Month: May 2017

Since I first got to Chile, I’ve been taking notes on my phone on all of the little things that I’ve noticed are different. Things related to food, to words, to businesses, to overall culture – all jotted down in a little notepad on my phone. Listed and explained below are a few of those differences.

1) I NEVER KNOW IF I CAN FLUSH TOILET PAPER DOWN THE TOILET OR NOT. One of the things that I’m most excited about when I get back to the United States is being able to consistently flush toilet paper down the toilet. The uncertainty of where I can put my toilet paper in all of the random bathrooms that I’ve gone to around the continent really is doing things for my stress levels. I’m so conditioned to putting it in the toilet, but then there’s this little fear in the back of my head that says “Ooh but if you do that you could blow up the entire sewage system of this establishment”. So toilet paper in toilets is something that I’m looking forward to, if only to decrease my stress levels.

2)  Pharmacies. In their big supermarkets, there are places where you can get tooth brushes, deodorant, soap, razors, lotions – all that jazz. But you can’t get sunscreen at the supermarket. You have to go to the pharmacy and ask the lady behind the counter for it. She’ll bring out multiple types of sunscreen if you don’t know which one specifically that you want, and you pick from her selections. Or if you have allergies – you go to the pharmacy and describe what’s wrong with you, and then she’ll go back into the depths of the shelves and pick out a medicine for you. I am a very visual shopper – often times I don’t know what I want or need until I see the item on the shelf. These types of pharmacies throw me off in a major way.

3) Bread and produce are SO DANG CHEAP HERE. Like I can get a massive carton of blueberries (don’t ask me for the weight, I’m absolutely hopeless when it comes to that) for less than $1 USD. Or I can get a big bag of bread for $1 USD. Everything else is a little more expensive, but I’m so down for cheap bread and produce. I’ve had to learn to be careful and not walk on certain streets when I’m hungry or else I pass by a ton of bread and pastry shops and they smell SO GOOD, and then I want to go and buy ALL THE THINGS. And then I would eat ALL THE THINGS, and it would just be a mess.

Those are a few random differences, more to come!

Today I’m writing about another interaction our President has had with international leaders because it seems like drama is created every time.

Trump attended the meeting of NATO Leaders yesterday and critics are having a field day regarding his behavior and mannerisms. He was reported as being very cold and aggressive towards members – and there is a video of Trump shoving the PM of Montenegro. Overall many people are classifying these as extremely embarrassing for the US. I agree with them on that aspect. I understand he is trying to crack down on NATO members but there’s no reason not to still be diplomatic. We still want positive relationships with these countries and the U.S. is currently operating under the assumption that we are too powerful to be made an enemy. I don’t think this is the way to make any political friends though, which is extremely important in our current global climate.
I’m also extremely curious to see how the US’s relationship with Russia and Saudi Arabia plays out. I don’t want to see us giving out exceptions or turning a blind eye to human rights violations. Religious intolerance, oppression of women, girls, and the LGBTQ community, and decriminalizing domestic violence are just some offenses on a long list. I understand the importance of good relationships with such influential countries but I hope we don’t prioritize economics or the military over the rights and lives of people in these countries.
I think that many people do agree with Trump on pressuring other NATO countries to increase their financial contributions. Records show that the US has been disproportionately paying for all of the NATO operations and only 5 countries met the 2% (of gdp) promise. My ICDG group discussed last semester how the US could be using their disproportionate contribution as political leverage. I’m hoping that we will still be able to maintain positive, cooperative relationships with these countries and I’m curious to see where the world will go from here.

I was definitely watching when President Trump and his family went to meet Pope Francis yesterday. While there are many interpretations of how the meeting went, there is no doubt that Pope Francis called Trump our on at least one issue: climate change. He gave Trump a copy of ‘Laudato Si” which he wrote about the importance of science and politics in aiding the environment. I was so amused and thoroughly appreciated Pope Francis’s shade.
I know that Trump and the Pope also have extremely different ideas on immigration. Trump obviously wants to implement very strict immigration and border policies to help keep potentially dangerous people or illegal immigrants out of the US. However the Catholic view centers around love for our fellow humans and charity to people in need. There are so many people who are in need of a home, especially in the middle east. The issue is that so many people let fear guide their actions. Fear festers and turns into defense, which isn’t necessarily bad: terrorism is a real threat and being cautious is wise. However, this fear turns into a fear of larger communities, of Muslims, of people of middle eastern descent. People develop fear of immigrants (illegal or otherwise) taking their jobs. Pope Francis has, multiple times, encouraged countries to be understanding and accepting and to operate from a place of compassion and not fear. So obviously this meeting with Trump, who ran his campaign principally on fear, is extremely important. Pope Francis is a leader and an icon for Catholics across the world. Personally, I love the role he has played in rejuvenating the church and communicating to the world the true messages of our faith.
While the Pope did throw some shade, they said that they talked about working towards international peace and I honestly and truly hope so. Maybe at least, Trump will learn a little more about climate change.

This month I attended a lunch with guest speaker Dr. Muhammad S. Eissa on Language and Religion. Surprisingly, I had never given much thought to the intersections of the two. Dr. Eissa talked about how the Arabic language is so frequently associated with Islam and how that affects non-Muslim Arabic speakers and Muslims who don’t speak Arabic. It was extremely fascinating to analyze. I did not know a lot of the history of the Arabic language or how it has changed and evolved geographically. Dr. Eissa emphasized how the Arabic language helped people connect to Islamic scripture, traditions, and cultures.

My roommate, who is Jewish, also related to that and she is currently studying Hebrew. These were the languages that the scriptures were written (or heard) in and so learning the language helps people connect.

I started thinking about Christianity and the lack of any identifying language. I’m Catholic so Latin is very important historically as masses used to be entirely in Latin. I think Latin is very beautiful, but it wasn’t the original language of Jesus or the disciples; it was adopted because of the influence of the Roman empire on the church. In fact, as time progressed, Latin almost became a barrier between the people and the church teachings. People couldn’t understand what was being said at masses because most people were uneducated. It was finally changes in the 20th century because the Pope wanted people to be able to develop personal relationships with God. I think this is pretty cool though I still love hearing Latin songs or chants at masses.

In my ICDG group, we discussed the French Election after discovering that Marine LePen has made it to the final round. This is so telling of the current political climate in the western world: we are seeing a resurgence of nationalism. Many people think that if she is elected, resulting in France leaving the European Union, that more and more countries would follow and the EU would become obsolete. For me, that prospect is very weird considering it’s all I’ve known or grown up with, but the organization itself is relatively young.

Brexit happened and then Trump and now there is another possibility for another global conservative to take power. One member said that one of the biggest reasons France wants to leave the EU is so that they do not have to follow their border regulations. This is a response to the increase in refugees that are trying to come into various European countries and to the increase in terrorism. France has notably experienced significant terrorist attacks in the last few years so it’s understandable that they have become increasingly protectionist. I’m very concern though because it seems like she is leading her campaign on fear and that can be very destructive for communities.

—-

Note: Since writing this, Édouard Philippe beat out le Pen for office. I’m very interested in watching how the relationship between France and the US evolves because Philippe has openly criticized Trump.

This month I went to the Arabic Flagship Talent Show. I was very much looking forward to it and I had many friends who were studying Arabic that I knew were going to be there.

The dancing by the Belly Dancing Club was absolutely amazing and it was very interesting to see the contrasting styles of the two dances they performed. The first dance used finger cymbals in their dance and involved many girls and the second dance used sticks. They were two different traditional styles of dancing and the girls had amazing performances.

The poetry was also incredible. One of the girls wrote a poem that she read in English, Arabic, and Vietnamese. I was extremely impressed by her words but more by the power that the poem had when it was in other languages. I couldn’t understand any of the words but the rhythm and tone of her speaking really helped communicate the meaning of her poem.

Overall I enjoyed the talent show (and the food was delicious). However, I didn’t realize that the majority of the talent show would be class projects from different Arabic. I don’t speak Arabic and so many of the skits and videos I couldn’t understand. I got to see a lot of my friends in the videos though so I still enjoyed them and some of them were very funny! But since I’m not studying Arabic a lot of things were lost on me. I will probably go again next year though! I had a great time!