It has been a while since I last posted but it has been a CRAZY week! Well not that crazy, just really really busy and filled with too much school. So far I am really digging this abroad stuff but not the studying part. This week has been full of seminars on education here in Chile, learning all about Pinochet and the Desparecidos (people who "disappeared" during Pinochet's rule).
Tuesday night I went to my first big family gathering while I have been here and it was for my Mom's boyfriend's birthday! We left the kids at hom
e with a babysitter and went to Osvaldo's (my mom's boyfriend) mom's apartment and ate lots of good food and chatted...well they chatted and I listened. I chimed in few times commenting on the little that I could fully understand. Although it gets frustruting not being able to understand everything I think it is good practice just to hear the spanish being spoken correctly.
On wednesday the whole group went to a shelter type thing for the mothers of the disappeared, a woman talked to us for about an hour and it was very hard to follow. But I think for the most part I got the general idea.
Today, September 11th, is not only a big day of rememberance for us in the United States but it is acutally the day of rememberance for all who disappeared or who were killed during Pinochet's rule. As a group we spent the day observing and learning al
l about the torture that many Chileans had to endure during Pinochet's rule.
The first thing we did this morning was go to a cemetery in Santiago, the biggest cemetary I have ever been to, where they had a huge monument of all the names of those who were excuted or are still missing in the 70's and 80's. We all put flowers by the monument and took some time to pay our respects. I think that saddest part of it all is there are still many families, many mom's, dad's, kids, etc. who have no idea where their loved ones are. There are still many people who are unaccounted for and in the cemetery this was indicated by blank crosses. At the cemetery we were also able to visit the grave site of Victor Jara, who was an incredible musican and social activist here in Chile during Pionchet's reign. He w
as brutally murdered on Sept. 12th 1973. When we went to his grave site there were people leaving flowers and singing his songs, it was very moving.
After the heavy morning we went to an even tougher place to be on this day of remembrance which was La Villa Grimaldi, a grouping of buildings that were used during Pinochet's goverment to tourture and interrogate policital prisoners. The original site was torn down and is now used as a site for remembrance with pretty fountains and flowers but being their was a little haunting. We were able to step inside some of the model tiny chambers where the victims were kept for months, 4 or 5 people to a room no bigger than a small closet. It was sad to even imagine what the victims lives were like while they were kept hostage at this concentration camp type place. Although it was a sad day it is also a day to remember that Pinochet is not longer in rule and the torture no longer exists.
After the long and emotional day I took a quick tour of the national library in Santiago and went on a short but steep walk up a large hill that overlooks Santiago. It was nice the get my mind off all the heavy and sad stuff that filled my morning. When I finally arrived home I was so happy to see my brother and sister and play with them like I was a little kid again! I just spent the last hour throwing them up and down in the air...who needs the gym when you have little kids to throw around!
We were told not to go out tonight because there are large riots but tomorrow morning I will be on my way to the Andes mountains for a day of skiing and tubing! Then on Sunday I will take part in a march for the people who were executed and still missing during Pinochet's rule. It should all be quite eventful and I will be sure to take lots of photos!
Here is the link to a snapfish account that I just created so that everyone can view the photos I have taken so far. There are not many up yet, but I promise more are to come!
http://www5.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2227060014/a=120609666_120609666/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
Thinking of everyone at home and sending lots of chilean love,
Ana
ps. not sure why everything is underlined or blue...sorry it is so annoying!
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