Zack and I met a few new international expats last week. These conversations nearly always begin with three questions: 1) Where are you from, 2) How long have you been here, and 3) What are you doing while in Chile? Last week when I answered number two I felt as though I'd been here 'forever!' as we have just passed five months, the half-way point of our trip. But I received an unexpected response, as our new acquaintances said "Only five months?!" implying that we were fresh off the boat.
Perhaps that is just a sidelight to my post tonight, but as I reflect on my changing impressions of Chile and ex-pat life (if I have earned that status yet) I realize just how many layers there are to discover in a new society. I am now comfortable at the supermarket, and am unfazed walking into restaurants and banks, and even feel like I have a modest understanding of the economics and government of my temporary home. But like every country, there are numerous social, environmental, and political issues that add to the individuality and nuance of Chilean life.
In light of this, I've thought about periodically creating blog posts to encourage myself to learn more about these issues, and to provide background information for any interested friends and family to better understand our adopted country. Perhaps compiling statistics about air quality in cities worldwide to give some context to our complaints about Santiago's pollution. Or another update about the status of the proposed dams in Patagonia. Then I realized this is what newspapers are for....
So today I'm including a link to an article in the local Santiago (Engligh) paper that I felt provided great background on the current protests about education, which have been a persistent part of our city over the past two months. As a brief introduction, there have been protests attended by more than 100,000 people demanding better education funding, or free education for all. Many universities have been taken over by students, a subset of whom are currently on day 11 of a hunger strike. In other words, this is a big deal here, and this article provided me with some of the facts and figures to explain why it is such a complex issue. I hope you enjoy it!
SantiagoTimes.cl
PS - Things are well here. Zack landed in Buenos Aires today for his regional Fulbright conference, and we are planning our trip to Peru at the end of the month. Life promises to stay busy (but tranquilo) until we fly home in December!
No comments:
Post a Comment