Word of the Day: hacinamiento- overcrowding
So good news! The internship situation appears to be figured out! Tufts in Chile can be very efficient sometimes. I will, assuming my interview tomorrow goes well, be working with El Trampolin, an organization that works in Villa San Luis, Maipu, pretty much completely on the other side of the city in a poor area that suffers from many structural issues such as lack of adequate housing, education, green spaces, transport that have given rise to a whole host of other problems such as gangs, unemployment, etc.
This is something of a shallow concern, but I have not totally figured out what to wear: it's not a totally safe area, at least from the description on the website so I need to not draw attention to myself. Normally this means I'd throw on my most Chilean pair of jeans (think fading and patches) and some converses but I also figure I should try and look somewhat professional and capable. Hopefully this can be achieved. I also am not totally sure what I'll be working on/with, but at the very least it will be eye opening experience. I've gotten a bit too comfortable in my upper class barrio alto life here and I'm definitely overdue for a shakeup. While the commute there is going to be a least a hour, this will also give me a bit more of a reality check of what it's really like to get around Santiago for a lot of people.
Speaking of being comfortable in my wonderful life, I had a great time this morning at the gorgeous "cafe literaria" (literary cafe) essentially a municipality run café/library hybrid in a park in Providencia this morning. Sat and read about conditions in Chilean prisons for my human rights class in a leather chair with lovely sunlight streaming in and park views. I am a lucky son of a gun. Especially because I am not incarcerated in Chile without adequate blanketing and protection from the outdoors, as was the contention of the 2006 (?) case that I was reading about. Then, I sat outside in the sun and ate my lunch and was wished "MUY buen provecho" by several slightly creepy guys on bicycles. It was kind of cute actually, and better than being called "princesa" yet again. Oh, darn, I forgot to take off my crown before I left the house! For all my complaining about it, I actually don't mind the catcalling anymore and pretty much just find it entertaining: it's hard not to.
One minor complaint: I think I am imagining earthquakes. Or rather mini tremors. There were definitely at least 2 or 3 baby tremors today. But after them, I kept feeling all shook up as if they were going on pretty much constantly, which I'm fairly certain is not true.
Speaking of things that are shaken up, no major strikes I've run into recently, but the Mapuche hunger strike situation here has gotten quite out of hand. By which I mean that there are a lot of protests going on in the South which are running into confrontations, sometimes quite violent, with the police. There were a lot of police trucks and horses out in the streets today and I wonder if this was related. Attempts at negotiating a settlement have failed so far, I believe, because the Mapuche contigent was dissastified with the government's offer. It's really hard for me to get actual news on the situation and demands since the news and my host parents have a pretty dismissive viewpoint on the legitimacy of what is wanted.
No comments:
Post a Comment