Quiet weekend, thoughts on this and that
Well, its been a pretty average week and a relaxing weekend so far. Summer's really here, and its gorgeous out, sunny and windy, with tons of people in the streets and a really festive, weekendy feel. I'd probably be out taking advantage of this more, but I've had a cold so I've been trying to just take it easy. Having a chest cold plus asthma is really no fun. I don't like taking my inhalors because I hate how they make me feel (it speeds up your heart or something) but I'm afraid that if I don't take them, I'll have an asthma attack, which is really scary. Anyways I'd probably be feeling pretty bored and frustrated with my wheezing, but luckily I've been having a really good time reading Cien años de soledad (One Hundred Years of Solitude). What an amazing book. Its great for the imagination and completely entertaining. After I finish I'll have to go through and identify all the biblical references, examples of mythicism, and other boring academic stuff (I'm reading it for a class), but at this point its just pure enjoyment reading.
I was feeling pretty proud of me and Kristin's adventures in southern Chile, but when I got back to Valpo and talked with some of my friends I found we weren't the only ones to have a crazy weekend. It turns out Jessica had to hitchhike home from the far north of Chile while she was sick with tonsilitis. Carla showed up in class having gotten off a 25 hr bus ride that same morning. David bussed it all the way from Buenos Aires to Valpo, I don't even know how many hours that is, across the Argentine plains and then across the Andes. One girl in the program nearly died in a hotel fire on the Chilean island of Chiloé (they don't have smoke detectors here). It seems like everyone in the program is looking kind of tired out and run down. Too much travelling! ( I know, it seems hardly possible : D)
Things have been going well at my host family's. Their aunt was sick for a while, but on Thursday we got the news that she's going to be fine, which was a big relief. We had about 15 family members over to the house to celebrate! Other than that, I've been getting along amazingly with Christian. Every day when I get home from school, he and his friends are sitting around his room, listening to great music and drinking beer. I go in and talk to them for a bit, and they're always incredibly nice, ask me about my day, get me to translate song lyrics for them, and pester me to go out drinking with them. As a matter of fact that's my plan for tonight, provided I'm feeling well enough.
I'm not sure if anyone's heard about this in the news, but Chile and Peru have gotten into a pretty tense dispute in the last few days over the boundaries of their marine territories. Peru wants to redraw the existing borders of its ocean territory, which would take 15,000 sq miles of Chile's richest fishing waters. Peru's redrawing of the line is in accord with a UN agreement, but Chile's in accord with some other international agreement and has been in Chile's hands since the 1950's. Chile and Peru have hated each other pretty much since the War of the Pacific in the 1880's, and I've gotten used to hearing Chileans go on and on about the dirty, lazy Peruvians, but with this new territorial conflict, its reached a whole new level. I almost choked on my soup at lunch today when I heard aunt María Teresa say that Peruvians were "filthy, godless Indian pigs."
In other news, Chile just launched an AIDS awareness campaign that shows smiling, fully-clothed celebrities holding condoms. It seems that even this bland and basic campaign is making waves here...some conservative and catholic television chanels refuse to show the commericials since they are supposedly too "graphic and obscene." The problem with this is that Chile has absolutely no liberal or independent media. In terms of newspapers, you have your conservative Santiago paper, your conservative Valparaiso paper, or your "National Enquirer" type paper. In terms of TV, you can choose between channels owned by a) the Catholic church, b) the Catholic university, c) the government, d) Piñera, the center-right Presidential candidate, or e) a leading conservative spokesman. I know in the US its common for conservatives to say things like "the liberals control the media" and for us liberals to comiserate about what an asshole Bill O'Reilly (for example) is, and how many idiots get their news from him. But its weird, being here, the US media is starting to look pretty good!
This is a good article about the AIDS campaign and the Chilean media.
I was feeling pretty proud of me and Kristin's adventures in southern Chile, but when I got back to Valpo and talked with some of my friends I found we weren't the only ones to have a crazy weekend. It turns out Jessica had to hitchhike home from the far north of Chile while she was sick with tonsilitis. Carla showed up in class having gotten off a 25 hr bus ride that same morning. David bussed it all the way from Buenos Aires to Valpo, I don't even know how many hours that is, across the Argentine plains and then across the Andes. One girl in the program nearly died in a hotel fire on the Chilean island of Chiloé (they don't have smoke detectors here). It seems like everyone in the program is looking kind of tired out and run down. Too much travelling! ( I know, it seems hardly possible : D)
Things have been going well at my host family's. Their aunt was sick for a while, but on Thursday we got the news that she's going to be fine, which was a big relief. We had about 15 family members over to the house to celebrate! Other than that, I've been getting along amazingly with Christian. Every day when I get home from school, he and his friends are sitting around his room, listening to great music and drinking beer. I go in and talk to them for a bit, and they're always incredibly nice, ask me about my day, get me to translate song lyrics for them, and pester me to go out drinking with them. As a matter of fact that's my plan for tonight, provided I'm feeling well enough.
I'm not sure if anyone's heard about this in the news, but Chile and Peru have gotten into a pretty tense dispute in the last few days over the boundaries of their marine territories. Peru wants to redraw the existing borders of its ocean territory, which would take 15,000 sq miles of Chile's richest fishing waters. Peru's redrawing of the line is in accord with a UN agreement, but Chile's in accord with some other international agreement and has been in Chile's hands since the 1950's. Chile and Peru have hated each other pretty much since the War of the Pacific in the 1880's, and I've gotten used to hearing Chileans go on and on about the dirty, lazy Peruvians, but with this new territorial conflict, its reached a whole new level. I almost choked on my soup at lunch today when I heard aunt María Teresa say that Peruvians were "filthy, godless Indian pigs."
In other news, Chile just launched an AIDS awareness campaign that shows smiling, fully-clothed celebrities holding condoms. It seems that even this bland and basic campaign is making waves here...some conservative and catholic television chanels refuse to show the commericials since they are supposedly too "graphic and obscene." The problem with this is that Chile has absolutely no liberal or independent media. In terms of newspapers, you have your conservative Santiago paper, your conservative Valparaiso paper, or your "National Enquirer" type paper. In terms of TV, you can choose between channels owned by a) the Catholic church, b) the Catholic university, c) the government, d) Piñera, the center-right Presidential candidate, or e) a leading conservative spokesman. I know in the US its common for conservatives to say things like "the liberals control the media" and for us liberals to comiserate about what an asshole Bill O'Reilly (for example) is, and how many idiots get their news from him. But its weird, being here, the US media is starting to look pretty good!
This is a good article about the AIDS campaign and the Chilean media.
posted by Julia | 1:43 PM
3 Comments:
I guess that tensions will just escalate remarkably now with Fujimori in custody in Santiago!! I was glad have read your blog for the background for that. I saw Christina Caro at the voting place this morning and she said that Martin is considering going to Chile for study abroad--she and Vidal are Peruvians, you know, and your blog gave new light to the sheer disappointment on her face when she told me that! :) Spy Girl
Yeah, I couldn't believe that Fujimori is in Santiago! Interesting that Martin would chose Chile over Peru...and why is he studying abroad now, isn't he 2 yrs older than me and done w/ college? Did she have any news on Cassie-Marie?
Martin is at SF State and it is next year that he would go--and the choices are either or Chile or Germany! Go figure! I'd guess that it took him a few years to get started in the jr college scene--he wasn't a very motivated student if I remember correctly. Cassie-Marie is still at Terra-Nova (I think that she can stay until she is 21) and took a drama class last year that she LOVED. She is repeating it this year. Christine said that she looks the same except a bit heavier. Spy Girl
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