today was the chilean 'fiesta patria', or patriot day
for chile, marking the start of the independence
process back in 1810. i'm getting into the festive
mood, and love seeing the little flags on cars as they
fly down the seemingly speed-limitless roads. and the military
parade! so many uniforms i thought i'd died and gone to heaven ;) all this makes me smile, since chile has been to my 2006 the
way mushrooms were to my vegetarianism: tolerated for
its necessity at the beginning, but growing on me with
each experience that passes.
for example, although i feel an affinity for the
argentine culture, there's something about chilean
social structure that intrigues me. i've experienced
life here in at least 2 different social classes, and
i've been overwhelmed by the differences. being
foreign and 'interesting' allowed me to enter (or at
least be accepted as an observing newcomer into) the
richer world: people with money, influence, and access
to all the services they could ask for. go to a social
gathering in this circle, and people will be sitting
down, chatting politely about safe topics, touching
lightly on more risqué ones, and generally making me
feel like i'm in a scene from one of Jane Austen's
novels. people are more reserved (they say 'shy', but
i have my doubts...) and generally not talk to
newcomers. if the latter should talk, they'll be
politely listened to, questions answered, and then the
rest of the group will go back to talking amongst
themselves. newcomers seem to have to bide their time
(and i'm talking weeks or months) before being
accepted into a group, UNLESS they are socially
'important'. (i know of 2 groups of friends, A and B,
being united partly because a girl from A found out
that a guy from B had a yacht, was impressed, and
wanted to go sailing.) friends will tend to talk about
each other behind backs, and social lies abound, - eg,
it seems generally accepted to make promises without
fulfilling them.
on the other hand, the people who are more 'ordinary'
are more openly curious. go to a social gathering
here, and people will be milling around, talking to
old friends, strangers, ...anyone! language is a lot
cruder, few topics are shied away from, and although
things may get heated every now and then, it's all in
good humour. even if there's no proper contact, these
people are so friendly: walking to classes, i say hi
to the greengrocers on the corner of my street, wave
to the guy selling candy at the traffic lights, nod to
the butcher round the corner from my school... i
realise i'm probably describing worlds that most of
you are already aware of, but i guess over here, it's
a lot more marked than in other places i've been in.
2 recent controversies in chile that i've found
interesting:
1) about a month ago, a new legislation was put into
place restricting smoking indoors and in public area.
this caused a huge uproar since there are a LOT of
smokers here. what makes me laugh is how people
ironically complain about the level of pollution here:
last time i went for a run, a friend tsk tsked about
how i was doing damage to my lungs jogging in
smog-filled santiago, before asking me to pass her the
matches to light up her 4th cigarette for the morning.
2) the morning-after pill has now been made available
to everyone 14 years and over, with parental
authorisation being unnecessary. here're some stats to
consider: 14% of Chile's adolescents have had sex by
age 14; 16% of the babies born here are delivered by
girls less than 18; and earlier this year, a girl of
10 gave birth to her first child making her the
youngest mother in Chile. (admittedly, this last was a
tragic case of intrafamilial abuse, but it should be
said that the incidence of such abuse is quite high in
the lower-income classes.) the viewpoints coming out
are not surprisingly varied: some saying that
introducing the pill will encourage promiscuity in
young people, others saying that it will reduce the
rate of adolescent pregnancy, and still others
maintaining that most kids will be too chicken to go
ask for it anyway. what i find most fascinating is how
important religion is, ie, with regards to early
abortion.
on a more personal level: my parents and one of my
aunts came to visit me a few weeks ago, and the
holiday was... interesting. it occured to me that this
was the first time i've been with my parents outside
their zone. all the times i've been with them, it's
been in a 'zone' of their choosing: home in australia,
home in malaysia, holiday trips staying with *their*
friends/family, or in hotels of *their* choosing. it
never even crossed my mind until they were physically
here that they were now entering my world, with my way
of travelling, my way of relating to people, my way of
handling problems, .. in short, my way of life. my
guinea pigs and i drifted apart when they grew up (the
ungrateful buggers..), so i can only speculate that it
must be really disconcerting to find that a child that
you've been molding for approx 2 decades should turn
out to have his/her own personality, tastes, and
wants. as a result, the family reunion was not without
requisite bumps, - but hey, maybe the real surprise is
that we made it out alive, still maintaining some form
of familial love for each other..
i'm slightly suspicious that my housemates have been
spiking my morning coffee - i've been high as a kite
for the last month, and i have no idea why. i'm
thinking that it might be the coming of spring, and
that i just feel so damn lucky that i get the chance
to do what i want. carpe diem's so old school; it's
carpe aevem now!
'high as a kite' - hmm, i'm not really a simile kinda
gal, but i seem to be influenced by the abundance of
chilean ones:
- as lonely as a sandal on the roof
- as slow as fat sex
- as obvious as a a visible bumcrack
and an x-rated one that made me cringe:
- as wrinkled as a .... (use your imagination)
i have eaten non-stop as my special way to celebrate
this weekend, and as a result, i hurt. i therefore
leave you to nurse my distended belly, but will be
writing again before i leave santiago in a few weeks
time...
