The purpose of organizing the reunion was to bring back alumni interest to Accion Emprendedora. AE has been successful at getting the public’s attention to sign up for classes, but it has been difficult for them to retain members after they graduate. After weeks of calling potential speakers, AE alumni, and a lot of organizing, la reunion finally came to life on Thursday, July 8th. Early on that day, we were busy getting CEPA ready for the event and getting enough food as possible.
In the end, we received about 70 confirmations that people were going to come, but we knew that if you get that number only about half would actually show up. We decided that we would be content if 30 people showed up since the room was just big enough to hold 40. People began showing up around 6 p.m. and we had several tables to keep them entertained until the event began at 6:30. As soon as the clock struck 6:30, I was surprised to see that room was already packed with people and that there were more people flocking in. Our idea of calling them and emailing them really worked. It gave them the feeling that they were wanted and since we were foreign, they were interested in seeing what we had to offer. It’s actually a lot of fun to play the foreign card (not that you need to say much to show it anyway) because people instantly become more curious about you and pay you a lot of attention.
All in all, we had about 50 people show up to listen to three speakers. They varied from a recent alum, whose business was fairing well, to a graduate of Syracuse University who has been a director and manager at multiple multinationals in Chile and South America. Needless to say, the AE alumni appeared interested and asked many questions when it came to Q & A. Even our director Alvaro Bronstein and the old director of CEPA, Daniel Rojas, were surprised over the turnout and applauded us on a great alumni reunion.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Living with Pato and Isa
Living with a host family is a huge part of the Duke Engage Santiago experience. For sure, it was an aspect of the program I was apprehensive about. Are they nice? Will they like me? How will I live with strangers? Will there be WiFi?
I was fortunate enough to have Pato and Isa as my family. Pato and Isa are pololos (that's girlfriend and boyfriend, for those of you who do not speak Chilean). From day 1, they treated me like their younger sister. Home was not just a place to sleep. The first week, I had once (a Chilean meal kind of like tea time) at Pato's mom's house, cheered from the sidelines at Isa's soccer game, and helped cook. With my hosts, I have cooked lomo a lo pobre, shared my favorite youtube videos, hiked in Cajón de Maipo, eaten the best empanadas in Santiago, attempted to dance cueca.
Pato and Isa were also people I could talk to about my work at Acción Emprendedora. I showed them both the video I was editing and the directory we were working on and listened to their suggestions.
My hosts have plans to come visit the US and stay with me --- they have skyped with my (real) family several times already. I can't wait. And I have plans to return to Chile and visit Isa's family in the Osorno. I just have to tell my parents.
And yes, they had WiFi.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Who let the dogs out?
Dogs in Chile are like squirrels in North Carolina. They are everywhere, don't typically bother people and every now and then you see them do something absolutely ridiculous. I'm pretty sure that my former fear of dogs came from my first visit to Chile when I was about 3 years old. It doesn't help that sometimes they are my size or bigger are definitely capable of knocking me down. Now that I am older, however, I have learned to appreciate the hundreds of stray dogs that are such an important feature of every town.
The dogs are especially important for young females on those occasional nights when you have to walk down a dark street alone. At first it may seem weird that a dog you've never seen before in your life will walk by your side, but then you realize this dog is not only your friend - he is your protector. Dogs are extremely smart in the city and they can immediately tell a person minding their own business from one with bad intentions. My host sister told me that sometimes when she's walking alone and someone is coming towards her, a group of dogs of 3 or 4 will surround her acting like her security guards. It's been nice having these companions by my side at night and it's going to be weird having to walk completely alone sometimes back in the states.
Yesterday when I was walking home I noticed something else that is common among all the city dogs: they all hate the cops. Two police officers were standing near my bus stop and all the dogs in sight came over to bark at them. At one point, one of the officers tried to get one of the dogs away by kicking in the air. This whole situation made me wonder, do the dogs know something that we don't?
Aside from being able to read personalities and thus serving as guardians at times, I've also observed that the dogs from different communities/cities have distinct personalities. The dogs around where I live and closer to the city center seem to be very alert, but calm. The dogs in Puente Alto, where our office is located, always seem to be asleep and sometimes it even looks as if they aren't even alive. It's not uncommon to see a dog knocked out right at the top of the escalator getting out of the metro, causing a bit of mess when people try to walk out of the station. Our visit to Valparaiso was the first time I remember being afraid of dogs during this trip to Chile. The dogs in the beautiful port city are the most aggressive I have seen and during our tour of the city they even scared us away from going down a particular alley. They become especially aggravated when they see a car and I was always afraid that the dogs were going to cause some sort of accident before my eyes.
A picture of the dogs that scared us away from the alley in Valparaiso.
Some people around the world think that stray dogs are a problem, but without them Chile definitely would not be the same. They add character to every city and town and it's always nice to know you can a friend by your side.
~Christy
The dogs are especially important for young females on those occasional nights when you have to walk down a dark street alone. At first it may seem weird that a dog you've never seen before in your life will walk by your side, but then you realize this dog is not only your friend - he is your protector. Dogs are extremely smart in the city and they can immediately tell a person minding their own business from one with bad intentions. My host sister told me that sometimes when she's walking alone and someone is coming towards her, a group of dogs of 3 or 4 will surround her acting like her security guards. It's been nice having these companions by my side at night and it's going to be weird having to walk completely alone sometimes back in the states.
Yesterday when I was walking home I noticed something else that is common among all the city dogs: they all hate the cops. Two police officers were standing near my bus stop and all the dogs in sight came over to bark at them. At one point, one of the officers tried to get one of the dogs away by kicking in the air. This whole situation made me wonder, do the dogs know something that we don't?
Aside from being able to read personalities and thus serving as guardians at times, I've also observed that the dogs from different communities/cities have distinct personalities. The dogs around where I live and closer to the city center seem to be very alert, but calm. The dogs in Puente Alto, where our office is located, always seem to be asleep and sometimes it even looks as if they aren't even alive. It's not uncommon to see a dog knocked out right at the top of the escalator getting out of the metro, causing a bit of mess when people try to walk out of the station. Our visit to Valparaiso was the first time I remember being afraid of dogs during this trip to Chile. The dogs in the beautiful port city are the most aggressive I have seen and during our tour of the city they even scared us away from going down a particular alley. They become especially aggravated when they see a car and I was always afraid that the dogs were going to cause some sort of accident before my eyes.
A picture of the dogs that scared us away from the alley in Valparaiso.
Some people around the world think that stray dogs are a problem, but without them Chile definitely would not be the same. They add character to every city and town and it's always nice to know you can a friend by your side.
~Christy
Monday, July 12, 2010
The Two Sides of Chile
The Political Division inside of Chile
In the United States we often fret about Democratic policies if we’re Republican, or ponder why Republicans think the way they do if we’re Democratic. However, most of the time, you can sit a Democrat next to a Republican, and even have them debate about politics, without them going at each other’s throats. In Chile, I have found a different political environment, one where many people actually despise the other side just because they belong to the other side.
First of all, people refer themselves to either la izquierda (the left) or la derecha (the right). La izquierda’s party in power was la concertacion and it held office for the years following Pinochet’s right-wing regime until this year’s elections. In these elections, Sebastian Piñera, a right-wing candidate, came out victorious and those belonging to la izquierda were left disappointed, confused, and even with a sense of scorn. La izquierda was disappointed at the fact that they had lost after 20 years of power. However, after talking to those from la derecha, they affirm that la izquierda had it coming. The legistlative branch already had a right-wing majority and the presidential elections had gone to a run-off for the last couple of elections.
La izquierda was also confused at the fact that they had lost the election. For years, it was believed that la izquierda was the majority, and that it was going to be hard for them to lose since it was too soon after Pinochet. However, people were growing weary of la concertacion because they weren’t living up to what the people expected from them and the economy of Chile was in gloom due to the World Economic Crisis. Piñera offered CHANGE to Chile and that made him an attractive candidate.
Christine describes it as “chile is definitely more of a ying yang in terms of political opinion than a marble pattern...very extreme.” However, this ying doesn’t complement the yang so it leads to much political turmoil in the country.
I met a girl over the weekend that goes to school in UC Santa Cruz and is doing a home stay for the first month of her stay. She told me that her mom is very conservative and that she would get her out of jail for anything except if she took part in student protests or political demonstrations. To them, being involved in protests is what la izquierda does and they deeply shun that.
I can say that at the moment, la izquierda is definitely more angry than la derecha. They feel that the people who voted for Piñera were looking for an easy way out and that they are going to pay for that. They feel that Piñera is going to implement government policies similar to Pinochet and his humanitarian policies were actually brought into question before the election. Not because he has a bad history, but more because for many people it’s still too soon.
Nonetheless, the majority of Chileans wanted change. Piñera has been in power for 100 days and nothing significant has happened yet to cause a huge uproar. Some say the earthquake gave him a sense a freedom in his policies and that’s good to some and bad for others. Also, Chile’s frenzy in the World Cup gave him a sense of transparency because the country was too intertwined with the Cup to care of much else.
In the United States we often fret about Democratic policies if we’re Republican, or ponder why Republicans think the way they do if we’re Democratic. However, most of the time, you can sit a Democrat next to a Republican, and even have them debate about politics, without them going at each other’s throats. In Chile, I have found a different political environment, one where many people actually despise the other side just because they belong to the other side.
First of all, people refer themselves to either la izquierda (the left) or la derecha (the right). La izquierda’s party in power was la concertacion and it held office for the years following Pinochet’s right-wing regime until this year’s elections. In these elections, Sebastian Piñera, a right-wing candidate, came out victorious and those belonging to la izquierda were left disappointed, confused, and even with a sense of scorn. La izquierda was disappointed at the fact that they had lost after 20 years of power. However, after talking to those from la derecha, they affirm that la izquierda had it coming. The legistlative branch already had a right-wing majority and the presidential elections had gone to a run-off for the last couple of elections.
La izquierda was also confused at the fact that they had lost the election. For years, it was believed that la izquierda was the majority, and that it was going to be hard for them to lose since it was too soon after Pinochet. However, people were growing weary of la concertacion because they weren’t living up to what the people expected from them and the economy of Chile was in gloom due to the World Economic Crisis. Piñera offered CHANGE to Chile and that made him an attractive candidate.
Christine describes it as “chile is definitely more of a ying yang in terms of political opinion than a marble pattern...very extreme.” However, this ying doesn’t complement the yang so it leads to much political turmoil in the country.
I met a girl over the weekend that goes to school in UC Santa Cruz and is doing a home stay for the first month of her stay. She told me that her mom is very conservative and that she would get her out of jail for anything except if she took part in student protests or political demonstrations. To them, being involved in protests is what la izquierda does and they deeply shun that.
I can say that at the moment, la izquierda is definitely more angry than la derecha. They feel that the people who voted for Piñera were looking for an easy way out and that they are going to pay for that. They feel that Piñera is going to implement government policies similar to Pinochet and his humanitarian policies were actually brought into question before the election. Not because he has a bad history, but more because for many people it’s still too soon.
Nonetheless, the majority of Chileans wanted change. Piñera has been in power for 100 days and nothing significant has happened yet to cause a huge uproar. Some say the earthquake gave him a sense a freedom in his policies and that’s good to some and bad for others. Also, Chile’s frenzy in the World Cup gave him a sense of transparency because the country was too intertwined with the Cup to care of much else.
Friday, July 9, 2010
PDA-OKAY
One of the first things that a visitor of Santiago may notice is that couples are definitely afraid of showing their affection for one another in public. In the U.S., this is usually only seen at clubs or at parties, but here it's a normal part of life. For me, it's always been normal for people to kiss in public since showing affection is a part of our Chilean culture. I have noticed that it is a lot more taboo in the states to do these sorts of things, and I really have no idea why. One of the things that I think surprised some of the DukeEngagers is the fact that couples make out everywhere and every time of day; it's almost impossible to go on a metro ride without seeing a couple and their PDA (public displays of affection). A lot of people who aren't used to this feel uncomfortable being around these individuals, but why?
I think that being in love (or thinking you are in love) is one of the most beautiful things a person can experience and as long as they aren't going too crazy, we should learn to accept the romantic ways of Latin America. Back in the states I always grew up hearing about "personal space," but I never quite understood this concept of getting too close to a person. Being back in Chile has definitely made me realize that my comfort level being close to strangers on public transportation and my perhaps romantic mindset may just be a result of my Chilean/Latin culture.
After all, we do always sign our letters and messages with:
Besitos - Kisses,
Christy
I think that being in love (or thinking you are in love) is one of the most beautiful things a person can experience and as long as they aren't going too crazy, we should learn to accept the romantic ways of Latin America. Back in the states I always grew up hearing about "personal space," but I never quite understood this concept of getting too close to a person. Being back in Chile has definitely made me realize that my comfort level being close to strangers on public transportation and my perhaps romantic mindset may just be a result of my Chilean/Latin culture.
After all, we do always sign our letters and messages with:
Besitos - Kisses,
Christy
Monday, July 5, 2010
Una Charla with Ominami
Sorry for the delay. Our upcoming alumni reunion has me swamped with work. On Wednesday, June 23, we went to an elegant part of the city by the name of Vitacura to have a short session with ex-presidential candidate Marco Antonio Enríquez-Ominami. During the election, he ran for presidency with the socialist party. He received 20% of the vote, which was a new high for the socialist party. Ominami has now left the socialist party and is in the process of starting a new party by the name of Partido Progresista (Progressive Party).
We expected our conversation with Ominami to be skewed to favor him since he is a politician. Regardless, we learned about the various social issues that trouble Chile and how he plans to tackle them. For instance, he told us how LGBTs have more problems in Latin America and how he wants to make Chile a more receptive society towards them. In addition, Ominami mentioned Chile’s growing drug problem and how he plans to attack the problem by eliminating the source that is coming from the outside and enforcing the Chilean/Bolivian border.
Just like with any politician, some people are impressed with his policies, others see him as a threat, and others just laugh and don’t take him seriously. Whatever your opinion is about him, you can tell he’s a great speaker and also very bright, and It’s evident why he was able to run for presidency and reach new highs for the socialist party.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
The Down Side of Soccer
Chile had to face the its’ long-time nemesis Brazil in the Round of 16. The previous Friday, it was paired up with eventual group winners Spain, in a game that they lost 2 to 1. They were able to qualify, but now had to face the top seed of another group, which in this case was Brazil. Brazil has a habit of eliminating Chile in the Round of 16, as it did in 1998 and in other World Cups. This time it was no different. The star-studded Brazilian team quickly dismantled the Chilean defense and cruised its’ way to an easy 3-0 victory.
To prepare for the match, Eduardo and I organized a cookout at our host mom’s house. You could tell the agony on the Chilean faces at the sight of seeing their national team get trampled by a superior Brazilian squad. Their pain was very similar to what I had felt a day before when my Mexican squad had lost 3-1 in a controversial game with Argentina. The first goal was easily off-sides but the linesman fell asleep and didn’t call it. That changed the mentality of the Mexican squad because they got jittery and basically handed the ball to Argentina for their second goal.
I guess the reason soccer is more intense in soccer-crazed countries is that the World Cup is only once every four years. It’s easy for us in the United States to say, “oh well, there’s always next year.” Could you imagine having to wait for the Celtics to play for another championship in four years? That’s crazy! In addition, I can somewhat predict what I’ll be doing in a year. I’ll be working as an intern and getting ready for my last year at Duke. However, I can’t even imagine what I’ll be doing in four years. All I know is that the United States, Mexican, and Chilean squads will be even better in 2014 because they have a nice batch of young and explosive players that will be even better for that World Cup in Brazil.
In the meantime, kick back, relax, and watch Brazil win this tournament…
To prepare for the match, Eduardo and I organized a cookout at our host mom’s house. You could tell the agony on the Chilean faces at the sight of seeing their national team get trampled by a superior Brazilian squad. Their pain was very similar to what I had felt a day before when my Mexican squad had lost 3-1 in a controversial game with Argentina. The first goal was easily off-sides but the linesman fell asleep and didn’t call it. That changed the mentality of the Mexican squad because they got jittery and basically handed the ball to Argentina for their second goal.
I guess the reason soccer is more intense in soccer-crazed countries is that the World Cup is only once every four years. It’s easy for us in the United States to say, “oh well, there’s always next year.” Could you imagine having to wait for the Celtics to play for another championship in four years? That’s crazy! In addition, I can somewhat predict what I’ll be doing in a year. I’ll be working as an intern and getting ready for my last year at Duke. However, I can’t even imagine what I’ll be doing in four years. All I know is that the United States, Mexican, and Chilean squads will be even better in 2014 because they have a nice batch of young and explosive players that will be even better for that World Cup in Brazil.
In the meantime, kick back, relax, and watch Brazil win this tournament…
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