Tear gas = no biggie

As mentioned in yesterday's post, Chilean protests often come with a bit more drama than seems necessary. So today, I was walking to work, when my phone rang.

Elisa asked, "Where are you?"

"I'm on Prat, walking to work," I answered. "Where are you?"

"I'm at work. I just got tear gassed, and they just set off another one--people are all running into the building--so if you get onto Avenida Brasil and see people covering their mouths.....just turn around!"

Interesting. This is not the sort of phone call I normally receive. So, I proceeded on my merry way with a bit more precaution. As I got near my building, I saw several carabineros. One had his helmet off, so I continued on while keeping an eye on him. If that helmet went back on, I would make a break for the building. Luckily, all was calm and I made it to work with my sinuses unmolested. Only 8 students showed up for my class, but I decided to teach anyway, as that's twice the turnout I had for anything yesterday. When they came, I asked if any of them had been gassed.

Oh, yeah, a couple had. "Miss, can I go brush my teeth and wash my face off?" Um, yes. Yes you can. We might have been talking about whether or not they had been caught in the rain for the level of concern they were expressing. I can tell you there would have been a bit more hysterics if I had showed up any earlier. None of the students knew why the gas had been set off--there hadn't been a protest or any noise that they heard. This did not seem strange to them.

Later I got Elisa's story. She was walking and saw a few people with cloth over their mouths but didn't think much of it. Then all of a sudden she walked right into the gas. It had been set off before, so she didn't see it, all of a sudden her eyes and nose were burning and she had to sit down on a stoop and cover her face until it stopped. She was not pleased. Then, as she approached the building, another one went off. She ran with all of the students to our building, got inside and gave me the much appreciated warning call. According to her, a few students were holding hands in the street in some sort of gesture, but no one was being rowdy. The second gas bomb seemed completely random from her perspective.

For those of you who are reading from a distance, this probably all sounds terribly dramatic and frightening. It's rather not. This is no major civil unrest, there are no mobs with pitchforks. There are just a lot of students and a lot of police, and all of them seem to be a bit overvigilant in their roles. So I'm about to walk home, and I can hear what sounds like a protest going on. I'm not concerned for my safety, but I can tell you it feels a bit strange to be thinking along the lines of, "Oh, darn. Well, I just hope I don't get tear gassed, for pete's sake."

If I do, though, you can bet I will make a huge deal of it and award myself no end of small comforts to recover from my great ordeal, while my students will just wash their faces and get on with it.