I'M BACKKKKK!

Hey all!!

So the update is that I'm back in the USA!!! YAY! I arrived home safely last night at 12/12:30 pm in Logan airport!!!

Give me a call if you're around so that we can hang out!

Love, Christina :)

Wrapping up - one week left!!!

Hello, my dear readers!

It is officially T-minus one week until I return home, and I’m starting to get SO EXCITED to come back!!! It’s a very exciting time in general, though – I mean, Christmas is right around the corner, classes are ending, people are leaving for the states, etc. But I cannot wait to be back home in my own bed in my own house in my own hometown by my own city – Boston!!!!!! : )

I was walking through Habana Vieja yesterday, and felt so good to be enjoying the city, knowing that I only had a few days left there. I got to go to the Feria, stopped by a used bookseller’s stall who had property deeds and certificates from Cuban families back in the 50s, which was SO cool to look at, and just walked around and allowed myself to wander through the busy streets of a very alive city. I know I’ll miss this place, but there is really no place like home. Dorothy SO had it right!

Last night, the Sarah Lawrence girls upstairs left for home, and everyone was crying and really upset to be going. I don’t yet know how I’ll react – I’m sure I’ll cry a bit, but mostly because I’ll miss the people here, but I can definitely keep in touch. I love Cuba, but Boston is the city that has my heart. Cuba is taking second place for me.

This week as I’m wrapping up classes, I’m wishing and hoping that everyone back home is getting through paper-writing and gift-wrapping. Here, I’ll be going to some classes, just soaking up knowledge (and doing an oral evaluation on Tuesday!), and enjoying my remaining time here. It has been a wonderful and crazy ride, but this has been the experience of a lifetime, and I thank God that I had the opportunity to see all that I have in this country.

That said, thank you so much for all your attention during this semester and your readership. I love you all and can’t wait to see you VERY SOON!

Love,
Christina : )

Paper-Palooza: the beginning of the end

Hello, everyone! So my countdown says we're almost at the two-week mark, and I cannot wait to get back to the good old US of A!

Currently, the Latin American Film Festival is taking place here in Havana, and all of the movie theaters are filled with directors, film aficionados, and curious Cubans watching tons of movies from all over Latin America! I got a pass to get into all of the movies, and there are daily schedules published of where movies are being shown, but I still have classes, so I don’t know how many I will be able to get to. Some of them look pretty interesting, though!

As for school, I am currently in the midst of working on papers (by “working,” I mean “procrastinating working”). I have to write two ten-page papers for my sociology of work and social anthropology classes, and a five-page paper for my history of Cuban culture class. I think once I get started it shouldn’t be too bad, but until that point, I am finding that writing blog posts and emails is MUCH more entertaining than researching!

This is not to say I’m not doing well in classes! I actually just got my midterm back from history of Cuban culture, and I got a 5!!! (YAY!) I studied so hard for that test, so I’m really really happy that I did well on it!

In other news, our dial-up internet connection recently got taken away from us, so we’ve been forced to use really really expensive and faraway hotel WIFI access. Ugh. It’s all good, though, because we had two months of really inexpensive dial-up internet access!

The big story of the moment, however, is the trip we took to Camaguey this weekend. We took a 10-hour bus ride to the eastern side of Cuba on Friday, and went to the beatification of Padre Olallo, the first Cuban saint, on Saturday. It was a crazy Mass, with tons and tons of people in this plaza in front of this church. Camaguey is the “most Catholic” province of Cuba because of the high concentration of Catholic churches (yay Catholics!).

At this plaza ceremony, they had a ton of Cuban priests (perhaps 100 or so) all up at the altar, and they gave a relic from Padre Olallo to each diocese. There was even a priest from Miami there! The sun was beating down on everyone standing up for two hours, and several people passed out. They were filming the ceremony to put on Cuban tv, and even Raul Castro was somewhere in the crowd watching! It was pretty darn cool!

After having a fairly chill weekend, we negotiated a deal to be driven back by this really tough-guy looking individual who was called “El Chino.” He had this really sporty-looking black Peugot, and we ended up driving back the 300 plus kilometers to Havana in this thing. It was hilarious. I suppose I’m getting used to the hilarity that is Cuba, huh? : )

Happy Turkey Day!!!

Hello everyone!!! I cannot believe that it’s already Thanksgiving – time for turkey, family, and football (Americano!). We all have a lot to be thankful for this year!

First of all, we have a new President. Having seen how the United States looks from the perspective of a Latin American country, it makes me so proud to be able to say that we now have a biracial, part African-American President who wants to enact change in our society. Things are and will be getting pretty bad with the economy, but the fact that we can still afford the internet to post to and read blogs is pretty good, eh? I suppose we definitely have that to be thankful for.

I personally am also quite thankful for the support I have received down here from my Cuban friends, my international friends, my Harvard classmates, and my “ANAP family.” It would have been so hard integrating in here had it not been for the friends I have met at the University, and the help of everyone at ANAP. I have met incredible people in my classes, and have gone with them to performances, run into them around campus, and have just sat around talking with them. It was an amazingly wonderful feeling the other day to be on campus for a mere half hour and run into several people that I know, greet them, and see how their lives are going. Something so simple as feeling like I fit in would have seemed so distant two months ago!!! It is incredible to me, and I am so thankful for having met the people that I have met, and having had the amazing conversations that I have had.

I am also, as always, very thankful to my friends and family back home. I wrote about this in the last post, but I am always so appreciative for all of the love. Thanks, everyone!

I think that most of all, though, I am so grateful for the opportunities (which often manifest themselves as random chance occurrences) that God has given me, especially this program in Havana. Everything that has ever happened in my life has happened as a result of the appearance of a very well-timed idea, word, person, etc. – I chose half of my classes as a result of stopping in a classroom by chance, and I also met most of my friends when someone started a random conversation. I cannot help but feel blessed for all the gifts that have been given to me in this life, and cannot help but realize what a miracle it is to be alive and joyful in this beautiful world that we live in. God is very present and alive, and He is constantly working in our lives in ways we often don’t understand. I’m constantly trying to remind myself of that, even when I get frustrated with living here - things often are often more difficult to “resolver,” but Cubans always maintain a strong graciousness in handling all of life’s problems. Looking at how very little Cubans have, it has made me a lot more thankful for everything I do have: access to internet, the ability to contact my family in the US, access to the CUC, medicine, etc. We are very very blessed, indeed. After all, “la vita e bella” – always.

Have a happy Thanksgiving, everyone. : )

Emailers and readers, far and wide!!

I just wanted to take a quick blog post to thank all of you for reading my blog so much and keeping updated on my posts! I recently received a slew of emails from lots of different people I haven't seen in a while, all being so encouraging and sending lots of love!! Thank you, thank you, thank you so much to everyone for reading and supporting me - I really appreciate and enjoy all of your comments and emails!!! :)

In the past few days I have been thinking a lot about what a great network of individuals I have surrounding me - my family, my friends, my teachers, my coworkers - everyone. The fact that you all read my blog and share it with friends still astounds and humbles me more than you can ever imagine.

In short, this post is for you, the reader, the poster, the emailer - thank you so much for all your support and encouragement!!! :)

Love you all,
Christina :)

More fun in the land of many hurricanes... :)

It has been an interesting past couple of days in this parallel universe I like to call Cuba. First of all, I have been getting to meet with some pretty cool organizations and individuals from various lines of work, and getting their perspectives on everything about Cuba, in addition to sharing some of my own perspectives on my country. I feel like our discussions have been so fruitful and insightful, and can’t help but be excited for the fact that Obama is going to open up the line of communication so that the US and Cuba can have these same kinds of discussions. If only our countries could talk the way I have been talking for the past few days, I know they would at least reach some level of understanding with one another!

One of the first groups I got to meet with was CEMI, or the Centro de Estudios de Migracion Internacional, which basically studies international migration (specifically, a lot of the experts there study Cuban youth migration to the states). Diane, one of my fellow classmates, is currently doing a program with HAVMUN, or Havana Model United Nations, and somebody randomly gave her name to CEMI to arrange a meeting. She invited me along, because she knew that this is something that I want to do my senior thesis on, and BOY was I happy I went! When we got to their office – which was located about fifty feet from where I have my classes every day, by the way, unbeknownst to me! – we were immediately shown to this little conference room, where four younger-looking, but very professional young scholars were seated, with notepads and a platter of coffee cups. They started asking us a lot of questions about the American stance on Cuba, how Cuban-Americans factor into the mix, what the typical American youth feels toward Cubans, the stereotypes of America, etc. They were so excited and overwhelmed at the information we provided them for their studies, because it’s difficult to download or obtain books about the material they are studying in Cuba. Our offers to put them in touch with Cuban-American student groups on campus and various other resources was so exciting and groundbreaking for them, I couldn’t help but want to help them. It was an amazing meeting, and I look forward so much to keeping in contact with them throughout the rest of my time at Harvard (for thesis research in addition just to keeping in contact with them – they seemed like such genuinely wonderful people!).

In addition to this meeting, I also got to meet with a Cuban intellectual property lawyer in Miramar who is connected to Harvard Law School, and she gave us some insight into how the legal system functions here. Every lawyer is controlled by the state, and the legal system functions in pretty much the same way as it does in the US. One cool detail that is different, though, is the hiring of untrained, “average joe” judges for one to five year stints to serve in court cases. These “judges” actually have no legal training, and have to leave their regular jobs to work for the government in this role in serving as a judge. It’s kind of like jury duty, because your place of hire is required to keep your job open for you until you return back to work!! Crazy, huh? : )

In slightly less dorky news, I got to meet up with my friend Yudi from class (and her boyfriend, and some of her friends) the other night and go out to a free, intimately small concert at the Melia Cohiba Hotel (in the lounge area), for the promotion of the new solo cd of a Cuban singer named Diana Fuente. I really like the music, and I got to see one of the famous Cuban musicians from the movie Habana Blues singing live (and playing this REALLY cool guitar that just had a line of wood surrounding the strings, and then just had a metal frame where the edge of the guitar should have been). It was as though the strings were floating in midair, and was SO cool. Everyone did an excellent job performing, though, and I thoroughly enjoyed the concert (mostly because of the excellent company, I must say!). : )

As for news at ANAP, things have been a bit tense around here lately. The main boss of ANAP (the one who talks to Raul and Fidel, the one in charge on the national level) came to visit the Residence a few weeks ago to check up on the workers here and making sure things were running smoothly, and was rather perturbed to find that nobody was doing what they were supposed to. The bartender wasn’t in the bar, the front guard was nowhere to be found, etc. Usually, I would go into the kitchen after breakfast or dinner to see what’s up with Yohanka, Pablito and Camilo, but lately I haven’t been messing around with that, because there always seems to be a higher-up watching. Students technically aren’t supposed to go into the kitchen, but naturally, when you live for two months with someone, you are going to want to help clean up the dinner dishes and bring them into the kitchen to be washed – it’s only natural!! But, workers aren’t supposed to have too much contact with the guests or else you can get fired… and people have gotten and do get fired for this. Therefore, I have had to cut down my talking with Camilo and Johanka (Pablito’s on vacation!), and it’s killing me!!! I love talking to them and joking around with them, and this whole “walking-on-thin-ice” thing is really really nervewracking. It’s not as though I have stopped talking to people entirely, I’m just taking extra caution. It’s strange to feel limited in having relationships with people who feel like your family, because you have lived with them, essentially, in the same house, for two months.

I am constantly amazed at how equally I can feel love and disgust for this city at the same time. I am in love with the people, with the sights and the beauty of the art, music, and dance, but am constantly burdened by the meaning of it all – that behind the weathered façade is a people, but also a morphed and deformed ideology that is killing the city from the inside out. The city is obviously decaying, but is decaying in an all-comprehensive, no-holds-barred sense – in its moral integrity, in its solidarity, in its buildings (of course). The old Lada and Chevy cars, fixed up with paint to hide the rust, are representations of this culture of covering over the problem with a happy exterior – in fact, everything seems to be a metaphor to that effect – buildings, cars, people made up in camisoles and makeup, donning precariously-high-looking wooden skyscraper heels that “clop” as you walk with that unmistakable Cuban sway.

I know that I will miss Havana more than I ever imagined that I would, but at the same time, I also know that I will NOT miss the power outages, the frustration felt by myself and others at the prevalence of “the system,” the “Big Brother” sense you feel every time something new comes out about how the government is watching me while I’m staying here (example: my friend Brigid, who lives upstairs, was told that the neighbors spying on her shouldn’t bother her, because the government intends that they keep an eye on her to make sure she’s not up to trouble. She’s also not allowed to leave ANAP to find a cheaper residence.). As much as I will miss this place, I cannot wait to be home.

Puttin' on the Ritz!!!

If there was ever any doubt in my mind that I am having an excellent stay in this beautiful country, the past two days have erased said doubt away completely. Last night, I came back from using the internet at the Melia Cohiba hotel around 6:30, and my group had already eaten dinner at 6 and left to go to a club with our waitress, Johanka, so nobody was in the restaurant. (Staff and guests aren’t supposed to hang out outside of ANAP, so this was all done covertly – operation “have fun with our friends from the kitchen” had commenced before my arrival!).

When I entered the restaurant, Pablito, Camilo and Albertico (one of the bartenders for the in-ANAP bar who was taking Johanka’s place that night) all came over like my three fairy godfathers and asked me how my day was, said they would bring dinner out right away, and did I know how to get to the café where everyone was going dancing?? I said I had forgotten how to get there, and immediately Albertico offered to drop me off. It was incredible - I felt like such a well-taken-care-of princess!

I ate dinner, dropped my plates off in the kitchen to be washed, and then went to go get ready, but by the time I was ready to leave, I realized that it was 7:30, and the ladies were coming back at 9, so it wouldn’t be worth it to head out. I wasn’t really bummed – I love spending nights in the house – but I didn’t really have anything to do, so I hung out in the kitchen and asked if I could do anything to help. That was the best question I have ever asked thus far this semester, in or out of class!

I ended up playing waitress for the night, bringing out food to a late-night diner/guest, and setting the table for the next morning’s breakfast (Camilo came out and corrected most of my work). I got to fetch things around the restaurant for Pablito and clean up the tabels, and it made me feel so good because I felt like I was cleaning up my house, which I actually miss a lot (it’s so weird, but I miss ironing and washing dishes and such. Mom and Dad, please take note – I DID say this at one point in my life).

Tonight, we ended up going out to eat at a paladar, which is basically a really fancy and expensive Cuban restaurant. Usually, paladars don’t have certain dishes when you ask for them off the menu (especially with the food shortages from the hurricane), but this paladar was EXTRA special! It’s called la Guarida, and it’s located in the apartment where the famous Cuban movie Fresa y Chocolate was filmed!!! It was so weird to recognize the rooms from scenes in the movie!!!

Most importantly, however: THE FOOD WAS DELICIOUS!!!!! They had everything on the menu, which included everything from rabbit with peppers and avocado to full-fledged salads (we’re talking REAL tomatoes here, with LETTUCE and fancy dressing and cucumber and cabbage!!!!), in addition to roasted chicken, snapper, salmon, octopus, and grouper. I ordered a girly drink called a Mary-something (rum with pineapple juice, grenadine (!), and maraschino sauce in a very cosmopolitan glass!), and got the octopus salad, in addition to this AMAZING spinach crepe concoction with an amazing vinaigrette sauce and chicken on the inside. MMMM! It was the most delicious thing I have ever tasted – seriously!

Let’s provide a little background to the Cuban dining out experience. Most Cuban eateries, even the nice ones, are [attempts] at imitations of fine restaurants in Europe or the US. Often they are up three flights of stairs, in what could probably be someone’s back porch or living room (and most likely once was). The food is delicious, but you could probably encounter a better version of the same food (lasagna, which was delish, but lacking pasta, salads made of basically cabbage chopped into cole slaw pieces and cucumbers, fried chicken) back in the US.

La Guarida was the closest I have seen to a “fine dining” establishment, and could most likely hold its own as a US, culinarily-innovative institution. I wanted to cry when I tasted how delicious the spinach was, and ate REAL tomatoes with REAL onions and REAL FRESH BASIL LEAVES (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), and a DELICIOUS sauce with my octopus salad (and REAL lettuce!). You have no idea how much my heart was so happy just to have that brief moment of ecstasy in which I was reminded of the luxury of having every type of food available at any given time. The octopus salad I ordered made me think so much of home, of my grandfather and seafood salad at Christmas Eve dinner, where the family gathers around, and in Italian tradition, eats a huge seafood meal and then opens presents. Food to me is a key element of my existence, and eating really good food tonight really reminded me of home and family, as I can connect most of my experiences being with my extended family involving meals of some kind (going to parties and sitting around the sweet table, commenting on someone’s amazing recipe for a pasta dish, looking at huge Thanksgiving turkey(s) or even ordering pizza and sitting around the kitchen table, talking late into the night over cups of coffee about politics, the kids, plans for vacation, or engagements to be married). I always associate good food around a big table with my family, and the moments of sharing life and the goings-on of the day with one another. It was a bittersweet moment of recognition, but I was nonetheless made extremely content by my meal.

I even got the chance to order chamomile tea (te de manzanilla), which was amazing, mostly due to the fact that it is not as available in Cuba (available meaning offered everywhere at a low price) as coffee is. The experience is one we will hopefully be repeating on Thanksgiving and one I will most certainly not forget any time soon. One can’t often be too picky when the only thing one can afford is rice and beans and maybe some veggies from the agro (maybe some pork or chicken, too), and when the market runs out, there’s not really much you can do but resolver by just making do with what you have.

In the Special Period (the time during the early 90s where Cuba’s economy went into a tailspin), there were stories of eating everything possible to stay alive. To think of all the luxury I just enjoyed – it would never be available to your average Cuban. Tonight, as I was heading home with my friends, we hailed a maquina by the Malecon to get us back to ANAP. The driver was a former sailor who was a rich Cuban, and he didn’t even charge us for taking us home. I think it had something to do with the fact that we had a really good convo on the way back, and he outwardly stated that he was one of the few Cubans who could afford to not accept the money we offered him. I just can’t believe the system I’m in, and how biased it is; although it pledges undying loyalty to socialism, it is a deformed Russian socialism that is reproduced constantly and incorrectly. He said that is only Cuba had gone with Che’s socialism, it would have been fine.

I’m not so sure about that, but what I do know is that it’s much easier to be able to say that and buy yourself a nice gourmet pizza at the end of the day than it is to say that and be going hungry, because you only make $15 every month and can’t afford to pick up that tab.

OBAMERICA!

I cannot explain how elated I am to have found out that Barack Obama will be our next President!!! Picture a group of students in the melia cohiba hotel, at 11 pm at night, crowded around a tv watching intently to see that Obama had reached 270 electoral votes. It was the most emotionally charged thing I have ever sat through, and when we found out that he had won, we all were crying and hugging and so happy to be alive at that moment. This is history, people. Obama is a person who has united so many different constituencies, so many different people can see themselves in him. He is pursuing the same dream that my grandfather pursued, he represents everything that my grandfather and other Italian-Americans worked so hard for in this country, which is equality, a good life for their families, and hope for a better future for his children. He represents everyone in this nation equally, regardless of skin color, or age, or economic status. I couldn't be happier, and walk around everywhere here with a smile, proud to say "I'm American!!" once more, something I feel like I couldn't do before.

When you have the opportunity to study history from the perspective of a Latin American country, the US comes off as much less benevolent than your typical US high school class would lead you to believe. The US has often played the role of imperialist bully in the world, and it makes me disappointed to see the country I love so much head down such a bad path. I have hope for the future that we will rebuild our international relations, renew our economy, and go back to the glory days of Clinton. (Nonno, I hope you know I wrote that!).

The fact that Obama is half black and half white was such a beautiful factor in this equation. The significance of this for me is twofold, because in Cuba everyone is so excited to have a president who looks like them, and will TALK to Raul Castro!!! WOW! And our first family is now black. It's a beautiful thing when diversity is becoming the face of America, and I'm so happy that it's finally reflected in the white house. I couldn't be prouder of my country, and where we are going right now - OBAMERICA!

I cannot stop smiling, nor do I think I ever will. My generation has been through so much, and cannot wait to see what happens as history unfolds itself. I think that being in Cuba has made me appreciate my love for my country so much more, because it's such a rare thing to be an American in Cuba. Here, I am not from Massachusetts, I am American, and now I'm proud to be labeled as such, because my president is someone I can take pride in, and someone who can unite my country together like it has never been united before.

GOD BLESS THE USA, ESPECIALLY FOR THEIR EXCELLENT CHOICE OF A BEAUTIFUL, AMAZING PRESIDENT!!!!!!!

Game Time (from Nov. 3rd)

Hello, everybody!! So, we’re officially past the halfway point of being in Cuba!!! Yayyy! I feel much more acclimated to the pace of the city now, and am starting to get more comfortable engaging in activities and knowing my way around. I still slip up, though, from time to time, as is wont to happen in a very different country. For example, I had seminario (basically a graded question-and-answer session) today in my Sociology of Work class, and ended up reading the wrong “lectura” (reading), and gave a short schpiel on something entirely unrelated to my question. But, our professor, in all fairness, had not clarified which article he wanted us to read, and he just laughed it off, because we’re innocent foreigners who didn’t know any better. I think that means that he will give us a good grade for our presentations (they were only about five minutes or less). I did pretty well on the pop quiz he gave out, so I’m hoping that’s a good sign… : )

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about trying to branch out and be involved more in academic and cultural activities, because I feel as though I have been moping around in the house feeling homesick for the past few weeks, and am ready to take advantage of all the opportunity I have here to learn from people. There are a lot of centers here of various kinds – centers for psychological studies, centers for culture, centers for the CDR (don’t worry, I’m not becoming socialist!), etc. I just want to make sure that I have milked this experience for all its worth, but these past few weeks it had been difficult to deal with the fact that I’m so far away from home. I think the trick is just to stay busy, so that you are so busy having fun and getting involved that you don’t miss the people you love most in this world – otherwise, you’ll drive yourself crazy. It’s a blessing and a curse to have so much time to think, because sometimes, thinking about certain things (like homesickness) too much can cause an idea to tangle itself up in your brain and mess up your other thought processes. I’m glad that I’ve been so busy with schoolwork this week!

But, not only is this the week of crazy seminario work (I have THREE in TWO DAYS!), but also the week of THE ELECTION OF THE NEXT US PRESIDENT! All of us here are ridiculously excited and eagerly awaiting the results of the election. We’re going to camp out in a nearby hotel and take over their lounge area tv for the day, coming intermittently through class.

Then, seeing as we will hopefully want to celebrate Wednesday night, we decided to make a group dinner (I’m making pasta!!!). I went to the CUC market the other day to buy meat (I have yet to buy onions still from the agromercado, which is like an open-air market, as opposed to the CUC market, which is basically in a mall), and discovered that all the meat was: A) frozen, and B) VERY not-fresh-looking. ALSO, can I take this time to mention how there is NO ground beef anywhere here??? I found giant turkey legs, really gross looking ribs, and tons of deli meat, but no ground beef! I ended up with a package that looked less questionable marked, “res,” or “beef,” and brought it back to ANAP. Little did I know, the “hígado” part of the label, which I had overlooked beforehand, actually means, “liver,” meaning that I had bought cow liver to flavor my pasta sauce with. Uck. I gave it to Camilo and Pablito (our cooks - we’re pretty good pals, me and the kitchen staff – I hang out and talk with them a lot in the kitchen and the restaurant…), and Pablito told me that Camilo could probably make a “picadillo” (ground-up meat dish) out of it, after we had a good, hearty laugh with Joanca, a waitress who works at ANAP, about the fact that I had bought COW LIVER instead of beef. Oh, how funny those language barriers are!!! : )

Needless to say, the pasta sauce is going to be vegetarian, I guess… : ) No Italian sausages here in Cuba… : )

I’m really really really excited to be cooking. I love and miss the smell of garlic in olive oil, with onion and tomato sauce. Everything here is fried, but in vegetable oil, so it will be so good to have a real, authentic Italian pasta dish, when typically pasta here is served with a very basic thin, salty tomato paste. I’m just glad I was able to find olive oil (!) and oregano (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) in various locations. It’s so hard just to find, let alone stomach the prices (olive oil was 6 bucks for a little bottle!!) of certain “luxury” foods here.

Well, I’m off to study for my seminarios tomorrow (one is on Freud and the interpretation of dreams, the other is on Cecilia Valdes, which is a 553 page book written entirely in old, Cuban Spanish. I read the WHOLE THING, which I’m so so so proud of myself for (I don’t mean that to sound egotistical, it’s just that I have never done anything like that before!), and even though I didn’t understand it all, I just plugged through it, and was amazed that I was able to read it all and can use it now in my seminario and speak intelligibly about it). I suppose if the Holy Spirit caused the apostles to speak in tongues, it can help me read a book in Spanish, right?

Love you and miss you all!,
Christina : )

Back to our regular programming...

As we near the middle of the semester, I am becoming more and more reflective of my experience here. I have developed a healthy addiction to watching Grey’s Anatomy and The Sopranos (on at 10 and 11, respectively, Tuesday and Thursday night). My friend Brigid and I have a running date to chill out in her room on those nights and watch those shows together, so you can imagine that I was very very surprised last night to find that Grey’s had been moved to 11!!! Explanations that Brigid and I reasoned out: Cuban tv programming hadn’t been adjusted to accommodate daylight savings time (we move our clocks back a week ahead of the US here), or had been adjusted to accommodate ads supporting Camilo Cienfuegos, a Cuban revolutionary whose birthday (I think?) was yesterday. I love Cuba.

Ale, or Alejandro, the carpetero who works at the front desk, speaks English, so he often shares in my frustrations with Cuban life. Linda, our program director, was able to buy a dial-up internet connection, which is really slow but cheap (80 hours/month for 60 dollars, compared to two hours for 12 dollars at the hotels!!!!), and Ale was telling me how awesome it is that we can open up more than one internet explorer window at a time, because Cuban internet is SO SLOW. I cannot wait to get back to pervasively extensive wireless internet access at Harvard (I could probably get internet access in a school bathroom, it’s that extensive). Gosh, that seems so many worlds away!

In school news, I recently got my first grade on a paper (eek!) which was a four (out of five!) for a paper I wrote on Karl Marx’s Eighteenth Brumario of Louis Bonaparte. It was a ridiculous 86 page document that I found online in English, and I wrote a seven-page paper on it in Spanish. I’m just so happy I did well! (Thank God!!!).

As far as the beautiful weather goes, it has been delayed temporarily due to a cold front that came in. It’s basically 70 and breezy, but Cubans are freezing. I just laughed, thinking of how it was like a New England fall and was NOTHING to a seasoned Bostonian. No ten-foot snow drifts?? No problem. : )

Anyway, things are going pretty well and I’m starting to miss home more as we reach the halfway mark of the program. I can’t wait to get back to my family, singing with the Callbacks, working with the library, and visiting all my friends on campus. It’s crazy that I have already been here so long, and gotten so used to Cuban-style living. I’m just craving highly capitalist products, such as Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts, Barnes and Noble, etc. It’s funny what almost two months without chain stores signs does to one’s psyche! There are definitely the beautiful parts of the socialist system, don’t get me wrong, but I still miss the ability to have access to any material that one wants without having to wait for it to be in stores.

Sometimes, I really want a certain item from a store, such as the lemon-lime national-brand soda, and it won’t be available in stores. Or, sometimes the power just goes out for indeterminate amounts of time. The resources here are very limited, and cut out without explanation or knowledge of when they will come back. I like the surety of the US’s supplies, and appreciate a smoothly-functioning system even more now!!

Take care you all, and God Bless!! : )

And now, a short commercial break from our feature presentation...

Hey there everyone! I just got back from a lovely weekend in Santiago de Cuba, one of the most important Cuban cities in terms of both the revolution and general culture. Basically, Santiago is where the Revolution started, so there’s a ton of museums and a giant cemetery hosting Cuban greats such as Jose Marti, Mr. Bacardi, and musicians from Buena Vista Social Club. It was great to get to see another side of life in Cuba. Santiago is different from Havana in that there are more jineteros (because Santiago is not as comparatively “wealthy” or big of a city as Havana), and there is more “culture” (meaning starving artists and more flavorful food).

We met up with a Harvard grad student named Grete in Santiago, who is studying the Haitian population in Santiago, and showed us around her stomping grounds. We all stayed in casa particulares located on the same street, which were REALLY nice and decked out with tons of goodies like antique furniture, toilet paper, and beautiful gardens. A “casa particular” is basically somebody’s house that has rooms for rent. It’s the Cuban version of a bed and breakfast. Many Cubans seek extra income by renting out their rooms to people, but these enterprises are heavily regulated and taxed, so many people can’t afford to keep up the business. Plainclothes inspectors come to casa particulares all the time to make sure that the houses aren’t filled up over capacity (owners are only allowed so many guests), and ensure that everything checks out. Also, houses that can’t afford things like toilet paper, fruit, hot water, and various other niceties that foreigners look for cannot compete with other casa particulares who offer these goods. It’s crazy how all the things that I took so much for granted in the US are considered to be luxurious commodities in Cuba!!!

The casa particular I was staying at was beautiful – giant ceilings (as is typical of Cuban architecture, but well maintained, which is not), beautiful beds, a polished China cabinet, photo frames, air conditioning – it was a PALACE! The woman who Bolaji and I lived with treated us “like daughters,” and spoiled us rotten with good food and great hospitality (said to be a very Santiaguero trait!). We had [what had to be black-market!] eggs for breakfast, pineapple, a kind of weird sweet-potato-like reddish fruit, guava, warm, soft bread rolls (with butter!!), JAM!!!!!!, TEA!!!!!, HONEY!!!!, and milk. It was crazy-luxurious, and I enjoyed that mint tea like nobody’s business!!! It was so satisfying after having craved tea for so long! One can develop an addiction to Cuban (read: STRONG) coffee, but tea is still my favorite!

The best part about Santiago, though, was the sightseeing (outside of our casa particulares, of course!). We played tourists for two days shopping at bookstores, looking at artwork, and meeting awesome Cuban experts on culture and history. We met up with the city historian for Santiago, who gave us a great tour of Santiago and explained some of the history behind the city. We also met with a woman who specializes in “artes plasticas” in Santiago, with an artist who is one of the most famous poster artists in Cuba (he did a lot of political posters, painted by hand, commissioned by the government!), and with a man who is an expert on the history of the town of Cobre, where there is a shrine to the Virgin Mary, which I’ll go into more detail about later. It was totally enlightening and, honestly, refreshing, to meet such genuine people!

As for our tourist-y roundabouts, we visited the cemetery of Santiago, where we saw the tomb of Jose Marti, which was a BIG DEAL and has guards to watch it that change every half-hour similar to the tomb of the unnamed soldiers in Washington DC. He’s HUGE here, so his grave site is really extravagant – you can probably tell where he’s located in the cemetery from a mile away. We also got to see a museum located in a working school where there was an invasion at the beginning of the Revolution. For some reason, most Cuban museums are obsessed with displaying blood-stained clothing and showing gruesome pictures of dead bodies and torture devices, so that was, as always, a rather disturbing part of our visit. Although, I did find it quite comical that the “bullet holes” on the outside of the museum / functioning school (it still is a working school and there were kids playing soccer outside when we visited!) were actually conveniently added onto the building for dramatic effect. Gotta love those Cubans.

One of my favorite parts of the trip was visiting the tiny town of Cobre, though, which is just outside Santiago. History has it that two fishermen got caught out on a tiny boat during a storm off the coast of Cobre, and the Virgin Mary appeared to them on a board saying, “Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre.” When the men returned to shore, they built her a church, and the Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre became Cuba’s patron saint. The church was absolutely beautiful, but it was so strange to see the people selling beautiful bouquets of flowers in roadside stands that would probably go for 15 or 20 dollars back home, selling them for the equivalent of US $2.50. Cobre is a pretty poor-looking town, but then again, so are most small towns in Cuba.

The entire week, I have been struggling with two pretty difficult realizations that have been cascading down on me constantly. One: Cubans are ridiculously poor, and the fact that I can go to fancy schmancy restaurants and afford (or, Harvard can afford to pay for) a $15 plate of food feels so guilty to me. I realize that giving away money won’t solve the problem, but how does one even begin to tackle the realization that the only way to get more money to Cubans is to drop the embargo??? It’s sad, really, that our countries can’t even talk to one another, which brings me to my next realization. Two: Cubans are inherently continually disrespectful or discriminatory against foreigners. I am not by any means a forceful person. But, what upsets me the most is when Cubans behind the counter hand you back the wrong amount of change, or ask you to wait in a line you already waited in, and hand what should be your ration of food to some Cuban who came after you did, or give you an up-and-down when you ask for a discount on something because you are a Cuban university student, and present your carnet (ID card).

At the airport (where, by the way, we waited for around 9 or 10 hours for our plane to arrive after its scheduled departure time at 9:30 am – we got on at around 7pm-ish), one of the members of our group forgot his paper ticket, and the airlines forced him to purchase an entirely new ticket for $116 CUC. He was listed in the computer as having purchased the ticket, under his name, but the airlines wouldn’t have it. There is no customer service here because people are their own bosses, but there was no recourse for us as foreigners trying to get back to Havana. It was so frustrating, and I guess that’s just the general theme of Cuban life. It’s frustrating to be treated differently because of who you are, but I suppose that’s what immigrants in the United States go through on a daily basis.

In a way, I’m glad to be experiencing the discrimination that I am. It’s a lesson in patience, most definitely, but it’s also giving me a brief glimpse into a world that most people find too unpleasant to even think about. I never understood before the feeling of not belonging, and here I most DEFINITELY do not belong. Although most people are not blatantly and openly prejudice against foreigners, there’s a sort of disdain (and not unmerited, in my opinion) for somebody who can blow a month’s salary (about 15 bucks) on toilet paper, or a couple of drinks at a fancy hotel. Cubans just can’t mess around with that sort of thing.

Alright, enough philosophical ramblings – I’m going to go read about US-Cuban relations for my Spanish class. It’s a sixteen-pager in Spanish – wish me luck!!! : )

Be safe, be well, and God bless!!! : )

She works hard for no money... da-nuh, da-nuh!

Sorry for the lack of postings lately!!! I have been busy with school, meeting new people, attending social events, and doing trabajo voluntario, or voluntary work, to help the farmers in Pinar del Río, a largely rural region that was struck very hard by both Hurricanes Ike and Gustav. We got up at 5 am this morning to get on a guagua (bus) leaving at 5:45 from the FEU center (basically the student activities center), and took the two-hour bus ride to San Cristóbal. They had done a great job of cleaning up after the storm, but still needed help taking care of the “agricultural rebuilding” aspect of the aftermath.

Because Pinar is a largely rural area, most of the land there is used for agriculture of some kind, growing avocados, potatoes, etc. When the storms hit, a lot of the plants were uprooted, and farmers lost their crops. This area is NOT rich, trust me – most people live in what look like one-room bunkers, and a lot of people can’t afford the sturdy building materials of concrete or cinder block, so their wood houses get torn down during storms.

Basically, our job today was to help farmers plant boniato plants (a type of sweet potato). The farmers had assembled cartloads of seedling plants, which we laid into rows of earth, and the farmers plowed over with cow-led hoe. It wasn’t really hard work, but the process was fascinating. It was basically like a service project at school, and there were a lot of foreigners there (apparently foreigners are the only ones they can really convince to sign up for voluntary work, because we’re suckers for these kinds of things).

After we had planted about half of the field, we stopped working and ate lunch (they gave out lunch and water), and then headed back to the central plaza in the town where students with megaphones were shouting out how awesome our solidarity was and how important our work here was. Then students started shouting “Viva la revolucion!” and talking about capitalism and I remembered where I was.

In addition to working, though, I have been meeting a bunch of new friends from the University. It’s starting to get easier to feel like I’m kind of fitting in, and even though I obviously stick out, it’s easier to make friends now.

Love you all and miss you!!!

My Cuban love interest!

Alright, so it’s finally happened. I am officially in love with a Cuban. He’s about three feet tall and turned five years old today, and his name is Antony. This child is precious, and is the son of one of the waitresses at ANAP. He reminds me of my cousin Olivia, because he’s just so darn cute, even though he is QUITE the handful (in addition to being extremely precocious). He also loves Transformers, and has memorized the entire beginning to the Transformers tv show, just like a certain Anthony I know…

I kept on telling him, "Entonces, somos novios, Antony?? Eres mi novio??" (So, we're boyfriend and girlfriend, Antony? You're my boyfriend??); and he kept on saying, "'Miga, es que, pues, somos AMIGOS. Oiste? AMIGOS" (Girl, it's that, well, we're FRIENDS. You hear me? FRIENDS.). Oh my goodness he's so cute. Then one of the cooks, Pablito (who is the sweetest man on the face of the earth) asked Antony "estas enamorado con Christina? Christina, pienso que el este enamorado contigo!" (are you in love with Christina??? Christina, I think he's in love with you!!) and Antony said, "Nooooooo, somos AH-MI-GOS!"

I was supposed to read a social anthropology reading last night, but Antony ended up coming into my room, and I ended up playing with him (of course). A much better pasttime, if you ask me... :)

My friend Christine took some pictures of us together, two of which are on my Flickr site (link is on the left).

In other news from ANAP, there is apparently a famous Cuban actress staying with us in ANAP, the lead from the film “Lucia.” I just saw her at dinner!

Additionally, I just wanted to point out that there is now a links section on the left-hand side of my page with links to my Flickr account and to my roommate’s blog, for another perspective of our lives in Havana. Be sure to check them out!

Good times never seemed so good… SO GOOD, SO GOOD, SO GOOD!

October 4, 2008

Adjustment time is officially over now, and I’m starting to really be able to enjoy all my experiences here! Classes are getting more regular, although the schedules still continue to change. Cuban students, when they enter University, are in what they call “carreras” here, or “tracks.” They specialize in a certain “facultad,” or division of the University, such as Artes y Letras (Arts and Letters – languages, sculpture, etc.), Historia y Filosofia (History and Philosophy – social sciences), and Derecho (Law). When a professor changes around class times, it doesn’t usually affect Cuban students, because their carrera requires that they stay in the same classroom from 8 am to 1 pm and just take whichever classes are in their carrera’s curriculum for their specific year (first year, second year, etc.). So, when a professor switches classes, it’s with the understanding that the students will have no conflicts. Foreign students, however, can take classes from different facultades, thus making it much easier to have conflicting classes when a profe decides to switch up the days and times of class meetings. This would be potentially disastrous, were it not for the wonderful and extremely caring Cuban professors.

Such a scheduling fiasco occurred the other day when my profe for History of Cuban Culture moved our class to a time when I had to go to another class, Sociology of Work. He told me not to worry about it – that he would give me a personalized review session of what he went over in class, and that it would be – this is the best part – IN ENGLISH. I thank God SO SO SO SO SO SO much for placing this profe conveniently in my life!!! He sat down with me and went over all the points of lecture the other day, going over parts that I had questions on, and gave me his email address, telling me to email him if I had any questions on anything. He was so incredibly kind and thoughtful, and I cannot be thankful enough for his attention to detail and making sure that all of his students are learning, including the foreigners. He is the best University professor I have had thus far in my college experience, I must say. Sometimes it feels like professors at Harvard could care less how well you understand class, but this is really his passion, and it shows!!

In addition to class, though, all of us down here in the Cuba study abroad program are eagerly following the Presidential election, and we trekked to the Melia Cohiba hotel on Thursday to watch the VP debate. Our favorite part was when Sarah Palin mentioned the “two Castros,” at which point all the Americans sitting in the fancy schmancy Smoker’s Lounge where we were watching the tv started shouting, applausing loudly and laughing. Oh, Cuba! I also appreciated the reference to “Malakawi Talabani” (what????), and Joe Biden referring to himself all the time in the third person, in addition to mentioning Scranton like fifty times. CNN is truly a godsend. I love American political figures, but American politics… not so much! : )

The last really exciting event of the week was our trip to Miramar, which is a really ritzy part of Havana where all the embassies and nice houses are located (it’s fairly close to Vedado, which is also a really nice neighborhood). Miramar doesn’t look that different from the rest of Havana, but the houses are most definitely nicer, and there was a GIANT GROCERY STORE (Hallelujah!!!)!!!! Had there been shopping carts, I would have jumped onto a cart and starting singing as I coasted through the aisles, like that old Staples back-to-school commercial (“It’s the most wonderful time of the year!!). There were pickles, frozen meat, yogurt, juice, soda, cookies, olives, herbs, seasonings, flour, cake mix, tomato sauce, baby food, etc!!! It was AMAZING TO BEHOLD!!! My favorite part, however, had to be encountering PEACH ICED TEA (from the same French no-name brand that brought me my PEACH RINGS last week!!!), which I had been craving, and the AISLE OF BARILLA PASTA. I almost cried – there were definitely tears in my eyes. Pasta here, though, is much more expensive that in the states – it’s about 2.50-ish per box. BUT BARILLA – JEEZ A LOO! It’s really weird to see all the European brands that I’ve never seen before in the stores, but it’s not like Cuba can just import American brands of everything. It was just such a surreal experience to be shopping and NOT see tons of American brands! : )

Earlier that day, we had gone to get our fingerprints taken for our carnets, or ID cards. We went to this special compound-ish location for foreigners, and entered in through a cast-iron gate to this little complex of shack-like buildings, then entered into this little building where a woman called us up and fingerprinted us, then wrote down how tall we were (in meters, which she guestimated haha). Apparently it can take up to two weeks just to laminate our carnets before we get them, but I suppose such is the bureaucracy / red tape of Cuba! I’m getting pretty used to it by now!

I remember that yesterday I had a flashback to the time when a professor had given me a book to look up in the Fung Library at Harvard, but he hadn’t told me the name, and I was so frustrated that I couldn’t find it or it wasn’t available or something. Now, I just started laughing at myself for getting so frustrated about that stupid one book. It’s crazy, but I think that this experience is making me approximately ten times more patient and understanding of craziness. I’m starting to fall in love with Cuba, but don’t worry, folks, I’m still missing my Boston a TON (I still love that dirty water… oh, oh, Boston you’re my home!!!). I have my friend Zehra’s postcards that she gave me from Boston up on my wall, in addition to my guardian angel and St. Theresa prayer cards, and my pictures of HCL Tech Services, my best friends from high school, and my fam-fam.

I miss you all and hope that the semester is going well for you!!! Also, if you are in a swing state this election, please let me remind you ever so gently that YOU MUST GET OUT AND VOTE!!! THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ELECTION OF OUR LIFETIMES!!! GO GO GO!!

Eh-hem. Sorry about that. God bless and hope everyone’s keeping safe and healthy!!! : )

An Introduction to Cuban Culture... Christina style!

September 30, 2008

Sorry for not updating in a while!!! Last week we went to the cigar factory, where cigars are still manufactured by hand. Believe me, they take their cigars SERIOUSLY. Workers are put through a 9-month training school where only 35 percent of students pass the three tests that are spread out over the 9-month training (one at three months, the next at six months, the final at nine months). The workers that make the cut are given numbers according to their level of cigar-making ability, and are assigned to making a cigar with the quality of their level. For instance, the highest level cigar makers (I think it’s 9, maybe?) are assigned only to making Cohiba cigars, which are the best brand of cigar that Cuba produces. Workers are salaried based on their evaluations, which measure how many mistakes they make in their cigars, and how large those mistakes are.

Cigars differ by brand, size and amount of certain types of tobacco leaves used in the cigar. There are specific tobacco leaves used from various parts of the tobacco plant which make the cigar burn more easily, give it a richer flavor, etc. I think they classify tobacco leaves into five different types, all of which are used for different parts of the cigar (some in the middle, others for wrapping the cigar, etc). They are divided by color and size before being rolled into cigars.

Our tour guide, at the end of the tour, starting talking about US politics (!), which was awesome, and he said that most Cubans follow the election, because Obama has talked about improving US-Cuban relations, whereas Cubans have no reason to support McCain. I don’t want to get into a huge political battle here, but I just thought it so interesting that, even though the Cuban government only puts 20 minutes of election coverage on the news, Cubans all seem to watch it and follow the election. After all, it could be very important for them to have a President willing to stick out the olive branch to their country – especially when that olive branch comes with a trade agreement. Our tour guide even talked about the recent debate that was held, which my group didn’t even watch!

Another cool thing I got to do last week was visit Temas magazine, which is a cultural magazine that accepts academic abstracts from around the world to be published and shipped around the world. It is difficult for the office to function, because internet is slow (but it’s lucky that it’s even available!), and they lack connections in other countries. I’m going to be helping out there once a week, along with another girl from my group, in order to try to publicize the magazine and make calls for papers to various academics in primarily developing or undeveloped countries, who normally would not have the resources to publish. Also, the director of Temas knows a woman that I work with at the library technical services, which I thought was pretty darn cool. Small world, no? I think it’s great what they are doing, and am so eager to use my day off of classes to work with such a cool Cuban organization!!

In addition to all the events of last week, however, I figured I would take out a small amount of my blog post to describe the Cuban food and style of dress that I have seen over the past three (!) weeks (I still can’t believe I have already been here for three weeks!). The style of dress here includes a LOT of tight jeans (how they survive in this heat, I don’t know), tight, stretchy tops with holes cut in them, and miniskirts, and all the guys wear tight, stretchy tshirts and jeans. EVERYONE WEARS D&G. I have to see at least 10 different people every day who have a D&G stretchy tshirt on. It’s apparently the thing for youth down here. Last time they had the study abroad program, it was apparently Puma, and you can still see the remnants of that trend in shirts and shoes.

Cuban food has also been a great experience. We get really fresh food served to us for breakfast and dinner, and lunch is usually a Cuban peso pizza, which us students buy at the University lunch cafeteria and consists of soft dough, a thin layer of tomato sauce, and some cheese, or a hot dog. Breakfast is always a slice of ham, a slice of cheese, and a “tortilla,” which means an omelet (not a thin type of bread) in Cuba. We also get fresh-squeezed juice served with every meal (orange and guava are typical, sometimes we get mango or pineapple, though). Dinner is often some form of cut up and fried tubular vegetable (often boniato, which is kind of like a more starchy sweet potato), rice and beans (the beans are often replaced with chickpeas and are cooked with ham), some form of meat (ham and fried chicken are popular), and a veggie (Linda usually buys us avocados, which they cut up and serve to us). We also always get a delish dessert, which often is chocolate pudding, or a kind of French-toast like adaptation to the fresh baked bread that we get served with every meal. It’s like a giant family-style dinner at home, only the circumstances and type of food are obviously changed a little bit.

In other news, classes are going really well. I have two papers due next week, and am inundated with readings for class, but I’m liking my professors (one professor actually had to leave to do some research in another part of Cuba, so we’re getting a replacement today). I recently had to read an 86-page Word document that I downloaded offline, called the “18^th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte,” by Karl Marx, for my History of Cuban Culture course. All I have to say is, Marx REALLY liked his analogies / metaphors…

But, the good news is that I have all my books and readings, I will be working at a pseudo-internship once a week, and I’m starting to finally feel really settled in. I’m also trying to do some “thesis research” (by that I mean buying books about Cuban migration and the government issues surrounding it, from both a sending and receiving country perspective). The books here are really cheap (5 for about $2.50 US), and I’m eager to get researching senior year!! Wish me luck!!! : )

END NOTE (PLEASE READ):

Given the fact that my blog posts are typically sarcastic, I just wanted to take the time to impress upon you all the fact that my entire experience here – all of it, good and bad – has been SUCH a blessing beyond comprehension. I'm so lucky to be here! I often say that “Cuba is wonderful,” but don’t explain the real meaning behind those words, and really want to explain the “why” of this experience. I know that it is often easy to consider all the downsides of studying abroad here (she’s CRAZY!) – I get my cross stolen, or classes don’t meet on time, or there are strange people. But, all of that is part of the experience of growing up and living life as a functioning, breathing fully-grown, independent woman of faith. I have spent most of my life living comfortably in a large house, in an upper-middle-class town, in a rich state, in a rich country, and offer praise to God for that, but I am also so, so thankful for the chance to be a part of a different walk for a few months. This has been as much a strengthening of my faith as it has been an educational opportunity, and I am so blessed, not just to possess the things that I do in the US, but to be privy to such a loving people, who are open, great friends and honest critics, hilarious, and know how to take the knocks of life and get up, dust themselves off, and keep going. There is so much more to people here than generalizations about impoverished masses, or dominating Cuban men, or coffee and cigars, or fresa y chocolate.

Anne Frank once wrote that despite all of the horrible things that happen in this world, she still believed that all people are good at heart – and I’m getting to see the real truth behind that statement here. So, why the decision to go to a developing nation, living a very simple life instead of the comfortable life I’m used to in a developed country? Because beauty in life, in God, in other people, and in yourself is only visible when you don’t have so many THINGS to occupy your attention. There is no need to be worried about me – I have the best protector in this universe looking out for me, and He follows me everywhere. Just be happy for me, knowing that this experience is granting me the gifts of grace, fulfillment, and love in my life. : )

Why are all the books gone, part 267... :)

I’m apologizing in advance for being bitter while writing my blog post, but I did create a text barrier for those who would like to skip my rant/explanation of the Cuban system of reading assignments. Enjoy! :)

--Begin Bitter Rant / Explanation--

Seeing as I have been reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone as of late, I figured that perhaps my books would magically manifest themselves in my room of their own volition. Alas, no. I received two books in class from the professor (yay socialist book system!!!) for my Sociologia del Trabajo class, but my other two classes have sent us students off to find books “de maneras individuales” (by our individual means). This phrase means, “I have no idea where you can find these books, but get creative!” We have to read these books for class, yet we are unsure if and when they will be available. It is incredible to me how much I take for granted buying books in the states!! It’s so easy!!! I walk into the Coop, check isbns, head to Amazon, and I’m done! Here, the process involves the professor listing off some articles or books one needs to or should read, walking to one of twenty local bookstores, finding that the bookstore does not carry the title (after extensive searching or asking a worker there), repeating the process five times, not finding any books, then giving up and walking home. The only Amazon here exists in my mind, as a dense forest of barriers that I have to clear before obtaining the resources I need.

The good thing about being a foreigner, however, is that I have access to internet. Internet means access to websites, and websites mean access to articles, snippets from books, etc. I wonder how many of the Cuban students survive sans internet or even computers!!! I am in awe of how resourceful and sharing people are down here – in class, the professor collects everyone’s flash drives (lots of students at UHavana have these), and uploads copies of the articles for them onto their flash drives, or finds some other means to distribute copies. There is a shortage of paper in Cuba, too, so there aren’t handouts of anything – the syllabus, book lists, and class schedule are given out orally. All my classes are literally two classes in one – whatever the course title is plus an advanced Spanish listening class.

--End Bitter Rant / Explanation--

I’m starting to get better at understanding the Cuban accent, though. When I first went to classes last week, I understood MAYBE 40 percent of the lectures in class. Now, I’m sitting at the front of the class, and I was able to understand perhaps 90 percent of the lectures that had previously been a blur of speech. I also banged out three double-sided pages of semi-comprehendible notes in Spanish today (NOTES in SPANISH!!!), which I am really quite proud of!!!

In addition to that, Diane and I visited the UHavana library, where we used an old-school card catalog to look up our books for class, then filled out two little slips of paper full of information on the book we were looking for. We handed it to a library worker, who took the slip of paper and placed it on a metal clip hanging from a balcony on the second floor. Then a girl came to the balcony and pulled up the string and removed my slip from the clip, and went to go look for the book I requested. None of the students are allowed to go into the stacks to look for their own books, so requests have to be filled out, you have to leave behind some form of identification (a copy of your passport or your student ID, which I don’t have yet) while you take the book out, and you can’t leave the library with the book. When they retrieve the book, they call out your name to pick it up at the desk. The entire process (for one book) took about twenty minutes. In the interim, Diane and I had been looking at some ancient wooden display cases of ecological books, in which a poster was displayed, saying, “ask your librarian for information about internet access!” We just laughed and mused at the irony of Cuban society for a while.

In addition to the craziness that was today, there was a robbery that occurred at ANAP last night, in which two of the girls on the second floor had their computers, cameras, and some money stolen from their rooms. Somebody had apparently sneaked upstairs through the open emergency exit in the back (there is always a guard in front, but only sometimes in the back of ANAP) around 12:00 midnight, and had gone to the unlocked, unoccupied room with the lights off to steal the Sarah Lawrence girls’ computers. The first floor, where I’m living, has more foot traffic, and my roommates and I are very careful about always keeping the door locked, but it’s still very disturbing to think that people are entering into this “secure” building without us knowing. Most high-profile buildings filled with foreigners have intense security systems, but our building is quite high-profile as a US study abroad student haven, and we don’t have a technology system to support a security system like theirs. I’m pretty neurotic about this type of thing already, but now I’m super neurotic. To think that for the next three months, I constantly have to be vigilant of all my belongings does NOT make me comfortable, but perhaps it’s a good thing, in the sense that I won’t ever let my guard down – inside or outside the house I’m living in. It’s just really tiring, when to think that back home in the woods I’m relatively free from danger…

Girls just wanna have fun...

This weekend was uproariously comical. On Saturday night, we went to a discoteca-like place, for which we paid 3 CUC. We had to enter into the club in pairs, which delighted these guys who were waiting outside to get in, because my group was four girls, and their group was four guys. Once we were in the club, we discovered that there wasn’t any music playing, and came into this large room with a projector screen at the front. They were playing a Candid-Camera like tv show, including various pranks like people moving the cars and sign on a one-way street and giving somebody a ticket, having a lemonade stand with a black curtain behind which somebody was pretending to go to the bathroom into a pitcher, etc. It was hilarious, and there were only videos, not words, so it was easy to understand.

After that, they had a mini-game show, with the guys that we came in with competing for some bagged prizes in a trivia game and a guess-that-tune game (Pelly, pronounced Pay-yee, which is like a Cheetos-type company, sponsored it). After the game show, a comedian came on. He was apparently really funny, because everyone else was laughing, but I had NO IDEA what the heck he was saying, because he talked REALLY fast. He stayed on for “un chiste mas” (one more joke) for about 30 minutes, after which I was ready to go dance.

Once the music started, our Cuban companeros came up to us and we were dancing, mirroring each other back and doing a competition-like thing with dance moves. It was so fun!! After a while, though, I had the feeling that the night couldn’t get any better, so we all left the club, not having been sketched out by a sketchy Cuban male population, happy and content with our good fortune.

Then, this Sunday, we went to the beach, and BOY WAS THAT BEAUTIFUL!!! I've posted pictures up to my Flicr account, so there should be about ten now. Please enjoy, as I can only post about five pics per internet session!!! But anyway, Cuban beach wear includes Speedos, speedos, and more speedos!!! It was an experience, for sure. Also, Cuban beaches are all about the appearance, so people are there to see and be seen. It was insane to be on such a beautiful, warm beach when my mother tells me that weather in Boston is like 60 degrees!!! The water in the Caribbean is warm, clear, and bright bright blue. SO gorgeous!!!

Sorry this post is so short - classes are starting to come into full swing and I'm trying to start getting into study mode!!!

Take care of yourselves and each other, and check back to my Flickr account for new photos of Cuba!! :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30645128@N07/?saved=1

my flickr account!!!

HAH!!! I'm going to be uploading photos here:

http://flickr.com/photos/30645128@N07/

I guess a little of that Cuban ingenuity is rubbing off, eh?? If you can't post it on blogspot, post it on ANOTHER site, and post a link!!!

SO HAPPY,
Cristinita :)

Linda's photos

Located here:

http://flickr.com/photos/29367207@N06/

If I can't post photos, at least Linda can!!!!

Maybe I'll make a Flickr album, too??

~Cristinita :)

Sabes 50 Cent? ME ENCANTA FIDDY CEN!!!

As a preliminary note on this blog post, it’s looking like I won’t be able to post pictures. I’m going to try to put up some pictures on Facebook, but it seems as though blogspot won’t let me post pictures on this site. It could be the slow internet connection, or the Cuban government (if you’re a conspiracy theorist), but the point is that I can’t post pics. I have tried emailing pictures to my family, as well, but that hasn’t worked. Hopefully Facebook will work – if not, I’ll have photos for everyone when I get back.

One of the most interesting things about coming to Havana has been the huge impact of the US on Cuba, which becomes even more interesting when one considers that Americans are pegged as the “horrible capitalist influence” to the North. Everywhere I go, I see Coca-cola cans (from Mexico), and I have also seen Budweiser bottles, American tea biscuits, ripoff Sunsilk look-alike hair products (called Sedal), and Dolce and Gabbana (or Puma) shirts and accessories EVERYWHERE. I have also heard from many Cubans that they are familiar with American movies like Sister Act, or know a lot of American music from artists such as 50 Cent, Lauryn Hill, Rihanna, and other R&B, hip-hop, and reggaeton artists. I asked one guy at a party in-residence one time if he knew that the artist of the song that was It is amazing how people sing along to songs in English without knowing what the words mean, and get so excited when you tell them you are an “americano.”

I cannot believe that the Cuban government can so openly oppose the United States by doing things like erecting a statue of Jose Marti (a national Cuban hero and famous poet) holding a baby, pointing in an obviously accusatory fashion, through a series of Cuban-erected black flags, leading towards the US Interests Section (pretty much an embassy); while at the same time playing “Bob el Constructor” (Bob the Builder), DragonTales, movies featuring Julia Stiles in a hula skirt, SCRUBS in English with Spanish subtitles (ZACH BRAFF!), and the movie “Turner and Hooch” on any one of three, government-controlled Cuban tv stations (meaning limited programming).

Yet, there are national sodas sold everywhere, bottled in Pinar del Rio (TuKola, which is basically Coca-cola, and Refresco limon, my fav, which is basically ginger ale with a lemon-lime twist). It’s incredible how the national pride blends with an equally deep dependence on American culture.

Wherein our heroine discovers the wonders of Uhavana…

It’s official. Classes have begun. In most schools, one would buy school supplies, register for classes, attend classes that had been carefully selected from a course book, visit the classes, receive bibliographies, and buy some books / read them. But, as I have come to find out, the University of Havana is not “most schools.” In fact, school supplies don’t always exist (all notebooks are miniature), classes are often cancelled or un-cancelled at random during the day, and all of the locations of classes change constantly. One has to ask around (all the students) just to figure out where and when (or if) classes will be taking place, and often they are just as confused as you (especially when you can’t speak Spanish that well, let alone CUBAN Spanish).

Then, there is the actual problem of sitting through class (after you have found the correct class in the correct room at the correct time). Rooms are not air conditioned, nor are there fans, so students bring small plastic fans to keep cool during the 1.5 hours classes, in addition to water bottles (or juice bottles, which are actually more like smoothies) wrapped in towels and plastic bags. Cold drinks last maybe 20 minutes in the heat before becoming more than room temperature, which is often pretty high. Although windows are open in the classroom, there is no breeze, and the weather is a balmy 90 degrees Fahrenheit, sunny, and humid EVERY DAY. Not to be too gross, but by the end of the day, you are drenched in sweat and thoroughly dehydrated. No wonder Cuban women often wear things that some people would blush at in the states.

It is such a strange and new sensation to be a part of such a conspicuous foreign minority while walking through the quad which comprises the campus. There are hoards of people just sitting down and talking on the steps of all the buildings on campus, literally like a scene out of any high school dramatic television show. I can feel everyone’s eyes on me as I walk by, because I’m so obviously different from everyone else, and it feels so strange to be so singled out. I’m very used to fitting in, and this sensation is going to take a little getting used to. I’m starting to feel more a part of campus as I get more into classes, but it’s so obvious how everyone has their own cliques, and campus feels like a giant battleground where various camps have staked out their positions, and I’m a part of the landless mercenary crew.

I have made a few new friends at school. I have met some other American students from programs through SUNY Oswego and Brown, and some other foreign students from France and Spain. I have also met one Cuban student, who was a “dueno de la aula,” or boss of the class, that I was in. Basically, these “bosses of the class” are like class monitors, and take care of circulating readings, talking to people in the class to let them know when class is cancelled, etc. The system here is one comprised not of organization, but of word-of-mouth and asking around. The students seem to know more than the administration most of the time.

It really is absolutely crazy and totally different from Harvard. Also, when books are assigned, they are often given as a complementary part of the course (or copies are handed out directly to students at the beginning of class), but can also be prefaced as “not necessary, but helpful.” Articles are passed around on flash drives, books are said to “maybe” be in libraries, books that are supposedly available for purchase are actually not available anywhere, let alone in the bookstores suggested where they might be available.

But, apart from the craziness, I have picked out my classes, and they are: social anthropology, sociology of work, and history of Cuban culture (in addition to Spanish, of course). I have already been through some pretty intense discussions of whether or not students should be allowed to work for money while studying at university, and all of it smacked of a side-stepping of anti-socialist thought. I feel so strange being in a class where capitalism is considered the “other,” lesser system, but it’s so interesting to get that point of view – definitely not something I could find at Harvard!! I really feel like this semester is going to be such an eye-opening experience, and my classes are going to be a huge part of my growth as a human being this semester.

In other news, I also attended church on Sunday at the Church of the Virgen Caridad del Cobre, the patron saint of Cuba, and met a great Catholic youth group to talk with on Sundays after 6pm Mass. This group also happens to include two of the people who work at ANAP, my residence, so it was really cool to see some familiar places. I love the people at ANAP, who are all hilarious and wonderful people. We all joke around all the time, which makes me miss home a little bit less.

Although I’m thousands of miles away from home, I think about my family and friends all the time. I went up to a window during a break in class today, looked over the falling-apart skyline of Havana up to the clouds, and realized where I was and what I was doing, and how far away I was from the people I love and care about. But I hope that I can allow all of you to live vicariously through me this semester through my blog!

Watch over the Boston area for me while I’m gone!!!

Babalaos, baptisms, and drag queens - oh, my!

Hey, everyone!

These past few days have been hilarious experiences of culture shock! The night before last, my group attended what was supposed to be a “party for Ochun,” who is a deity of the Afro-Cuban Santeria religion.

A little background on Santeria: Santeria is a Yoruba religion that was brought to Cuba by African slaves. It is often combined with espiritismo, or spiritism. Each Santeria deity is in control of certain areas, such as life, death, the home, or feuds, but there can be multiple deities in charge of a single area, unlike Roman or Greek gods. The deities of Santeria are all represented through various colors, which Santeria believers wear as bead necklaces or bracelets. As an interesting consequence of being pressured into becoming Catholic by their masters, slaves fused the deities of Santeria with Catholic saints, causing many families to simultaneously practice both Catholicism and santerismo without any feelings of contradiction.

People wishing to become santerismos go to a babalao, or Santeria priest, to go through a ritual and be assigned to one of 29 or so deities. New initiates dress all in white (covering their head with a white cap, wearing white stockings and white shoes, etc.) for one year, and then receive their central deity, whose colors they wear all the time to gain their favor and blessings. It’s so interesting walking around the city and seeing how creative people can get with the all-white wardrobe mandate.

Anyway, getting back to the party for Ochun, Linda, our resident director, had a friend whose father was a babalao, in addition to being a son of Ochun (assigned to Ochun), who is a very powerful Santeria deity. But, instead of having a seriously Ochun-focused party with dancers embodying Ochun, as is tradition, Linda’s friend Jenny decided to host a drag queen party. It was my first time attending any sort of drag-related thing, and let me tell you, it was quite the experience!!!

The three drag queens that came out onto this open, fenced-in rooftop where the party was held were all very strong personalities. Two of them gave our friend Harry a bit of a show, which was really hilarious for all of the rest of the program participants, but perhaps a bit traumatizing for Harry, who left with three lipstick marks on both his cheeks and his forehead!

Yesterday, as a bit of a change of pace, I went to a baptism with Linda and Chino, who was another one of Linda’s friends, to a Cuban baptism, which was awesome. We walked from the church to Linda's friend, Javier's, house for an after-party, where tons of people were crammed into his house. Three couples were salsa dancing in about 15 square feet of space, which I found pretty impressive.

Linda's friends were all hilarious, and when I told them I was part Sicilian, they all laughed and said, "ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, mafiosa!," because Cuba has a long history of Mafia involvement. A good time was had by all. :)

I'm going to try and post some pictures, we'll see if it works. :)

Much love,
Christina :)

Finally... my first real blog post!

September 9, 2008

My first few days in Cuba have been pure insanity. I knew from the second that I saw the beautiful Cuban landscape from the plane that I was going to fall in love with this country. That feeling, however, was followed by nauseousness and a strong desire to throw up as we descended down into Havana’s airport. I guess it was a rather appropriate metaphor for the adventure I was in for – heartbreakingly beautiful, but sickeningly difficult.

Our arrival at the tiny airport was marked by being hit by the hot, muggy, heavy Cuban weather, and then being filtered into a makeshift processing area that literally looked like a tiny warehouse sectioned off with blue sheetrock, being wanded with a metal detector, and then waiting for about two hours for our baggage in the “baggage pickup” section. The entire process took place in what was seriously nothing more than an industrial space fashioned into a Cuban airport, but spoke to the creativity of the Cuban people in making do with what they have.

Upon leaving the airport, we made our way to the Asociacion Nacional de Agricultores Pequenos, our homestead for the next four months. It was filled with staff welcoming us in, and I was completely overwhelmed by both their graciousness and insanely fast greetings in Cuban (read: very difficult to understand) Spanish.

When I reached room 108, I was completely stunned by the simplicity of it all – three beds, a fridge, two chairs, two nightstands, and a sliding-door closet. No dresser drawers – meaning a clothing crisis between three girls living in the same cramped quarters - but, as my roommate Bolaji puts it, “this semester is going to be a lesson in humility.” Cubans often say the phrase, “no es facil” (it’s not easy), and it definitely isn’t, but you make do.

Our “cafeteria” is a “restaurant” located in a small room connected to a kitchen by an outdoor hallway near our bedroom. The staff there are awesome, and the cooks and waitress (called “la China” affectionately by everyone) are really affectionate and jovial all the time. Our “laundry room” is located up a staircase by the restaurant and contains two washers, one of which we are allowed to use by the staff, when they are not using it to wash our sheets and such. We also have clotheslines (!).

I’m actually getting a huge kick out of the simple things, like the fact that out toilet doesn’t have a flusher, but a little pull-string at the top, to flush the toilet. Also, the staff here are awesome and joke around with us all the time – in Spanish, of course! Life just seems so much richer when it’s simpler, and you start appreciating things a lot more, like hot showers, great conversation, and honest friends.

Speaking of honest friends, we got our first taste of jineterismo (a Cuban hustling phenomenon that includes everything from scam artists to prostitutes) a few days ago when a “regular” came to visit ANAP to visit his “American friends.” This guy named Ry, a Cuban UHavana student, came to the house and introduced himself, which seemed nice, until Yadira informed us that he was a repeat visitor from other semesters of international study abroad students, and befriended the students every semester in the hopes of getting American benefits out of the deal. I wanted nothing to do with him, just because I hate that thought that people will try to befriend me for a purpose of utility. I’m going to try and be smart without being jaded, although I find it so sad that I have to be vigilant of something as innocent as a friendship.

In addition to being at ANAP, we have also been touring Havana (before Ike hit, of course). There are people who go around in latas (old-style cars) with speakers blaring communist propaganda, people who ride little bicycles attached to carriage-like things (bici-taxis), and people who sell roasted peanuts in little cones. Everything is different – things I knew well in Boston smell, taste, look, feel, and sound completely different here. We have visited some cute little markets, went to Barrio Chino (Chinatown) and ate at a Chinese restaurant, and shopped at very cheap books shops (some books cost as little as 10 pesos in moneda nacional, or roughly 50 cents – although fitting it in my suitcase is another story). Other bookstores charge in CUCs, or Cuban convertible pesos, which are roughly under a dollar in value each and are mostly used at touristy places, such as fancier restaurants (which are few and far between here), gift shops, and hotels/bars.

Then, of course, there is Hurricane Ike, which is keeping me from currently accessing the internet and publishing this blog post. It’s nothing more to us study abroad students than a giant rainstorm with wind gusts in Havana, but it sure does scare the crap out of you when giant doors are banging against each other and water is gushing down in the middle of the night. Removed from our comfortable status as a foreigner, however, other places in Cuba, like Pinar del Rio, were hit very badly, after having been hit badly by Gustav, as well. I was watching the Cuban news channel on the tv in our room, and eastern Cuban hospitals were destroyed, houses had their roofs torn off, trees fell all over the street. The damage outside of our house is incredibly mind-blowing.

I apologize for the long post, but I am currently just so stuffed full of information and overwhelmed by all that I have seen that I’m just dazed and confused and needing to get it all down somewhere. The muggy Cuban weather only seems to compound the issue, as I feel grimy and kind of sleepy all the time, although I shower regularly and have been sleeping fairly well.

All in all, though, I sincerely have loved every minute of this experience so far, and can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings! Please write to me often, and hopefully I will be able to get to a computer soon to see all of my email!!!

Much love to everyone!

September 11, 2008

Hey, all,

So, the last post was a rather jovial one, although this one is going to be a bit more serious. I had my cross/necklace/saints medals stolen tonight by a man who ripped my cross off my neck, and I would be lying if I didn’t say I was a bit traumatized by the experience. Just the thought that somebody would come up to me, when I had been vigilant in watching all my stuff, and snatch my cross off my neck is deeply disturbing to me. I suppose that this is a part of the “lesson in humility,” though, and one doesn’t need to have a visible sign of one’s faith if it is already a part of your heart and soul, as I have come to find out.

Other than that experience, I have been having a great time – getting my caricature done in Havana Vieja, taking pictures of Havana, and seeing sights I have never seen before (like tiny frogs, tiny puppies, and other various cute things, like adorable childen).

Please keep me in your prayers, as I have a feeling that I’ll be needing them.

Love you all,

Christina :)