Evaluation of my semester

As my last post, I'm going to talk about my semester en general, like an evaluation. This is my last semester of my career, and contrary to other people told me before, the last year isn't relaxed at all. I had a lot of academic responsabilities, huges works to do and papers to read, and a lot of work out of the university too. So in that sense, It was a heavy semester and year in general. 

But... Not all was so bad. Couse this is our last year, I think my friends (and me too) got very sentimental so our friendship is bigger and stronger; I knew them in one year so much more than I knew them in the last three years, so I know we'll still seeing between us. Other good thing, was my holidays with my sister in the middle of this semester. Definetely I rest a lot and disconected my mind from all the things that I had to do for the university, it was like take a "second air" in the middle of the year, to renew my energies. On the other hand, I know that I had a lot of academic responsabilities and presures, but now I can say that was a semester (or year, actually) where I learn a lot in different ways and a lot of new things, so I'm very satisfied with all the highs and lows in general. Now I'm very happy because the holidays are very close and the next year will be very different. 

An ambition

It's hard for me think about a personal ambition, maybe because I don't have a big one in this moment of my life. But today I have one simple goal, I don't know if it's an ambition in the whole meaning, but my "next step" for me now, it's finish my career. I'm in my last semester, so I'm really excited to finish. Don't get me wrong, I like very much sociology and I can see my self doing this in the future; it's only that I think it's more fun for me work as a sociologist than being a student of sociology. All my friends say to me that in the future I will change my mind, because study "it was more easy"... Maybe, but for now I only want to finish the career and start to do other things and win some experience working as a sociologist. 

I don't know if I have someone or something that inspired this "ambition", but if I'm studying this it's because I like it, it make sense to me, I want to contribute with something useful for people, and that's the purpose and the motor of why I'm doing this and why I want to finish my career soon.

Oh, and if one day I have lots of money, I would like to have my own refuge for abandoned animals in the street. I think that they're so alone and it needs a lot of help... I think that I could do a good contribution with that. Well, that it's a big ambition I think.

Violeta Parra

I don't know if I can choose "the greatest" chilean of all times, but defininitely I think she is one of the most important woman of our country. She is Violeta Parra. 

She is a popular and folcloric singer of the 60's, but also she was a very recognized artist. Besides as a composer, she was painter, sculptor, embroiderer and ceramist. So, she is a very important figure of the national culture, her musical and artistic work it'

s praises an international level for many countries. She was an influence not only in Latin America, her "arpilleras" and other artistic pieces also were exhibited at the Louvre in Paris, and in Geneva, Switzerland in her time. I think her legacy it's meaningful for our chilean identity. Her work is so powerful in very ways, the contents of the lyrics and the melodies are beautiful and some of them kind of sad at the same time, it's very poetic; and on the other hand, her art is full of she in a subjective way, say a lot of how sensitive she was and also of her personal experiences (some of them very tragic) in the Chile of that moment.

If she was alive I don't know if I would ask her something in specific; actually I think that she must was that kind of person that have a lot to say and only need to be listened by other people... So I think her best voice is the one that arise in her songs and pieces of art. In that sense, I would ask her if I would hear her sing, it would be a pleasure.  

Out of shape

When I was little, maybe I was ten years old, I joined to the basketball female team of my school. I was looking something fun to do in my afternoons, so I thought maybe basketball was a great idea. And it really was. I liked a lot this sport and the dinamic of the game, so I continued practicing untill I was sixteen years old. At first, it was very hard develop my coordination with the ball, but with practice, I must say modestly, that I become in a really good player. We went to a lot of games with others schools and championships, once we got the third place, we were very proud of us because our school it's not so big and not so good at to sports either.

I really like it play basketball, it were very energetic afternoons and we have fun playing between us. Then I have to drop it for personal issues, and since then I never have practiced again. Currently, I tried to go to the university team practice, but after so many years I feel totally out of shape haha. And it's true, even I feel very old (I know, sounds crazy) and lazy, not with the same energy. Maybe someday I will return to basketball, but today I'm looking another sport activity more light for wake up my muscles again. I was thinking about a kind of dancing, I really like it too and I think it's a very good exercise :)

Job I would like to have

Besides of the things I want to do in the future as a sociologist, I would like to have my own cafeteria or restaurant of vegetarian food, and work there. Also, it's not my idea, it's a family dream we have with my mom and my sister. Maybe I would work as a waitress, in the cash registrer or helping in the kitchen, I don't know, it's only a dream but we really want, someday, have our own business. 

We want to have it, first because we are vegetarians so we love the food and all the combinations and meals that you would taste (and it is not boring at all, just in case you wonder haha); also we -me and my mom at least- really enojoy cook and do it together. But, another reason about I would like to work in this, it's because if we have success, we'll have an economic support for my mom and her future, as you know, retirement pensions in Chile are awful. If we have someday, our own business, we will need qualities or skills, for example, we'll have to have knowledge about cooking and vegetarian food... But my mom knows a lot about that, so we are ready with this. Also, we'll have to be good at with numers and maths, have a good memory for the clients order if we want to work for own selves... It's a lot of work, actually. But I think that it's a beautiful dream, and we would have the satisfaction of work as independent, and we would give another good place to eat to vegetarian people, they would have more options, but also, it would be a good place for every body who want eat tasty and know more about vegetarianism.

A very good metaphor

Today I'm going to talk about the last interesting thing I read reciently. But first, I must confess that I'm not good at to reading many things at the time, usually I can't read another things than the papers or academic books for my career, so today I'm going to tell you about the last book that I read and maybe it will interest you. It calls "Casa de Campo" by José Donoso, an important chilean author, and it's about a metaphor of the period before military coup in 1973 and the dictatorship. The history starts with the excursion of the Ventura's family -actually, the adults- whom are planing a day of excursion only for them, far way from the summer house of the family, leaving the kids totally alone. The Ventura's are a very rich chilean family, and they have the tradition of pass the summer in this house in Marulanda with all the members: brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles and parents; but this time the things changed with this excursion. The kids are alone in the house, without any adult rule, without any servient, only with themselves and the fear of the cannibals of Marulanda. But every kid has a secret, and some of them, have a revolutionary bug inside that question the adult domination, and that's also could change everything.

I really enjoyed the book because take many interesting topics; gender and indigenism are two of them, for example. But also it's very fun the exercise of puzzle out the methapor while you're reading; Donoso has a talent to narrate the history -and in some moments, appear in it- with all the details, so it makes you want to know what happen next. I really recomend it if you haven't read yet.

My very good friend

I have the fortune to have three best friends, but today I'm going to talk about one of them: her name is Antonia. I met her in our school when we was eight years old, she was our new classmate because she is from Quillota and in that time her dad came to work to Santiago, so she and her family came to live here too. At first I didn't like her at all, I thought that she wasn't a friendly person; but then I realised that she was a very nice girl, so inmediatly we became friends untill today. 

We share a lot of experiences, we grown up together so we have been in the life of each other for all the importants moments, she is a very good friend. Since we were childs he have many things in common: to both of us liked to dance, when we had ten or eleven years old, he joined to a folcloric dance class in our school; we listened the same music, and then, we were in the same elective classes of the Humanist Area of the high school. Perhaps our interests today may have changed, but we still thinking similar and sharing the same values about our friendship: the care for each other, be present for the other, the trust, and a long etc.

I'm very lucky beacause she is studying in this campus just like me, so in some ocassions when our schedule coincide, we have lunch together or sometimes, we simply see us walking over there and talk for a while; it's very nice. However, we have less time now because the university than the time we had in the school, so I didn't see her very much just I would like to. Maybe the time could pass between us, but when we see each other nothing have changed and we still being a very good friends, and that's a very cool thing. 

A special present

For my seventeen birthday I received a beautiful present. It was in a day of school, so in my classroom my six best friends had prepare a surprise for me with baloons, confetti and stuffs like that. But the best part was when they gave me a big handmade cube with all the faces decorated by themselves, each one of my friends dedicated me one face, so everyone had a personal message for me and a personal stamp with the caracteristics of every person who wrote to me.  

The cube is very colorful: has stickers, color papers, drawings, some of them have relief... It's very funny. That's why I like it very much, but also because it's a handmade present (I love the handmade presents), my friends took the time to do it so I appreciate that; and mostly beacause the things they said for wishing to me a happy birthday, where very beautiful. Obviously I still have it, it's in a shelf next to my desk, so you can see it from every point of my room; makes me remember nice memories with all of them.   

Humans Zoo: A debt of Chile with kawésqar and selk'nam people

About two years ago, I saw the film "Calafate, Zoológicos Humanos" in a class. In fact it's a documentary about the history of kawésqar and selk'nam people, two extinct ethnic group of the extrem south of Chile, that in the nineteen century some of them were taken to Europe for been exhibited to the public just like a circus or a zoo. Besides they had been humiliated, they got sick of a different deseases: syphilis and viruela, for example, many of them died in the road to Europe and others died in a short time after.

With the time, their bodies and rests were saved there in different museums and departments of anthropology; especifically the department of Zurich in Switzerland colaborated in 2008 with the last descendents of them and the producers of the documentary, with the process to bring them back to their land, Tierra del Fuego. Finally, only in 2010, after of 125 years since they had been taken by the force and showed as animals in public theatres; their rests came back to the place where they never had to leave. 

It's awful not only the humans zoo in this situation, in that moment the goverment of Chile didn't do anything to avoid the kawésqar and selk'nam people were taken, in fact, they allowed that. And also, in 2008-2010 the goverment didn't colaborate in real terms to bring them back either; that were merit of the anthropologist of Zurich, the production of the documentary and the last family members of their people. The situation didn't have so much visibility and the goverment didn't gave a public importance or a minimun apologizes, besides their people are a very important cultural heritage not only in Chile, for their own kawésqar and selk'nam people too. That it's a debt from the State of Chile with all their people. 

Our sister's travel

Hello! 

Today I'm briefly tell you about my last vacation: it was a travel with my sister to Europe, in fact, we already come back to Chile because we were out since the first week of September. We wished for so long travel together and go there, that after almost a year of planning, we finally had our opportunity.

We visited Rome and Athens, two very incredible cities; but I think that our most interesting destination and the place that we most enjoyed, was Turkey. We saw a lot of beautiful landscapes, mosque, monuments and craftwork; but the people, their culture and history were one of the most amazing things that we knew. It's a very different place, an unic combination between the oriental and occidental culture; besides the recent and complex events in the country, we decided to go anyway and I can say that was the correct decision and was totally worth it. Definitely we learned a lot in many ways and we appreciated all the experience, surely we’ll remember it forever and we hope, one day, can return.