place Tues/Thurs 2:30-4 p.m., so I have just enough time to go home for lunch. Also, now all of my classes are Tues/Thurs...four day weekends every week. Woohoo!
There was a brief moment were I was worried I couldn't make the change because of a bit of bureaucracy with the University of Chile. The 'shopping' period for classes this semester was only a week long due to the strikes and historically it is impossible to make changes once that period passes. However, myself and a couple other foreign students were asking for a reconsideration of this precedent since the organization this quarter was horrific (courses lacking syllabi, strikes, etc.), and luckily they granted out changes. To be honest, I was a bit worried for a second.
Last Wednesday I headed back to my favorite Jazz Club to checkout the Blues lineup they had scheduled that evening. While the music was not that impressive, I did enjoy my night because I asked the lady who works as the door-woman/ticket collector at the club if she wanted to have dinner with me sometime. She gladly accepted, and I learned to discover that she is a student at the University of Chile as well, but in the architecture faculty located downtown (definitely the prettiest campus of them all).
Last Thursday after a full day's load of class, I had the opportunity of watching the Democratic National Convention, specifically Barak Obama's speech. There was a lot of buzz about it down here in Chile since a majority of the citizens are pulling for Obama. I, however, remain undecided and relatively unimpressed with all that I have heard so far. While Obama is a gifted public speaker and through this skill alone can inspire some Americans, I have my doubts about his ability to fix our nation. While I do have more doubts when it comes to John McCain, especially after his Vice Presidential nomination of Sarah Palin (just awful); at this point I would vote for Ron Paul as a write-in than either primary candidate. Luckily there is plenty of time before November 4th, and the all important debates have yet to take place.
On Friday, I headed up to Valle Nevado to go skiing with some buddies. It is definitely the best mountain out of all the few in the outskirts of Santiago. A couple of buddies and I got a ride from our friend Hernan, who is a talented soccer player and used to dedicate all his time to that sport. He had never been to the snow, and after a recent first visit, he became hooked and now he goes up practically everyday and gets tons of benefits from knowing all the people working at the slopes. I finally got a clear day to ski since the two times before had been complete whiteouts and difficult to ski. The weather was amazing and I had a blast.
This past weekend was relatively relaxing for me. I spent most of my time working on an essay due this week for Chilean Culture and Politics class that is mandatory for the entire program. It's an open theme, and I chose to write on the economic implications of the Hacienda system used in Chile up until the late 1960's and the agrarian revolution. Since many of the lectures of my classes overlap, I was able to quote a couple of my professors and had plenty of in-class notes to draw from. When I was not working on my paper, I've been following the tennis U.S. Open tournament that's been going on the past couple weeks. The worldwide competition seems to be getting so much more talented every year, rather than having a pro circuit that is dominated by just one or two players. I myself am cheering for 19 year-old Argentinian Juan Martin del Portro, who currently holds a 23 consecutive match win streak (he's going for his 24th which I am watching his 24th right now as I write), as well as American Andy Roddick who I hope can get over his mental lapse he has had the past few years.
Juan Martin del Potro above, Andy Roddick below...
On Sunday night, I convinced my host parents to go buy a web cam and sign up for Skype so they can visually communicate with their daughters, both of whom live internationally, for free, rather than pay for steep phone calls every Sunday. I also did a bit of 'Skyping' myself with my football buddies back home to take part in an annual fantasy football draft from abroad as well as have a nice chat with a good friend of mine who I met on an airplane who wants me to help him out with a social networking project to aid and inspire my generation to change the world. The project is for the long term, but I am becoming more and more intrigued by dedicating myself to his work.
Monday was a rough day for a good portion of the population here due to a terrible bus accident in the northern part of Chile which resulted in the death of nine high school students traveling for a school field trip. This situations seem to happen every other month due to the poor quality and difficult roads outside of Santiago, combined with bad driving habits, lack enforcement of traffic laws, and obviously drinking and driving. The driver of the bus in this case was simply driving faster than the speed limit around a curve on a hillside. I spent the evening with the girl from the Jazz club. We had a good dinner downtown and I was able to practice my Spanish over the course of the evening. I hope I can keep the relationship going since Chilean are so much more fun to spend time with compared to my gringo buddies. She invited me to the Jazz club's 75th anniversary event in late October and gave me a few tips on things to do around town and with my grandmother when she comes for the Independence days.
Tuesday was just a full day of class followed by late night tennis viewing. I did discover that a Santa Cruz friend of mine arrived early yesterday morning for her Abroad program here in Chile that will be held in the southern part of the country in a little over a week. She wanted to give herself some free time to explore Santiago and get accustomed to the culture, language, and lifestyle.
So all today I gave her a general tour of Santiago, showing her the obvious sites in and around her the area where her hostel is located. I also helped her buy and setup a cellphone, which can be a daunting task for a newcomer. We had some nice lunch downtown at a quaint tea and lunch cafe called Flores Mosqueto. It's satisfying to know I can be a relatively effective tour guide after a little over two months spent here. My host mother left this morning to the southern part of Chile to spend a couple days with her sick mother. That part of Chile is getting pounded with rain, with many houses having to handle flood damage and such. I have to run off to the Jazz club this evening to hopefully listen in on some better blues than the last week, and also to spend time with some friends from the social group I occasionally attend...as well as to see my Chilean friend :)
Should be able to put in an entry sometime next week. I have a field trip with program to a famous mining town and a tour of the mine all Saturday, the Brazil vs. Chile futbol match on Sunday night, and Chile vs. Colombia next Wednesday. Cheers!
P.S. Juan Martin del Potro just lost to Andy Murray in the quarterfinals...shoot, great match though.
Early last week I decided that I was not too sold on taking the New Rurality class due to the three mandatory field trips (terrenos), in which I would have to miss my other classes. I have two friends from the program who will continue to take the class despite this obstacle. The subject interests them a bit more I guess. The course seems like a great group of kids, who are all pretty tight knit and hang-out a lot outside of class, so I do regret having to walk away from that. I instead switched into course on the Contemporary History of Chile, which has a change in professor and theme every two weeks. It takes place Tues/Thurs 2:30-4 p.m., so I have just enough time to go home for lunch. Also, now all of my classes are Tues/Thurs...four day weekends every week. Woohoo!
There was a brief moment were I was worried I couldn't make the change because of a bit of bureaucracy with the University of Chile. The 'shopping' period for classes this semester was only a week long due to the strikes and historically it is impossible to make changes once that period passes. However, myself and a couple other foreign students were asking for a reconsideration of this precedent since the organization this quarter was horrific (courses lacking syllabi, strikes, etc.), and luckily they granted out changes. To be honest, I was a bit worried for a second.
Last Wednesday I headed back to my favorite Jazz Club to checkout the Blues lineup they had scheduled that evening. While the music was not that impressive, I did enjoy my night because I asked the lady who works as the door-woman/ticket collector at the club if she wanted to have dinner with me sometime. She gladly accepted, and I learned to discover that she is a student at the University of Chile as well, but in the architecture faculty located downtown (definitely the prettiest campus of them all).
Last Thursday after a full day's load of class, I had the opportunity of watching the Democratic National Convention, specifically Barak Obama's speech. There was a lot of buzz about it down here in Chile since a majority of the citizens are pulling for Obama. I, however, remain undecided and relatively unimpressed with all that I have heard so far. While Obama is a gifted public speaker and through this skill alone can inspire some Americans, I have my doubts about his ability to fix our nation. While I do have more doubts when it comes to John McCain, especially after his Vice Presidential nomination of Sarah Palin (just awful); at this point I would vote for Ron Paul as a write-in than either primary candidate. Luckily there is plenty of time before November 4th, and the all important debates have yet to take place.
On Friday, I headed up to Valle Nevado to go skiing with some buddies. It is definitely the best mountain out of all the few in the outskirts of Santiago. A couple of buddies and I got a ride from our friend Hernan, who is a talented soccer player and used to dedicate all his time to that sport. He had never been to the snow, and after a recent first visit, he became hooked and now he goes up practically everyday and gets tons of benefits from knowing all the people working at the slopes. I finally got a clear day to ski since the two times before had been complete whiteouts and difficult to ski. The weather was amazing and I had a blast.
This past weekend was relatively relaxing for me. I spent most of my time working on an essay due this week for Chilean Culture and Politics class that is mandatory for the entire program. It's an open theme, and I chose to write on the economic implications of the Hacienda system used in Chile up until the late 1960's and the agrarian revolution. Since many of the lectures of my classes overlap, I was able to quote a couple of my professors and had plenty of in-class notes to draw from. When I was not working on my paper, I've been following the tennis U.S. Open tournament that's been going on the past couple weeks. The worldwide competition seems to be getting so much more talented every year, rather than having a pro circuit that is dominated by just one or two players. I myself am cheering for 19 year-old Argentinian Juan Martin del Portro, who currently holds a 23 consecutive match win streak (he's going for his 24th which I am watching his 24th right now as I write), as well as American Andy Roddick who I hope can get over his mental lapse he has had the past few years.
Juan Martin del Potro above, Andy Roddick below...
On Sunday night, I convinced my host parents to go buy a web cam and sign up for Skype so they can visually communicate with their daughters, both of whom live internationally, for free, rather than pay for steep phone calls every Sunday. I also did a bit of 'Skyping' myself with my football buddies back home to take part in an annual fantasy football draft from abroad as well as have a nice chat with a good friend of mine who I met on an airplane who wants me to help him out with a social networking project to aid and inspire my generation to change the world. The project is for the long term, but I am becoming more and more intrigued by dedicating myself to his work.
Monday was a rough day for a good portion of the population here due to a terrible bus accident in the northern part of Chile which resulted in the death of nine high school students traveling for a school field trip. This situations seem to happen every other month due to the poor quality and difficult roads outside of Santiago, combined with bad driving habits, lack enforcement of traffic laws, and obviously drinking and driving. The driver of the bus in this case was simply driving faster than the speed limit around a curve on a hillside. I spent the evening with the girl from the Jazz club. We had a good dinner downtown and I was able to practice my Spanish over the course of the evening. I hope I can keep the relationship going since Chilean are so much more fun to spend time with compared to my gringo buddies. She invited me to the Jazz club's 75th anniversary event in late October and gave me a few tips on things to do around town and with my grandmother when she comes for the Independence days.
Tuesday was just a full day of class followed by late night tennis viewing. I did discover that a Santa Cruz friend of mine arrived early yesterday morning for her Abroad program here in Chile that will be held in the southern part of the country in a little over a week. She wanted to give herself some free time to explore Santiago and get accustomed to the culture, language, and lifestyle.
So all today I gave her a general tour of Santiago, showing her the obvious sites in and around her the area where her hostel is located. I also helped her buy and setup a cellphone, which can be a daunting task for a newcomer. We had some nice lunch downtown at a quaint tea and lunch cafe called Flores Mosqueto. It's satisfying to know I can be a relatively effective tour guide after a little over two months spent here. My host mother left this morning to the southern part of Chile to spend a couple days with her sick mother. That part of Chile is getting pounded with rain, with many houses having to handle flood damage and such. I have to run off to the Jazz club this evening to hopefully listen in on some better blues than the last week, and also to spend time with some friends from the social group I occasionally attend...as well as to see my Chilean friend :)
Should be able to put in an entry sometime next week. I have a field trip with program to a famous mining town and a tour of the mine all Saturday, the Brazil vs. Chile futbol match on Sunday night, and Chile vs. Colombia next Wednesday. Cheers!
P.S. Juan Martin del Potro just lost to Andy Murray in the quarterfinals...shoot, great match though.
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