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.

Menu

Skip to content
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Course Syllabi
  • Curriculum Vita
  • Summit Lake Reading Circle Registration Page
  • Teaching Portfolio

Tag Archives: Visiting Scholar

La Academica

Posted on October 4, 2013 by Dr. Lisa R. Brown

La Academica

So yeah, this is really happening! 🙂

So October marks a point of typical doctoral research challenges.  It seems I will need a little more time to coordinate my focus group.  September was a time of many days off, due to the Chilean Independence Day holiday and next Saturday is another holiday.    I planned to have my trial run for the focus group I will later conduct in Santiago, on tomorrow.  But, it appears I need a little more time to recruit student who meet my research criteria.  My committee told me that these types of unexpected things would occur but I’m always so organized.   I was sure they wouldn’t happen to me.  But here we are.

I refused to be discouraged because I know God has blessed me to be here for my research and I love all of the new relationships I am forming and grand experiences I am having in Chile.  I had hoped to hear back regarding my Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Award (DDRA) application by now.  I heard rumor that some folks had already received offers but our UGA project director hasn’t’ heard a peep about our campus applications.  She is of the position that we should assume the worst.  Nevertheless, at least with this particular application we will obtain scores and feedback from the International Educational Exchange (IEE) program committee.  I’ll use that information to apply for the Mellon International Dissertation Research Fellowship due in November.  So when handed lemons… make lemonade!!

So above is my new campus ID with my awesome classification of “ACADEMICA”, and it’s really just now starting to sink in for me what a wonderful opportunity this is to develop as a person and academic in this entirely new context.  I distorted the actual ID number to avoid identity theft.  You know the internet is cray cray.   God has so bless my family and me such that I have no anxiety being away from everyone back in the states.  Everyone is Chile is so helpful and people are starting to really warm up to me and make me feel like a part of the community.  I really like that. 🙂

So going into October my graduate assistantship work is picking up at the same time that my research is moving forward.  It’s also scholarship application time and trying to do the things I typically run around campus trying to complete (e.g., LORs) is tough.  However, I am so grateful for the course I took earlier this summer, EDIT 6150e Using Computers for Teaching.  That class was completely asynchronous and I had to basically learn to conduct all of my affairs in a virtual environment (i.e., online).  It’s always encouraging to realize how your education is starting to actually pay-off dividends for you!  Hah!!

UPDATE

This evening via email, Dr. Víctor San Martín Ramírez Director Académico Programa de Magíster en Educación informed me that we had 5 additional commitments for the focus group next week.  Seems like I’m going to have a good weekend after all.  🙂

Image Leave a comment

Georgia-style Fried Merkén Chicken

Posted on September 25, 2013 by Dr. Lisa R. Brown

Georgia-style Fried Merkén Chicken

Learning Castellano Spanish, cooking Merkén Chicken, and teaching English. All in a days work of La Erudita Visitando.

So today marked the beginning of another phase of my Visiting Scholar experience at the Universidad Católica del Maule.  I met with Profesora Pilar Vivar of la Escuela de Lengua Castellana y Comunicación (the School of Catellano Language and Communication).   As I am going to be assisting her in English, while also learning the Chilean form of Spanish (Castellano).  I think I mentioned it before, if not here certainly on Facebook, and that is the Chilean form of Spanish is among the most difficult to learn.  In part because 1) Chileans speak very rapidly, and 2) there are so many common words and phrases you never learn in traditional US college courses in Spanish.

Castilian Spanish is a term related to the Spanish language, but its exact meaning can vary even in that language. The Spanish language term Castellano (Castilian) may refer to the Spanish language as a whole, to the dialects spoken in central and northern Spain, or to the medieval language which was a predecessor to modern Spanish (Castilian Spanish, n.d.).  Thanks Wikipedia!🙂 So I’m really excited about starting this aspect of my scholarly experienced on this Friday.

Also, I wanted to post a picture of my lovely dinner tonight (see above picture).  I have finally become more familiar with where things are in the grocery store so a sistah got her “cook-on” this evening.  The flavor of Merkén comes from a Chilean style smoked chili pepper and is among one of my favorite seasonings that I discovered when initially arriving to Chile.  Above is a picture of my dinner and the “Georgia-style Fried Merkén Chicken”© I prepared. My recipe doesn’t really have copyright.  I just wanted to use the symbol as I wish had time to legally claim this as my original creation. 😉  Nevertheless, it was delish!!

Finally, I must mention that some bad habits have followed me all the way down here to Chile.  Most of my professors know that I typically leave coffee mugs (and other valuables) all over campus (particularly in their offices) like the story of “Hansel & Gretel” and their breadcrumb trail.  Well yesterday was the first and last day of ownership for my preliminary new coffee mug.  I brought it to campus with me on yesterday and have no idea where I lost it.  Somewhere between my office and my Body Attack class that evening (I can only imagine).  Nevertheless, I found this beauty (pictured below) today and please notice the lovely UGA colors.  I am going to try very hard to make this particular mug stick around a lot longer than its predecessor.

Chau!

CoffeeII

Castilian Spanish. (n.d.). Retrieved September 25, 2013 from the Castilian Spanish Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castilian_Spanish

Friday, September 27th

Spin1

My first day in Spin Class after not having attending a class for about 2 years.  I sacrificed bike riding class for more Zumba and Body Pump courses.  I know I’m going to be sore tomorrow.

Spin2

My makeshift cushion (sweater) that I used to protect my “bum” during Spin Class today.

Spin3

Today also was my first day assisting Profesora Pilar Andrea Vivar Vivar in her Castellana Language and Communications Course.  We both noticed very quickly that she was a little bit shorter than me. 😉

Spin4

Image 2 Comments

Hoy era un Día Perfecto (Today was a Perfect Day)

Posted on September 15, 2013 by Dr. Lisa R. Brown

Hoy Estaba un Día Perfecto

Mi Nueva Amiga “Pia” Rescatado mis Uñas Hoy.

Yo sé que es importante ir a fuera de la casa y estar abierto con reunirse con otras personas.  Es la manera mejor que se puede aprender cómo hablar en español y reunirse con gente nueva.  Por lo tanto, yo empiezo mi día con un viaje a la Plaza de Maule y la Superbodega.  Después de que he terminado mis compras, estaba claro que necesitaba tener mis uñas reparados.

Así yo caminaba en la plaza de Maule, hasta yo vi una tienda pequeña con un anuncio en la ventana que decía “manicures”.  Esto es cuando yo conocí mi nueva amiga Pia. Ella trabaja en City Hair Peluquería y Estética.  Ella hizo fantásticas mis uñas porque eran muy malas. No sabía que las otras mujeres en Athens habían usado un esmalte permanente en mis uñas y era muy difícil para la separación sin ayuda.  Ella hizo mis uñas hermosas de nuevo.   Nosotros hablábamos en el estilo Chilena de español (i.e., castellano) por más de una hora.  Yo aprendía nueva palabras y frases.    Pia era claro conmigo sobre como la lengua español era diferente de otras piases latino americano.  Le dije que cuando he terminado con español chileno, seré más sofisticada cuando vuelo a los EEUU. Todos nos reíamos, estaba una experiencia que buena. 

Estaba muy feliz tener una nueva amiga y aprender más cosas sobre Chile, América del Sur, y la cultura de Chile en general.   Mientras ella y yo hablábamos, algunas otras mujeres habían venido y unirse nuestra conversación.  Ellas me decían como obtener una forma menos costosa  de viajes llamado “”El Collectivo” y me daban el número. El Collectivo parece como al “Jitney” cual es una forma de menos costosa de viajes en las ciudades grandes que yo conozco, como Pittsburgh y Philadelphia en el estado de  Pennsylvania. Ellas me decían que este era más seguro que el autobús, particularmente si  yo llevo una bolsa conmigo. 

Finalmente, me encantó hoy y estoy entusiasmada por las próximas experiencias que tendré en Talca, Chile y más allá.

 

Sat1There is a lot of urban development going on in Chile and Talca is no exception.  Here is an area where I’ve been told new office buildings and businesses are being constructed.

Sat2It’s election season here as well and I saw this campaign bus parked alongside the construction site near the mall.  Can you say smart product placement? lol 😛

Sat3This billboard was advertising for new and safe luxury condominiums that I am assuming will be near the construction site I photographed earlier during my walk.  Isn’t it cool how the clouds on the billboard seem to mesh perfectly with the real sky?  I just noticed that in the pic.

Sat4This was a listing of current movies at the theater.  I really don’t stay up much with popular cinema (I’ve become more of a Netflix kinda person) and I didn’t recognize most of these movies.  I did notice that Marlon Wayans was present on one of the movie posters, however I had no idea he has a movie coming out (or currently out) that wasn’t a comedy.

Sat5

Roadside vendors are very common here, these folks were selling flags (Banderas).  A man who was a little further down the street was selling what looked like really fresh and juicy tomatoes.  Unfortunately, I had already completed my shopping for the week and had to tell him “No gracias“. 😦  There was also a man selling a bag of what looked like giant oranges.  I need to investigate further how safe it is to buy roadside produce as I really wanted that bag of oranges.

Sat6

I had to purchase some office supplies to furnish my new office space.  I also needed some cleaning products. I bought this purely because my name was on the packaging. It translates as: “Try the new no scratch Lisa.”  Hum!  They don’t even know me like that!  Hah hah 🙂

Sat7

Oh my word, this was the best pizza.  I had been looking for some good pizza and now I am happy to know I’ve found me a spot in the mall.  Unfortunately, I got distracted in another store and seemed to have departed without my leftovers.  The “Clumsy Gene” strikes again!

Sat8

My awesome manicure from Pia today.  (Doing the happy dance right now).  The highlight of my conversations with Pia today was when we both started to talk about US and Latin American actors and musicians that we liked.  She had me so tickled when she told me that Chileans love both Elvis Presley and Micheal Jackson.  That was a combination I didn’t expect, which left me cracking up laughing in my chair as my nails were drying. 😉

Image Leave a comment

Post navigation

← Older posts
Newer posts →
Blog at WordPress.com.
The Chilean Chronicles Blog (The US Return Extended Version)
Blog at WordPress.com.
  • Subscribe Subscribed
    • The Chilean Chronicles Blog (The US Return Extended Version)
    • Join 45 other subscribers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • The Chilean Chronicles Blog (The US Return Extended Version)
    • Subscribe Subscribed
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...