Chilean History and Politics

Questions on the videos:

Daniel Sparler's lecture:

How was the United States able to have so much power over Chile?  Aren't there supposed to be boundaries that we are not able to cross in another country?  We destroyed their economy because we didn't approve of their political leader! How is that OK!?
Where is our limit? What is considered too far reaching in the affairs of other countries?

Al Jareeza- The Colony:

Why is the colony still in use?
Why hasn't Chile or German taken responsibility for what happened?
Why is it being covered up?
How can we prevent anything like this from happening again?

Chilean History and Politics

Al Jazeera Correspondent- The Colony: Chile's dark past uncovered

     This video was about "Colonia Dignidad" a colony founded by German Peter Schaefer in the secluded country side of Chile.  He founded a community who were his German followers to keep their heritage intact in Chile.  Or so he said.  Schaefer was a pedophile.  Colonia Dignidad seemed like a perfect community from the outside, but in reality there was child abuse, torture, murders, and forced labor being practiced.  Schaefer was an expert manipulator and held his people in captivity for over 50 years.  Justice still has not been reached for all of the victims of Schaefer and his nefarious actions.
     I did not know that any of this ever happened! This was super eye opening.  I was appalled.  The abuse that these people went through was unimaginable.  They were probed with electrodes and shocked to be sterilized.  Little boys were sexually abused and raped by Schaefer and he got away with it! It is just insane.  It really shows how evil people are and scares me.  I'm also horrified with how long this went on for and how the camp is today a resort!? WHAT!? I would never go there and have a good time when there are massive burial graves around me and the remnants of poor tortured souls!  This horrible event has still not been brought to justice and is to me still unresolved.

   

Chilean History and Politics

Daniel Sparler's Chilean History Lecture:

    In this video, Sparler talked about how Chile is very different from other Latin America countries.  Chile has the highest life expectancy, second highest literacy rate, and a very low infant mortality rate.  Then the video was very focused around politics.  Chile is divided into three main political sections: the right, left, and center.  Due to this, in elections it is not common for one candidate to obtain the majority.  Thus, congress votes on the top two candidates.  Salvador Allende was a physician and realized how people in his country did not have access to health care.  This motivated his political career.  He ran for president four times and finally won.  He was the first Marxists to rule a country.  The U.S. did not like this and took many secretive measures to get him out of office.  They went for Chile's economic system and funded a newspaper to spread disinformation.  Allende did not believe in using violence to stop the U.S. or others from dwindling his power so the Soviet Union disowned him.  Allende said that the only way for them to succeed was to use "democracy, pluralism, and freedom".  That was not the answer the Soviet Union wanted.  Sparler showed the United State's relations with Chile and how we behaved when a Marxist obtained power.
     I knew the general information about Chile at the beginning of this video like how Chile is an outcast among Latin America countries.  I did not know that the United States played such an active role in Chilean politics.  Maybe I just don't understand, but I think it's really scary how the United States got so involved.  The CIA tried to kidnap Allende and we destroyed their economy.  We spread disinformation in their country.  That is horrifying how much power we have abroad in a completely autonomous country.  Also, I don't know much about Allende but I loved how he turned away from violence.  He said that is not the right way to go about things.  I think that really sheds a good light on him and makes me think he's not so bad as he is portrayed by America.

Chilean Food and Drink

            In the Anthony Bourdain video, Anthony traveled around a lot of different areas in Chile.  He went to coastal cities, Santiago, and a city in the fertile wine region of Chile.  He went to fresh markets, many restaurants, as well as tiny little shops.  He ate snack foods, deserts, drank a lot of wine and beer, and tried many different dishes.

            He explored many different places to try and show the viewers a variety of dishes.  There are different types of food in the different regions that are popular.  He included a lot of variety that is very helpful.  He liked all of the dishes he tried and the food looked amazing.  It was all very fresh and well prepared. 

            There was a lot of meat used in the dishes.  Pork was very popular which I did not know was popular there.  They had a dish where they ate a cow hoof.  I did not know that you could eat that or that it would even taste good.  I loved that they had markets to buy your food from.  Also, the seafood looked amazing.  I was almost drooling in the video.  I love seafood and knowing that it is all fresh in Chile is absolutely amazing!  Also, alcohol seemed very popular to have with every meal.  I think it’s so interesting how much other countries drink.  The pisco sour drink looked really good I definitely want to try that!  I thought the whole ‘coffee with legs phenomena’ was really weird, as Anthony pointed out.  Women are being objectified while a customer enjoys a cup of coffee?  I don’t understand it at all and I think it’s very strange. 

            I’m looking forward to trying all of the fresh seafood in Chile!  Honestly, almost every single dish he ate I wanted!  Besides the hermit crabs and hoof soup.  I will practically eat anything but not if it is still moving or is a very strange part of an animal.  As long as the dish looks good I’m open to practically anything!  Although, I do not like mayonnaise and it was disappointing to see how much of it they use!

            If my host family offers me food that I don’t find appealing, I think I would just apologize and say “no thank you”.  I would just explain that I don’t like it.  Like I said, I’m pretty much open to anything though, so hopefully that won’t be a problem!

Chilean Slang and Body Language

    I am very excited to leave for Chile! After learning more about the geography, it seems even more incredible than I thought! It is so cold where I live; I can't wait to get into the beautiful sunshine in Chile and escape the cold! Although, I am feeling a bit nervous.  I do not know how to speak Spanish or Chilean Spanish for that matter.  After watching the videos, I learned that a lot of their language is slang.  It is not normal Spanish it has a lot of differences to it.  I've heard some Spanish before and I take French which is kind of similar, but I've never heard of Chilean slang words before.  I feel like this is going to make it even more complicated.  

In the video, Dino taught ten Chilean slang words that he found of importance to foreign travelers.  He taught the words in his home, and he was very laid back and entertaining.  He repeated each slang word multiple times and broke the word up into syllables.  He then related the sounds of these syllables to English words to help us pronounce them easier.  He gave the meaning of the words and if it was possible, he would act out the meaning.

I think Dino acted the way he did in the videos to not make them boring for his viewers.  He even said that he only did ten terms per video because he didn't want to overwhelm his watchers.  He created his videos to try and help foreign travelers understand Chilean Spanish easier.  He wants to help travelers who are going to a new country try to understand it's culture better.

I enjoyed his videos a lot.  I took notes while he taught me about the slang words because some of them he said were really important.  I appreciated his method of teaching.  He made it relatable by comparing the word sounds to words in English.  I really liked that.  He also tried to give background information on the slang word if he knew it which made him look very knowledgeable.  This made him more of an authority figure to people viewing his videos because it makes him look trustworthy.

When I taught my family the Chilean slang terms, they had a difficult time.  My older sister took Spanish in high school and knew it fairly well.  The Chilean terms were confusing her because she was used to the basic Spanish ones.  My dad had a hard time pronouncing "carrete" because he cannot roll his "r's".  Similar words with "r's" he had difficulty with as well.  I cannot roll my "r's" either so I was not much help!  Overall, they enjoyed learning the words.  My mom loves learning other words in different languages, so she had a lot of fun with this activity.

Geography of Chile

Geography of Chile

Isabelle Allande divides the country of Chile into four main regions: the norte grande, norte chico, valle central, and zona sur.
The Norte grande is described as the most barren part of the country because located within it is the Atacama Desert considered to be the driest place in the world.  This is also the region where they get a lot of their natural resources like minerals and copper.  Chile is a huge exporter of copper and have some of the biggest copper mines.
Next, is the norte chico which divides the norte grande from the valle central.  It has the best skies to stargaze in.  There is a huge observatory there that many Astronomers travel to to be able to see the universe.
The valle central is where the country's capital, Santiago, is located.  40% of Chile's population lives here.  It has a lot of old structures as well as the tallest sky scraper in South America.  The land here is also very fertile and a lot of agriculture is located here.  This includes wine, fruits, etc.
The zona sur is the south region of Chile.  You cannot reach all of it driving because it turns into little islands and such.  One either has to take a boat or a plane to get to the cities located at the bottom.

Through the videos I learned even more about the geography of Chile.  It is a super slim, long country with a very diverse landscape.  The military divided the country into 15 regions and they are all numbered.  The flag of Chile looks a lot like the flag of Texas and it's colors represent its geography.  It is considered an outcast country compared to its fellow Latin American countries.  It is highly developed and has a large GDP compared to other countries.  Also, it has a very stable economy.  Chile also possesses the Andes Mountains.  The snow that melts from these mountains is their water source and it is amazing water.  It flows through the country and eventually makes its way into the ocean.  Since Chile is located on the coast, it has amazing beaches.  Surfing is super popular here because of the water conditions and is compared to California in this regard.  Chile also owns Easter Island which I had no idea about!  It is one of the strangest places on Earth and a very popular tourist site.  They also have a part of Antarctica where around 150 people live.  It is for research and scientists, but Chile is one of the few countries to inhabit Antarctica.  The population majority is white because it was hard for other countries to colonize it because of the difficulties of getting to it.  Learning about the geography of Chile has made me even more excited to check out the amazing country that is Chile!  
The area that I found the most interesting in Chile is the Atacama Desert.  I have never been to a desert before the driest place I've been is Texas.  I've seen pictures of deserts and they just look amazing.  They are extremely hot but amazingly things can still live and grow there.  The desert mounds are just breathtaking and to see those in person would be amazing.  Also, the sky in Chile there is extremely clear so you can see so many stars.  The universe fascinates me and I am an avid stargazer.  I would love to just lay down in the sand and stare up at all the stars.  I think this would definitely be my favorite activity to do in Chile.

          Hi! My name is Wendy and I'm a sophomore.  I am majoring in International Relations and minoring in Teaching English as a Second Language and French.  I am in the Westover Honors Society and also a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority at our school.  I am from Aldie, Virginia which is a small rural town near Dulles Airport.
          I chose to sign up for this trip because I wanted to get some classes out of the way so my semesters are less stressful.  I also really hate the cold and it is going to be so warm and sunny in Chile! I'm super excited to escape the snow and cold!  I enjoy learning about different cultures and I have never been to South America.  I love to travel so this looked like an amazing opportunity for me to do so.  I'm hoping to learn a lot about how to teach English as a second language to learners.  I took the foreign language methods class this past semester and I learned a lot.  I want to put what I learned into real life practice and see what works and what doesn't.  I'm excited to explore Chile as I do not know much about it.  I'm super excited for the food and to meet my host family.  I can't wait to be able to go to a new country and see how other people live! Looking forward to our trip so much!