pre-emergencia ambiental

The title of this post is a phrase I learned a couple of weeks ago from Pilar Mamá, and translates to "environmental pre-emergency." As far as I can tell, we've been in this state for the past two weeks in Santiago; it basically means that the air conditions have gotten so bad, due to accumulation of smog due to lack of rain, that certain vehicles are no longer allowed on the road and various factories have to cut back slightly on production, in an effort to reduce emissions. I can no longer see the mountains a lot of the time, there is instead a curtain of mountain-colored (roughly pinkish-purplish-grayish) smog hanging over the city in all directions, although the concentrated section clearly moves throughout the day. It better rain soon, because this is NOT helping my cough. Let alone the breathing capacity of the entire city. THIS is the number one argument for Transantiago--once it starts working, fewer people will drive and a smaller, more efficient fleet of buses will dominate the streets, leading to a dramatic reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.

In other news, I felt a big breakthrough with my Spanish the other day. In Armed Conflict class, we've just started group presentations on current/recent internal conflicts. Yesterday the first groups went (my group, Nigeria, presents a week from tomorrow), and the second one was on Ivory Coast. The group didn't do a very good job explaining the role of France in the conflict there, why the French army was so directly involved and for how long. So I asked them to clear it up. The way I introduced and phrased the question was complicated, but it spilled out completely correctly and without my thinking about the phrasing at all. It was apparently a good question, the professor got involved in the response, clarifying what the group couldn't, and then asked me directly if my question had been answered. It had, but that really doesn't matter, what matters is that in situations like that I am feeling more and more comfortable all the time. It's mildly exhilarating.

That test I thought was on Tuesday is actually tomorrow, so I should probably get back to studying. There's an absolute crapload of material (in excess of 1400 pages), even summarized (thank you, Max Ravesti, for putting together the summary group) it's a lot to review. I'm doing okay on it, and I think I'll be prepared tomorrow, but man, is there a lot to keep in mind. Next up: Peter H. Smith's "Los ciclos de democracia electoral en América Latina, 1900-2000." Here goes...