Think Green

I think that where the people learn the most about the environmentally friendly practices is in the school and at home with the family. The younger generation has more conscience about taking care of the environment and nature than us, because in the school they learn about it and in others places like the TV or the internet the information is available for everyone. I have incorporated recycling into my habits by separating the trash like the tetra-pack boxes, the glass bottles or the paper, and taking all of this to the recycling spots near to my home. Because I live far away of the University and my friends I don’t use the bike, also because my neighborhood is not to friendly whit the bike riders, so I use the car a lot, but when I can I try to use the Bus or the subway. 

I haven’t joined or supported any eco-organizations because I think that I can help doing little things at home or changing my bad habits. Besides I’m not very into the ecologist cause, there are much media attention and social attention to the environmentally problems right now, and there are other socials problems that there are not taking care of.

The others things that I have done, is try to change my bad habits like leaving the TV on, even if I’m not watching, or leave the computer on, or taking long showers. Those are things that I also doo to reduce my carbon footprint, including the transportation like taking a bus instead of driving the car.  I think that in this society is missing more education about this topic, also make the city of Santiago more eco-friendly, like constructing  more bike paths, respect more the bike riders and the pedestrians, using  non-polluting kinds of energy etc. 

Music

In general, I like any kind of music. But my favorite is rock music or folk music mostly of Americans or British bands, but I also like Latin music especially the dancing kind of it or the Trova. I usually listen to music when I’m at home hanging out in my room, or when I’m going somewhere and I take the bus or the subway, also I love listen to music when I’m driving so I can sing along.  

I don’t have a favorite group, but one of the bands that I often listen to are The Arctic Monkeys; they are an English indie rock band that was formed in 2002. They will came to Chile for the Lollapalooza festival in April and I would love to see them performing. I like this band because the lyrics of their songs, the kind of music that they make and the voice of Alex Turner, the singer.

I think that music is a really important part of my life because it helps me to express my feelings also I can feel related to the lyrics and that helps me to get throw different moments of my life , is like a soundtrack to my life. Also the music is a placer, so is a way of enjoy the life too, that’s why I think that music is something that everyone loves and enjoy, even if you doesn’t listen too much of it, the music is everywhere and for every kind of taste.

Freedom for Tibet

Sherab Tsedor is 25 years old; he is one of the fifteen Tibetans that have self-immolated on 2011. The difference is that he is one of the survivors.

Many Tibetans are protesting because the human rights violations against their people in China, to get the world attention they had burn themselves.

In this interview Sherab tells his story about what happened on November 4^th 2011, the day that he tried to burn himself.  That morning, this young man woke up feeling that he had to do something about this situation, he couldn´t wait anymore for a solution, he had seen his people suffer over the years so when he knew about the other Tibetans that were burning themselves he was sure about what he needed to do.

After sending messages to his family and friends, he got all his things prepared, next he toke a bus to the China embassy in Delhi, then he try to light the thinner that he had spray on himself, but the police stop him, so the fire only went to his legs and trousers.

Sherab did this because he wanted to get attention all over the world about the humans rights violation, but he think that it was a failure because he is still alive.

He didn’t care about death or pain, as he was burning, he only could think about one phrase: “Freedom for Tibet.”

If you want to get more information about this news, go to:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/13/protesters-sherab-tsedor-tibet-china

HAPPINESS

Happiness is a really complicated feeling, I don`t think that I can describe it but I’ll try. I believe that happiness is related to be conform with the life that you have, but are many things that don`t let you be fully happy, because it includes all the aspects of the life like the material conditions of living, as the affective part and the relationships with the other people.

The things that make me happy are the healthiness of my family and friends, see the people that I love happy too, and have good times with my friend and family.  Also I think that is important to be happy, been pleased with myself as the person that I’m and to do things that I enjoy like study or have a hobby.

I think that it’s difficult to people to be happy because there are many factors that affect us, like the work, the money, the social standards, the lack of time etc. And all of them prevent us from find the happiness.

Chile is a country that is every day more far of be a happy place, because the conditions of life make the people angry, stress, and frustrated with their life, expanding that feeling to the rest.  

A COUNTRY YOU'D LIKE TO VISIT

I love travelling; I think that you can learn so much doing it about other cultures and yourself. I don’t think that I’m a globetrotter yet, because I haven’t travel so much but soon I’ll get there.  

I would like to visit many countries; one of them is Great Britain because I’d always love the landscaping also as their old culture and history.

The things that I know about it are a little bit of their history and general culture, also ones of my favorite bands are from there like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and The Arctic Monkeys etc.

The things that I would like to do there are visiting the historical places and museums, also I would like to travel to places like Scotland and Wales, on the other hand I would like to visit places la Abbey Road and every corner of London.

About living there I would love to, I wish that I could get a scholarship or work there but only for a few years because I would like to get back to Chile.

Christmas Time

Christmas is one of my favorites holidays, the origins of Christmas are in the Christian religion and it celebrates the birth of the sun of god. According to the Christian’s stories there were three kings that brought gifts to the new born.

Now we also celebrate as a tradition of the occidental world, the arriving of Santa Claus at Christmas night bringing gifts to all the children in the world.

I think that most of the celebration that we have now it’s according to a culture that we had incorporated as ours that mostly is promote the values of the capitalism and the imperialism.

On the other hand, I think that we should make this holyday a time to spend with the family and friends, and for the people who believe in this religion a special time to celebrate. We shouldn`t be so worried about buying stuff and getting presents.

I usually celebrate with my closest family and sometimes we spend it with others members of the family, like uncles and cousins. We usually have a nice dinner prepared by my mom and then we exchange gifts, on the next day we hang out in my house with the rest of the family.

I like the Christmas time because I can spend a really great time with my family and we can share special gifts. 

A new and strange term

My name is Belén and I’m in third year of sociology.

I hope that this new term won`t be as difficult as I think, because it’ll be a really short semester so we will have less time to see the contents that we need, also the contents of the subjects have been reduced.  So that’s why I’ve decided to take only the obligatory subjects and the English 4 class, that’s means that I didn’t take any compulsory subject so I might get a little behind with my classes. Any way… I take Sociological Theory 4, Economical Sociology, Population and Society, Sociology of the Organizations, and Quantitative Techniques 2.

I’m not really happy about being studying in the Christmas time, specially because it is summer, so the hot weather makes it really difficult, in the other hand, some of my friends are already on vacations and planning their trips for the next month, so that make me wish to be on vacations too.

In this class I would like to practice my speaking skills because in English that is the hardest part to me. Also, I would like to have fun activities to make easier the learning process.