zorrillos y guanacos
one of the things i’ve noticed about chileans is their generosity. i was crossing the street this morning, and there were two teenagers doing backflips in the crosswalk, and just before the light turned green, they ran from car to car. every driver dug through their wallets and handed over a handful of change. yesterday, a man was playing his saxophone in my car of the metro. as he walked down the aisle, each passenger reached into their pocket for a few hundred pesos. walking past the casino the other night, i noticed a woman selling gum on the steps, and every person that walked past handed over a bill in exchange for a pack. i’m not accustomed to this kind of generosity. in the states, money is not so freely handed over. but here, people go out of their way to give.
they are also generous with their love. my family here has welcomed me in as a daughter and sister. you would never guess that i’ve been living in their home for less than two weeks. last saturday night i went to a meeting of the church’s youth group. afterwards, a crew of us went over to the home of one of the families for dinner. i was pulled into the conversation and inside jokes as if i’ve been apart of the community for years, broken spanish and all.
in addition, chilean police are generous with the use of tear gas. and for that reason, all of our classes have been temporarily relocated to a high school far from the university in valparaiso. today there was a national call for protests, and in cities like santiago and valpo, students answered that call with enthusiasm. the government declared the demonstrations illegal, and police worked all day to break up the protestors. los zorrillos (skunk: police trucks that spew tear gas) and los guanacos (spitting llamas: vehicles that spray high pressure water) were working overtime patrolling the main streets and plazas. watching the footage of santiago on the news, the tear gas looked like a fog that had settled over sectors of the city. unperturbed, students lit bonfires in the streets and threw rocks at building and police officers. as international students, we weren’t allowed anywhere near valparaiso, and it’s uncertain whether we’ll be back in the university for classes on monday. tomorrow is the expected date for students to reply to the government’s proposal, so we shall see! yay for democracy!
here’s a recent article that gives some more details about the situation. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44020174/ns/world_news-americas/#.TjswUc2IUbw
in other news, i found out yesterday that i received the internship i applied for here in chile! i’ll be volunteering with a national organization called Teletón that works to integrate handicapped children into the community. they provide free health services to all their clients, and so families will travel hours for therapy and other appointments. part of what i will be doing is entertaining the kids during the long hours they wait between appointments. the other part will be helping with a sector of the organization that makes visits to the homes and schools of the kids to install ramps and bars to improve accessibility. the internship is for credit, so there will also be a seminar style class component that will be led by the academic director of my program. i’m really excited for this opportunity to volunteer in the community with an organization that does such amazing work.
