First off, I would like to apologize for my lack of updates. Apparently, I have faithful readers who expect more. Who knew? This week has been really crazy, between extra stuff for school and finding a hotel for my family (they're coming in two weeks!). So much running around.
I have been having trouble really articulating just exactly how I feel about my life here and the Cuban life. I'm going to try, but bear with me, it might not really make any sense.
I love it here. I really do. The people, the food, the music, dancing, the city, my American friends, etc. But I was not prepared for how utterly uncomfortable I would feel all the time in this country. The only way I've been able to describe it is that everything I know to be true in life is not. My whole way of thinking has been turned upside, and I guess that's what I was looking for when I came here. I obviously wasn't expecting to be living a totally normal life like I'm used to in Boston while I'm here. I knew it was going to be hard. But... I don't know how to describe how I feel.
I guess it's like this: I have never ever experienced an entire population who has no hope for the future. I was talking to one of my Cuban friends that I've met and he was telling me that even though he's considered middle class to upper middle class in Havana, that his life is so hard. Like how he knows that for the rest of his life, he will be living with his parents because there is no way that he will make enough money ever to have his own house for his own family. Or that he can't even work two jobs to make extra money even if he wanted to, it's not allowed. And that his kids will lead the same life that he is living now.
I am fascinated by the food situation here. All of their food is rationed out; they get 1/4 of a chicken a month, 1/2 pound of fish every two months, 4 eggs a month, one roll a day, one bar of soap a month, no milk unless you're under the age of 7, etc. They get a lot of rice, but those are practically empty calories (only white rice. Haven't found a grain of brown rice on this entire island!). Malnutrition is rampant, especially among children. There isn't enough food for anyone, and most families can't afford to buy extra to supplement their rations. But I am still confused because even in Habana, people have small yards and could easily keep a chicken or two or a tomato plant or something. I've asked why people don't do this and the answers I've gotten have varied. What I think is that this is not their culture and that it's not their way of life. The government hasn't given them the tools or the knowledge for this. And when "everything" is provided for you, people get hooked on being reliant. It's not easy to break that.
And i think that a part of it is the extreme form of socialism, but a big reason is the embargo. Even if the government wanted to, they can't import anything. Most Americans (myself included before I came here) think that the embargo is only for American companies, but it's not. The law says that any company ANYWHERE in the world that ships something to Cuba isn't allowed to ship anything to the US for six months. And since the US is the biggest importer in the world, companies can't afford to go six months without the US as a customer. So the US has effectively crippled the Cuban economy for the past fifty years. I just don't understand what the point is for the US to do this. It's not getting anywhere. Cuba hasn't caved. The only people who are hurting are the Cuban citizens. They have some of the best doctors in the world, but their pharmacies are empty because they can't import medications. basic things like birth control, the HPV vaccine, vitamins, tylenol, band aids, etc. are not widely available here, things that we take for granted. They have a great education system (it's all free, all the way through university), but students can't travel or see the world, or use their education in a global sense.
Another thing that I find a little weird is the job situation. Doctors make roughly $25 a month. Teachers make about $11. Security guards make around $14. And they don't get raises, and they don't get fired usually. So there is little incentive to do your job better, or learn more to move up in your job. There is so little mobility here, in any sense of the word.
But everyone we meet is so excited that we're American. They are able to distinguish between the American government and the people, which I think is pretty remarkable. I have experienced this in many countries except my own. This is something that Americans can't/don't do (Cuba is Cuba, Fidel represents how everyone thinks and feels, etc. This is what I have experienced at least. Similar to Israel/Palestine). And they all say how much hope they have that things
will be different with Obama. We had this one cab driver who was saying that he is glad that we are here and doesn't understand why Americans dislike Cubans so much. He said that just because we like capitalism and he likes socialism doesn't mean that we have to be enemies. We're just different. So true. I'm really glad Kate (mi hermana) is coming because I know I'm not making any sense and she will help me think more clearly about what I'm feeling/saying. Sorry for this incoherent rambling!
Anyway, what else. Tomorrow I'm going to a baseball game! I'm excited. The two teams from the Habana province are playing, but not from the City of Habana. Los Industriales are from the city, and everyone says that they are like the Yankees of Cuba. Hear that, Boston? They're not the Red Sox, they're the Yankees. They have the best record on the island and a lot of the players from Los Industriales are on the national team. And Cuba has won the gold in the Olympics for baseball in Atanta in 1996 and in Athens in 2004.
And on Tuesday, I'm going to the Ballet. It's the fiftieth anniversary of the National Ballet or something, so they're having a special performance with choreography by Alicia Alonso, who is the head of the Ballet Naciónal but also a really famous ballerina. She'll be performing too, so that will be cool. The BNC was officially started in 1948, but Bautista didn't support the arts at all. When Castro came into power, he gave Alonso a ton of money (she was one of his supporters) to really take the ballet off the ground, and now it's really respected in the ballet world. So I'm excited! Any reason to get dressed up is fine with me.
I think im starting an internship while I'm here! It would be at a magazine called Temas. They consider themselves a space for critical reflection and the debate of ideas, analyzing cultural problems, and contemporary social thoughts in Cuba and the world (a shaky translation). I would be doing marketing in English and writing in Español! I hope it works out because it would give me somthing to do in the afternoons (I don't really know what I spend my time doing here!) and it would give me the opportunity to meet more people. It's kind of hard to meet people here since I'm not at the Universidad de Habana and I don't have Cubans in my classes. We're kind of isolated. Temas is considered "subversive" for Cuba, whatever that means. I'm just hoping it doesn't turn out to be one huge brainwashed institution like most things I have encountered here. So we'll see.
I went to a panel/debate thing sponsored by the magazine on corruption in Cuba. I was interested to see what they were going to say in this public forum. The speakers weren't really saying anything interesting at all (corruption exists, but no more here than in other countries,
blah blah) but then people got up at the end to comment and that was really interesting. One guy was saying that he is a newspaper reporter and that he thinks that corruption is seen most clearly in the press. He will write a story and hand it in, but when it's printed, it s edited
down until its barely giving any important information, or he'll be told to change it, or whatev. Crazy stuff. And the sad thing is is that this was being covered by the local news, but how much of what was said by these people will really make it to television or print?
This weekend, another cold front is coming in, and the wind combined with my rattling windows kept me up most of the night. But it was okay because watching the waves crash over the malecón and flooding the street is beautiful and scary and peaceful all at the same time.
If anyone wants to know specific things about Cuba or my life here, please leave me a comment or email me!
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
America- Simon & Garfunkel
Happy Obama Day! Today was quite amazing. After a morning full of time changes and confusion, we ended up canceling our Siglo XXI class and starting ¿Afrocuba? at 10:30. Then we took a break at 11:20 and went next door to the Hotel Presidente (very fitting, I know) to watch the inauguration! It was a lot of fun. We were out by the pool area where there's a bar and food and a big TV. We all got drinks (yes at 11:30) and pizza to celebrate! But it was CNN en Español, so that was a bit annoying. Instead of subtitles like I was hoping for, it was translated into Spanish over the English. So yes, I heard Barack Obama's Inauguration Speech in Spanish before I heard it in English. I streamed the audio online when I got home and read the speech and all the converage any everything like that because we all know that I'm a bit addicted to newspapers and the like. And yes, I cried. Just a little.
Then we had to go back to class which was sad because we were all excited and ready to continue celebrando.
Can we talk about Michelle's dress for a second? Now, I liked it, but I know some of my friends here thought it was ugly. I think the yellow was beautiful and different, and I really liked it paired with the green gloves and matching sash. She always looks so well put together and fashionable, but not stuffy or uncomfortable. I just love her. And Aretha's hat was fabulous! I know it was a bit much, but hey, so is she. I think it was so perfect for her and not too loud for the occasion. And with a voice like that, who really cares what's on her head.
I was also really happy that Yo-Yo Ma performed! He's such a rock star and you could tell that he was enjoying himself. The song "Air and Simple Gifts" (composed specially for the occasion by John Williams) was so beautiful. The whole quartet was amazing.
And tonight, we are continuing Obamarama by celebrating with just us Americans and going to Habana Vieja to a cervezeria! What could be more American than a brewery? Nada.
Then we had to go back to class which was sad because we were all excited and ready to continue celebrando.
Can we talk about Michelle's dress for a second? Now, I liked it, but I know some of my friends here thought it was ugly. I think the yellow was beautiful and different, and I really liked it paired with the green gloves and matching sash. She always looks so well put together and fashionable, but not stuffy or uncomfortable. I just love her. And Aretha's hat was fabulous! I know it was a bit much, but hey, so is she. I think it was so perfect for her and not too loud for the occasion. And with a voice like that, who really cares what's on her head.
I was also really happy that Yo-Yo Ma performed! He's such a rock star and you could tell that he was enjoying himself. The song "Air and Simple Gifts" (composed specially for the occasion by John Williams) was so beautiful. The whole quartet was amazing.
And tonight, we are continuing Obamarama by celebrating with just us Americans and going to Habana Vieja to a cervezeria! What could be more American than a brewery? Nada.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Rebellion (Lies)- The Arcade Fire
So many things have happened this week. I guess I'll start from the beginning.
On Tuesday we went to a pro-Palestine rally that was hosted by the Universidad de Habana. It was more for the experience than to support the cause, but I am really gad I went. The whole event was a bit bizarre. First off, since the University is state-run (as is everything else in Cuba), the rally was organized by the government. So right off the bat, it's weird. There were a bunch of speakers and poets and musical groups. And a ton of people! There were probably 750-1000 people there, all yelling and protesting. It was very weird. But interesting, and it was cool to see young Cubans fighting for something.
On Wednesday I went to Coppelia, which is the famous ice cream brand here. They have a big ice cream shop on 23rd and L, so we ventured there which is about a twenty minute walk. It's a really cool building, kind of art deco with different colored windows. It is super intimidating though. They have different ice cream bars all around, and you wait in line for one. Then someone will shout out "Seven" and seven people go sit down. But sometimes, someone will yell, "Okay, orange and coconut over here!" But no one tells you what other flavors they have. And we waited in line forever! And we finally got to sit and out ice cream scooper was kinda mean. But it was totally worth it. I got coconut and its like three scoops with chocolate sauce and little cookies on top. All of that for five peso naciónal, which is like 4 cents American. Crazy cheap and so yummy! I didn't take any photos, but this is a photo I found online of the building.
On Thursday, some of the girls went out, but me, Honorio, Danny, Meg, and Tara stayed in and played Scattegories! Withboards that I had made up when I was so bored in my Afrocuba class. Three hours is a long time to learn about the Orishas, even if there are 601 of them. It was a lot of fun, but made me sad and reminded me of New Year's with friends at my house and the ultimate lovefest that took place. Miss you guys!
On Friday morning, my school (Casa de las Americas) was holding a press conference announcing the winners of the Premios Literaturas. The actual ceremonies aren't until next month, but I had wanted to see what a Cuban press conference is like, because I'm considering doing a directed study/Junior, Senior Project (NU's version of a thesis) on censorship in Journalism in Cuba. It was interesting anddddd I got to meet Fernando Roberto Retamar (a famous Cuban poet and essayist) and Nancy Morejón (also a famous Cuban poet). Retamar is the president of my school but is very elusive. It was so exciting. I've read pieces by both authors. Retamar wrote this great piece tittled "Caliban," which is a response to "The Tempest" by Shakespeare, written in perspective of Caliban. So wonderful.
Friday night, Casa was having an art exhibit opening. It's actually a pretty cool concept; for Casa's 50th anniversary, they are having a year long celebration called "Arte Cinético: Trescientos Cincuenta Cinco Días de Movimiento" (Kinetic Art; 365 days of movement). The art wasn't really my taste, but I think that the idea of 365 days of movement and constant growth is interesting and kind of where I'm at now. Siempre pa' adelante, as Tara would say. Also, the free wine was fun. And we hung out with Chino a lot, who is awesome.
Friday night was fun and extremely strange all at the same time. Geovani is a guy who works in our building (I still don't know exactly what he does there, but whatev). He's really cool and has been out with some of the other girls and his friends before. They were going to take us dancing and everyone was so excited to go out together. We go outside into a severe windstorm and cross the street to the rest of the group. So there we are, 8 Americans and probably 10 Cubans. All of a sudden, a bunch of other creep Cubans circle around. Geovani tells us that they'll be right back, and all of them leave. And we wait. And wait. And wait. Finally, after like a half hour, we're all severely pissed and we decide to go to a club anywya. So we go to Turf, which is nearby and have a lot of fun. I had a moment with everyone. Anyway, the next morning, we're all a little bit under the weather, when the phone rings. It's Jose, one of the guys from last night who's good friends with Whitney. She goes and meets him to find out what happened last night. He tells her that they all got arrested. Yep. Arrested. They told us it was because they're all black. Now, this may be a terrible thing to say, but no one is sure if that's the truth. We have asked around and the general consensus is that that doesn't happen anymore. Not blatant racism, anyway. And the truth is that we don't really know these people that well. So we are now treading lightly with who we trust and whatnot.
On Saturday, Profé had a tambor. I am probably going to butcher this explination, but a tambor is a Santería ceremnoy in which theres the sacred drums (called the tambor, hence the name) and a lot of dancing, and a lot of chanting in Yoruba, and African language from the Congo region. In the one we attended, it was a party for Yemaya, the orisha (god) of the ocean. Then, Yemaya came down and was being channelled by someone there. It was very intense but interesting. At the end, there was a lot of cake and sweets we got to eat. You put out offerings for Yemaya, and she eats the spiritual parts and then we get to eat the rest of it. I had an intense sugar high.
Saturday night was low key, I was super tired and drained, so we were going to go on a quest for chinese food but instead we got opportunidades as usual.
Today was a big adventure day! We went to callejon, which has a street festival of rumba every sunday. The music was great and there were lots of fun people there, including a pirate, this girl with the most beautiful curly hair, and the most beautiful man we have seen yet in Cuba. I met some guy who wanted to take me to a beach party and rowing in a boat on a river in the forest. I was confused, it was kind of a bizarre request for a date. I kindly turned him down, but he insisted on giving me his telephone number and email. Cubans are very pushy.
We also walked to the Capitolio, which was beautiful and imposing and scary. It was modeled after our Capital Building in D.C. which is kind of cool. We found a sweet pastry shop where I got a delicious flaky, chocolatey thing. We went to a park near by and sat on benches and ate and loved the sunshine. And then we took egg cars home! Egg cars aren't really called egg cars, but that's what we call them. They are the Cuban version of tuk-tuks, for all of you that were in Thailand with me. It was scary and exciting all at the same time.
Now we're having a big facebook party. Everyone is uploading pictures and laughing at our ridicuousness.
In sad news, my sister/best friend/soul mate got hit by a car! She's okay, but everyone send her good vibes for fast healing.
Besos for all!
On Tuesday we went to a pro-Palestine rally that was hosted by the Universidad de Habana. It was more for the experience than to support the cause, but I am really gad I went. The whole event was a bit bizarre. First off, since the University is state-run (as is everything else in Cuba), the rally was organized by the government. So right off the bat, it's weird. There were a bunch of speakers and poets and musical groups. And a ton of people! There were probably 750-1000 people there, all yelling and protesting. It was very weird. But interesting, and it was cool to see young Cubans fighting for something.
On Wednesday I went to Coppelia, which is the famous ice cream brand here. They have a big ice cream shop on 23rd and L, so we ventured there which is about a twenty minute walk. It's a really cool building, kind of art deco with different colored windows. It is super intimidating though. They have different ice cream bars all around, and you wait in line for one. Then someone will shout out "Seven" and seven people go sit down. But sometimes, someone will yell, "Okay, orange and coconut over here!" But no one tells you what other flavors they have. And we waited in line forever! And we finally got to sit and out ice cream scooper was kinda mean. But it was totally worth it. I got coconut and its like three scoops with chocolate sauce and little cookies on top. All of that for five peso naciónal, which is like 4 cents American. Crazy cheap and so yummy! I didn't take any photos, but this is a photo I found online of the building.On Thursday, some of the girls went out, but me, Honorio, Danny, Meg, and Tara stayed in and played Scattegories! Withboards that I had made up when I was so bored in my Afrocuba class. Three hours is a long time to learn about the Orishas, even if there are 601 of them. It was a lot of fun, but made me sad and reminded me of New Year's with friends at my house and the ultimate lovefest that took place. Miss you guys!
On Friday morning, my school (Casa de las Americas) was holding a press conference announcing the winners of the Premios Literaturas. The actual ceremonies aren't until next month, but I had wanted to see what a Cuban press conference is like, because I'm considering doing a directed study/Junior, Senior Project (NU's version of a thesis) on censorship in Journalism in Cuba. It was interesting anddddd I got to meet Fernando Roberto Retamar (a famous Cuban poet and essayist) and Nancy Morejón (also a famous Cuban poet). Retamar is the president of my school but is very elusive. It was so exciting. I've read pieces by both authors. Retamar wrote this great piece tittled "Caliban," which is a response to "The Tempest" by Shakespeare, written in perspective of Caliban. So wonderful.
Friday night, Casa was having an art exhibit opening. It's actually a pretty cool concept; for Casa's 50th anniversary, they are having a year long celebration called "Arte Cinético: Trescientos Cincuenta Cinco Días de Movimiento" (Kinetic Art; 365 days of movement). The art wasn't really my taste, but I think that the idea of 365 days of movement and constant growth is interesting and kind of where I'm at now. Siempre pa' adelante, as Tara would say. Also, the free wine was fun. And we hung out with Chino a lot, who is awesome.
Friday night was fun and extremely strange all at the same time. Geovani is a guy who works in our building (I still don't know exactly what he does there, but whatev). He's really cool and has been out with some of the other girls and his friends before. They were going to take us dancing and everyone was so excited to go out together. We go outside into a severe windstorm and cross the street to the rest of the group. So there we are, 8 Americans and probably 10 Cubans. All of a sudden, a bunch of other creep Cubans circle around. Geovani tells us that they'll be right back, and all of them leave. And we wait. And wait. And wait. Finally, after like a half hour, we're all severely pissed and we decide to go to a club anywya. So we go to Turf, which is nearby and have a lot of fun. I had a moment with everyone. Anyway, the next morning, we're all a little bit under the weather, when the phone rings. It's Jose, one of the guys from last night who's good friends with Whitney. She goes and meets him to find out what happened last night. He tells her that they all got arrested. Yep. Arrested. They told us it was because they're all black. Now, this may be a terrible thing to say, but no one is sure if that's the truth. We have asked around and the general consensus is that that doesn't happen anymore. Not blatant racism, anyway. And the truth is that we don't really know these people that well. So we are now treading lightly with who we trust and whatnot.
On Saturday, Profé had a tambor. I am probably going to butcher this explination, but a tambor is a Santería ceremnoy in which theres the sacred drums (called the tambor, hence the name) and a lot of dancing, and a lot of chanting in Yoruba, and African language from the Congo region. In the one we attended, it was a party for Yemaya, the orisha (god) of the ocean. Then, Yemaya came down and was being channelled by someone there. It was very intense but interesting. At the end, there was a lot of cake and sweets we got to eat. You put out offerings for Yemaya, and she eats the spiritual parts and then we get to eat the rest of it. I had an intense sugar high.
Saturday night was low key, I was super tired and drained, so we were going to go on a quest for chinese food but instead we got opportunidades as usual.
Today was a big adventure day! We went to callejon, which has a street festival of rumba every sunday. The music was great and there were lots of fun people there, including a pirate, this girl with the most beautiful curly hair, and the most beautiful man we have seen yet in Cuba. I met some guy who wanted to take me to a beach party and rowing in a boat on a river in the forest. I was confused, it was kind of a bizarre request for a date. I kindly turned him down, but he insisted on giving me his telephone number and email. Cubans are very pushy.
We also walked to the Capitolio, which was beautiful and imposing and scary. It was modeled after our Capital Building in D.C. which is kind of cool. We found a sweet pastry shop where I got a delicious flaky, chocolatey thing. We went to a park near by and sat on benches and ate and loved the sunshine. And then we took egg cars home! Egg cars aren't really called egg cars, but that's what we call them. They are the Cuban version of tuk-tuks, for all of you that were in Thailand with me. It was scary and exciting all at the same time.
Now we're having a big facebook party. Everyone is uploading pictures and laughing at our ridicuousness.
In sad news, my sister/best friend/soul mate got hit by a car! She's okay, but everyone send her good vibes for fast healing.
Besos for all!
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Lion's Teeth- The Mountain Goats
Last night we went to this club near the zoo and listened to some sweet live hip hop. I wasn't really feeling going out but then I was really glad that I did. We all went (even Profé and Esther).
So I need to talk about Cuban money. They have two kinds of currency here: pesos naciónal and CUC (cuban convertible money). The CUCs are "tourist money," and the pesos are what Cubans use to buy things at the bodegas, which is where they buy everything that is rationed out by the government. So we got CUCs when we exchanged money at the airport. And things here weren't as cheap as we all thought they would be, mostly because Cuba doesn't make a lot of things so a lot of it has to be imported. So we would go to lunch and get a sandwichfor a about 2 CUC, which is about $2.50 USD. BUT we discovered a lot of little stands that sell sandwiches and such for about 10 pesos, which is about 50 cents American. So cheap! And so delicious. so I'm super excited.
But what I dont understand is how Cubans can go out to those restaurants that charge in CUC. You can tell from the street which houses have been repaired and maintained, and some are falling apart. I find it odd that there are huge wealth discrpeancies here, when everything is rationed and supplied by the government. I mean, I get it because the "wealthy" Cubans get money from family in Miami (or somewhere). But I don't believe that they get enough to pay for lunch everyday.
So I got a little worried that I spent more money than I wanted to in my first week. But I realized that I had to buy some things to get me all settled here, of course. And I was buying lunch everyday in CUCs because we hadnt yet discovered the wonder of the peso naciónal. So I think I'll be okay. Because today I spent 50 cents. woo hoo.
Today we had this crazzzzyy professora for our Cuba en el Siglo XXI class. We've had her before and she's whacked out. She grew up in NY, but now lives in Cuba, so she talks to us in English. We talked about everything and nothing, but I was really interested in the effects of the embargo on Cuba. She used the analogy of a a monkey and a lion; Cuba is a tied up monkey fighting a lion. She claimed that the monkey is still fighting the good fight, meaning that the embargo is a failure because Cuba has survived. And I argued that Cuba has the potential to provide for their citizens and actually function in the 21st century. And she was like (so judgemental) "Have you ever been to a third world country in this hemisphere?" And I was like "Actually, yes I have." Then she got a little mad and made me list them, and then got really mad that I know my stuff. I argued that you can't say that Cuba is okay because of the intense poverty and lack of simple things like medicine. And there is no arguing that the U.S. has effectively crippled Cuba for 50 years. And she got all annoyed and was like "No, thats totally wrong, you don't know." But everything she says is so biased, she works for the government! She was also saying that the Cuban press isn't biased. We were talking about the Israel/Palestine disaster in Gaza and how Cuba is pro-Palestine, except when they get too extreme. Then they just keep quiet. So Whenever Palestine does something terrible, it's just not reported on in Cuba. Which is actually the opposite of non-bias. And it's run and regulated by the government! So whatever, she's crazy.
Okay, that's all my ranting. My roommate is sick! So everyone send good thoughts and vibes to Meg. I have to go do some homework now. I have to write a one-paged response about these two movies we saw, about anything that interested us. Except we have to hand write it because we dont have printers. And he wants it double spaced. So its essentially half a page. Which is like five sentences. I wish I had homework like this in Boston.
So I need to talk about Cuban money. They have two kinds of currency here: pesos naciónal and CUC (cuban convertible money). The CUCs are "tourist money," and the pesos are what Cubans use to buy things at the bodegas, which is where they buy everything that is rationed out by the government. So we got CUCs when we exchanged money at the airport. And things here weren't as cheap as we all thought they would be, mostly because Cuba doesn't make a lot of things so a lot of it has to be imported. So we would go to lunch and get a sandwichfor a about 2 CUC, which is about $2.50 USD. BUT we discovered a lot of little stands that sell sandwiches and such for about 10 pesos, which is about 50 cents American. So cheap! And so delicious. so I'm super excited.
But what I dont understand is how Cubans can go out to those restaurants that charge in CUC. You can tell from the street which houses have been repaired and maintained, and some are falling apart. I find it odd that there are huge wealth discrpeancies here, when everything is rationed and supplied by the government. I mean, I get it because the "wealthy" Cubans get money from family in Miami (or somewhere). But I don't believe that they get enough to pay for lunch everyday.
So I got a little worried that I spent more money than I wanted to in my first week. But I realized that I had to buy some things to get me all settled here, of course. And I was buying lunch everyday in CUCs because we hadnt yet discovered the wonder of the peso naciónal. So I think I'll be okay. Because today I spent 50 cents. woo hoo.
Today we had this crazzzzyy professora for our Cuba en el Siglo XXI class. We've had her before and she's whacked out. She grew up in NY, but now lives in Cuba, so she talks to us in English. We talked about everything and nothing, but I was really interested in the effects of the embargo on Cuba. She used the analogy of a a monkey and a lion; Cuba is a tied up monkey fighting a lion. She claimed that the monkey is still fighting the good fight, meaning that the embargo is a failure because Cuba has survived. And I argued that Cuba has the potential to provide for their citizens and actually function in the 21st century. And she was like (so judgemental) "Have you ever been to a third world country in this hemisphere?" And I was like "Actually, yes I have." Then she got a little mad and made me list them, and then got really mad that I know my stuff. I argued that you can't say that Cuba is okay because of the intense poverty and lack of simple things like medicine. And there is no arguing that the U.S. has effectively crippled Cuba for 50 years. And she got all annoyed and was like "No, thats totally wrong, you don't know." But everything she says is so biased, she works for the government! She was also saying that the Cuban press isn't biased. We were talking about the Israel/Palestine disaster in Gaza and how Cuba is pro-Palestine, except when they get too extreme. Then they just keep quiet. So Whenever Palestine does something terrible, it's just not reported on in Cuba. Which is actually the opposite of non-bias. And it's run and regulated by the government! So whatever, she's crazy.
Okay, that's all my ranting. My roommate is sick! So everyone send good thoughts and vibes to Meg. I have to go do some homework now. I have to write a one-paged response about these two movies we saw, about anything that interested us. Except we have to hand write it because we dont have printers. And he wants it double spaced. So its essentially half a page. Which is like five sentences. I wish I had homework like this in Boston.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Animal Bar- RHCP
whoops, those didn't post. Here they are.This is the kid in the rhino habitat. I know it looks like he's touching him, but he's not really; he's about ten feet away. And a silly flamingo.
What's A Girl To Do- Bat For Lashes
So apparently I don't know how to work these things and I just deleted my blog. Luckily, I only had two entries and the first one I had saved as a word document! How wonderful. I am going to paste it here:
So I don’t even know where I’m supposed to start. I guess the beginning is as good a place as any.
After a wonderful, almost week long goodbye with friends from school and home, I left (very) early Sunday, January 4 to come to Cuba. While I was and still am so excited about my time here and the experiences I will have, leaving my comfort zone is still difficult. When I met up with everyone in the Miami airport at 9-ish, we discovered we were taking an earlier flight and got on the plane to Cuba at around 1:30. So no waiting around the airport forever! Woo hoo,
Getting off the plane was amazing. Leaving the ice and snow in Boston was the best idea I’ve had in a long time. The airport was an interesting experience; we learned that there is one terminal for American flights that is very old and kinda falling apart. Danny said it reminded him of a Cosco, like a big warehouse. But the other terminal for international flights is apparently really nice and modern. And all around the American terminal, there are these giant billboards calling for the end of the embargo, comparing George Bush to a terrorist, and “Viva la Revolución.” We got there a couple days after the 50th anniversary of the revolution, which is a little disappointing, but there are signs and flags and Viva signs all over the city.
We got to our residencia and it is beautiful! It has two floors with five bathrooms and five bedrooms. There are only two boys on the trip, so they are isolated on the other side of the apartment building. I live in a triple with two other girls, Megan and Tara. I knew Tara from a Spanish class I took and she’s great, and Meg is awesome too. We just laugh so much. Living with us is Maria, who cleans our house. She’s so nice but speaks Spanish so fast! She loves American TV and movies, and Grey’s Anatomy is her favorite. Milady is younger and pretty quiet, but she cooks for us and makes the most delicious black beans I have ever had. Chino works for Casa too; he’s the guy we go to if there are problems in the house or anything like that. He’s always around and so nice. He’s a huge baseball fan (he likes the Yankees!) and is going to take me to a baseball game!
Our first day of school was on Monday, which was tough because we were pretty tired and a little overwhelmed, but we only had one class (our Cine class) and we took a tour of our school, Casa de las Americas. It is such a beautiful building and there is so much art and beauty all over the place, which is nice.
Everyone at school is so wonderful, very accommodating and welcoming. Understanding Cuban Spanish is hard, but it’s getting much easier. I can’t wait until I can speak and understand just like that.
Everyone in my program is amazing. We all just clicked right away. Of course I miss my friends and family from home, but being surrounded by good people makes it a lot easier.
We had a walking tour of Habana Vieja Old Havana) our first day here and I love it. It is the first (and only) part of the city that is being reconstructed. The architecture is beautiful, and has a lot of Sevillano influence, which is cool because I was in Sevilla in March. They even have a little Giralda and a Plazas de Armas. There’s a lot of fun shops and restaurants too. And a un museo de chocolate!
Okay so that's all I had saved from the first blog entry, but you get the idea. My second blog entry was about the first rainbow I saw in Cuba. I'm not going to play around with my blog anymore because apparently I don't know what I'm doing.
Anyway, my first week of classes was intense. I am still getting used to the Cuban accent, so it's hard to understand my professors all the time. Also, it is very common in Cuba for a professor to lecture the entire time, even though there are only 12 students in the class. Almost all of my classes at NEU are small as well, and I'm used to discussing things with professors and other students. So it's a bit of a change. Here's a descripción poquito de mis clases:
1. Cuba en el siglo 21: This class has rotating professors who each speak on a different topic about modern Cuba. Sometimes the profs are great, and sometimes they're kinda boring. Today we talked about religion and the revolution, which was cool. We discussed the influencias of Catholicism, Protestantism, Africa, and indigenous culture on Santería, the major religion in Cuba today. So today was cool, but somedays it's hard to take. But its only and hour, so its not too bad.
2. Cuban History through Film: this class is super cool. Our profe, Victor Fowler, knows everything about Cuba it seems. At first, we all thought that he thought that we were stupid Americans because we didn't talk at all. But today we all chimed in with our thoughts and got a discussion going, so I think its okay. And the movies we watch have been good so far. We're going chronologically through time, so we're watching films about Spanish domination, slavery, etc.
3. ¿Afrocuba?: So no one is really sure why this this class has a question mark, but is is totally appropriate. This class is three hours long and one big lecture. Juan Mesa, our profe, just talks and talks, leaving no room for questions. We also have guest professors in this class, but they just talk at us too. On Thursday, some anthropologist came and gave us a 60-slide powerpoint and pretty much listed every book any Cuban anthropologist has ever written. He even put himself on the list. That was the worst 2.5 hours I've had in Havana. But We do cover some cool topics, and the understanding African influence in Cuba is essential to understanding Cuba, so everyone is praying it gets better.
I'll be taking a music class starting in February, when ¿Afrocuba? ends. Dr. Leonard Brown from NU is coming here to teach us, and I've heard he's amazing so I'm excited.
On Friday we went to the beach, which was an adventure. We (me, Tara, Meg, Honorio, and Danny) decided to take the bus there, while everyone else was taking cabs. It took about 2.5 hours, but was kinda fun. The beach was gorgeous; super-fine white sand and bright blue-green water. The ocean was the perfect temperature too. The only problem was that it was really windy, so sand was blowing everywhere. And since I was obvously covered in spf, it kept sticking to me, which was a little gross. Oh well. We met a Russian journalist who has his own show in St. Petersburg, who was nice and we hung out with him for a while. We tried to find everyone else, but we never ended up meeting up with them.
On Saturday we went to the zoo, which for some reason I was excited about until I got there. It was super depressing and sad. The monkeys were the worst; they clearly were very sick and had a variety of tumors. But all of the other animals were so lethargic and malnourished. The weepy lions were sad, and the brown bear had mangy fur and a limp. We met some cute kids who were loco; two of them jumped into the rhinocerous pit! When I asked the third, who was probably eight, why he didn't want to go, he told me it was because the rhino was hungry. The kids were clearly showing off for us, but it was still scary. The only people I saw working there was the woman taking out money, the woman taking our ticket, and the guy who sold us cotton candy for four cents, mas o menos. The zebra was the only lively animal. She was prancing all over the place, taking cookies from everyone. Very sassy.
We also found a peluquería where we can get a manicure and a pedicure for roughly 50 cents! Which is necessary, because my feel are gross from wearing sandals al the time. I'm going to get my haircut there too, but i am a little worried. I'll have to research some vocab before I go (¡no mas corta!).
Here are some pictures that I stole from Meg from our trip to the zoo.
So I don’t even know where I’m supposed to start. I guess the beginning is as good a place as any.
After a wonderful, almost week long goodbye with friends from school and home, I left (very) early Sunday, January 4 to come to Cuba. While I was and still am so excited about my time here and the experiences I will have, leaving my comfort zone is still difficult. When I met up with everyone in the Miami airport at 9-ish, we discovered we were taking an earlier flight and got on the plane to Cuba at around 1:30. So no waiting around the airport forever! Woo hoo,
Getting off the plane was amazing. Leaving the ice and snow in Boston was the best idea I’ve had in a long time. The airport was an interesting experience; we learned that there is one terminal for American flights that is very old and kinda falling apart. Danny said it reminded him of a Cosco, like a big warehouse. But the other terminal for international flights is apparently really nice and modern. And all around the American terminal, there are these giant billboards calling for the end of the embargo, comparing George Bush to a terrorist, and “Viva la Revolución.” We got there a couple days after the 50th anniversary of the revolution, which is a little disappointing, but there are signs and flags and Viva signs all over the city.
We got to our residencia and it is beautiful! It has two floors with five bathrooms and five bedrooms. There are only two boys on the trip, so they are isolated on the other side of the apartment building. I live in a triple with two other girls, Megan and Tara. I knew Tara from a Spanish class I took and she’s great, and Meg is awesome too. We just laugh so much. Living with us is Maria, who cleans our house. She’s so nice but speaks Spanish so fast! She loves American TV and movies, and Grey’s Anatomy is her favorite. Milady is younger and pretty quiet, but she cooks for us and makes the most delicious black beans I have ever had. Chino works for Casa too; he’s the guy we go to if there are problems in the house or anything like that. He’s always around and so nice. He’s a huge baseball fan (he likes the Yankees!) and is going to take me to a baseball game!
Our first day of school was on Monday, which was tough because we were pretty tired and a little overwhelmed, but we only had one class (our Cine class) and we took a tour of our school, Casa de las Americas. It is such a beautiful building and there is so much art and beauty all over the place, which is nice.
Everyone at school is so wonderful, very accommodating and welcoming. Understanding Cuban Spanish is hard, but it’s getting much easier. I can’t wait until I can speak and understand just like that.
Everyone in my program is amazing. We all just clicked right away. Of course I miss my friends and family from home, but being surrounded by good people makes it a lot easier.
We had a walking tour of Habana Vieja Old Havana) our first day here and I love it. It is the first (and only) part of the city that is being reconstructed. The architecture is beautiful, and has a lot of Sevillano influence, which is cool because I was in Sevilla in March. They even have a little Giralda and a Plazas de Armas. There’s a lot of fun shops and restaurants too. And a un museo de chocolate!
Okay so that's all I had saved from the first blog entry, but you get the idea. My second blog entry was about the first rainbow I saw in Cuba. I'm not going to play around with my blog anymore because apparently I don't know what I'm doing.
Anyway, my first week of classes was intense. I am still getting used to the Cuban accent, so it's hard to understand my professors all the time. Also, it is very common in Cuba for a professor to lecture the entire time, even though there are only 12 students in the class. Almost all of my classes at NEU are small as well, and I'm used to discussing things with professors and other students. So it's a bit of a change. Here's a descripción poquito de mis clases:
1. Cuba en el siglo 21: This class has rotating professors who each speak on a different topic about modern Cuba. Sometimes the profs are great, and sometimes they're kinda boring. Today we talked about religion and the revolution, which was cool. We discussed the influencias of Catholicism, Protestantism, Africa, and indigenous culture on Santería, the major religion in Cuba today. So today was cool, but somedays it's hard to take. But its only and hour, so its not too bad.
2. Cuban History through Film: this class is super cool. Our profe, Victor Fowler, knows everything about Cuba it seems. At first, we all thought that he thought that we were stupid Americans because we didn't talk at all. But today we all chimed in with our thoughts and got a discussion going, so I think its okay. And the movies we watch have been good so far. We're going chronologically through time, so we're watching films about Spanish domination, slavery, etc.
3. ¿Afrocuba?: So no one is really sure why this this class has a question mark, but is is totally appropriate. This class is three hours long and one big lecture. Juan Mesa, our profe, just talks and talks, leaving no room for questions. We also have guest professors in this class, but they just talk at us too. On Thursday, some anthropologist came and gave us a 60-slide powerpoint and pretty much listed every book any Cuban anthropologist has ever written. He even put himself on the list. That was the worst 2.5 hours I've had in Havana. But We do cover some cool topics, and the understanding African influence in Cuba is essential to understanding Cuba, so everyone is praying it gets better.
I'll be taking a music class starting in February, when ¿Afrocuba? ends. Dr. Leonard Brown from NU is coming here to teach us, and I've heard he's amazing so I'm excited.
On Friday we went to the beach, which was an adventure. We (me, Tara, Meg, Honorio, and Danny) decided to take the bus there, while everyone else was taking cabs. It took about 2.5 hours, but was kinda fun. The beach was gorgeous; super-fine white sand and bright blue-green water. The ocean was the perfect temperature too. The only problem was that it was really windy, so sand was blowing everywhere. And since I was obvously covered in spf, it kept sticking to me, which was a little gross. Oh well. We met a Russian journalist who has his own show in St. Petersburg, who was nice and we hung out with him for a while. We tried to find everyone else, but we never ended up meeting up with them.
On Saturday we went to the zoo, which for some reason I was excited about until I got there. It was super depressing and sad. The monkeys were the worst; they clearly were very sick and had a variety of tumors. But all of the other animals were so lethargic and malnourished. The weepy lions were sad, and the brown bear had mangy fur and a limp. We met some cute kids who were loco; two of them jumped into the rhinocerous pit! When I asked the third, who was probably eight, why he didn't want to go, he told me it was because the rhino was hungry. The kids were clearly showing off for us, but it was still scary. The only people I saw working there was the woman taking out money, the woman taking our ticket, and the guy who sold us cotton candy for four cents, mas o menos. The zebra was the only lively animal. She was prancing all over the place, taking cookies from everyone. Very sassy.
We also found a peluquería where we can get a manicure and a pedicure for roughly 50 cents! Which is necessary, because my feel are gross from wearing sandals al the time. I'm going to get my haircut there too, but i am a little worried. I'll have to research some vocab before I go (¡no mas corta!).
Here are some pictures that I stole from Meg from our trip to the zoo.
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