Belated Introduction

My name's Priyanka Chaurasia, and I'm a rising junior Public Policy Major/History Minor at Duke University.  I apologize for the late posting.  Mario has definitely been putting the rest of us to shame!  To make up for it, here's a link to my personal blog that I've been using to chronicle my time in Santiago, Chile:  pri430.wordpress.com

I'm working with AccionEmprendedora, specifically with female microentrepreneurs.  My project with Katie and Annie is to create a manual for women who are balancing work life and family life.  It will be full of advice, stories, pictures, and exercises for the average Santaguina microentrepreneur who doesn't want to choose between being a mother and a businesswoman.  It's for the woman who wants both, who quite frankly needs both.  Chile's economy is great for the rich, but especially bleak for the poor.  Struggling economic times call for working women, but prevailing machismo culture combined with lack of institutional support means an exhausting reality for Chilean women.  

I hope you check out my blog, because it's a better account of my time here.  Cheers, and will update soon!

Cariño of Chileans

I am still thinking about how awesome this past weekend was. I had an amazing time at the campo, made so by the family that we stayed with (and of course the beauty of the Chilean landscape). The asado was incredible! Although there is always waaaayyyy too much food whenever Dukeengage kiddies get together. But, even more than the food, was the kindness and generosity with which we were treated this past weekend. Marlen's family was generous to a fault, always asking what we wanted to eat (and offering way more than humanly possible to actually consume) and just being extremely attentive to anything we could possibly want.

I think one thing that I will always take back with me from Chile is the cariño of the people. It seems that almost anywhere I find myself, there is a Chilean person willing to lend a hand. I cannot even name the number of times that Katie, Priyanka, Emily and I have gotten lost looking for the place we are doing our interviews and have had numerous Chilean people help us out (whether it be by giving directions or talking on the phone to the microentrepreneur we are meeting with because we have no idea what streets they are talking about). I think that has actually been one of my favorite side-effects of our AE project, the interaction with Chileans that we would never have had had we just stayed in the central office.

Anyways, the couple days of countrylife were a perfect getaway from all the smog in Santiago right now! I had a really great time, and it was fun bonding with Dukies (Marlen’s an honorary Dukie). The hike on Saturday was a really great way to get to see the life in that part of Chile as well as making for great photos. And Sunday’s horseback ride was lots of fun, although the first hour definitely more so than the second. :D

All in all, great four weeks and I’m really looking forward to four more!

uh oh

I am rather glad I have finally managed to make my way to this blog. Mario, I appreciate the kudos in ur last blog post. I don't know if I set out to channel the spirit of dukeengage, but it's nice to know u don't see me as crazy.

Anyways, to backtrack on the past 3 1/2 weeks in Chile (craziness!). The first week was definitely a little intense, with a whole new climate, language and food to adjust to. (all the completos!) I was a little nervous on our first day in AE, since we had only been in the country for 2 days and I wasn't sure if I had gotten adjusted to the Chilean accent (still am not), but it was really a fun experience. They had an awesome breakfast for us (which I actually thought they did every day, so I was rather sad to realize they don't) and got to understand that palta was going to be a mainstay in anything I ate in the country. I actually get sad when I don't have palta every day.

The AE people have only gotten better with time and after a week, it was easy to see how Antonio said that the office has an incredible energy about it. Priyanka, Katie, and I often talk about what our favorite AE office is (there's 4: one on Ramon Carnicer, an office in Santiago Central, one in Puente Alto, and a new one in Valparaiso). All the offices have something really cool, but we all seem to be in acuerdo that the one in Puente Alto is our favorite. (although it's definitely the coldest one too...) It's just fun being around the microentrepreneurs that AE is helping and it is a different environment than any other part of Santiago. Plus, it also has the best and cheapest lunch in Santiago! (And now that we go every day, the lady who owns it is definitely getting fonder of the 'gringas')

What else about my first 3 weeks? It has definitely not been an easy transition to the cold here. I absolutely love Chile,j the food (manjar and palta!!!!) and the mountains and the people, but right as you're getting out of bed in the morning, it's really hard to remember all that. However, after those 10-30 minutes, everything's usually great again. Especially when you're outside and the sun is shining (as it was our first week and a half here), I feel like I'm seeing Chile at its best. And even when I'm not seeing Santiago at its best, I can only imagine how much more beautiful it is in the spring and summer!

So, now, Priyanka and I are very excitedly planning any possible way to go to Isla de Pascua in July. That would be amazing! I remember seeing pictures when I was ridiculously young and thinking that those statues look amazing but I'll probably never go there... so it would be fairly incredible to actually get to do that.

Anyways, I know this has no rhyme or reason, but hopefully future posts will (since I'm not having to backtrack a few weeks...)

Tio, porque hablas asi?

Finally, after a week of teacher strikes, I was finally able to work in the Group Tutoring Sessions at my two schools in Lampa: Polonia Gutierrez and Lucero. On Wednesday, I had the opportunity to attend my first TG (Tutoria Grupal) at Polonia, and on Thursday I helped my other TG group get ready for their Initiation Ceremony.

So on Wedensday I went to Polonia Gutierrez, it was my first time working in a TG and it was surpsisingly harder than I thought because, to begn with, only 4 kids showed up and one of them (the only boy) was being extremely troublesome. We were supposed to be practicing for the Ceremony of Initiation and the girls wanted to do a dance. However, the mere presence of the boy caused chaos because he would disobey our orders, laugh when the girls started dancing, and would not take part in any of the activities. Of course, the girls did not want to dance if he wasnt taking any part in the activities, so, in our 90 minutes of the TG we accomplished nothing.

On Thursday I went to Lucero, another school in Lampa. They were having their Ceremony of Initiation in which I had the opportunity to meet all of the kids. What was surprising is that they were mostly 12-14 years of age, but most had repeated a year or two of school. I came to the Ceremony bracing myself for problems because I had been told that this group of kids was famous for their legendary fights. The reality was entirely different. That's not to say that the kids werent loud and obnoxious, but they were certainly not problematic on that day (I did see the potential for fights though). In fact, they pulled off the most exciting and humorous Ceremony I have seen to date. The girls danced to reggaeton, in an extrememly provocative way, and the guys did a humorous skit which left everybody in stitches.

For fun, here are a sample of the conversations Ive had in the last few days at work with the kids:
At Polonia

John: Tio, porque hablas asi?
Yo: Como?
John: Pos asi tio!
Yo: Es que soy de Mexico, y asi hablamos alla.
John: Ahhh! (piensa por un rato) y donde queda Mexico tio?
Yo: Muy al norte, casi al otro lado del mundo...
John: Sabes que tio? Yo tengo un primo en Brazil, estais cerca de Brazil?
Yo: Bueno, Brazil esta mas cerca a Mexico que Chile, pero comoquiera esta lejillos...

As the girls were practicing their dance for the Ceremony, they did a really cool step, so I said

Yo: Orale! Me gusto esa..
Chiquillas: Orale tio! Orale! Orale! (se rien)
Yo: Que paso? Se burlan de mi?
Chiquillas: Si po
Yo: OK

Then on Thursday, at Lucero, a group of the kids surrounded me and began asking me questions. The first question they asked was this...

Chiquillo: Tio, de donde es Ud?
Yo: De Mexico
Chiquillo: (voltea a los otros chiquillos) Les dije! El tio habla como el Chavo!
Yo: El Chavo del Ocho!?! Vamos, no es para tanto...
Chiquillos: Oye tio, y huevon como se dice en mexicano?
Yo: Huevon? Pos guey
Chiquillos: Jajajaja (se dicen entre ellos) Orale guey! Que paso guey! Mi guey, vamos a tomar una chela!
Yo: JAJAJJAJA, Calmense chiquillos...
Chiquillos: Oye tio, y primo como se dice?
Yo: Primo? Primo como un amigo?
Chiquillos: Si po
Yo: Pos...primo tambien, o cuate (si estas en el sur)
Chiquillos: JAJAJJAJAA...CUATE!!! JAJAJAJ....(se dicen entre ellos) Oye cuate!! Que paso guey!? Pos nada cuate!!
Tio, tio, y "huerita bonita" que es?
Yo: JAJAJAJA...pos una mina rubia que esta bonita po
Chiquillos: Y usted, cuando ve a una huerita bonita, que le dice pos para que...pos ya sabe pa que...eh tio? ehhh? jajajjaa
Yo: JAJAJJA...a ver, que edad tienen?
Uno de ellos: Yo tengo 17 tio!
Yo: Si como no, de veras...
Chiquillos: Pos entre 12 y 14...
Yo: A bueno, pos no los puedo decir ese tipo de cosas, no tienen la edad suficiente...
Chiquillos: Vamos tio! (el que "tenia" 17 me dice:) Tio, hasta tengo un condon aqui conmigo (saca un globo desinflado)
Yo: JAJAJAJAJAJAJA

(All of a sudden, one of the kids comes running through the hallway, yelling...)

Tengo un gato en mis pantalones!!!
Yo: Y eso que onda?
Ellos: Po es mexicano tio! Tengo un gato en los pantalonessss!! Que significa tio?
Yo: No creo que sea mexicano...
Ellos: Dale tio! Que es?
Yo: Pos, que creen que sea?
Ellos: Pene....JAJJAJAJAJA...Pero el mio es gato silvestre!! Y tu gato se lo comio el perro!! JAJAJAJAJA

For the rest of the day, all they said was: "Tengo un gato en los pantalones guey!"

DukeEngage in Valparaiso: Feeding the world's stray dogs

We just returned from our trip to Valparaiso, where Annie made it her point to feed a hot dog to every stray dog she saw. It didnt matter that we quickly developed a following of stray dogs, much to Priyanka's chagrin. In all seriousness though, it was probably the most noble thing any of us did this weekend. Congratulations Annie, for carrying the giving spirit of the DukeEngage program with you to Valpo. The weekend itself was amazing! The city is absolutely beautiful. Its composed of 45 cerros and a giant bay where over 30% of Chile's exports and imports are traded. Back in the day, before the Panama Canal, Valparaiso was a mandatory stop for any ships looking to traverse from the Pacific to the Atlantic. It was a hub of culture and, for that, it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Our time was spent in Cerro Alegre, one of the most quaint and beautiful cerros of the city, and also the gastronomical, bohemian, and cultural center of the city. Our hostel, Hostel Morgan, was supremely comfortable and is highly recommended for anyone looking for a place to stay in Valpo. We arrived on Saturday morning (the trip through the Chilean countryside was absolutely breathtaking...it was a series of mountains, vineyards, and valleys that left one speechless with their beauty). That first day we spent touring the city and taking a boat ride around the bay. We ate an enormous seafood lunch at a restaurant overlooking the bay and then headed to another one of Pablo Neruda's homes: La Sebastiana. Like La Chascona, Neruda's house in Santiago, La Sebastiana was a tribute to this great man. Although it lacked the grandeur of La Chascona, the view from the bedroom was infinitely better than any view in any other home I've visited. Imagine, the first thing Neruda saw upon waking up was all of Valparaiso laid out before him, with a shining bay full of ships in the distance (it should be mentioned that Neruda was a big fan of ships, so that would have made it all the better). That night we ate a chorrillana which is basically a heart attack on a plate (its chopped steak on top of a bed of french fries, egg, and roasted onions) and then went out with a group of Harvard students that we met out here.

The ride back from Valpo was even more beautiful than the ride to Valparaiso. Chile is an extremely beautiful country and I'm starting to think that this trip will not be the only time I ever come to Chile.

Equitative Public Education

I figure I might as well update this blog with what I consider to be a real substantive reflection: What have I learned almost three weeks into my stay? This is not necessarily a personal reflection of life lessons I have learned, its too early to fully determine those. Rather, this is an account of what I have observed and read in respect to the relationship between education and equality.

The issue of equality has been a recurring theme in my research and observations. It has been present in the academic discourses and blogs I have had the pleasure to read, as well as been somewhat present in the observations I have made (although the observations have been more one sided than I would like...I need to fix that). The question I`ve been asking myself is simple: What does equality imply in an educational context? As humans, we are not equal by nature; each of us has a set of skills, traits, and experiences that differentiate us from other members of the human race. This inequality, according to Rawls (to whom I was introduced here), is one that is good for us to accept as necessary. For example, some people are natural born leaders because of their ability to shoulder great responsibility and, as such, they become more esteemed and set themselves apart from others. The point of equality is that, from the beginning, everybody has the option to be that person. Whether or not they have the traits to be such a leader will be determined by time, not by lack of opportunity.

That's the goal of equitative public education: to provide a level playing field, an equal starting point from which people are given the freedom to choose the path they want to take and deal with the consequences that arise from said path. The people who are able to disinguish themselves do so through personal effort and natural ability, not through unfair advantages. Yet, equitative systems of education are hard to find. The Chilean system suffers from an overall lack of quality, but it is often the case that members of the higher income groups tend to perform better on standardized tests. On the same note, the US system suffers a similar calamity. Due to the school district system, in which families pay taxes that are used as revenues by the school district to which they belong, schools located in areas with high incomes are often able to collect more revenue and spend more per student than schools in lower income districts. What results is that kids living in high income neighborhoods, who are most likely from proseperous families, tend to perform better in school than those from low income neighborhoods.

Y que todos se enamoren de mi vozzzzzzzz

The title of this post refers to my new favorite "party" song, "La Guitarra" by Los Autenticos Decadentes. Why do I start with this point? Because its an awesome song, and because I heard about a million times last night while celebrating my birthday. My host family and I decided to throw a Chile-Mexico culture clash extravaganza of a birthday party. The food was entirely mexican: tacos, guacamole, salsa. The drinks were a mix: pisco, tequila, beer. The music, also a mix as we had reggaeton, rock, pop, los tigres del norte (jaja) etc... And the company, it was an extremely diverse group of people, we had a bunch of Chileans, the DukeEngagers (which happens to be an very diverse group) plus, an Italian. It was truly a global affair :D



moving on...

Like I said in my previous post, I had my first visit to Lampa on Thursday. I drove there with my coordinator and a Chilean university student working as a mentor for that particular school. Lampa is a rural community, extremely beautiful and surrounded by nature. The school itself is large, with a big, two story classroom compound. It has a patio in its center, which is currently in the process of construction (they're building a roof for it I think). But, like all of the Adopta schools, it is a school that caters to a poor community. The point of our visit was to carry out the family encounter, one of the first steps of Adopta's intervention. This encounter is basically like a PTA meeting: the coordinator explains the program to the kids' parents, the kids' give a little presentation, and the families' are free to ask questions if they like.



However, the encounter almost didnt happen. The vice-principal of the school 'forgot' to tell the principal of our plan. The consequence of this was that the parents would not be allowed into the school because we had not asked for permission. Obviously, we had asked for permission, that was the reason why we told the vice-principal in the first place. The fact that she forgot we were coming, plus the indifferent attitude with which she carried herself, lent us the impression that she really didnt care if our program was carried out or not. Which begged the question: why ask for Adopta's help in the first place? The impression that I came away with (and this is an opinion, I dont mean to judge people's motives or anything of the sort) is that the problems in Chilean education is complex. The government has increased its spending on education tremendously in the last decade, but with no perceivable results. What I observed in Lampa, and in the other schools, is that there is this attitude of indifference present in some members of the administration in each school. Whether this is a countrywide phenomenon escapes me. But if indifference is an issue among school administrators, then the solution is not an increase in spending, but finding out a way to create incentives for adminstrators to take their jobs a bit more seriously. Once again, I want to stress that these are observations I've made after spending a very limited amount of time in these schools. It could just be an isolated event.

More importantly, however, I was impressed with the kids. They are extremely lively, funny, and bright. I found it inspiring that these kids, who live in conditions that I could not imagine, still had an positive outlook on things. Similarly, the parents that did show up proved to be, for the most part, attentive. It appeared that they were really invested in Adopta's work and goals. Of course, not all of the parents showed and we had some pretty sad kids who were expecting Mom or Dad to show up, but instead had a sister attend, or nobody.

The 3 faces of Santiago

Up until now, we've been hanging out in the area immediately surrounding our respective houses. In other words, the cultural and financial center of Santiago. It's been fun and all, but all along, you know that "carreteando" every weekend and dining in fancy schmanzi places is not something your typical Chileno does, no matter his/her income level.

Which is why I was really excited to attend Adopta un herman@'s official initiation ceremony in Padre Hurtado, an extremely rural and poor community in the suburbs of Santiago. The trip there was simply breath taking. For a while, the panorama was like any other city, nondescript buildings surrounding the highway we were on. As we moved further and further away from the center of Santiago, the houses started to get smaller and more shack-like. All of a sudden, mechanics shops and small convenience stores, all covered in wooden advertisements with misspelled words painted over them, started to pockmark our surroundings. Then, as we turned right, the road became a dirt road and, off to our right, the Andes mountains rose over a beautiful, green field, along which ran a rushing stream. It was one of those images stolen from a postcard, in fact, the trip from here on out was a series of postcard images, the snow-capped Andes overlooking a farm and its rustic shack, the snow-capped Andes standing guard over the quaint-looking school where the celebration was. The school reminded me so much of the school I attended in Mexico, it was small, composed of one classroom building, a small cafeteria, offices, and a large patio that separated the classrooms from the offices and cafeteria. Once again, from the dirt patio, one could see the snow capped Andes (getting old, I know, but I find it hard to suppress my awe for this). The ceremony itself was very formal, the kids did a little presentation, the mayor spoke, and we all ate little snacks afterwards. The drive back was even more beautiful than before, because now the backdrop was the sun setting over the snow capped Andes.

The third face of Santiago I saw today, and this one was a trip into an urban school. We took the metro from the Adopta office to La Granja, another suburb of Santiago. Once there, we had to work our way through a neighborhood which was pretty poor. The houses were small, some of them resembled shacks more than houses. There was rarely any room for a patio, as they were all right up next to each other. There was a soccer field in the middle of it all, but it was a dirt field covered in plastic Coke bottles, and with run-down goalposts at either end. The school itself was larger than the rural one, but it had the same type of set up. The center of it was a cement patio, set up like a soccer field, from which you could see...just guess what you could see...Like the rural school, this school had open air "hallways:, and a small cafeteria, which was where they held their respective initiation ceremony. This one was much less formal. The kids were certainly more the focus of it. One of them did a Michael Jackson impersonation dance (absolutely hilarious), they sang a song to the tune of the Simpsons music, and they produced an absolutely brilliant and touching video. Once again, afterwards, we had snacks, and I hopped on the train back to my apartment, where I just boughy myself an amazing birthday present: a ticket to Buenos Aires in a month.

Those are the 3 faces of Santiago that I have seen. There is not much in common between the center of Santiago, where I am living, and the rural and urban poverty stricken regions that I visited. This speaks volumes about the inequality of income in Chile (its ranked among the 15 worst nations worldwide in income inequality). However, the urban and rural schools were very similar. Aside from the poverty, the people were equally friendly, the kids equally lively, and, in both, we were welcomed with open arms, as if we were family. Obviously, these are my initial impressions, there may be many more differences between these two regions that I havent yet noticed. Either way, every day I grow more excited about the opportunity I have to interact with Chilean youth. Tommorrow, I visit Lampa for the first time, this is the school where I will be working for the next 6 weeks.

Mario

Meetings

The weekend went extremely well, I wound up playing a 6 v 6 soccer game with my host dad? (he`s 24, so not really my host dad). Scored a goal and tallied two assists in my debut, haha. Later that night we, the DukeEngage group plus some interns from Accion Emprendedora, went out to Bellavista where we decided to try our hand in salsa dancing. Friday, I explored the area surrounding my apartment, which includes all of the national ministries, la Moneda, and dozens of statues commemorating historic figures such as Salvador Allende. I was looking for a statue of Ricardo Lagos, a Duke grad, but its been too soon since he left office...maybe in a few years.

On Saturday, my host family threw me a welcome to Chile asada. The Chilean asada is like most other asadas found throughout the Latin American region: more about the beer and company than about the food. However, the food is nothing to be forgotten either. We had choripan, which is my new favorite Chilean specialty (bread + grilled chorizo sausage + pebre + mayo), pork, steak, corn, salad, and french fries, which were sorely out of place in my opinion, but who am I to judge? Later that night, I accompanied my host family to one of their friend`s birthday party.

Finally, on Sunday some of us DukeEngagers headed off to visit one of Pablo Neruda`s homes here in Santiago. To say that I was impressed is to do a dishonor to the memory of this great man, known to some as "the greatest poet of the 20th century". His house was symbolic in every sense of the word. It had its own insignia, the initials of his lover and him, intertwined. Similarly, the house had a strange likeness to a boat, which spoke volumes about Neruda's fascination with the sea. Most impressively, in my humble of opinion, was that in his library was the Nobel Prize for Literature that he had won in 1971, thanks to his deeply profound and political poetry on indigenous cultures. No joke, I stood in front of that medal, contemplating the magnitude of that symbol, for what seemed to be an eternity.

Today, we returned to work. I was told that I would be working in one of two schools, both located in Lampa. Lampa is a very rural suburb of Santiago, it happens to be extremely far from where I am located, but the fact that it is isolated, and in the mountains, makes me even more excited to start my observation process out there. The more research I do on Chilean educational policy, the more restless I am about actually seeing the situation in Chilean schools.

Some pictures from the last week

The view of Santiago and the Andes from el
Cerro Santa Lucia.

Immediately after learning my first Chilenismo; taco = traffic jam

DukeEngage in Santiago de Chile

Eating seafood in Bellavista

My neighbor, La Moneda

Some pictures from the last week

Quality over Quantity

A beautiful day today, sunny, and just over 60F. Kind of a shame that I spent it in the Adopta office doing research on Chilean educational reform policies in the new millenium. Although, it was quite interesting to see that, despite increasing spending on education 13 fold in the last decade or so, the quality of public education in Chile had not improved at the rate it should have.
Playing soccer tonight with some people, pretty excited about that. Plus, due to the fact that we work 4 days out of the week, my weekend starts right about...now

Ciao
Mario

Bienvenido a Santiagooooo!!

Three days in Santiago, and already it feels like home. We spent the first few days playing the role of tourists, spending time in all of the historical landmarks, ordering pisco sours (a traditional Chilean drink made with over fermented wine, egg whites, and I think a hint of cinammon, dont quote me on that), and trying to pick up Chilenismos such as taco= traffic jam, cachai=do you understand?, curado=drunk, cagado=too drunk, vacan, chori=super cool, and polol@=boyfriend or girlfriend depending on the ending.
Last night we met our host families for the first time and I was lucky enough to have two 24 year olds, a brother and sister, as my hosts. They´re extremely friendly people from southern Chile who keep an apartment in the center of Santiago. Needless to say, they have assured me that there are plenty of good times to be had in the coming weeks, I dont doubt them at all.
Today, however, we finally got down to business: it was our first day with our NGOs. I am working with Adopta a un herman@, a program that works under La Fundacion para Superar la Pobreza. Adopta´s work focuses around facilitating tutors and mediators, who are typically university students, who then are sent into schools serving marginalized populations in order to provide kids (between 8 and 9 years old) with projects that help them build the academic and social skills necessary to get ahead. Devika and I are neither tutors nor mediators, instead, we will be observing every facet of Adopta´s work, from the field work to the administrative work. Coupled with our own research into the Chilean education system, and the gross income inequality in this country, we are asked to develop a series of reflections of our time here that we have to, ultimately, make into a video. In short, it´s a type of research project that addresses Adopta´s work within the context of the issues in income inequality and Chilean educational policy. I am extremely excited about it because I find educational policy to be an extremely interesting subject.
I know this is long, but there was a lot to say. I have tons of pictures, but no means of putting them up yet. I will soon though! On a side note, there is a number of strikes happening around Santiago. From what I understand, university students, professors, and truck drivers are all on strike for different reasons. We saw some students today marching in front of the Adopta office today, chanting something and carrying different types of banners. Not quite sure what its all about, but I should find out soon enough.
Ciao
Mario