International Life: Post-surgery rhythm returning

Posted on June 8, 2014 by Dr. Lisa R. Brown

For my first post in June, I met some great new friends today at the Rancho Alegre Mexican Restaurant. We met up for Spanish conversations, cultural fellowship, and great food.

I needed to return to the United States, unexpectedly per se, because my daughter’s Achilles tendon ruptured requiring surgery. I am so happy I could be there for her as it’s been a blessing how well she is recovery and had very little pain throughout the event. She felt bad about my having to cut into my work in Chile so she found me a “Meet-up” group of people who meet to practice speaking Spanish, usually at a restaurant. Above is a photo of the lovely group of people I met with on yesterday. What a wonderful example of self-directed informal adult learning. We used printed handouts and collective co-generative learning in our Spanish language engagement as each person asked questions and added clarifications on points of language and learning information. The food was so wonderful!! I have sometimes been a little disappointed in my attempts to locate authentic Latin foods in the US that doesn’t taste like Taco Bell. Rancho Alegre did just that and left me a happy customer at the ranch. 🙂

I have been saying for some time that the world is getting smaller and I was very pleasantly surprised to see this at the local grocery store in the local Kroger Store in Columbus, Ohio. They were having a México themed campaign promoting foods ¡Delicioso! All of the employees were wearing these t-shirts with Spanish language written on them. Business always seems to be a step or two ahead of society in general as it relates to embracing cultural diversity. But, it’s more often then not based in bottom-line imperatives versus more social justice ideologies (in my assessment).

I got invited to a birthday party and took a break from my mommy-nursing duties to enjoy my daughter’s new friends. My little sister wanted to take a photo of my cute new outfit when my nephew below decided to do what he yelled out as a “photobomb”. We laughter so hard at him and I told him he has earned a place on my blogsite for that move. lol 🙂

Below is my second place prize for spelling the most words using the term “Happy Birthday”. It was the 28th birthday of my daughter’s boyfriend who was visiting her from Texas, and we had an opportunity for our families to meet at the Cheesecake factory. This weekend has been great and I am looking forward to my return back to Chile at the end of the month. I miss my office mates. However, I am so very grateful to God at how well my daughter is recovering as she returns to work on Monday and will begin the rehab while I’m here to help her with the beginning stages. We are believing that the Lord is going to continue giving her supernatural recovery as she begins her physical therapy.

I am also making application for a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Award this summer to continue my work in Chile this fall. I welcome any prayers and positive words aimed at my success in that endeavor. In the interim, while I’m here in Ohio I am going to be conducting my research remotely and keeping up with my Spanish until my return to Talca toward the end of this month.

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Mommy and daughter.

Pepino de Fruta (Part II)

Posted on May 17, 2014 by Dr. Lisa R. Brown

Pepino de Fruta (Part II)

These are wonderful native Chilean fruit.

As promised, here is my review of the Chilean Pepino de Fruta…mavarillosa!! Not only did it taste good it actually smelled good. I can’t believe no one has capitalized on its fragrance as an air freshener. The fruit had the taste and consistency of a melon, like a honeydew, but much sweeter than a typical honey dew you would find in the United States.

Before I ate it, I did an internet and YouTube search to learn more about the fruit. One lady’s YouTube video scared me to death as she chose to eat the seeds and said it tasted like “vomit” to her. I’m sure glad I didn’t get her kind of pepinos. Also, another Guy in Texas had one that he said was not very sweet and provided a recipe for blanching, peeling, and adding sugar to a pot of hot water in an attempt to make them more edible. Nevertheless, you can imagine my surprise when I sliced into this Mediterranean deliciousness after hearing their scary testimonials.

In my research, the information indicated that the Pepino does not travel well as a fruit export. However, both China and Australia are experimenting with agricultural technologies that will allow for better travel of the fruit. The sliced picture is of my original pepino and I hurried to the neighborhood verduria today so as to purchase more for my trip to Santiago tomorrow.

All of the larger Pepinos ones were gone when I arrived this evening and only these smaller ones where there today, so I purchased 5 of them. 🙂 They were just as tasty as the original one. Additionally, some fresh breads had also just arrived to the store when I was there, but I typically don’t care too much for many of the Chilean fresh bake breads. They seem too doughy for my taste. But, this particular loaf was wonderful and the bread had more of what you might see in an Italian bake style. So I made a yummy mini bacon sandwich for lunch along with some Pepino, Plátanos, y miel (Pipeno, bananas, and honey) in a bowl. Neither the bananas nor pepinos needed sweetening, but I was trying to use the last of my honey I had leftover from fighting a cold. Ha ha!

I think this Sony Bloggie Touch Camera does a really great job with both videos and still photos.

My Bloggie Touch camera had not been focusing well lately, so I decided to test it and see if I could get a quality picture of this spider web. At first, the shots were terribly blurry, but after I tapped the shooter button a couple of times, it appeared to cause the camera to focus better which allowed me to get this amazing spider web shot. Pretty cool huh? Can you see the details of the spider web?

Ok, gotta get my nap on as I have a long 3 hour bus ride to Santiago in the afternoon. I apologize if there are a lot of grammatical/spelling errors in this post. It takes me forever to pack and I was up late last night. I’m excited about going to Santiago with plans for visiting the Chilean museum of art and the symphony. I’ll share those here as well when I can. ¡Chau Chau!

Pepino de Fruta

Posted on May 14, 2014 by Dr. Lisa R. Brown

Pepino de Fruta

Our neighborhood Verduria always gets in the most interesting fruits and vegetables.

The gentleman at our neighborhood fruit and vegetable store is always so accommodating of my foreigner’s curiosity. Today, they had this little baby arrive, and I immediately asked him to write the name down for me so I could research it upon my return home. He called it a Pepino de Fruta, but a quick Wikipedia search names its parent shrub Solanum muricatum. It appears to be the fruit of this evergreen species of plant. It certainly doesn’t smell like any Christmas Trees that I’ve experiences and when I asked the gentlemen, “¿Es dulce?” (Is it sweet?), he assured me that it was. Here are some other image links that came up on the internet when I search for Pepino de Fruta. After my last delicacy fail with my combo mango and maracuyá (Passion fruit) juice that I purchased; I hope this little fruit adventure doesn’t disappoint. I’ll let you know! 😉

The Chilean Chronicles Blog (The US Return Extended Version)

Proverbs 4:7 Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.

Tag Archives: Civic Engagement

International Life: Post-surgery rhythm returning

Pepino de Fruta (Part II)

Pepino de Fruta