In my opinion...

Chile is an extraordinary place to live and learn... A distinctive mountain range,  deserts, rivers, lakes, beaches, islands, seas... together with warm people inhabiting every place in our country should lead us to be proud of and take better care of our environment, our culture, our history, our surroundings... 

Cóndor

Outlanders enjoy their holidays by doing a countless number of activities that range from skiing on the snowy slopes of Andes' mountains to fishing in rivers or lakes or surfing the long waves in Pichilemu coast or... The activities are so varied that I could spend hours describing them in a post like this.

Foreigners certainly want to know how people live in small towns as well as in big cities and they usually feel pleased with the warm welcome of our people.

In my opinion, we have much to do to be really proud of ourselves in relation to our way to communicate with one another and with the foreigners, how we take care of our environment, our culture and our belongings. We still have much to learn to love our country, our people, our history, our folklore...

Not long ago, Santiago was chosen as one of the most beautiful cities in America by an international tourism organization; yet we hardly find any information about the origin/history of the names of some places or streets in our capital city. Some names are of native origin, mostly from Mapuche's language, the Mapudungun. Did you know that Manquehue comes from "manque" meaning "condor" and "hue" that stands for land or site? That Nuñoa is a native term that means "a placed filled with Ñuños" (a small plant with yellow flowers)? I think that we should spread this kind of information via information displays not only in Santiago but also in other big and small cities and towns with the names of rivers, lakes... Another example: Curicó comes from "curi", meaning "black" and "co", meaning "water".

As citizens of a big city like Santiago is, we should also take good care of our language, which reflects our way of living and thinking; we should also try to keep places clean, which shows your education... and so on and on...

Chilote's Minga

Some years ago, my family and I were spending our summer holidays in Chiloé and I couldn't but feel proud of the historical information that we spontaneously received from a family living there. They told us about their traditions, folklore, cuisine, local attractions as well as their daily life activities and the future of their island... They actually felt proud of themselves.

I would have liked that this experience were commonplace all over our country, ...

In my opinion, globalization, especially via the internet, is making us informed citizens and as such we should learn to become better individuals, exhibiting respect to our environment and to one another. There is still much to be learned ...

“Do not Do unto others what you don’t want others Do unto you.”

Confucius

Now, your turn,

 Choose 4-5 of these questions. For each of them, write a 40- to 50-word response describing your personal opinions on the topic.
 Total number of words: approx. 240
 Leave comments on 3 of your classmates' posts + a comment on my sample post.

What is your opinion about women in the military?
What is your opinion about the Chilean politicians?
What is your opinion about violence on television?
What is your opinion about buying instead of adopting pets?
What is your opinion about having an exotic pet at home?
What is your opinion about legalizing marijuana and other drugs?
What is your opinion about climate change?
What is your opinion about cloning?
What is your opinion about recycling?
What is your opinion about Immigration?
What is your opinion about the legalization of abortion in the 3 cases?