Well, my friend Sam, who surpringly goes to Carelton College in Northfield only about 20 minutes from my home in New Prague, struck a gold mine one day and found the best empanadas in Santiago.
Empanadas are a very typical food of South America--- especially Chile and Argentina. There are many, many, many types of empanadas and sadly they aren't the best if you are on a diet, but they are absolutely irresistible. They are a pocket of dough that is filled with any number of things including cheese, ham, chicken, beef, fish, mixtures of vegetables, etc. My favorite empanadas are ham and cheese or cheese --- which is on the boring side, but they are ones that I know I like, so that is what I go for.
This little hole in the wall store sells drinks, empanadas, deserts (especially an amazing sugar cookie that I have to get when I go there) and other stuff. It is on a plaza by the La Moneda (the presidential palace). It has a little awning that looks like an Italian flag, but don't let that confuse you, all of the food they serve is authentic South American. Um... Humm. Very good.
When mom comes in December we will definitely frequent that stand at least once and if anyone ever gets the chance to come to Chile and stops in at Santiago, make it a part of your visit to the La Moneda. I promise you won't regret it!
Friday, August 22, 2008
The Olympics --- A Foriegn Perspective
I learned during the Olympics that no matter how much I love NBC's reporting on politics they are dumb and stupid.
All of this anger comes from the fact that NBC does not allow people outside the USA to access their live or recorded video of the Olympics, which is really stupid. Here in Chile, when they only have a handful of people going to the Olympics they have no need or desire to show the Olympics to their population, only the sports in which they are participating or important international events like Michael Phelps' 7th win.
So, when the Olympics started, I assumed that Chile broadcasting like USA broadcasting would play the opening ceremonies in the eventing. WRONG. They only play it live, which means that it played at 8am EST and never again. Reportedly they did play it at some ungodly hour like 2am or something... but still. I missed the most amazing opening ceremonies in history because I was still sleeping.
I never saw my favorite sports like swimming, diving, rhythmic gymnastics, or water polo... and I felt like a failure.
It is weird, I was talking to my host family about the Olympics and they said that you have to first qualify for the Olympics before you can go, which is why Chile only had a few athletes attend. They said it goes by region, that many south American countries have to duke it out before they can even go to the Olympics. I guess we have Olympic trials, but we have so many people that represent our country at the Olympics that I assumed that everyone had as quite a few athletes as well. I believe Chile had around 25 athletes at the games. I also don't think they won a medal.
The Olympics are definitely a bigger deal in the United States. I still maintain that we beat China in the total medal count and I think that it is pathetic that they put their money on sports that will get them more medals for the sole purpose of winning the gold count. I think that total medals won is much more important because it says, we help all of our athletes become better individuals and we recognize everyone's strengths and weaknesses. If China really is that worried about medal counts then maybe they are 'making up for something' as in making up for the millions of people that are in absolute poverty, making up for their horrible environmental standards, making up for their horrible human rights record, making up for their mistreatment of workers... and the list goes on. If my country loses the gold medal count, but wins the overall medal count because we focus on everyone... I respect and believe that my country is better. It really doesn't matter anyways because a medal count does not mean that you have become a developed country... its the statistics that make that true or false and looking at the statistics China is a ways off.
All of this anger comes from the fact that NBC does not allow people outside the USA to access their live or recorded video of the Olympics, which is really stupid. Here in Chile, when they only have a handful of people going to the Olympics they have no need or desire to show the Olympics to their population, only the sports in which they are participating or important international events like Michael Phelps' 7th win.
So, when the Olympics started, I assumed that Chile broadcasting like USA broadcasting would play the opening ceremonies in the eventing. WRONG. They only play it live, which means that it played at 8am EST and never again. Reportedly they did play it at some ungodly hour like 2am or something... but still. I missed the most amazing opening ceremonies in history because I was still sleeping.
I never saw my favorite sports like swimming, diving, rhythmic gymnastics, or water polo... and I felt like a failure.
It is weird, I was talking to my host family about the Olympics and they said that you have to first qualify for the Olympics before you can go, which is why Chile only had a few athletes attend. They said it goes by region, that many south American countries have to duke it out before they can even go to the Olympics. I guess we have Olympic trials, but we have so many people that represent our country at the Olympics that I assumed that everyone had as quite a few athletes as well. I believe Chile had around 25 athletes at the games. I also don't think they won a medal.
The Olympics are definitely a bigger deal in the United States. I still maintain that we beat China in the total medal count and I think that it is pathetic that they put their money on sports that will get them more medals for the sole purpose of winning the gold count. I think that total medals won is much more important because it says, we help all of our athletes become better individuals and we recognize everyone's strengths and weaknesses. If China really is that worried about medal counts then maybe they are 'making up for something' as in making up for the millions of people that are in absolute poverty, making up for their horrible environmental standards, making up for their horrible human rights record, making up for their mistreatment of workers... and the list goes on. If my country loses the gold medal count, but wins the overall medal count because we focus on everyone... I respect and believe that my country is better. It really doesn't matter anyways because a medal count does not mean that you have become a developed country... its the statistics that make that true or false and looking at the statistics China is a ways off.
Tansantiago --- El Problema
So, if you didn't already know from just knowing me in general or from reading my blogs... for some reason I tend to view the world as half empty. Which I personally hate about myself. I wish that I could enjoy things to their fullest all the time and I really do try to work on this everyday... but for anyone who is the same as me, you know its not easy to change. I think it actually is something that is handed down from one side in particular of my family and is probably a mixture of good and bad, but mostly bad. This particular side of my family tends to be pretty critical of everything... which contributes to our hard work ethic and desire to change things, but also leaves us a group of glass half empty people. But this is just a side note, introduction to the real blog of the problem of the mass transit system in Santiago.
This blog, you may first think is just a rant by me of how bad the system is, but its really not just me. If you talk to ANY person who lives in Santiago they will bitch, moan, complain, throw a hissy fit, etc... about this topic for at least 15 minutes. So I am going to use this blog to explain to you why the system is so bad.
Every Monday morning, I have class at 8:30 at the Catolica Campus across town. I get up at 7am, rush through the shower, shaving, teeth, grab breakfast on my way out, and get to the bus stop around 7:40. I wait, and I wait, and sometimes when I am lucky, the bus comes in 5 minutes... but most of the time I wait until almost 8am. You are probably asking, well if the bus comes at 8am, then why don't you just come at 8am? The answer is you never know when the bus is going to come and if you miss the 7:50 bus you may not get the next bus until 8:10 OR LATER ensuring your tardiness to Chilean Geography.
When the bus finally does come, it is PACKED with people, maybe 3 people can scoot in on the bus and stand in the doorway, just allowing the bus doors to shut. You may say, well the bus is just very busy... the problem is many times the back of the bus is empty and people don't move to the back of the bus to make room for the new people getting on, or when people get off the back of the bus, they don't fill in those spots making room for more people.
Another problem with the bus system, is that many times the one bus will come and be packed, people will push and shove to get on, the whole while three empty buses have stopped behind the full bus and no people go to the empty buses where there is more room to sit. I have at times seen one full shorter bus, and three longer buses that are half full to empty in a row and where do the Chileans go, the full bus where they can have some strange man with a guitar feel them up. Its pure insanity. Both of these problems however, seem to be more about the people who get on the bus then the bus system itself... right? WRONG.
Why are there two empty buses following a full bus in the first place. Wouldn't it be smarter to have buses come every 5 minutes instead of a parade of buses (sometimes 3-4 in a pack) at once every 20-25 minutes. It seems more logical to me. If there are more than 2 buses in a pack, then that 2nd bus should wait at the bus stop for a few minutes while the bus in front of it goes ahead. It makes sense to me. The Twin Cities bus system allows people to know that the bus comes at specific times and I don't know how they do it, but the bus usually at the stop between 2 minutes before or 2 minutes after when it should be there... of course this is different during weather, but come on, Santiago only gets rain and that is rare. When I return home from school in the evenings I wait at a bus stop where they have the pay box things outside of the waiting area. You are corralled like cows into lines where you then pay for this mockery and wait in a holding cell until an empty bus comes and you fill it up from every door you possibly can get through. I believe that if the windows were big enough people would throw their small children through so they could reserve a seat for them. So, the bus is now PACKED with people and I think the guy standing next to me is either feeling me up or he just... I don't know, but I move away and bump into some old women who looks like she wants to kill me. All the while there is a man who is taking up three people's spaces with his guitar and singing some Chilean Ballad and then begs for money from the millions of passengers on board. How does he get the money you ask? He, and his guitar, push through the crowd sticking his dirty hand in front of your face until you give him 100 pesos or more. Don't worry there will be more stories about these people later.
After I had experienced this a couple of times and witnessed the 'parading' of buses around town I thought to myself: gee, if I wait in the corral a little longer, do you think another empty bus will come and I can have almost an entire bus to myself. BINGO! Every time, as soon as the packed bus leaves a bigger one comes around the corner and me and my friends (natives who have also figured this out) jump on and can literally put our feet up on the four seats we have to ourselves. CRAZINESS!
A couple other stories, guitarists are not the only people who perform a service on the bus and beg for money. No, in fact, one day I had a guitarist, a singer, and a clown get on the bus at different intervals. I only pay the musicians if I think that they are good. Clowns, people selling toothbrushes, and people selling chocolate bars don't get anything. Three pretty good stories from the buses include the Clown, the toothbrush salesman, and the really bad singer. The clown, came on the bus and was crazy. He ran up to a little girl and started speaking in Spanish and literally scared her so badly that she jumped into her mothers arms and started crying... all the while, I was laughing pretty hard in the back of the bus and everyone on the bus realized that the clown should not be paid for his bad services. The tooth brush guy came on the bus in a suit with a really weird tie, that really wasn't a tie, it was a scarf that was tied some how like a tie. He had a voice like Bob Barker and he talked about how this toothbrush was special, it was from the United States, so it must be special, it has special brush technology that massages your teeth and gums, it also has a brush on the other end for your tongue because according to this guy, the tongue has the most bacteria on it. After his explanation, I started laughing because the guy sitting next to me was making faces that went along to this guys jibberish. He and I laughed pretty hard making it obvious that we thought he was nuts, and then the guy sitting next to us, bought two of them. Not such a bad day for the toothbrush salesman. The really bad singer, was quite simply horrible. She cantered a ballad that literally made me want to change buses. A Chilean woman I was sitting by looked at me and said, laughing under her breath that she would pay this woman to stop singing and get off the bus. She said she never took public transit because she had heard so many bad stories and that after today she would never use it again.
We can also talk about how the design of the buses is nonsense. In the twin cities you must climb on to the bus to get on. Thus the bus is 3-4 feet higher then the ground. In santiago 90% of the buses are all at the same level as the ground... probably for service to handicapped personalities, but the items they have to help handicapped people are inadequate any way. Number one, the buses are usually too packed to have someone in a wheel chair on the bus anyway, and also someone has to put the ramp out and bring it back in for the person. In the twin cities the device is activated by the bus driver and is done automatically, which frees handicapped people from requiring another person to help them. Thank God for the Americans with Disabilities Act, which I know has made new construction of some things difficult, but you don't see people in wheel chairs with the freedom that you do in the USA. Now, I know, I am in Chile, South America, not as developed as the USA, however there are 8 million people who live in Santiago and the transantiago system is used by almost everyone to get around. You would think that they could figure a way out to solve some of these problems.
The system, as I have written before was recently changed--- about 2 years ago recent and they admit that they need to work out some kinks. The system was changed primarily because of issues with the environment. Santiago is usually --- especially during the weekday grey skied because of the pollution cloud over the city. The government thought that if they changed the system to make it more efficient the pollution would go down. Instead, recent studies show that the pollution has stayed pretty much the same... which could be a success because as cities develop, Santiago is developing, they tend to create more pollution and if Santiago's pollution has been kept steady, this may have made an impact, but to most of the population of Santiago, those people who don't move to the back of the bus, they get pretty pissed waiting for that next parade of buses to come. I think personally that trying to rid a city of pollution is a great and worthy goal, however cities like Mexico City and Santiago, which are surrounded by mountains and don't have winds to push the pollution else where, reducing pollution is not going to bring you the blue skies you dream of. Its a geographical thing that really can't be changed easily or at all... unless you move the entire city somewhere else... which won't be happening.
On the other hand, the METRO system or the subway is wonderful. It is always clean, tends to have room (I have only had to push myself in once), and the people are very friendly. Chileans value their metro system a lot. It has been rated one of the most clean systems in the world and they work together... all of them to make sure it stays that way. However, the buses are a different story, there is graffiti, people get mugged, etc on the bus all the time. So, word to the wise, get a hotel or hostel close to the metro stations if you visit Santiago, I promise you will be SO happy when you can avoid the buses like the plague.
Another note: my professor of spanish told our class that the correct usage of problema (problem in spanish) is el problema (the problem). Every noun is either masculine of feminine in spanish. Usually if the word ends with a its feminine and thus is la whatever word. So you would expect that problema would be la problema. But, instead its el problema. My professor said that the reason this was spelled this way is because men are the problems. The word for answer is la repuesta. So, she said women are the answers. I don't subscribe to this, but find it funny.
To end this blog I will bring up two items that I think will make you laugh:
DOGS DON'T HAVE TO PAY TO USE THE BUS! One night I was on the bus and as we were getting on the bus, this dog jumped on the bus with us. It was quite comical. He laid down, chilled for a little while and then when his time came, he got off the bus at one of the stops. I asked the guy next to me if the dog had his Bip card, the card you use to pay for the bus, and he just laughed and smiled.
WHEELS ON THE BUS! The entire time I was writing this blog, the song kept going through my head. Especially the part where the bus driver says: Move on back! Move on back! Maybe whoever wrote that book or song, needs to introduce it to Santiago bookstores or the singers on the bus need to sing it... because its advice would be very good I think.
This blog, you may first think is just a rant by me of how bad the system is, but its really not just me. If you talk to ANY person who lives in Santiago they will bitch, moan, complain, throw a hissy fit, etc... about this topic for at least 15 minutes. So I am going to use this blog to explain to you why the system is so bad.
Every Monday morning, I have class at 8:30 at the Catolica Campus across town. I get up at 7am, rush through the shower, shaving, teeth, grab breakfast on my way out, and get to the bus stop around 7:40. I wait, and I wait, and sometimes when I am lucky, the bus comes in 5 minutes... but most of the time I wait until almost 8am. You are probably asking, well if the bus comes at 8am, then why don't you just come at 8am? The answer is you never know when the bus is going to come and if you miss the 7:50 bus you may not get the next bus until 8:10 OR LATER ensuring your tardiness to Chilean Geography.
When the bus finally does come, it is PACKED with people, maybe 3 people can scoot in on the bus and stand in the doorway, just allowing the bus doors to shut. You may say, well the bus is just very busy... the problem is many times the back of the bus is empty and people don't move to the back of the bus to make room for the new people getting on, or when people get off the back of the bus, they don't fill in those spots making room for more people.
Another problem with the bus system, is that many times the one bus will come and be packed, people will push and shove to get on, the whole while three empty buses have stopped behind the full bus and no people go to the empty buses where there is more room to sit. I have at times seen one full shorter bus, and three longer buses that are half full to empty in a row and where do the Chileans go, the full bus where they can have some strange man with a guitar feel them up. Its pure insanity. Both of these problems however, seem to be more about the people who get on the bus then the bus system itself... right? WRONG.
Why are there two empty buses following a full bus in the first place. Wouldn't it be smarter to have buses come every 5 minutes instead of a parade of buses (sometimes 3-4 in a pack) at once every 20-25 minutes. It seems more logical to me. If there are more than 2 buses in a pack, then that 2nd bus should wait at the bus stop for a few minutes while the bus in front of it goes ahead. It makes sense to me. The Twin Cities bus system allows people to know that the bus comes at specific times and I don't know how they do it, but the bus usually at the stop between 2 minutes before or 2 minutes after when it should be there... of course this is different during weather, but come on, Santiago only gets rain and that is rare. When I return home from school in the evenings I wait at a bus stop where they have the pay box things outside of the waiting area. You are corralled like cows into lines where you then pay for this mockery and wait in a holding cell until an empty bus comes and you fill it up from every door you possibly can get through. I believe that if the windows were big enough people would throw their small children through so they could reserve a seat for them. So, the bus is now PACKED with people and I think the guy standing next to me is either feeling me up or he just... I don't know, but I move away and bump into some old women who looks like she wants to kill me. All the while there is a man who is taking up three people's spaces with his guitar and singing some Chilean Ballad and then begs for money from the millions of passengers on board. How does he get the money you ask? He, and his guitar, push through the crowd sticking his dirty hand in front of your face until you give him 100 pesos or more. Don't worry there will be more stories about these people later.
After I had experienced this a couple of times and witnessed the 'parading' of buses around town I thought to myself: gee, if I wait in the corral a little longer, do you think another empty bus will come and I can have almost an entire bus to myself. BINGO! Every time, as soon as the packed bus leaves a bigger one comes around the corner and me and my friends (natives who have also figured this out) jump on and can literally put our feet up on the four seats we have to ourselves. CRAZINESS!
A couple other stories, guitarists are not the only people who perform a service on the bus and beg for money. No, in fact, one day I had a guitarist, a singer, and a clown get on the bus at different intervals. I only pay the musicians if I think that they are good. Clowns, people selling toothbrushes, and people selling chocolate bars don't get anything. Three pretty good stories from the buses include the Clown, the toothbrush salesman, and the really bad singer. The clown, came on the bus and was crazy. He ran up to a little girl and started speaking in Spanish and literally scared her so badly that she jumped into her mothers arms and started crying... all the while, I was laughing pretty hard in the back of the bus and everyone on the bus realized that the clown should not be paid for his bad services. The tooth brush guy came on the bus in a suit with a really weird tie, that really wasn't a tie, it was a scarf that was tied some how like a tie. He had a voice like Bob Barker and he talked about how this toothbrush was special, it was from the United States, so it must be special, it has special brush technology that massages your teeth and gums, it also has a brush on the other end for your tongue because according to this guy, the tongue has the most bacteria on it. After his explanation, I started laughing because the guy sitting next to me was making faces that went along to this guys jibberish. He and I laughed pretty hard making it obvious that we thought he was nuts, and then the guy sitting next to us, bought two of them. Not such a bad day for the toothbrush salesman. The really bad singer, was quite simply horrible. She cantered a ballad that literally made me want to change buses. A Chilean woman I was sitting by looked at me and said, laughing under her breath that she would pay this woman to stop singing and get off the bus. She said she never took public transit because she had heard so many bad stories and that after today she would never use it again.
We can also talk about how the design of the buses is nonsense. In the twin cities you must climb on to the bus to get on. Thus the bus is 3-4 feet higher then the ground. In santiago 90% of the buses are all at the same level as the ground... probably for service to handicapped personalities, but the items they have to help handicapped people are inadequate any way. Number one, the buses are usually too packed to have someone in a wheel chair on the bus anyway, and also someone has to put the ramp out and bring it back in for the person. In the twin cities the device is activated by the bus driver and is done automatically, which frees handicapped people from requiring another person to help them. Thank God for the Americans with Disabilities Act, which I know has made new construction of some things difficult, but you don't see people in wheel chairs with the freedom that you do in the USA. Now, I know, I am in Chile, South America, not as developed as the USA, however there are 8 million people who live in Santiago and the transantiago system is used by almost everyone to get around. You would think that they could figure a way out to solve some of these problems.
The system, as I have written before was recently changed--- about 2 years ago recent and they admit that they need to work out some kinks. The system was changed primarily because of issues with the environment. Santiago is usually --- especially during the weekday grey skied because of the pollution cloud over the city. The government thought that if they changed the system to make it more efficient the pollution would go down. Instead, recent studies show that the pollution has stayed pretty much the same... which could be a success because as cities develop, Santiago is developing, they tend to create more pollution and if Santiago's pollution has been kept steady, this may have made an impact, but to most of the population of Santiago, those people who don't move to the back of the bus, they get pretty pissed waiting for that next parade of buses to come. I think personally that trying to rid a city of pollution is a great and worthy goal, however cities like Mexico City and Santiago, which are surrounded by mountains and don't have winds to push the pollution else where, reducing pollution is not going to bring you the blue skies you dream of. Its a geographical thing that really can't be changed easily or at all... unless you move the entire city somewhere else... which won't be happening.
On the other hand, the METRO system or the subway is wonderful. It is always clean, tends to have room (I have only had to push myself in once), and the people are very friendly. Chileans value their metro system a lot. It has been rated one of the most clean systems in the world and they work together... all of them to make sure it stays that way. However, the buses are a different story, there is graffiti, people get mugged, etc on the bus all the time. So, word to the wise, get a hotel or hostel close to the metro stations if you visit Santiago, I promise you will be SO happy when you can avoid the buses like the plague.
Another note: my professor of spanish told our class that the correct usage of problema (problem in spanish) is el problema (the problem). Every noun is either masculine of feminine in spanish. Usually if the word ends with a its feminine and thus is la whatever word. So you would expect that problema would be la problema. But, instead its el problema. My professor said that the reason this was spelled this way is because men are the problems. The word for answer is la repuesta. So, she said women are the answers. I don't subscribe to this, but find it funny.
To end this blog I will bring up two items that I think will make you laugh:
DOGS DON'T HAVE TO PAY TO USE THE BUS! One night I was on the bus and as we were getting on the bus, this dog jumped on the bus with us. It was quite comical. He laid down, chilled for a little while and then when his time came, he got off the bus at one of the stops. I asked the guy next to me if the dog had his Bip card, the card you use to pay for the bus, and he just laughed and smiled.
WHEELS ON THE BUS! The entire time I was writing this blog, the song kept going through my head. Especially the part where the bus driver says: Move on back! Move on back! Maybe whoever wrote that book or song, needs to introduce it to Santiago bookstores or the singers on the bus need to sing it... because its advice would be very good I think.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Class Registration
Well, I am coming back out of the cave now. I will update you on my first month in Chile by writing blogs that address specific topics like: Public Transportation, Classes, Sights, Host Family, etc. I hope you enjoy!
Class registration is very different here in Chile compared to my typical process in the United States. In the United States, the schedules for classes are usually on the university website more then four months in advance, allowing students to find which classes they want to take and plan their schedules. In Chile, the schedule is released the week before classes start and everyone frantically runs around 'testing' the classes they want to take for 1-2 weeks before officially registering with the university registrar.
I attended 7 classes: Chilean Geography, International Economic Relations, Themes of History, Republics and Communities: Democracy in Crisis, Economics of Copper, Coal, and Mining in Chile, Spanish, and History and Culture of Chile. Now, I am officially registered in Chilean Geography, International Economic Relations, Spanish, and an Independent Research Project. I am quite excited about these classes.
Chilean Geography has already been very interesting and because Chile is such a geographically rich country it has been extremely educational. This class is split into two sections, one focusing on Physical Geography: Volcanoes, Mountains, Sea, Valleys and the other section is focused on Human Geography: People, History, Culture, etc. As a class we are going to do a field excursion to Vina del Mar, a city about 2 hours away. I am really excited, I think that this field excursion will be a lot of fun!
International Economic Relations, is taught by a professor who works for the Chilean Foreign Affairs Ministry and has many contacts. For example last week's class was focused on Chilean relations with China and the Chinese Ambassador came to speak at our class. It was interesting to hear from her about what they thought was so special about China. She brought up the Olympics, the Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City, and Tiananmen Square (for reasons not including the student protests that we all know so much about). The Olympics seemed to be her most important consideration and she probably talked about the games for more the 1/3 of her presentation. Later in the semester we have a presentation by the Brazilian Ambassador to Chile. In this class, I am going to have to work with a group of Chilean students to design a paper and presentation about the Chilean economic relations with Japan. It will be a nice chance to meet Chilean students and understand them better.
In Spanish things are much like classes in the United States because it is taught through the program I am here through Institute for Study Abroad. It has been fun and interesting because you can put into practice everything that you learn as soon as you leave the classroom. I am working really hard to pick up the language better, and I believe strongly that I am, but its an uphill battle. We had our first quiz last Monday and we turned in our first essay on Wednesday.
My Independent Study is probably the thing I am most excited for, although it will be a ton of work. The independent study is focused on the Chilean Copper Industry and its impact and connections to World History. I am trying to get this to count as my World History requirement for my International Studies Major. The Chilean Copper Industry is interesting because it really does show the connection Chile has to the rest of the world. Many of the copper mining companies were not set up by Chileans but foreigners. Later, during the Allende --- Socialist/Communist regime, the mines were nationalized and the world powers lost their 'cheap' copper. Then, as Gen. Pinochet came to power through Military Coup, he privatized all the mines again. The copper mines explain many of the major historical themes: colonization, influence of the International System, rebuke of the system, and the current rise of globalization. I hope it gets approved, but even if it doesn't this project will be extremely interesting because it combines all of my interests of Economics, History, and Public Policy. The final product of the project is a 25+ page paper, written entirely in Spanish, that discusses my hypothesis, research, and conclusion.
Another great thing about my schedule is that I only have classes on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. This allows me more opportunities to travel, study or experience Chilean culture. Almost everyone in my group has Fridays off, so its nice to have Thursdays off so I can really focus on things I want to do alone.
As a 'gift' for getting our registration done, the IFSA program is taking all of us to a mountain resort tomorrow. I am pretty excited and I will have to write about how it goes on another blog!
Again, sorry for the time away. I was trying to acclimate to the culture, which, to be totally honest, has not totally occurred. I will try and get you updated quickly and stay updated in the future!
Class registration is very different here in Chile compared to my typical process in the United States. In the United States, the schedules for classes are usually on the university website more then four months in advance, allowing students to find which classes they want to take and plan their schedules. In Chile, the schedule is released the week before classes start and everyone frantically runs around 'testing' the classes they want to take for 1-2 weeks before officially registering with the university registrar.
I attended 7 classes: Chilean Geography, International Economic Relations, Themes of History, Republics and Communities: Democracy in Crisis, Economics of Copper, Coal, and Mining in Chile, Spanish, and History and Culture of Chile. Now, I am officially registered in Chilean Geography, International Economic Relations, Spanish, and an Independent Research Project. I am quite excited about these classes.
Chilean Geography has already been very interesting and because Chile is such a geographically rich country it has been extremely educational. This class is split into two sections, one focusing on Physical Geography: Volcanoes, Mountains, Sea, Valleys and the other section is focused on Human Geography: People, History, Culture, etc. As a class we are going to do a field excursion to Vina del Mar, a city about 2 hours away. I am really excited, I think that this field excursion will be a lot of fun!
International Economic Relations, is taught by a professor who works for the Chilean Foreign Affairs Ministry and has many contacts. For example last week's class was focused on Chilean relations with China and the Chinese Ambassador came to speak at our class. It was interesting to hear from her about what they thought was so special about China. She brought up the Olympics, the Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City, and Tiananmen Square (for reasons not including the student protests that we all know so much about). The Olympics seemed to be her most important consideration and she probably talked about the games for more the 1/3 of her presentation. Later in the semester we have a presentation by the Brazilian Ambassador to Chile. In this class, I am going to have to work with a group of Chilean students to design a paper and presentation about the Chilean economic relations with Japan. It will be a nice chance to meet Chilean students and understand them better.
In Spanish things are much like classes in the United States because it is taught through the program I am here through Institute for Study Abroad. It has been fun and interesting because you can put into practice everything that you learn as soon as you leave the classroom. I am working really hard to pick up the language better, and I believe strongly that I am, but its an uphill battle. We had our first quiz last Monday and we turned in our first essay on Wednesday.
My Independent Study is probably the thing I am most excited for, although it will be a ton of work. The independent study is focused on the Chilean Copper Industry and its impact and connections to World History. I am trying to get this to count as my World History requirement for my International Studies Major. The Chilean Copper Industry is interesting because it really does show the connection Chile has to the rest of the world. Many of the copper mining companies were not set up by Chileans but foreigners. Later, during the Allende --- Socialist/Communist regime, the mines were nationalized and the world powers lost their 'cheap' copper. Then, as Gen. Pinochet came to power through Military Coup, he privatized all the mines again. The copper mines explain many of the major historical themes: colonization, influence of the International System, rebuke of the system, and the current rise of globalization. I hope it gets approved, but even if it doesn't this project will be extremely interesting because it combines all of my interests of Economics, History, and Public Policy. The final product of the project is a 25+ page paper, written entirely in Spanish, that discusses my hypothesis, research, and conclusion.
Another great thing about my schedule is that I only have classes on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. This allows me more opportunities to travel, study or experience Chilean culture. Almost everyone in my group has Fridays off, so its nice to have Thursdays off so I can really focus on things I want to do alone.
As a 'gift' for getting our registration done, the IFSA program is taking all of us to a mountain resort tomorrow. I am pretty excited and I will have to write about how it goes on another blog!
Again, sorry for the time away. I was trying to acclimate to the culture, which, to be totally honest, has not totally occurred. I will try and get you updated quickly and stay updated in the future!
Friday, August 1, 2008
Flickr
I started adding pictures to my flickr site. I am going to try and put some pictures on the blog, but I will have ALL of my pictures on flickr, with comments on most of them. So go check them out!
I hope you enjoy them!
I hope you enjoy them!
Thursday, July 31, 2008
La Universidad Catolica
I am going to give you a little insight into the Catholic University here in Santiago. I am taking Chilean Geography at this school, in their San Joaquin Campus.
(A side note about campuses) All of the universities here, do not have one campus like almost all universities in the United States. Instead they are dispersed around town. Each campus usually has a focus. For example, the architecture program is all in one campus. This makes sense because the students go to college knowing what exactly they are going to do. Students who become part of the Architecture Faculty are going to do things related to Architecture and therefore (primarily) only take classes on this subject, meaning they stay in their respective campus. They do not value the 'well rounded' or 'liberal arts' mentality like the United States does.
The Catholic University is private and tends to have mostly upper class students who can afford to pay the considerably higher tuition costs. I personally like this university the best because it is very traditional and things are particularly well organized. The students here were also the most friendly out of all of the classes I visited (apart from the students in my IFSA program).
Unlike Minnesota, our class doors swing right out to the 'quad'. The buildings do not hold hallways with classrooms, most, if not all, have classrooms that are pretty much part of the out doors. Which will make sense when it gets warmer here, but currently it creates a pretty chilly learning environment.
The libraries at this university are particularly nice, probably due to the higher tuition, but I have found myself spending most of my study time here. I will have to take a picture of the campus that I spend most of my time at because it is gorgeous. On a clear day you can see the modern, steeple looking thing that is attached to their chapel and behind the entire campus are the Andes mountains. It really is spectacular, when the pollution isn't too bad. ;)
I think the reason I like this university the most is because it really does feel a lot like Saint Thomas and home. (Minus the mountains of course.) The professors seem down to earth, easy to talk to, and the students are very nice as well.
(A side note about campuses) All of the universities here, do not have one campus like almost all universities in the United States. Instead they are dispersed around town. Each campus usually has a focus. For example, the architecture program is all in one campus. This makes sense because the students go to college knowing what exactly they are going to do. Students who become part of the Architecture Faculty are going to do things related to Architecture and therefore (primarily) only take classes on this subject, meaning they stay in their respective campus. They do not value the 'well rounded' or 'liberal arts' mentality like the United States does.
The Catholic University is private and tends to have mostly upper class students who can afford to pay the considerably higher tuition costs. I personally like this university the best because it is very traditional and things are particularly well organized. The students here were also the most friendly out of all of the classes I visited (apart from the students in my IFSA program).
Unlike Minnesota, our class doors swing right out to the 'quad'. The buildings do not hold hallways with classrooms, most, if not all, have classrooms that are pretty much part of the out doors. Which will make sense when it gets warmer here, but currently it creates a pretty chilly learning environment.
The libraries at this university are particularly nice, probably due to the higher tuition, but I have found myself spending most of my study time here. I will have to take a picture of the campus that I spend most of my time at because it is gorgeous. On a clear day you can see the modern, steeple looking thing that is attached to their chapel and behind the entire campus are the Andes mountains. It really is spectacular, when the pollution isn't too bad. ;)
I think the reason I like this university the most is because it really does feel a lot like Saint Thomas and home. (Minus the mountains of course.) The professors seem down to earth, easy to talk to, and the students are very nice as well.
Universidad de Diego Portales
One of the Universities I can pick classes from is Diego Portales University. It is a small private college in the heart of Santiago. It has many different specialties including health, economics, political science, geography, engineering, literature, education, architecture, art, law, history, etc. This university also has a requirement for its students to take classes included in the formacion general, or General Formation. This formation includes classes from many areas and serves as an opportunity to broaden their horizons and take classes in other areas that will help them understand their area better... think liberal arts education in the United States.
These general formation classes are usually easier, feature more group work, and serve more as introduction courses. This interested me, so I was recommended to go to International Economic Relations by Carmen Gloria one of the academic advisers COPA-IFSA (my program) has on staff.
The class is taught by a chief deputy in the Chilean Foreign Ministry, which is really neat. He has a lot of experience considering he has also been a diplomat and ambassador for Chile over his extensive career. He has a specialized, post graduate degree which is focused on the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) which is extremely fascinating to me, because our Model United Nations group has been to conferences where we have represented countries on UNCTAD.
I am hoping to get this class to count as my Country and Area Studies in Economics class at St. Thomas. The approval has not gone through yet, so I am hoping. If not, it will still be an interesting class and I can take Economics of China when I get back to UST, which is a good alternative. You may be saying to yourself, International Economic Relations doesn't really sound like a Chilean Economics class, but the syllabus indicates that we are studying the Chilean economy through the lens of its economic relations with other countries. My group must research the relationship between Chile and Japan and give a 25 minute presentation on the topic and lead the class discussion for that day. We also have to submit a paper at the end of the class that goes over our research. The only other grade we have in this class is our final exam. So its only a little work, but I think I can handle it. I really like when we only have one exam because it means I can work on my spanish the entire time I am here and then hopefully do very well on the mostly essay tests. Right now, tests would be difficult because my grammar, especially on the spot, would be pretty difficult to understand. In a couple months, it will be different, but, its gonna take some time. :)
Diego Portales, like the other universities here in Chile have many campuses, but different from the other universities in Santiago, its campuses are all situation in the same general vicinity. Which is nice. They also have the best cafeteria specials from my understanding... which is more important then you know!
This is my second favorite school, just because I like its buildings and its environment. The students are interesting because it seems like most of the students are non-traditional. This could be because I am taking this class in the evening, but it does lend a very different environment to the classroom, which I have enjoyed so far.
These general formation classes are usually easier, feature more group work, and serve more as introduction courses. This interested me, so I was recommended to go to International Economic Relations by Carmen Gloria one of the academic advisers COPA-IFSA (my program) has on staff.
The class is taught by a chief deputy in the Chilean Foreign Ministry, which is really neat. He has a lot of experience considering he has also been a diplomat and ambassador for Chile over his extensive career. He has a specialized, post graduate degree which is focused on the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) which is extremely fascinating to me, because our Model United Nations group has been to conferences where we have represented countries on UNCTAD.
I am hoping to get this class to count as my Country and Area Studies in Economics class at St. Thomas. The approval has not gone through yet, so I am hoping. If not, it will still be an interesting class and I can take Economics of China when I get back to UST, which is a good alternative. You may be saying to yourself, International Economic Relations doesn't really sound like a Chilean Economics class, but the syllabus indicates that we are studying the Chilean economy through the lens of its economic relations with other countries. My group must research the relationship between Chile and Japan and give a 25 minute presentation on the topic and lead the class discussion for that day. We also have to submit a paper at the end of the class that goes over our research. The only other grade we have in this class is our final exam. So its only a little work, but I think I can handle it. I really like when we only have one exam because it means I can work on my spanish the entire time I am here and then hopefully do very well on the mostly essay tests. Right now, tests would be difficult because my grammar, especially on the spot, would be pretty difficult to understand. In a couple months, it will be different, but, its gonna take some time. :)
Diego Portales, like the other universities here in Chile have many campuses, but different from the other universities in Santiago, its campuses are all situation in the same general vicinity. Which is nice. They also have the best cafeteria specials from my understanding... which is more important then you know!
This is my second favorite school, just because I like its buildings and its environment. The students are interesting because it seems like most of the students are non-traditional. This could be because I am taking this class in the evening, but it does lend a very different environment to the classroom, which I have enjoyed so far.
Visiting the Policia de Investigaciones
Even if you don't know spanish, you probably can deduct the title of this blog. Vising the Investigative Police. Basically, Chile has three types of military forces: the carabineros (what you are use to as state police), the policia de investigaciones (what you are use to as the FBI), and their military force which is mostly made up of navy and airforce members, which makes sense for the geographic size and shape of Chile.
Our IFSA group visited the national headquarters of the policia de investigaciones because we needed to register our visa within 30 days of arriving in Chile. The process was a long one. Many of my friends from california and they compared the line, or waiting room, to the California DMV. I was amazed because the Minnesota DMV is slow but not that slow. I am learning here that Minnesota though is in general one of the best states when it comes to everything.... that is what my friend sam says. He grew up in California but now goes to Carelton in Northfield.
So, basically, we sat in line and got our visas checked and then we got a nice white card that we were told needed to be presented to a different agency which we would have to do on our own to get our national id card. I have gotten this completed and now I officially have a chilean foreign national id card. Actually, this made me much more willing to support a national id law... still not sure about how I feel about this political topic, but everyone in Chile has this id and its used for everything and I don't think people get discriminated with it, but maybe I need to ask.
After visiting the Chilean FBI, I had the day off. I can't remember what I did which probably means that I didn't do anything that exciting.
Our IFSA group visited the national headquarters of the policia de investigaciones because we needed to register our visa within 30 days of arriving in Chile. The process was a long one. Many of my friends from california and they compared the line, or waiting room, to the California DMV. I was amazed because the Minnesota DMV is slow but not that slow. I am learning here that Minnesota though is in general one of the best states when it comes to everything.... that is what my friend sam says. He grew up in California but now goes to Carelton in Northfield.
So, basically, we sat in line and got our visas checked and then we got a nice white card that we were told needed to be presented to a different agency which we would have to do on our own to get our national id card. I have gotten this completed and now I officially have a chilean foreign national id card. Actually, this made me much more willing to support a national id law... still not sure about how I feel about this political topic, but everyone in Chile has this id and its used for everything and I don't think people get discriminated with it, but maybe I need to ask.
After visiting the Chilean FBI, I had the day off. I can't remember what I did which probably means that I didn't do anything that exciting.
Church in Santiago
On the first Sunday I spent with my host family, I told them that I would love to go to Church with them. Church, started at 11:30am and we needed to leave at 11am. So, I was up early and was ready to leave, but the rest of my family wasn't. It was interesting because I really wanted to go to church. We ended up leaving around 12pm and getting there a little before 12:30. The church was singing very contemporary music and it was packed. Many people had their hands in the air and behind the altar a band made up of two vocalists, a guitarist, and a keyboard made the music for worship. It was different for me, who is use to a pipe organ.
The pastor, who is originally from the United Kingdom, gave a little prayer after the music has stopped and then, he left. Before he left he and his wife introduced themselves to me because they knew I was from the United States. They welcomed me to the church and told me to come to the youth events and to the youth service at night. It was weird for me to have a pastor open up a church service and then leave. Pastors, like everywhere (my church in the United States is currently looking for a pastor) are hard to come by, so here this pastor ministers many congregations and workers who just have a passion for the Lord write sermons and lead the rest of the church services. Sometimes, the pastor does run the service, he recently gave the sermon on sex and how it should be saved for marriage.
It was very awkward for me at times during the service because I come from a very traditional, conservative brand of religion. During church in Santiago, sometimes groups will form and have little prayer circles, or will yell out Alleluia! Which is great, just something I am not use to. Not to mention everything in spanish makes for an interesting service, where sometimes you feel lost (with the language) and found (with the power of Christ) all at the same time. At times in the service you are suppose to hug the people next to you, which is somewhat like Peace Be With you in the LCMS chruch, but much more contact. For example husbands and wives often kiss, very deeply during this part of the service.
Overall it was a great experience and the people really did open up to me like a family, which was a wonderful feeling. They even sang worship songs by Michael W. Smith, which made it more easy for me to follow along.
I never even said what type of church this is. The church is Anglican and the more liberal kind, not like that of the formal Church of England that I attended during holy week this spring in London. You can definitely tell the people in this church have a love for God.
At the same time, from what I did understand in the two sermons I have heard, it seems much more like a feel good church then what I like. I like churches where they challenge you to live better and help you become humble in the sight of God. I didn't get the feeling of challenge in these services. Also, I miss communion, which they do not have during the services that have contemporary music. They have a traditional service that my family does not go to earlier in the morning. Also something that I have found I really enjoy about my church is the very direct confession of sins that we have at the beginning. When I attend churches that do not have that part at the beginning where you say as a group... "I have sinned against you by my thoughts, words, and deeds..." I don't feel the sin being lifted off my shoulders... even though I know it is... I have a spiritual moment when those words are said and the pastor tells me that my sins are forgiven. Its very special, important, and personal.
To be fair, there are times when Pastor Dan at my church would not have this part in the service and its something that bothered me then too. I really enjoy that very direct confrontation I have with my sinful nature and with my God and the feeling of forgiveness afterwords. I hope this is not something that I alone experience, I am sure that others have to experience as well.
The pastor, who is originally from the United Kingdom, gave a little prayer after the music has stopped and then, he left. Before he left he and his wife introduced themselves to me because they knew I was from the United States. They welcomed me to the church and told me to come to the youth events and to the youth service at night. It was weird for me to have a pastor open up a church service and then leave. Pastors, like everywhere (my church in the United States is currently looking for a pastor) are hard to come by, so here this pastor ministers many congregations and workers who just have a passion for the Lord write sermons and lead the rest of the church services. Sometimes, the pastor does run the service, he recently gave the sermon on sex and how it should be saved for marriage.
It was very awkward for me at times during the service because I come from a very traditional, conservative brand of religion. During church in Santiago, sometimes groups will form and have little prayer circles, or will yell out Alleluia! Which is great, just something I am not use to. Not to mention everything in spanish makes for an interesting service, where sometimes you feel lost (with the language) and found (with the power of Christ) all at the same time. At times in the service you are suppose to hug the people next to you, which is somewhat like Peace Be With you in the LCMS chruch, but much more contact. For example husbands and wives often kiss, very deeply during this part of the service.
Overall it was a great experience and the people really did open up to me like a family, which was a wonderful feeling. They even sang worship songs by Michael W. Smith, which made it more easy for me to follow along.
I never even said what type of church this is. The church is Anglican and the more liberal kind, not like that of the formal Church of England that I attended during holy week this spring in London. You can definitely tell the people in this church have a love for God.
At the same time, from what I did understand in the two sermons I have heard, it seems much more like a feel good church then what I like. I like churches where they challenge you to live better and help you become humble in the sight of God. I didn't get the feeling of challenge in these services. Also, I miss communion, which they do not have during the services that have contemporary music. They have a traditional service that my family does not go to earlier in the morning. Also something that I have found I really enjoy about my church is the very direct confession of sins that we have at the beginning. When I attend churches that do not have that part at the beginning where you say as a group... "I have sinned against you by my thoughts, words, and deeds..." I don't feel the sin being lifted off my shoulders... even though I know it is... I have a spiritual moment when those words are said and the pastor tells me that my sins are forgiven. Its very special, important, and personal.
To be fair, there are times when Pastor Dan at my church would not have this part in the service and its something that bothered me then too. I really enjoy that very direct confrontation I have with my sinful nature and with my God and the feeling of forgiveness afterwords. I hope this is not something that I alone experience, I am sure that others have to experience as well.
La Universidad de Chile
This will be a description of the Universidad de Chile or one of the largest and most prestigious public universities in Santiago.
The University of Chile, like the other universities I can attend, has many different campuses. The one closest to the COPA-IFSA office (where my program is headquartered) is the Architecture/Urban Studies and Economics and Businesss. This university is more comparable to the University of Minnesota. It is very large and has had many very important people graduate from there. These important people include most of Chile's post-dictatorship Presidents, including Ms. Machelle Bachelet, the current President, and first woman president of Chile.
This orientation session I attended was the best. They took us on a bus tour of the campuses and also fed us Dunkin' Donuts and sodas... what a way to welcome American students! Now, I am remembering though, that was the only thing I really remember from the orientation session. The presentation itself was quite boring. One librarian talked for an hour about the libraries like we had never seen a library before in our lives. We also got a lecture about how this University was world renowned and not like our universities in the 'sticks'. I was quite offended, especially because my university has much nicer facilities then his does. I mean, I am from the most developed and powerful country on earth, please don't dismiss my country, my mind, my abilities, and my educational system.
There was one class that I was interested in at this university, and I attended one class period. It was the republic and the community: democracy in crisis, which if in English would have been perfect and amazing, but in Spanish, not so much. The readings included Hannah Ardent, which I really enjoyed reading her work: On Revolution at the Yale Summer School program in 2003, but again in Spanish, it would have been to difficult.
The lecture at this class was also very different from the Catholic University because the professor stood on a very large podium that was almost 5 feet off of the ground. It made him look like he was a great ruler or something, which is very different from anything I have ever experienced at St. Thomas or at any university here in Chile. I personally really don't like it. I really like it when you and the professor are on the same level, it makes for a better learning environment I think. This made me feel very lucky and happy that I decided to go to St. Thomas where this environment is much more prevalent compared to the U of M (which I believe is a very good school by the way).
The students here are very different from Catholic University students as well. They are more the "common" students with not so much money, but definitely educated and intelligent. They asked very insightful questions --- actually better then the students at the Catholic University. They were also forced to answer questions that the professor asked them out of the blue and most of them had very good answers. It was actually quite impressive.
I ended up not taking this course, because of its difficulty, but I enjoyed visiting it and experiencing what the public university setting was like here in Chile. It definitely was different.
The University of Chile, like the other universities I can attend, has many different campuses. The one closest to the COPA-IFSA office (where my program is headquartered) is the Architecture/Urban Studies and Economics and Businesss. This university is more comparable to the University of Minnesota. It is very large and has had many very important people graduate from there. These important people include most of Chile's post-dictatorship Presidents, including Ms. Machelle Bachelet, the current President, and first woman president of Chile.
This orientation session I attended was the best. They took us on a bus tour of the campuses and also fed us Dunkin' Donuts and sodas... what a way to welcome American students! Now, I am remembering though, that was the only thing I really remember from the orientation session. The presentation itself was quite boring. One librarian talked for an hour about the libraries like we had never seen a library before in our lives. We also got a lecture about how this University was world renowned and not like our universities in the 'sticks'. I was quite offended, especially because my university has much nicer facilities then his does. I mean, I am from the most developed and powerful country on earth, please don't dismiss my country, my mind, my abilities, and my educational system.
There was one class that I was interested in at this university, and I attended one class period. It was the republic and the community: democracy in crisis, which if in English would have been perfect and amazing, but in Spanish, not so much. The readings included Hannah Ardent, which I really enjoyed reading her work: On Revolution at the Yale Summer School program in 2003, but again in Spanish, it would have been to difficult.
The lecture at this class was also very different from the Catholic University because the professor stood on a very large podium that was almost 5 feet off of the ground. It made him look like he was a great ruler or something, which is very different from anything I have ever experienced at St. Thomas or at any university here in Chile. I personally really don't like it. I really like it when you and the professor are on the same level, it makes for a better learning environment I think. This made me feel very lucky and happy that I decided to go to St. Thomas where this environment is much more prevalent compared to the U of M (which I believe is a very good school by the way).
The students here are very different from Catholic University students as well. They are more the "common" students with not so much money, but definitely educated and intelligent. They asked very insightful questions --- actually better then the students at the Catholic University. They were also forced to answer questions that the professor asked them out of the blue and most of them had very good answers. It was actually quite impressive.
I ended up not taking this course, because of its difficulty, but I enjoyed visiting it and experiencing what the public university setting was like here in Chile. It definitely was different.
Comment on the US Presidential Race
A recent poll found that Sen. John McCain has gained in polling numbers in three battle ground states, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Ohio. While this may be troubling for you, you must look carefully at the poll.
The poll was conducted by contacting "likely voters". While in most cases, this means that the poll is more credible, I tend to disagree in this election year.
Sen. Barack Obama has shown the ability to motivate young and uninterested voters to attend their polling places in the Democratic Primary. It is absurd to expect these unlikely voters to sit at home in November. This poll, most likely, did not take into account these voters.
While I claim to be no expert. I think that the media needs to be more clear on what it is reporting to the American people. If Sen. McCain takes the lead in a few important states, this gives the media reason to make this race more exciting then if Sen. Obama himself is winning big in every state. The more the media can keep any race at 50-50, the more viewers and money they can generate.
This blog is not politically motivated, well I am trying not to be, but I am most disgusted with the media, as I normally am, in this presidential election. The media has given much more air time to Sen. Obama, and they have not pushed Sen. Obama to say yes to Sen. McCain's call for town hall forums on important topics.
I support Sen. Obama for president, however, more then that, I want a free, fair, and open discussion about the issues that face our country. I don't think either candidate has all the right answers, I never do, but by discussing these important issues, Americans can become more educated on the topics, and can make better decisions in November, which is the most important objective.
I want the media to ask Sen. Obama the tough questions because we have seen what the media can do when they fail to ask the tough questions when we look at the past eight years. While I, and few of my friends, were being labeled unpatriotic for not supporting the Iraq War, the media raked in huge profits as they showed the "shock and awe" of the power of the US military. Who was asking the tough questions when the war started? It wasn't the media. Now that it is popular to be against the war, many Americans want to pull our troops out immediately, creating a political vacuum which will ensure our failed objective of a stable, democratic, peaceful government in Iraq. This idea maybe popular, but the media needs to ask the candidates these questions and have them defend their positions. The best forum, I believe, for this discussion is through nationally televised town hall debates.
The main objective of this post is to remind people to look deeper then the front page of the paper or the headlines on CNN. Misleading headlines like, McCain pulls ahead in three battleground states might just get you. Look deeper, ask the tough questions, and expect more from your media and your candidates.
The poll was conducted by contacting "likely voters". While in most cases, this means that the poll is more credible, I tend to disagree in this election year.
Sen. Barack Obama has shown the ability to motivate young and uninterested voters to attend their polling places in the Democratic Primary. It is absurd to expect these unlikely voters to sit at home in November. This poll, most likely, did not take into account these voters.
While I claim to be no expert. I think that the media needs to be more clear on what it is reporting to the American people. If Sen. McCain takes the lead in a few important states, this gives the media reason to make this race more exciting then if Sen. Obama himself is winning big in every state. The more the media can keep any race at 50-50, the more viewers and money they can generate.
This blog is not politically motivated, well I am trying not to be, but I am most disgusted with the media, as I normally am, in this presidential election. The media has given much more air time to Sen. Obama, and they have not pushed Sen. Obama to say yes to Sen. McCain's call for town hall forums on important topics.
I support Sen. Obama for president, however, more then that, I want a free, fair, and open discussion about the issues that face our country. I don't think either candidate has all the right answers, I never do, but by discussing these important issues, Americans can become more educated on the topics, and can make better decisions in November, which is the most important objective.
I want the media to ask Sen. Obama the tough questions because we have seen what the media can do when they fail to ask the tough questions when we look at the past eight years. While I, and few of my friends, were being labeled unpatriotic for not supporting the Iraq War, the media raked in huge profits as they showed the "shock and awe" of the power of the US military. Who was asking the tough questions when the war started? It wasn't the media. Now that it is popular to be against the war, many Americans want to pull our troops out immediately, creating a political vacuum which will ensure our failed objective of a stable, democratic, peaceful government in Iraq. This idea maybe popular, but the media needs to ask the candidates these questions and have them defend their positions. The best forum, I believe, for this discussion is through nationally televised town hall debates.
The main objective of this post is to remind people to look deeper then the front page of the paper or the headlines on CNN. Misleading headlines like, McCain pulls ahead in three battleground states might just get you. Look deeper, ask the tough questions, and expect more from your media and your candidates.
Monday, July 28, 2008
1st Spanish Lesson
I am writing this for people who want to learn a little bit of Spanish. If you decide to visit a Spanish speaking country, you will enjoy more respect and less hassle if you learn a few phrases. I will add more as the semester goes on.
Greetings!
Buenos Dias - Good Morning! (Can be used all morning until 12, noon.)
Buenas Tardes - Good Afternoon! (Used mostly in the afternoon, 12 - sun goes down.)
Buenas Noches - Good Night! (Used mostly for going to bed, or in the late night hours.)
Hola - Hello (Used to greet someone, but to answer the phone they say Hallo.)
Hasta Luego - Catch ya later! (Used with good friends.)
Chow! - See ya! (Used with people you know.)
Adios! - Good bye! (Used with everyone.)
--- In Progress ----
Greetings!
Buenos Dias - Good Morning! (Can be used all morning until 12, noon.)
Buenas Tardes - Good Afternoon! (Used mostly in the afternoon, 12 - sun goes down.)
Buenas Noches - Good Night! (Used mostly for going to bed, or in the late night hours.)
Hola - Hello (Used to greet someone, but to answer the phone they say Hallo.)
Hasta Luego - Catch ya later! (Used with good friends.)
Chow! - See ya! (Used with people you know.)
Adios! - Good bye! (Used with everyone.)
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