The english challenge

I’ve liked very much this subject, because I like to learn other languages, also this one is very useful to me, because in my profession almost every texts study are in english language. This course has been very interactive and that makes you want to come classes.

The blog is funny and a good tool to practice the grammar, but it’s a little difficult to me, I’m not good enough writing essays, so, I do it to slow, and I read it at least twice before publish an article, just in case.

I need to improve everything. Usually I’m really good in english, actually it was very easy for me, but this year I’ve been a disaster! I don’t remember the grammar, I forgotten a lot of words (noun and adjectives), and I can’t talk in the class, because I don’t feel comfortable, I feel a little bit insecure, etc. even that, I’ve learned a lot this semester.

About some way to fix it, I’ve not though the way to make it better than now, I mean, I know this require just practice, but I don’t have somebody with who do it;  if I had won more money this month, I would have taken an on line english course to improve my pronunciation. That's a problem now, because just this semester I'm not using so much the english, because I'm taking my last subjects, and no one is from my mention, and it's that kind of courses in which I use to much english, so I don't have any practice, just when I have some moments to read some bioanthropologic text or scientist papers. In the only thing I'm using it on these days, is to talk with my canadian friends, but it's just writing.

This year.....

This has been a very difficult year (I would say, the most difficult year of my life), however, it has been great.

I’ve had many problems in home, so, I’ve worked really hard all these month to save money and buy a house with my boyfriend. The good part of this, is we found a department that we are buying, but the process is too long and we’ll have it in January of the next year, so meanwhile, we’re going to rent it (until we sign the deed of ownership) and we are moving in two more weeks… I’m really happy and excited for it!!

Also, I’ve had setbacks here in the University for the schedule of my job, because most of the teachers and so the authorities don’t consider (and there is some teachers who don’t care) that somebody needs to work just in the same schedule that we have classes, and it’s difficult fit together both things without harm one of them, that’s why the last semester I failed in one course.

But, not everything is so bad, in July was the first time a traveled to another country, I went to Guatemala to make a Forensic course in the FAFG, that has been the most beautiful trip I ever had, because I met wonderful people, we all belong to different countries and I was the only latin girl in the group, they all are my friends now, and I usually talk with my Guatemalan friends (people from the foundation).

This trip is a big achievement for me, because I learned to much about Forensic Anthropology in the field I like, violation to human rights, and because it was a challenge, for the language (english) I didn’t know speak English, and every else students only spoke it, except one of them. Can get our department, finally, is other achievement.

I just hope this year I can finish all the courses, because this is my last year on the career, and I don’t want to be taking more courses next year!!

The money

The money, a human invention, that I personally think it has been the worse one. I can’t say I don’t like the money, because it would be the biggest lie, what I don’t like is we give it more relevance than other things really important to survive. An example, when we have some electric equipment like a tv and we need to fix it because it’s not working well, we do it even if we don’t have money, we find the way, but, if we are sick and we don’t have money, we just don’t visit to the doctor. So, all this society is working hard, just to have more money, because the publicity is telling us: you need something! It doesn’t matter what, we always need to buy something.

I think the money is important, because in this kind of economic system, we need it to can eating, have a house, study, get clothes, etc. But I try not make my life around the money, because everything I said before, and because just for money we (actually the businessmen) are destroying our nature, our entire planet, and in a couple of decades we will not have forests, rivers, etc.

My family is poor, and I have to work to help in home and to finance everything I need here in the university, and I think that’s why I don’t spend so much money, and I’m really organized with it, I have an excel file like an accountancy book, so, I have the record of how many money I can spending in a month. The only things I spend my money is for the University (food, transport, books, etc.), once at month I buy food in the supermarket for all the family, I pay the “dojo” where I train martial arts, and just sometimes I go to some restaurant with my friends. As I said, we don’t have so much money, and I don’t have something I can to pawn, so if I would need it, I can’t have some money in that way.

Well, I’m not millionaire, but now I have some savings invested in the bank, in something called “fondos mutuos” it’s like invest in shares but with less risk, I don’t have so much profit, but it’s better than have the money “under the mattress” enough for me. If I would be a millionaire, I would invest my money in shares, and I’ll contract a specialist to manage that, because I’m an ignorant in economic topics.

How green am I?

In home my parents always told me I have to take care about the nature and the animals (our little brothers) and respect them, because we, the humans are nothing without the bugs, animals, plants, etc. But they didn’t know so much about environmentally friendly practices.

When I was a child I learned recycling practices with children’s TV shows like “profesor rosa”, “Cachureos” and with “Discovery kids” when it was a scientist TV channel made for children.

I would like to can recycling, the problem is I can’t, because in my community we don’t have a “green point”, that’s why I do what I can, for example, I bring to the University all the paper we don’t use to put it on the boxes for baby’s diapers. Also, we contribute to save some water, and not contaminate it using “clean balls” to the laundry (these are even more effective than the traditional detergents), in home with my family, we make ecological bricks (in plastic bottles we put plastic packages and when it’s full, we press very much), when we have a lot of them, my boyfriend and I carry them to the GAM (    Centro cultural Gabriela Mistral), it’s really far from my home, but it´s just once at month we do that.

I haven’t reduce so much my carbon footprint, I try to print less paper, and use more the notebook, also I prefer to walk in little stretches than take a bus or a taxi, and in long stretches I necessarily need to take a bus, because I don’t have a bike, and even if I would have it, I would not use it for run to work or the University because I live really far away from everything, and the time is not enough to arrive from one to other. I work in an informatics business, and they are a green one, they use ecological PC, made with recyclables materials and have a low consumption of energy, they have solar panels too.

I’m always doing the best I can for the nature, that’s why I’d like to join some eco-organization, but I don’t have time, neither the money to do that, I hope someday I can to be an eco-activist.

A last thing, I think in our country, not only Santiago, the government should to have an ecological program for every cities, made according the requirements of each one. In the schools the children should have a course of ecology and environmentally friendly practices, and of course, apply everything they are learning, I mean, if the school teaches to recycle separating the different kinds of garbage, that school (and I think every school should) must to have garbage disposer to every kind of trash, in the same way, stimulate the children’s parents do that in home. But, to can do that, the government has to build green points in all the country, and every community, that’s the only way all the people has access to the recycling practices.

Other thing is teaching the children to love the nature and take care of it, live with and in it, not destroy it, because in that way we will have a much better society.