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 :)

Bienvenidos a Cuba!

Hola mis amores!

I had created an entire blog post and had taken pics for the blog, but unfortunately my computer just died, and I am using someone else's computer to get internet access, so I just figured I would let everyone know that I am a-okay, and that I survived Hurricane Ike (that sounds kind of like a t-shirt, no?).

Our residence is awesome, the people are wicked friendly, and I'm finding that life here is a lot simpler and more innovative, but I never could have imagined the sights and occurrences that go on here.

I promise I'll write more later when my computer is working!

Until then, thanks for the comments and please keep emailing me - I'll respond eventually!!!!

Lots of love!,
Christina :)