Chilean beaches!

I love Chilean beaches, but I think Simon is right when he says that the waters of the Chilean coast are too cold, specially the ones you find on the central shore and the ones on the South of Chile. But still, I think it is my favorite place to go in the Summer. Personally, I prefer the beaches in Puerto Varas ( located on the Lakes Region-Chilean X Region ), beaches there are quite cold and those are fresh water ones. Specifically, I go to the small beaches that are in Ensenada. This is a small place just 47 kilometers away from the city of Puerto Varas, placed in full nature and on the riverside of Lake Llanquihue. The beach banks of Lake Llanquihue have a spectacular view towards the Osorno, Puntiagudo and Calbuco volcanoes. I usually visit a beach that is very close to the Route that goes to Petrohue. I don't know if it is an official and suitable place for swimming, but I usually swim there. I like to be there because the view is spectacular, the peace and silence of the place are surprising, and you don't see more than four families and at a good distance away from you. When I go there, I am able to relax enjoying the warm wind and the sound of the small waves. Near the place there are some tourist attractions to visit just at a walking distance. Green Lagoon is a beautiful place to visit ( It's a very deep lagoon with an intense green emerald colour, with volcanic lava edges and leafy foliage vegetation paths ). On the way to this place you can find a wonderful and rich flora and fauna, you can even see wolves. You can get to that place by bus or by car. You can take a bus in down town Puerto Varas, or if you go by car, just leave Route 5 in Puerto Varas and go towards Ensenada on Route 225.

Skating is the activity I like to do outdoors. I like this activity first because it is a lot of fun and energetic, second because it helps to lose weight, because it makes you burn a lot of calories, third because it exercises the body balance, fourth because it gives tonicity and firmness on your legs, and for last, as all sports or outdoor activities, it strengthen the lungs and heart.
I started to do this activity when I was about twelve years of age. I remember that on Christmas I got my first skates as a gift...... and that night I spent most of the time on the floor. I fell at least five times but I didn't give up, I skated all morning and since then I was skating all day and night. I was a little chubby ( well.. still ) and I remember that I lost quite a lot of weight. Well, I was so motivated that I didn't even feel like eating. It was really a lot of fun because I got together with some other friends to go skating, and for a while we even went skating to the skating rink at Parque Ohiggins. Now I would like to skate more often, but I have a lot of things to do. I also would like to have the chance to do ice skating.

The song of my childhood...

There are many songs that bring me beautiful memories, specially of my childhood. There is a special one that I like very much. The theme is called " Chorando se foi ", interpreted by the Brazilian group " Kaoma ", this was a version in the lambada rhythm of the song " Llorando se fue ", of the group Los Kjarkas from Bolivia. Ulises Hermosa, the real author of the song, sued on 1989, in front of different international authorities, the group Kaoma because " Charando se foi " was a version that didn't have it's real author's authorization.

The lambada became famous in the whole world ( even in Japan people dance it until these days ! ) thanks to this Brazilian version, that caused a lot of controversy because of it's sensual way of dancing inspired on the movement of the waves. This song became very popular on the year 1989, when I was just four years old and it was played for many years on the discos.

Back then my mother had a battery radio, and she used to listen to " Pudahuel " radio station while my brother and I played. They played this song a few times a day, and I remember that with my alley neighbors we danced this happy song at the rhythm of lambada, inspired on the video clip of the song. On the video you can see two kids dancing, Washington " Chico " Oliveira and Roberta de Brito, who formed the duet CHICO Y ROBERTA, who appeared on different TV programs dancing together.

Twenty years later you can hear on the radio two new versions of this theme, one of Jennifer Lopez together with Pitbull, under the title ' on the floor ' , and also another from the Puerto Rican singer Don Omar that transformed the Bolivian original version of the same song, creating the theme " Taboo ".

Rumblefish!

Two best friends met few years after finishing school. They were very different but always helped each other. Steve was mature, liked reading, was cautious and worried about things. Now was studying to become a teacher. Rusty instead loved fighting (what his brother had told him to stop doing). He also was at a reformatory for a few years because his memory was screwed up and couldn't remember things unless somebody said something to him. He didn't know why he wasn't glad to see Steve, until he saw him staring at a scar he got on a fight...that made Rusty remembered all about it. To change subject Steve invited him for dinner to talk and remember good old days, something Rusty didn't want to do plus didn't remember much about either. Steve mentioned who he thought he was when first saw him, and that got him very mad because knew he was talking about his brother nicknamed Motorcycle Boy because used to steal or borrow cycles and leave without telling the owners. Rusty remembered everything...hanging out at Benny's, fighting with gang, Biff wanting to kill him, etc. He loved fighting andwasn't scared of it, he was just scared of being alone. The day of the fight his friends reminded him about how that could end and about what his brother had said about gang, that made him very upset because his brother had been gone for two weeks and didn't know if he was ever going to be back. In that moment he just wanted to think about the fight that was sure was going to win. When he and his friends arrived at the empty lot his best friend was not there, but Biff and gang were there waiting for him. When they started fighting Biff got a knife, something Rusty didn't have and when asked for one to equal things up he just got a bike chain that was enough to put Biff down and make him loosen the knife. He was bleeding and swollen. Suddenly the Motorcycle Boy was back and everybody was quiet. He thought he had "signed a treaty" and they were going to stop with that crap, at that moment Biff did slide Rusty's side with the knife. Rusty's brother stopped the fight and they knew what he had said about being over with gang fighting. Steve was next to his best friend like he said was going to be. Then they went back home, and on the way Rusty asked his brother where he had been, California he said, but actually never went past the bridge where he used to go because would have been homesick. At home he helped his brother with the deep cut. He was different, had no expression, said strange things, saw things different, maybe because of concussions he had in motorcycle wrecks. It was hard to understand him. He looked older and since young could get all he wanted, Rusty thought it would be the same for him in life but it wasn't. They just looked alike but when you looked at Rusty you knew what he was thinking about, and looking at his brother you would never know. Rusty loved his brother and even if he wasn't his brother he just wanted to be like him.

One on one!

I think I have had many "one on one" in my life, I would love to have one with a person that I dislike because it would be more interesting and productive, like for example to have one with my boss, but I can't give vent to my private life and his, so I will choose a public or famous figure, I am not going to choose a politician because wouldn't deserve it, nor a model from the " Farandula " because I wouldn't have any thing to say..... well, then I will have a " one on one " with Amy Winehouse. Amy was a great artist, she revolutionized the soul on the XXI century with her beautiful and loud voice and different tones that she used in her songs. The songs were filled of emotion besides expressing the mood changes of the singer. Not only the words in her songs impressed me, but also the deep interpretation of each one of them.

We all knew her problems with the justice, her drug and alcohol addiction, and her medical complications product of self destructive behavior. We also know that a few months ago she was found dead in her apartment when she was only 27 years old, after suffering a shock caused by an overdose of alcohol after a period of abstinence. I would like to understand how a so talented person can do so much harm to her self, having so much recognition around the world and a whole life ahead.
If I would really have her in front of me now, I would like to ask her what she thinks about the foundation that carries her name, and about what her mother thinks " My daughter would have been proud of the foundation and would have supported it " after she her self in some occasions asked to her daughter's fans not to go to her concerts. I also would like to ask her if there is any thing that she did that she regrets. Finally, I would like to ask her to sing the song " Back to Black " for me.

An unforgettable trip ...

I think there is no person that doesn't like to travel. There is a trip I did not so long ago with my boyfriend that I think we will never forget about.  We did not travel to an extraordinary place, and also it was not too far. The place we went to is called Molina and it is located in the Maule region (VII region). We traveled by bus from Santiago to Molina at 9:00 pm, and that night we stayed at my boyfriend's grandparents house. The next day we had planed to visit all the touristic places in the area: "El Velo de la Novia" ( The Bride's Veil ), "Las Siete Tazas" ( The seven Cups ) and "El Parque Ingles" ( The English Park ). That day we got up early in the morning and we went to the bus terminal but there were no buses going to those places that day. We were very sad but my boyfriend is optimistic, he calmed me down and said to me “we will get there somehow". Then asking people in the area they told us that there was a bus that would take us close to our destination, just at a very short distance. While we were waiting my boyfriend told me "can you imagine that now somebody comes in a car and gives us a ride, offers some beer and invites us to a barbecue". I said to him "dreaming man". Soon came the bus we were waiting for and just left us on the road under the full sun. We started walking and we decided to hitchhike...a red one cabin pick-up truck in fairly bad conditions stopped and took us. We got in on the very back, out in the open air. There, there was another young couple and in front was the driver and his fiancée together with another couple. The first stop was in a boarding-house where there was a swimming pool. We swam surrounded by a spectacular landscape. Any of the crew members knew each other. We covered about a hundred kilometers by car and we were able to see all the places we had planed to visit. We all drank some beer, toured different places and laughed a lot. The only bad thing was that we got completely grey because of the dust on part of the road. At the end of the day we were totally dirty, messy and tired but happy and pleased.

I enjoyed it a lot because I am an organized person that needs to plan every thing, but with this trip I realized that sometimes we just have to relax a little and enjoy the unexpected...

I love Santiago City!

I could talk about many really nice places located here in Santiago. However, I will talk about a place that is not so nice, but is very special for me, " La Piojera ". This is an old and well known bar from Chinatown, very near Mapocho station in the commune of Santiago. It is located in Aillavilu street  almost opposite of the " Mercado Central ". It is a famous " Picá " in Chile and it represents the typical gastronomy of the country, and is also a symbol of the " guachaca " culture. The " Piojera " term was used to refer yourself to any place that was notably unhealthy and many years ago this place was associated to alcoholism, tabacco, etc. It doesn't mean that now people don't drink alcohol ( it would be a big lie, you can just go by that area at about 10:00 o'clock at night  and notice the condition in what visitors get out of the bar ), but now this bar is also linked with the traditions of the Santiago working class people and at the same time with the republican and cultural history of the Chilean nation.

I always wanted to go to that place, until I finally got the opportunity to go with some friends of mine. On these last months I have been there in different occasions with my boyfriend. We met exactly in another place of that same area, but this one represents the " huachaca " culture, it's called " Las Tejas ". That kind of popular urban culture really keeps us close together. I love to visit that kind of places because of the gastronomy ( such as chorrillanas, perniles, among others ) and alcoholic beverages like the " terremoto " that is my favorite drink. I love this place because it is very friendly and inviting, I always end up meeting new people, and it is so fabulous that in just one place you can bring together poets, musicians, workers, students from different universities, professionals, office workers, politicians, and even people of the ostentation.

Concert!

Probably it would be hard to believe, but I have never been to a concert. I truly do respect the people hat adore certain musical groups and anxiously wait for their favorite artist to come and play somewhere in our country. I really value a lot the musical productions, I also like certain artists and musical groups, but I think I could invest the money of that ticket in something I would like and enjoy more than that.

I should admit that sounds capture me more than voices. For example, I really love drums and I enjoy very much Afro-American kind of dance. But, I don't like concerts because I love peace and the silence. I don't like the crowds and the mass. Is contagious and too disturbing to my liking.

Even though I have to confess, when I was young I would have given my life to go to a concert of the Back Street Boys. They caused rage in the 90s, when I was an adolescent and my hormones were starting to go over the top. Last March 3rd, they were in Chile playing at the Movistar Arena in Santiago, but I didn't have money and I am not even sure if I would have gone.

Now I think I won't be able to avoid all of them because my boyfriend loves rock and lately he has suggested me to go to a concert with him, so I am thinking about it.....

Let`s dream!

Today I will talk about an ambition that I have. As you know the aspirations are very important for anyone because they mobilize the people. Even aspirations can be the people's goal in life. The truth is that I have a lot of aspirations; I am a person that fantasizes too much. Right now I could be writing or talking about it.

My first ambition is to finish my career and be happily working as a psychologist. I also aspire to have and raise a nice family. I believe that these wishes are feasible if I work hard, but there are also other dreams that are more difficult to achieve.

My first wish is to write a book, but I also would like to travel to Thailand.

Now I will write about my first wish, to write a book. Since I was a girl I always had more aptitude to write than to talk. Sometimes when I have something regrettable to talk about, I do it through a letter and that wayI manage to touch the other person with my words.

If I write a book I would like to write about something that would help people that have suffered in life. I would like to help people by giving them all the knowledge that others have given me through their life history and overcoming. I think that that is what I would like to write about, and I would like to fulfil this desire.

Of course this book would be written in Spanish because in English I wouldn't be able to find the suitable words. It would be very difficult !

No to Hidoaysén!

Today I want to talk about  the polemic Hidroaysen project .
What is Hidroaysen ?

Hidroaysen is a project that includes the construction and operation of five hydroelectric plants, two on the river Backer and three on the river Pascua, located on the Region of Aysen on the South of our country.
The project promises that on the year 2020 could cover 21% of the central Interconnected System demand (this system is the most important of 4 other electric systems because it supplies energy to approximately 93% of the Chilean population).

The Hidroaysen administration is supported by a corporation formed by the biggest Chilean companies that generates electricity such as ENDESA and Colun SA. Both companies will concentrate 80% of the electric production of the country, founding a monopoly of the chilean electric energy market.

The biggest problem here is the environmental impact. The project could affect 6 National Parks, 11 National Reserves, 26 conservation sites (lands), 16 wetlands and 32 protected private areas. Besides 6 Mapuche communities would be intervened, 4 of Tolten's communes, 1 from Lautaro and another from Victoria.

René Pérez. Vocalista de Calle 13

Are there any other possibilities to attain energy ?

An alternative is a tidal power plant that could be placed over the Chacao canal, taking advantage of the constant tides, 3 GW can be generated on a constant way compared to 2.5 of all Hidroaysen.

What has the Social impact been ?

"Patagonia sin represas " is a movement conformed by different organizations and independent people. It has been established as the biggest organized opposition  against the Hidroaysen project. This movement has performed massive protests on different occasions against this construction, and it has been the support of a large segment of the Chilean citizens, as well as other international environment entities with great world wide influence such as Greenpeace.

The perfume...my favorite book

The truth, I don’t like read much. I am too distracted. But, there is a book I liked too much “Perfume: The Story of a Murderer” It is the first book by Patrick Süskind, a German writer. This book was published in 1985 and it was a sales success. In fact, was translated to very idioms around the world.

The novel tells about Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, who is protagonist of history set in the century XVIII, in France. Jean has a developed sense of smell and it is her way of relating with people. This feature makes people uneasy, for this reason he rejected from society.  The argument revolves around series of murders realized by Jean. He kills only a women red-heads for get her body perfume, through a complex process.

I read the book for the first time when I was 16 because as usual for me, I liked the absurd, the strange, and the extraordinary. In adolescence, young people are more vulnerable to surprise. Really is a fantastic history full of mystery.

A while ago, the movie came out…but doesn’t is the same, many items are lost.

I would recommend this book to anyone curious, and that like thrillers and strange.

Mi favorite photography!

Well in first place I have to tell you that this beautiful people are my classmates from university and, of course, me. This photo was taken by another classmate on the Quisco beach; I do not remember very well who it was. But, I don’t forget what happened there...
This is my favorite photography because it brings me nice memories of that time. At the year 2008, we were coursing our third year at university, and in that period it corresponds to make a fantastic trip whit all our classmates, it’s like a university tradition. This is a trip at the mid of the career, for this reason is called "belly trip”. We had planned this during three months: in this time we sold many things, made donations from our own and made a lot of activities to raise enough money. Fortunately we spent three wonderful days on the beach. On that moment we decided to visit Daniela’s house, who was my classmate at that year too.

We did many things there: for the night we went to the beach, played guitar and sang fire songs, did a lot of games between us and laughed a lot. Every night that we there are things that cannot be told. But, we had a very good time.

Every time I see this picture I feel much nostalgic. We cannot get together came to the house, it was a party, we drank and danced until dawn. Of course, like before.  We should all go out and party, but either of us do not have much time on this year. I would like go back in time and be stuck in a moment. It was very great!

The computer!

My favorite piece of technology is the computer because make things easier. The computer is electronic machine.  The computer has a software and hardware. The software is all set intangibles dates and programs of computer. In contrast, the hardware is the physical devices, such as CPU, mouse, screen, motherboard, and keyboard. The interactions between the software and the hardware makes the machine operation, that is, the software sends instructions to the hardware for make possible its operation.

I got a computer six years ago, when got in to the University. Was very necessary get a computer, because all the class material was in the web. Before, I had to go a cyber.

I use computer very often because I have many work that to make for the University. So, I use the computer mainly for to work and for to chat.

 I like because with the internet access I can be connected to the academic world and the social world.

Without computer, my life would be a little boring and very difficult.

My favorite film!

My favorite film is “A Clockwork Orange”.  Directed by Stanley Kubrick in 1971. It is a film set in a futuristic Britain. It is very curious like the film director conceives the future. For example, in the film there are futurists building, everything is square. The clothing of the character is very eccentric. It is generally characterized by the use of black skin boots, a very tight white shirt, white Capri pants, suspenders and black blower hat.

There is a bar: “The Korova milkbar”. There, sold milk-plus, what the protagonists go to drink. This milk is special because has a similar effect t to drugs.  The milk plus make them ready to the teenager’s protagonists to commit an offence.
The films about a violent gang of teenagers, led by Alex de Large who is captured and given aversion therapy to combat his violent tendencies. The therapy is controversial because is very violent. So, How to treat violence with more violence?

 The protagonists are Alex, Pete, Georgie and Lerdo who are devoted to a series of violent crimes. Alex DeLarge is the main protagonist. He pleasures are classical music (Beethoven), rape, and ultra violence. He leads band of thugs, which is referred to as "droogs” (in Spanish “drogos”). Alex, who tells the story of the movie in first person, narrates during all the film in "Nadsat", a contemporary slang. He is irreverent, lies to his parents and abuses of peoples.

This film I like too much because it makes us reflect on the society y her inconsistencies.

Melanie Klein!

Melanie Klein was an Austrian psychoanalyst. She was born in Vienna in 1882. Klein was a pioneer in child analysis. She developed therapeutic techniques for children that had a significant impact on child psychology and contemporary psychoanalysis. Until that moment, other analysts considered children under 7 as unsuitable for analysis. However, she went further. She was not only revolutionary in analytical practice, also was in theory.

Until that time, Freud and his followers, were the most important ideologist psychoanalytic theory. Klein challenged this conformism. She generated a rupture in the exploration of Oedipus, the ghost, the language and pre-language. Klein investigates the deepest of the infancy, who is describes as inhibited, psychotic and autistic. Her theory was constantly refuted by male referents.

In 1932 published "The Psychoanalysis of Children" the most important work published by a member of the British Society. This work developed two important concepts: the paranoid-schizoid position and the depressive position. These are early stages of infantile development that have influence in the adult development.

Personally, Melanie Klein is a founder of feminist ideas because through his theory, she transgressed a lot orthodox male ideas, such as "penis envy".  Klein, unlike Freud, asserts that since the birth there is feminine position in women.

My favorite music

My favorite band is Portishead. Though, I also like Massive Attack. These bands to belong to a music genre called “Trip Hop”.  It consists of downtempo electronic music. I started listening to this music because I once saw a movie called “the virgin suicides”. I loved the soundtrack of movie, specially a song “Playground Love” by “Air”. And I realized that I liked this musical genre because that is slower.

But, the musical band that I like the most is Portishead. The first time I heard them was at a friend´s home. The song I heard was “Glory Box” and is favorite song because I relax an also is music very sensual. When I like to be untroubled I hear these songs.

Portishead is an English musical group from Bristol. The band is named after the nearby town of the same name, west of Bristol. Portishead consists of Geoff Barrow, Beth Gibbons, and Adrian Utley, while sometimes citing a fourth member, Dave McDonald, an engineer on Dummy and Portishead. I hope ever to see them in a concert.

Welcome to english´s blog

I am Katherine Calderon. I am student of psychology at the University of Chile. This is last year of my career and I am doing the intership in a centre of psychology, twice a week. I also I am starting my classes of specialization. The blog is a good idea for to learn, to meet people and things they want. I should like to know to more about classmates` blog  and to learn all togheter.  I hope that these expectations will can be compliance.