A dog fight in the middle of an education stike

Hello Mrs. Froland's Spanish classes... err, I mean... hello readers.

I just found out about a week ago that my Spanish teacher from high school - Señora Froland - is reading my posts word for word to her Spanish classes.  So no pressure or anything!

The strikes:
I guess I spoke a little too soon in my previous posts about the strikes being stagnant recently.  A couple days ago, on Thursday, there was a big get together for all the strikers in Valparaíso.  That wouldn't have affected me at all, but I had a basketball game that night in Valpo.  I had not heard about the strikes that were happening, so I got on the metro to go to the game as I usually do.  Shortly after getting on the metro one the member's of the basketball team called me and told me to get off at the next stop and wait for him there - he was going to drive me to the game.  When he arrived about 25 minutes later I learned that there were tons of strikes in Valparaíso, and it was very unsafe to be there at that moment... and that included taking public transportation.
Apparently the strikes were so bad that we couldn't even drive through the city with a car, because we went way outside the city to get to our destination.  We ended up being so late for the game they had already started playing when we walked in with our street clothes on.  Oh, and by the way, to not go in the town was all on orders from our coach.
So the education strikes are still active and they are still dangerous.  This is a very unique time to be in Chile, with all these strikes, and it gives us the opportunity to see something that many before us have not seen... but at the same time we have to watch out for ourselves, and our friends with us so we don't get caught up in the mess of what's going on.


Dog Fight:
Another interesting thing happened to me that night.  While I was waiting for my friend from the basketball team to pick me up, I witnessed my first street dog fight.  I am actually quite surprised that it took two months of being here to see a dog fight simply because there are SO many dogs that live on the streets.
As I was waiting, I saw two dogs all of a sudden attacking each other.  I was very proud of the Chileans because almost right away there was two guys who were trying very hard to break up the dogs.  I don't know about others, but I have a really hard time watching animals fight.  I was very glad that others apparently were feeling the same.  To get them apart finally took a bucket of water being poured on the dogs..... but that didn't stop it.  They ran across the street and began tackling each other in the middle of traffic - which thankfully was paying attention and didn't run over either of the dogs.  This time a different man on the street took action and ran to the dogs with a stick and tried to separate them.  After he succeeded the dogs ran away again... or I should say the smaller, lighter dog ran away and the bigger, black dog chased, which of course made things all the more sad because the black dog was obviously winning, and the other obviously just wanted to get away.  It was at this moment where I was especially proud of Chileans because I saw two guys, about 15 each, look at each other - exchange some incomprehensible Chilean Spanish, throw down their backpacks, and bolt across the street to continue the struggle to break up the dogs.  Again the boys were successful, but only in giving the weaker dog a chance to run away and be caught again by the black dog.  This time they ran past me to which I tried to help and kick at the bigger dog.  Finally, after many attempts to save the smaller, lighter colored dog, the black dog decided it wasn't worth all the abuse he was getting from the Chilean citizens.  As far as I know, the light colored dog was able to run away to safety.
I was especially shaken after seeing the fight, and it took walking in to the basketball game late to shake me out of it and get into basketball mode.  Living in Chile is great.  It is truly a great place to learn and better a person's Spanish, but I will be very happy if I do not have to watch another dog fight before leaving in December.

Weather:
The temperatures in Viña are steadily getting warmer week by week.  It is almost always warm enough now a days to go outside without a coat, which is great!  At night however, there are drastic changes, so if you don't want to freeze it would be wise to bring a coat with.  However, I am very much enjoying the weather, and looking forward to the day I don't have any homework - cause that day is going to find me on the beach with a book, a couple of McDonald's cheeseburgers, and an incredibly vast and beautiful ocean, right in front of me.

Music:
Yes, I am keeping up with music.  Well, kinda.  I am trying to practice everyday, but that really hasn't been happening.  I live in a relatively small apartment, and all of the rooms are very close to each other. There is not a space to practice my violin (which I DID bring with me) at the University, so that means I have to practice at home.  It is for the curtesy of my family that I do not feel comfortable practicing all the time.  Practice is very repetitive, and and anyone who has heard will tell you, it is not fun listening to a classical musician practice day after day (thank you so much Mom and Dad for doing just that!  Oh and I suppose Lindsey, Teri, and Anna as well :)

In addition to classical music I have been working on a project... what exactly I will not say.  I will say, however, that I am almost done, and soon will post it for all to see.  Keep your eyes open for it! :)

One more musical topic - a couple friends and I have talked about the idea of me playing violin on the streets... about how would be a good experience and very eye opening!  I will not, on the other hand, do it alone - so my friends agreed to be somewhere in the near vicinity when I do it!  I don't know if this will actually happen or not, but if it does, I will surely post the results.


So, I apologize Mrs. Froland's classes, but this post is now over - so that means you will probably be going back to studying vocab, taking tests, or maybe if you're really lucky you'll get to read some of those yellow grammar boxes (no really, they actually help.  READ those!)

In any case, as always - I hope my blog is serving it's purpose and allowing those at home to experience a little bit of Chile in their own way.

Chao ya'll!
Daniel