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.