la protesta estudiantil

Dissatisfaction with the education system continues. For those who don't know, a year and a half ago there was a 6-month strike in the Chilean universities, and the unrest hasn't disappeared. Protests are countrywide, with the biggest obviously in Santiago, sometimes involving hundreds of thousands of participants. As I've already mentioned, this semester at ULS there was already a one day paro (strike), a 6-day toma (take-over), and many student asambleas (assemblies). 

Last Thursday, September 27th, the block of 11:30 classes was cancelled throughout ULS because the Federation of Students of ULS  had petitioned eloquently for permission for a student marcha (march) in the center of La Serena. Similar marches occurred throughout the country, if I'm not mistaken. To elaborate on this I will give some background information about the educational unrest.

Students believe that Piñera's policies to channel money into the Chilean high education system have not gone far enough, calling instead for systemic changes that would make education less privatized and accessible to all young Chileans, regardless of their resources. Public institutions in Chile charge as much as privatized ones, which causes outrage in Chilean students when they compare Chile's education system to some of its Latin-American counterparts. Argentina, for example, offers tuition-free higher education (post-graduate education studies excepted). Students in high school, too, protest the education system; in 2011 there were hundreds of high school tomas.

Student protests take the form of marches, meetings, takeovers, strikes, and more - sometimes violent. However, very few changes have been enacted by Piñera's administration. Instead, one of the great achievements of the student movement has been to drastically lower Piñera's approval rating, which was previously at a high following the mining rescue in 2010. Though it is currently at 36%*, some sources say that it was as low as 22% at the height of the student protests. In contrast, the student movement, at its height, had an public approval rating of 72% (and I can't find a current statistic).

This is a good article for some background information, although most of it isn't relevant to my general topic as it mainly covers the leadership of the student movement. So, for those who don't want to read the whole article (it's really long...), I picked out the salient quotes:

• "A university education in Chile is proportionally the world’s most expensive: $3,400 a year in a country where the average annual salary is about $8,500."
• "Hoping to erode popular support for the students, government spokesmen and conservative media portrayed the protesters as lawless radicals. Most notorious among them were the encapuchados, who wore scarves around their faces and hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails at the police. Students insisted that most encapuchados were from outside the movement and that at least some were infiltrators, planted to incite police counterattacks."
• “'Because in Chile it’s the fathers who are the nihilists, the suicides, the silent ones, the frustrated, and their children the reformers, the realists, the strategists.'"
• "... the new student leadership has to avoid allowing the encapuchados, who feed government accusations that the movement is increasingly violent, to dominate the demonstrations"

And now back to La Serena. The time period of 11:15-2:30 was reserved for the march. My 9:45 class happens to be in the Ingeniería (Engineering) campus, which is located close to where the march would be. As I headed out of it at 11:15, I ran into a few of my friends walking into the main part of the city to grab lunch quickly in order to avoid being caught up in the march. They told me it would probably be a good idea to stay away from el centro for a few hours, since there would be pacos (derogatory term for policemen) using tear gas and encapuchados throwing rocks.

A teacher asked some of my friends what the students hoped to accomplish with this march, and one answered that they were mostly just trying to remind the public that the movement is still active and the problems have not gone away.

I headed home for lunch, which meant that I had to walk by campus Andres Bello. This campus is on a hill, with a main road bordering the campus at the bottom of the slope. The road was blocked off to cars by carabineros (policemen) with anti-gas helmets on, and there were also some carabineros stationed at two places along blocked section of the road.

When I returned in the afternoon for my 2:30 class in campus Andres Bello, there was a traffic jam since the carabineros were still posted and detouring traffic. I could see throngs of people dispersing at the far end of the road - the march was over. I think the march went smoothly overall because I didn't hear about any use of tear gas. 

However, on my way up the campus stairs, I passed a few kids with scarves wrapped around their faces - mainly their mouths, presumably to help in case of tear gas. These encapuchados were strategically placed. Since they were on a hill, it was much easier for them to throw rocks at the carabineros than for the carabineros to target them. The area is also mostly shrubbery with some trees, which allowed them to hide effectively. Lastly, there are students (non-encapuchados, that is) walking in the university campus, so it was very difficult for carabineros to solely target the encapuchados.

The encapuchados picked up loose stones, stood up from their crouched hiding spots, rushed forward for a better shot, and threw them at the carabineros down below, scurrying back to the shrubs for protection. As I headed up the stairs I frequently turned around and craned my neck, but I couldn't see if they hit their targets. The carabineros were ignoring the encapuchados completely, so I'm not sure whether they were effective or not. From what I saw, the encapuchados were pretty diligent about not throwing stones as students and civilians walked by.

The carabineros couldn't go stop the kids throwing stones because of one main reason: a scarf is a common fashion item here for both genders. This means that at a moments notice - as soon as they saw the carabineros starting up the hill - these encapuchados could just move the scarf to the natural position around their neck and blend in with hundreds of students on campus - jeans, sweater, backpack and scarf.

At about 3:55 when my class was over, I could see that the carabineros were still there and the road was still blocked off. As I started to head down the campus stairs to walk home, one of my classmates told me to watch out for rocks being thrown. I didn't see any this time around, though.

In his comment, my classmate also said with a bit of scorn that the encapuchados were some high school students just looking for some fun. However, I'm not positive that's true in this case. Each high school here has a uniform, and since these kids didn't have uniforms on, they were likely university students. Though they could definitely have changed out of uniforms, I think it more likely that my classmate honestly didn't know who they were and was simply reflecting the viewpoint that the student movement in general is separate from the encapuchados. Also, they didn't look like they were in high school - to me, they looked to be around 20.

[This is obviously an incredibly brief account of the problems and issues involved in the Chilean education protests - you could write your dissertation on this and still have plenty to talk about. If you want to know more about the student movement in general, the education system in general, or the movement in La Serena, avísame and I will get more info for you!]

*Currently being through August 2012.

Treboles

There are so many callejeros (strays) on the streets that when I'm walking to the university I always keep an eye on the sidewalk to make sure I'm not stepping in dog shit. I usually take the sidewalk in at a glance for a few meters and that way I'm able to not keep my eyes glued to the ground. As it happened, one morning a few weeks ago I was walking to Análisis Numérico and in one of these glances I also noticed a four-leaf clover in a clover patch next to the sidewalk. I wasn't looking at the grass or clovers, so it really was a stroke of luck that I found it.

(I'm going to admit that I stuck it in my math notebook in the vain hope that it would help me in the course.)

Jacobi method? Gauss-Seidel method? Fácil when you have a four-leaf clover.
(ps I figured out how to do legit picture captions!)

Since then, I've looked at the clover patches on my way to and from the university each day, slowing my pace down a bit as I walk by, but hadn't seen any more four-leaf clovers until today. This morning on my way to la micro to go to my internship I was in more of a hurry than usual since I was late, but I happened to spot a four-leaf clover. 

oops, squished a bit...

I put it in a little pocket of my backpack, thinking that it was a good sign for the day. On my way home after my práctica, I was in no rush. I strolled home, keeping an eye out for more lucky clovers... What a windfall - I found another four-leaf clover and a six-leaf clover!

The second four-leaf clover of the day

A bit hard to see the six leaves, but two are underneath the other four.

Really, four (or six) leaves rather than the usual three is a mutation, so I didn't understand why that would be considered lucky. So, I decided to research the origin of four-leaf clover as a symbol of fortune. I quickly discovered a number of things that made me feel not-so-lucky:

• the Guinness World Record for most leaves on a clover is 56 (picture here) 
• some people say that the Irish consider finding clovers of more than four leaves unlucky
• what I found are not even clovers

That's right, no clovers :(. I think I found some type of alfalfa, as shown here.

The cause for mutations that cause extra leaves to sprout hasn't been conclusively identified - some sources say it's environmental, some say it's genetic. (I think it's likely a combination of both.)

If you look carefully at the picture of my "clovers" you will see lots of spots on the leaves, particularly of the 6-leaf one. I'm pretty sure this means that it's diseased - as were most of the 3-leaf alfalfa plants that I saw.

So... now I have mutant and diseased alfalfa, whereas half an hour ago I had lucky clovers. But really, it's the same plant - it hasn't changed, just my perception of it. I'm going to choose to perceive my plants as lucky, diseased, mutant alfalfa.

All of my lucky alfalfa :)

Life is what you make of it!

p.s.

According to Wikipedia, "Alfalfa seeds were imported to California from Chile in the 1850s." aww yeah.

Hakuna matata

Hakuna matata - it means no worries.

What is this food I'm eating? No idea.

I'm an hour late? That's okay.

I don't know when (or where!) I'm supposed to meet someone? Alright.

I still can't access the school website? That's fine.

I don't know _____? No worries. Hakuna matata.

(All of these have happened to me recently. Actually, the food thing happens quite often. The school website means that I can't access anything that my professors post, such as homework, and I don't get class-wide emails that announce important things like cancelled classes. But it doesn't really bother me. I think this is a good attitude to have, and I think I can adapt it to my life in the US.)

the plague

Bloody nose season has returned! I thought it was just a winter New England thing because it was so dry, but apparently not. This week I've had four, and it's generally pretty humid here. One person told me that they're relatively common in the summer in Serena due to the heat, so that's also something to look forward to.

Most awkward: in the 6 hour car ride with the family back from Algarrobo.

Most inconvenient: Right as I was about to leave for my internship, making me quite late.

¿Por qué Chile?

And more specifically, ¿por qué La Serena?

I get asked this question by about every person I have a conversation with in Chile, and it usually stumps me for multiple reasons: 1) the language barrier - I can't explain it fully in Spanish 2) the complexity 3) I never really made a list to think through all of the reasons 4) (lack of) memory - I can't ever remember all the reasons at once.

So, I usually end up simplifying the answer. But I decided to actually think it through to come up with all of the reasons, since I haven't really done that.

And I suppose I should preface this by saying that I only considered Spanish-speaking countries. I ruled out Spain pretty quickly because I'd prefer to live in Latin-America than Europe.

Here's why Chile, in no particular order:

• The attitude towards foreigners. I'm referred to as a gringa sometimes, but it's not derogatory in the slightest. People are delighted to find out I'm studying in Chile for a semester. This leads to full conversations with strangers weekly, whether with people at the micro stop, university students (at both ULS in Serena and U. Católica del Norte in Coquimbo), or shopowners at a local corner store. They offer me advice on learning español chileno, suggestions for places to travel, and just a friendly smile. It's not uncommon for people give me their phone numbers (or even addresses) just in case I need to contact them for help in anything.
• El paisaje (the scenery)/the travel opportunities. From the northern desert to southern Patagonia, Chile stretches almost 3000 miles. That means an incredible amount of diversity in geography as well as culture. Always close by is the ocean as well as la cordillera de los Andes, both full of natural beauty. Since I knew I wanted to explore the country I'd study abroad in, Chile seemed perfect.

Why La Serena, also no particular order:

• Fewer foreigners. I am incredibly glad to be in a city that only has only one other American student from my study abroad program, and only 7 other exchange students from other countries (though I haven't even met all of them).  I wanted a complete immersion experience, and while it's more than I bargained for sometimes, this was what I was looking for - definitely my main reason.
• Laura Till. One of my friends from Bowdoin studied abroad in Chile two years ago and though she didn't study abroad in La Serena, she told me about it and convinced me that it was the place for me (not that I needed much convincing). Most of the things she elaborated upon are covered in my other reasons. (Thank you Letto!)
• Other people. I also talked to other people for advice (other friends who have studied in or been to Chile, the study abroad coordinator at Bowdoin, etc) and they were quite helpful.
• Weather. It's currently winter here, but is nearly always above 55 degrees Fahrenheit during the day, and not too cold at night either.  It rarely rains (as in, a-few-times-a-year rare). And summer is arriving, which should have temperatures in the high-sixties or low-seventies. For someone who is always cold, that's not so bad :).

These lists aren't exhaustive, they're just what I came up with now. Maybe I'll edit as I think of more.

I could also do a list about why I chose the Midd program, or why I wanted to study abroad in the fall semester, but I doubt most people care about those. Feel free to let me know if you want to know the answers, though.

Side note: I'm impressed that this is one of the few posts where my love for lists shows.

Algarrobo

I haven't posted in a while, sorry! That's because this week is a holiday week in Chile, and I've been away with my host family. I didn't bring my computer which at least for me makes for an ideal vacation. We went to Playa Algarrobo, a beach about 6 hours south, for 6 days... not a bad life :)

We were celebrating Las Fiestas Patrias, which means lots of asados (barbecues), kites, and cueca, (among many other things). Then again, this is Chile, and I eat much more meat here on a daily basis compared to in the US. The kites were lovely to see, though, and cueca music is really catchy. I met a lot of my extended host family, which was also great.

Where we were staying had a pool, and right next to it, a small field set up with soccer goals. There was almost always a pickup game going of fútbol going on. Teams of 5 would play to 1 goal, and the winner would get to stay on. It was fun to watch, though it made me wish there was pick-up frisbee here. I tossed the frisbee around a few times with my extended family/family friends there, but I miss actually playing frisbee. Although, having Will in La Serena is great because it means I can throw with someone who actually plays frisbee.

A short ~15 minute walk away from the apartments we were staying in found us at la feria artesanal, which is essentially an artisan fair. There were lots of stands set up with food, typical artisan Chilean goods, and random tourist things. We walked there basically every day, so by the end of our trip I was very familiar with it. It abuts the beach, so each trip was accompanied by lovely views (and we could see all of the kites). I bought a handbag, and my host mother bought a pair of lovely glass earrings for me!

(One of the food stands there - thanks, Google)

At night we usually went to la fonda, either getting a ride from one of the parents there or taking a taxi. Fondas are basically large areas for people to eat, drink, and dance, especially during Las Fiestas Patrias. Chilean parties are much later than at Bowdoin, but since my sleep schedule generally tends towards insomnia and staying up late, as those of you who know me well are probably familiar with, it hasn't been too difficult for me to stay up til 3, 4, 5am etc.

Chile is known for its terremotos (earthquakes) worldwide - but not just in the sense of seismic activity. One of my favorite Chilean drinks is the terremoto, probably named such because it will make you feel shaky after consuming it. For its taste, it is very surprisingly high in alcohol content. It's mainly made from pineapple ice cream and white wine, with other types of alcohol usually added (what is added depends on who makes it).  If you are drinking a terremoto, though, be sure to mix the ice cream in before drinking, or else it will taste pretty harsh! As with the real terremoto, it can be dangerous to have multiple in a night, as I discovered.

I was, as per usual, absolutely abysmal about taking photos. One of my favorite parts about the trip, though, is that each night we could see the sunset on the beach... I'm used to being on the Atlantic Ocean rather than the Pacific, so ocean sunsets to me are breathtaking. It was like this but more beautiful every night - more color and vibrance!

(Algarrobo sunset. Again - thanks, Google)

I should have taken more photos, whoops. I think I took a grand total of 3.

11 de septiembre

This is a picture taken near ULS Monday night, shortly before 12am on September 11th.

(ULS = Universidad de La Serena)

Remembering the September 11th terrorist attacks in the US as a foreigner in Chile was very different from every other anniversary of the attacks. Many in the US are unaware that the 9/11/2001 tragedy of the US was not the first September 11th event to make history.

Following the "first 9/11" in 1973, thousands were detained, slaughtered, and tortured in Chile - for this date marks the military coup that overthrew Salvador Allende, the democratically elected Socialist leader, and put into place a dictatorship that lasted until 1990.

It has since become a day to commemorate the profound impacts that Pinochet's dictatorship had on Chile. It's a day of solemn remembrance but also of demonstrations - it is now marked by violence, delinquency, and arrests. The picture above is a typical example of a demonstration on September 11th in Chile.

Campus en toma

Last night I found out that campus Andres Bello, one of the multiple university campuses, is en toma or tomado. The English equivalent is a bit hard to translate - 'taken over' might be best. There's a student takeover that started on Friday.

My first class today, Climatology, was in a different campus, so I went to it anyway. However, I forgot that the Agronomy carrera (department/major) that the class is part of is based in campus Andres Bello. There were a bunch of my other classmates there, though, and once the professor came we asked him if we could go (told him we would go, really) to  the department meeting. Each department based on the campus in student-siege was going to discuss their objectives for the toma and vote whether to continue it or not.

Each student starts university in a certain carrera, unlike many schools in the US where you declare your major after a year or two of school. Because my "carrera" would be neuroscience, which isn't an option here, I'm taking classes in multiple departments. The climatology class I'm taking is in the department of Agronomy, so one of my classmates decided I'd be an agronomy student for the day.

We headed to la colina (the hill) where the campus is located and waited outside one of the gates for students to unlock it for us enter. Once inside the campus, we headed up the hill to where the classrooms are. We asked around where the agronomía meeting was and made it to the meeting before it really got started. We discovered that the representatives from the agronomy department are meeting with the rector of ULS [rector literally translates to chancellor, but it's best taken to mean the president/head of the school in this context].

The students all signed in when the meeting started. There was already list from a previous department meeting about the things the students would bring up in their meeting with the director tomorrow. A common complaint was inadequate facilities, especially because multiple new carreras are being added next year without the addition of facilities. This means more students despite the same amount of classrooms, so there will be less space in the already-crowded dining hall, less access to labs, etc. There was also some mention of the lack of wireless on campus.

Then started the discussion about whether the toma should continue or not. Some people thought that this takeover was completely unnecessary for objectives like more wireless - conversation with the administration under normal circumstances would be just as successful, they said. Some students were tired of strikes and protests - one said she just wanted to be able to go to class for a semester, uninterrupted. But others were of the opinion that there needed to be some form of pressure on the administration, and they couldn't think of a way that would achieve their objectives other than a toma because they weren't adequately represented in the administration. [A couple just wanted to have a toma  because it was their first and it seemed like a cool experience.]

They took a vote after ample discussion, going down the list of attendance to tally each person's vote. The vote was a resounding no, with the count 32 - 9 (and 2 abstaining).

Ironically, I had a meeting with the director of my study abroad program so I had to leave soon after the vote.

The student-wide meeting was at 1pm, with a vote at 2pm, and overall the departments voted to continue the strike/takeover until Wednesday.

[update]
Para los hispanohablantes...
http://www.diariolaregion.cl/portal/estudiantes-bajan-la-toma-en-la-uls-pero-recintos-serian-entregados-manana-miercoles/

Vicuña

Chileans are so friendly. I don't know if that's because it's exciting to talk to a foreigner or if they're this friendly to everyone. I'm going to write about the adventures of this past Sunday. But to explain how my Sunday was, I should first elaborate upon the preceding Monday. Jeanette, my host mother, had her friend Sandra over at the house. I introduced myself and we had a short conversation. Pretty quickly, Sandra asked me if I had been to Valle del Elqui (sorry, there's no English version), which is about an hour away. Will and I had been talking about doing a Saturday day trip there sometime soon, but we hadn't planned anything yet. Then, Sandra asked me if I would like to join her family going to Valle that Sunday. I had known her for less than five minutes and she offered to take me to Valle del Elqui to have lunch at her parents house and show me around Vicuña (the main town in Valle). She also invited Will, never having met him. (Actually the nicest.) She said if it panned out she would communicate with me via Jeanette, and sure enough, a few days later Jeanette told me I should be ready at 10:30am on Sunday.

So Sunday morning we hopped into Sandra's car, accompanied by one of Sandra's daughters, Javiera. Sandra has a fair amount of experience with international folks, and so she was incredibly good about speaking slowly and relatively simply - also reminding her family to use words we would understand. Although "slowly" is a bit misleading - slowly for Chileans, which is a normal pace for Americans. We drove to Sandra's parents house in Vicuña. They live right next to their viña and huerta (vineyard and vegetable garden). The grapes are not for wine, however - they sell them commercially to make pisco, a common Chilean drink. There were also a number of other fruits and vegetables, some of which were new to me. The chirimoya, for example:

However, it is winter here, so a lot of things weren't in season - there were no grapes (or even leaves, for that matter) in the vineyard.

Sandra and her father gave Will and I a tour of the vineyard and garden, educating us about the different types of grapes, how they do irrigation, and more. After, we ate a delicious lunch - un asado (barbecue). Sandra's parents were incredibly welcoming. They were eager to show us around and make sure we were enjoying ourselves. And they loved introducing us to new things, whether words or foods!

After the tour and lunch at Sandra's parents' house, Sandra took Will and I to Vicuña, where we wandered around the main plaza and some artisan shops. Then, we went for a guided tour of Pisco Capel, where most of Chile's pisco is made. It was Interesting and fun - and at the end we got to try many of the different varieties sold, from pisco coladas to pisco sour :).

A sample of pictures from the tour:

Conversations

Yesterday I talked to my math professor for the first time (after a few weeks of classes... oops, haha). After I introduced myself, he said (in English) "Where are you from? The US?" I answered in Spanish, explaining that my study abroad program didn't allow me to speak English. We had a short conversation - he asked if I understood what was going on in class, I said yes but mentioned that the proofs for homework were difficult, etc. It was only after the conversation that I realized he had been asking all of his questions in English, not just the first ones, and I had been responding without realizing it in Spanish. Woohoo!

Later in the day Will and I went to La Recova, the artisan market in the city, since we hadn't been there yet. There were a number of people handing out offers for lunch specials - one such man approached us, but we said we had already eaten. He noticed the accent and asked where we were from. As soon as we said the US, he started talking in English to us, saying that he needed to practice his English. We, as per usual, explained that we weren't supposed to use English while in Chile, but he still used a lot of English in our conversation. He has a girlfriend in La Serena from Arizona, which is how he learned English. We talked for probably around 10 minutes - he told us a bit about his life, asked how we liked La Serena, etc. He was really excited that we were American - he went so far as to invite us to his house for Fiestas Patrias. I'm continually astounded at how welcoming and open everybody is here!

Also, during this conversation two girls approached Will and I and bashfully asked if we would take a picture with them for the "Alianza Americana" (American Alliance) at their school. We obliged, taking pictures in front of their Alianza Americana poster. We're famous.