Here I am rapidly approaching the one month mark of being here in the lovely city of La Habana. A lot has happened, but at the same time very little. My schedule is now perfect and very well situated, so I will explain my daily pattern as such.
From Friday to Monday, I have no school. However, this time may be filled with trips and adventures both mandatory from class and for personal experimentation. When Tuesday comes, basically the week begins. Normally I wake up at around 9ish, depends on when my biological clock wakes me (I’ve rarely had to use an alarm, it’s really strange). From there I usually just go straight down to breakfast for a diverse choice of egg styles: scrambled, with or without ham, or fried, also with or without ham. Accompanying the lovely eggs are bread, some fruit (oranges, grapefruit, pineapple, watermelon—varies, not all of this at once), some juice, and some coffee. It’s delicious, but literally the same everyday basically, but it really doesn’t bother me too much. I just have visions of coming back to the states and a doctor tells me I have the cholesterol of a 50 year old man… the incredible, edible egg so they say.
After this I come back upstairs and just get ready, you know, get my hair done, put on some cherry red lipstick and pick out my favorite stilettos for the day. But in reality, throwing on something that looks like an outfit from the strange array of clothes I decided to bring. Looking at my clothing option here I just wonder what I was thinking when I was packing. So much of it just doesn’t make sense, but either does waiting until the last minute to pack… there must be some correlating graph somewhere that represents this phenomenon.
I have one Spanish class on Tuesday that lasts from about 11:30 am to about 1 pm and this is the same as on Thursday. The professor is an awesome woman who prefers her nickname ‘Yare’, plus I can’t actually remember her real name. She is an older woman, but absolutely young at heart. We talk about the most random things and basically just practice Spanish, but it is by far the best Spanish class I’ve ever had. Everything is explained so clearly and by example, and my nose is never buried in a book memorizing patterns and arbitrary vocabulary. For example, in one class, we listened to a song and had to match up the verses and write down the verbs, but later we had to take turns doing certain activities with the song. We had to explain what was happening in the story in the present tense, the events of the story in the past, suggestions for the singer, what we liked in the pluscamperfecto-whatever-it-is tense. Just so different from listen to this song, write down what you hear, then we’ll talk about what it means. So different. She also asked me if I was part latino because I’m so tan (oh yeah, I’m getting real tan).
After class basically everyday I wander around and try to spend the least amount of money as possible. This is incredibly easy. There are so many ‘cafeterias’ around campus that sell most of their meals for less than one $1USD. I’m especially fond of a rather filling pizza that costs $0.50USD for just cheese, or you can add peppers and onions for another quarter. There are also plates of rice, vegetables, and some form of meat for less than a dollar, definitely easy to get decent quality food for less than a dollar a day. I get 2 meals provided through the program at the hotel.
On Wednesday, I have my anthropology class with Lyndsay (Lou) Kramer with Dr. Antonio Martinez. One word: AMAZING. We’ve literally only had like 2 classes, but this man is amazing. He is taking basically 2 hours out of his day to teach just Lou and me about Physical Anthropology in Cuba. Neither of us has taken the class at Pitt, as it is a requirement for the Anthro major, so we’re hopeful that this will maybe cover the requirement, but if not, meh, still 3 credits in Anthro. In the last class we discussed the importance of understanding how the human body develops and the issues facing the growing population of the elderly (deemed 60+ years of age, but don’t worry, you’re still young at heart you elderly readers). We went through a PowerPoint showing the different stages of human growth after birth and later a PowerPoint showing how much of the population in the future will be deemed elderly and what this will do for… well, everyone. It was so interesting and so relaxed and patient. I took absolutely zero notes, but because he explained it so well and it was more of a conversation, I took a legitimate interest in the subject. I think the University system (not just the US, but everywhere) needs a revolution of sorts. I’m not saying that Cuba has a perfect university system, because I am not taking a real Cuban class, but this style and the attitude this teacher takes towards us is by far what learning is and should be.
Also on Wednesdays, we have our class at the famous ICAIC. This is a government funded film institute that is responsible for the majority of Cuban movies. IT is based out of an old house that is huge and they have built a medium sized theater next to it also. I think their most famous movie (although I have not seen it) is Fresa y Chocolate or Strawberry and Chocolate. It is about two homosexual communist companeros and their life after the revolution. I really don’t know much about it, but I know it was nominated for an Oscar in the 90s sometime. At the ICAIC we discuss basically the history of Cuba as seen through cinema. Our professor is an amazing woman who is an art history director of sorts, I’m not exactly sure what she does, but she is very intelligent and very aware of Cuban cinema. The movies we’ve seen so far have been a little strange, they are all over 40 years old, but it’s interesting to see them and discuss how they relate to Cuban history. One movie we watched was “Memories of Underdevelopment” and it portrays an upper-class man and his struggles with life essentially, but also his concern with post-revolutionary Cuba and what it means for him and the bourgeoisie class. Another film we saw is titled “Lucia” and it portrays three different women in three different eras of Cuban history. The film is supposed to show the struggles of women in each of these periods, and I suppose it does, but we all couldn’t help but just feel as though it just perpetuated the weak female role in society instead of helping demonstrate the female struggle. I don’t know. It was a very long and strange movie. But the class is awesome! And 5 hours long basically….
We have yet to start our fourth class as our professor is in Italy doing some crazy academic thing. But it is titled Cuban Society, so I think it will be pretty interesting. Some people on the streets and friends we’ve met at the university joked that we’ve already started that class by talking with them. But it’s so true! The conversations on the street after only 3 weeks have already cracked my metaphorical blockade of basically zero knowledge on Cuba (not to blame the US education system, but I vaguely remember learning about hardly anything Cuba related that wasn’t terribly demonizing). While I am not too well educated in politics, I do have opinions, and it’s always interesting to discuss with anyone here on what we all believe. A lot of people believe in how powerful capitalism is, as seen in the US by working and earning x amount for how much you work etc, etc. Here, however, you have to fulfill a certain amount of hours per month and you still only receive an average of $10 - $30USD per month. Another apparent atrocity is that a doctor here earns less money than a janitor in a fancy hotel. What? Pretty crazy, right? But here everyone gets their allocation of rations (if available), free healthcare (they’ve recently enacted free sex-change operations, if one qualifies), seeing glasses that cost $1.25USD (although made of plastic, but still functional), and well, I just don’t know what else. It’s hard for me to argue that capitalism has its demons, being that I am a white, middle class, well-off person, but it’s hard to hear about people working overtime at McDonald’s and still barely getting by or the extreme amount of debt people have from student loans/everything, how the minimum wage is barely a livable wage. Both systems have their faults and advantages, but really all we’re doing is living and surviving. We all have our own struggles, so there’s no use comparing.
Again, a disclaimer: wrote this basically all in one go, so question my gaps, research your own, but I hate revising and my flow of consciousness is more accurate of me anyway!
John
Friday, February 25, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Cuba is awesome... well for me
I got a little sick L. Kind of a cold mostly, but I’m always a snot monster so it doesn’t really matter. I’ve been sleeping really weirdly and having crazy dreams, but last night (Feb 9) I slept basically all night without any problems. Everyone says they’re having weird dreams and waking up several times, I think it’s the carbon monoxide in our systems and the scary AC units that randomly spur in the middle of the night and sound like a hurricane.
The weirdest dreams so far:1.I was like awake, but not really, but maybe?? And I thought my roommate was having a seizure, but then it switched and I couldn’t move my body I could only talk and I wasn’t awake and I could hear things. And I said I can’t move my body and my roommate was like yeah… that bus hit you pretty hard… and so I like forced myself awake and like pinched myself and did some Inception craziness and was freaked out for like an hour in bed. Like I dreamt I was in a COMA this is the second time this has happened in my life. Scary.
2.We were at an airport (I think in Pittsburgh but it was definitely not the Pittsburgh airport) and I was like you guys that went by so fast, like it just felt like a week, like… we didn’t do anything? And everyone was like I know, right? So weird. And I was like well maybe when I look through my pictures I’ll be like yeah I did stuff… then we tried to get our luggage but the baggage claim rotating belt thing was a spiral so all the bags just ended up in this big pile in the middle. Then I woke up and I was like yeah I have like 3 more months here. I had the same dream in Nicaragua. So weird. A few days ago Lou (aka Lindsay Kramer) and I walked to Habana Vieja from our neighborhood of Vedado. If you walk along the Malecon (the famous highway that runs along the ocean, look it up online and you’ll probably recognize it) it only takes like 20 minutes to get to the middle of the super touristy center of Havana. We decided we wanted to walk deeper into Habana Vieja, outside of the super clean touristy areas into where people actual lived and worked. It was completely different. Walking just a few blocks outside of the tourist traps of restaurants and monuments we were met with the stereotypical decay of Havana’s colonial legacy and the general ‘poverty’ (I don’t know how to judge poverty here). The streets were narrow and then wide, brick and cement; there were little shops that sold sandwiches for $5 moneda nacional (which equates to about 20 cents); doors and buildings falling apart and built all on top of each other. It is truly beautiful in its decay, and yet terrible because people still need and want to live there. I can take pictures of fading paint, chipped stone, rotting doors, and still admire its beauty, but I can’t actually imagine living in that situation (although I really want to).The communism here is an absolute mystery to our group and even the residents. We met two guys named Raizel and Julian and we’ve hung out a few times on the Malecon. We asked them questions about communism, youth culture, racial relations (they are both black Cubans), and about various Cuban terminology. When we said we didn’t understand communism here, they replied “we don’t either”. We were all a little taken aback (is that the right phrase?), but I can barely understand how the
If you have money here you can buy basically whatever you want, but the average wage is about $10 - $30 USD a month, so materialism definitely isn’t rampant for the majority of the population (again just speculating, I hate making definitive statements). Our tour guide told us about the ration booklets everyone gets and how it’s basically a book of coupons that you can use to get rice, beans, meat from government sponsored stores. She said most times it wasn’t enough for the average person, but at least it was a start. That struck me. In the
Everything is pretty regulated: there are basically two types of domestic beer and a few types of rum that are all state run and operated. You can buy Absolut vodka, wine from abroad, Jameson—for a hefty price—but you still can if you want. There’s also just a plethora of
Rai, Lou, and I talked the most on the Malecon. When we asked him about race and what it means in
After my whole project on race in Cuba, it’s still hard for me to see any inequality (I mean, I have only been here a week) but listening to Rai and Julian it was interesting to hear that it definitely exists and in some cases is so prominent that it prevents him from entering a place. He assured us that the racism wasn’t institutional so much, he has the same freedoms as everyone else, but on the psychological level, who knows what could happen.
We asked him further about the 50+ regime of Castro and if he agreed with it. He shook his head and said not me, nor him, nor anyone on the street. I didn’t delve further—asking him what he wanted to see change or anything, and I sort of forgot what else we talked about after that. Whoops. Next time: plunge into the topic of Castrology (I coined it, I think it’s funny) and see what Rai or anyone would like to see change and what they think/know/anything about Cuban politics.
I am awaiting a plethora of people to talk with about life here in
This is probably the most interesting so far. I am going to write more in the future about my classes and stuff. I’ve only had one week of classes so far (HAHA) so when I get a more regular feel for them/regular feel for what my actual life schedule is I’ll write about it. But I will give a few teasers:
1.I have a four day weekend starting at 1 pm on Thursday and lasting until Tuesday until 11:30 (until February 28th when I actually start my 4th class) HAH
2.I am doing an independent study (with Lou) with Dr. Antonio Martinez who was apparently president of the Ibero-American Council on Anthropology (I haven’t googled this or anything/it was said in Spanish so I’m still a little confused) BUT it’s an independent study for Physical Anthropology, so no Phys Anthro at Pitt HOPEFULLY.
3.The campus is actually beautiful and has a staircase/alma mater/entrance akin to Columbia University; has a shrunken version of University of Minnesota’s main area with all the buildings surrounding a common area; every building is beautiful and has columns basically which me gustan; just there is so much green and nature there and everywhere.
Until next time, my faithful readers (if you exist)!
Chau,
John
Monday, February 7, 2011
Cuba is Awesome
Day 1-
We got on the flight to Havana and left around 3pm. Arriving only around 50 minutes later. We had to use a separate airport for international flights, even though it was right next door to the other one. They made it sound like a big deal, but I’m pretty sure it was just another runway/branch of the main one? Who knows. I went through another round of security and entrance stamps and blah and there was a luggage belt. We were told that they would just be thrown on the ground and we would have to find them. FALSE. The luggage belt carried everything around on its merry train-like way. My bag was of course the last one around, but after that we just bypassed all the declared items (people brought 40in plasma TVs, bicycles, everything and they all wanted to wrap everything in plastic like you’ve probably seen, but literally everything was covered in this green cellophane, every luggage/bag/thing was cellophaned and it cost like $15 to do it! Crazy… we were all like… should we be doing this?? But no, unnecessary), so we bypassed the people typing in all these items and paying extra and we went outside where people were waiting to see families and we looked like celebs with everyone staring at us. PRETTY RAD.
We made our way to our hotel/dorm and I took a video the whole time. It was amazing. I really felt alive again… I think my heart never truly left Nicaragua and being back in LAC really gave me a sense of normalcy which is just such a weird feeling. I hope the reverse culture shock this time doesn’t kill me even more than returning from Nicaragua . Everything was beautiful. The roads, the cars, the people, the horse-drawn carts, the graffiti, the signs, the paintings, everything was awesome. The weather is humid, but bearable. There is a wind that comes from the ocean that is just warm and chilling at the same time. The only problem: smog. And lots of it. These old cars just puff it all out and it’s pretty thick here. You can see it in some places and it gave us all headaches walking around the city.
We got to the hotel and it is awesome. Everyone here is awesome and very dedicated to their job. The room is small, but has 2 beds, a TV with cable, a mini-fridge, 2 chairs, a desk, a 3-drawer dresser, a closet, a bathroom and, the most amazing part: AC and sometimes hot water. What? Seriously? No one was expecting this. But, I’ll take it for now. There’s definitely not a lot of room to put away clothes though… I’ll find a way though. I do not want to live out of a bag, that is just the woooooooooooooorst.
We met this couple from the University named Jenny and Ernesto and they are basically going to be ambassadors for us. Jenny is 28, which I found out after embarrassingly asking her age (you’re not supposed to do that in Cuba, ask women their age, but she seriously looks like she’s my age—so I was freaked out when she said she actually taught biology) and she teaches at the university biology and dance. She teaches more traditional dance like salsa and meringue and a few of us are possibly going to join her in her classes o0o watch out people in the US I’m coming back with some fiery latino rhythms and moooooooves, but probably not….but probably yes. We are going to see a movie with them on Sunday, which I might comment on later if it’s an interesting experience or not.
The first night we walked around after a steak and rice dinner and just explored. We were of course beckoned by a few restaurant employees to get us inside, to get us to eat, and we explained we just ate and we had no money, but nope. They were very persistent. We met a cool guy named Dennis we saw again the next day, and he gave us some advice on how to change money (we tried earlier the first night, but they closed to the public). We ditched the poor chap and then we were pulled into a conversation with this man on the side of the street. A very interesting man whose brother lives in the US and he hasn’t seen for many years, but only has talked with him on the phone. He spoke some English and even some Russian, so I tried my best with my one semester of Russian, but the combination of English and Spanish for the day my brain was like que? What? Shto? So everything was kind of a little bleh. But he talked to us about how the US is the most powerful country and Russia is too and how they are awesome and how the US will never fail and yadda yadda and we were just having a discussion. Very heated and very political on the side of the road, our first night in Cuba. Good sign for more to come?
The next day we toured the university and got our student ID cards. We had to get some Cuban glamour shotz and print out these tiny baby pictures of ourselves and glue it to the card… everyone look at your student ID in the US and mine = a paper card with a a stamp on it, some handwritten signatures, and a glued picture of myself. YES. We also got approved for our student visas so we don’t have to flee after 30 days. YES, but means that we are students/have to study… boo. We ate a comedor-esque restaurant that I think was someone’s house… and they just run a restaurant for lunch. It cost me… let’s see (after converting my Canadian dollars which was a fantastic success.. I think I earned a 14-24 cent profit than my other traveling companions, we still don’t know exactly) about 33 Cuban pesos and 24 pesos = $1USD so, less than $2USD. For a whole meal and a cup of delicious juice. I asked a man in Spanish if a certain vegetable was Yuca and he was like no and said something else, then 2 seconds later in English: sorry, you asked if that was Yuca, yes that is Yuca. And I was like oh…thanks… whaaaaat. Some people speak English, but it is very limited and pretty accented. The pro-US/Russia man was pretty good at speaking, he said “frugal” (talking about frugal with his cola, and less frugal with his rum) and when I repeated it, he had no idea what I said. VERY INTERESTINGGGG.
So as of now (3:16pm on Friday, February 04, 2011) ^^ this is what has happened to me. Minus a few details I may or may not fill in, but I am getting tired and crazy from the smog and poor sleep from last night, so I am going to stop for now.
So since that episode of my life I have been just chillin and doin some tours. We did a city tour and went to Habana Vieja which is amazing. it's like a mixture of Tel Aviv, Switzerland, Chile, Nicaragua all rolled up into a Cuban hood. Our tour guide was 'saucy' and awesome and had a necklace with Nefertiti (whaaaaaa). The tour was really cool and she was super impressed we spoke Spanish and she said it was weird for her to give them in Spanish because she is an English PRO. I wish I could post some pix to make this more enlightening, but, I don't want to try right now.
Today we went to the ICAIC which is the Cuban film institute which is responsible for basically everything in Cuban related cinema. It's actually pretty famous so we were all like whaaa we're going to take a class here? Pretty cool. It's based in this ollllldddd mansion that some lady left to the institute after she died... we think. The lady spoke in Spanish the whole time and I was a little sleepy (I took a nap right before the tour mmmhmmm)
Other than that I am feeling normal and missing Nicaragua more than the US. I like hearing Spanish all the time and I like the food and I like everything. going back might suck... OH NOOOOOOO
Vamos a VERRRRRrrr
We got on the flight to Havana and left around 3pm. Arriving only around 50 minutes later. We had to use a separate airport for international flights, even though it was right next door to the other one. They made it sound like a big deal, but I’m pretty sure it was just another runway/branch of the main one? Who knows. I went through another round of security and entrance stamps and blah and there was a luggage belt. We were told that they would just be thrown on the ground and we would have to find them. FALSE. The luggage belt carried everything around on its merry train-like way. My bag was of course the last one around, but after that we just bypassed all the declared items (people brought 40in plasma TVs, bicycles, everything and they all wanted to wrap everything in plastic like you’ve probably seen, but literally everything was covered in this green cellophane, every luggage/bag/thing was cellophaned and it cost like $15 to do it! Crazy… we were all like… should we be doing this?? But no, unnecessary), so we bypassed the people typing in all these items and paying extra and we went outside where people were waiting to see families and we looked like celebs with everyone staring at us. PRETTY RAD.
We made our way to our hotel/dorm and I took a video the whole time. It was amazing. I really felt alive again… I think my heart never truly left Nicaragua and being back in LAC really gave me a sense of normalcy which is just such a weird feeling. I hope the reverse culture shock this time doesn’t kill me even more than returning from Nicaragua . Everything was beautiful. The roads, the cars, the people, the horse-drawn carts, the graffiti, the signs, the paintings, everything was awesome. The weather is humid, but bearable. There is a wind that comes from the ocean that is just warm and chilling at the same time. The only problem: smog. And lots of it. These old cars just puff it all out and it’s pretty thick here. You can see it in some places and it gave us all headaches walking around the city.
We got to the hotel and it is awesome. Everyone here is awesome and very dedicated to their job. The room is small, but has 2 beds, a TV with cable, a mini-fridge, 2 chairs, a desk, a 3-drawer dresser, a closet, a bathroom and, the most amazing part: AC and sometimes hot water. What? Seriously? No one was expecting this. But, I’ll take it for now. There’s definitely not a lot of room to put away clothes though… I’ll find a way though. I do not want to live out of a bag, that is just the woooooooooooooorst.
We met this couple from the University named Jenny and Ernesto and they are basically going to be ambassadors for us. Jenny is 28, which I found out after embarrassingly asking her age (you’re not supposed to do that in Cuba, ask women their age, but she seriously looks like she’s my age—so I was freaked out when she said she actually taught biology) and she teaches at the university biology and dance. She teaches more traditional dance like salsa and meringue and a few of us are possibly going to join her in her classes o0o watch out people in the US I’m coming back with some fiery latino rhythms and moooooooves, but probably not….but probably yes. We are going to see a movie with them on Sunday, which I might comment on later if it’s an interesting experience or not.
The first night we walked around after a steak and rice dinner and just explored. We were of course beckoned by a few restaurant employees to get us inside, to get us to eat, and we explained we just ate and we had no money, but nope. They were very persistent. We met a cool guy named Dennis we saw again the next day, and he gave us some advice on how to change money (we tried earlier the first night, but they closed to the public). We ditched the poor chap and then we were pulled into a conversation with this man on the side of the street. A very interesting man whose brother lives in the US and he hasn’t seen for many years, but only has talked with him on the phone. He spoke some English and even some Russian, so I tried my best with my one semester of Russian, but the combination of English and Spanish for the day my brain was like que? What? Shto? So everything was kind of a little bleh. But he talked to us about how the US is the most powerful country and Russia is too and how they are awesome and how the US will never fail and yadda yadda and we were just having a discussion. Very heated and very political on the side of the road, our first night in Cuba. Good sign for more to come?
The next day we toured the university and got our student ID cards. We had to get some Cuban glamour shotz and print out these tiny baby pictures of ourselves and glue it to the card… everyone look at your student ID in the US and mine = a paper card with a a stamp on it, some handwritten signatures, and a glued picture of myself. YES. We also got approved for our student visas so we don’t have to flee after 30 days. YES, but means that we are students/have to study… boo. We ate a comedor-esque restaurant that I think was someone’s house… and they just run a restaurant for lunch. It cost me… let’s see (after converting my Canadian dollars which was a fantastic success.. I think I earned a 14-24 cent profit than my other traveling companions, we still don’t know exactly) about 33 Cuban pesos and 24 pesos = $1USD so, less than $2USD. For a whole meal and a cup of delicious juice. I asked a man in Spanish if a certain vegetable was Yuca and he was like no and said something else, then 2 seconds later in English: sorry, you asked if that was Yuca, yes that is Yuca. And I was like oh…thanks… whaaaaat. Some people speak English, but it is very limited and pretty accented. The pro-US/Russia man was pretty good at speaking, he said “frugal” (talking about frugal with his cola, and less frugal with his rum) and when I repeated it, he had no idea what I said. VERY INTERESTINGGGG.
So as of now (3:16pm on Friday, February 04, 2011) ^^ this is what has happened to me. Minus a few details I may or may not fill in, but I am getting tired and crazy from the smog and poor sleep from last night, so I am going to stop for now.
So since that episode of my life I have been just chillin and doin some tours. We did a city tour and went to Habana Vieja which is amazing. it's like a mixture of Tel Aviv, Switzerland, Chile, Nicaragua all rolled up into a Cuban hood. Our tour guide was 'saucy' and awesome and had a necklace with Nefertiti (whaaaaaa). The tour was really cool and she was super impressed we spoke Spanish and she said it was weird for her to give them in Spanish because she is an English PRO. I wish I could post some pix to make this more enlightening, but, I don't want to try right now.
Today we went to the ICAIC which is the Cuban film institute which is responsible for basically everything in Cuban related cinema. It's actually pretty famous so we were all like whaaa we're going to take a class here? Pretty cool. It's based in this ollllldddd mansion that some lady left to the institute after she died... we think. The lady spoke in Spanish the whole time and I was a little sleepy (I took a nap right before the tour mmmhmmm)
Other than that I am feeling normal and missing Nicaragua more than the US. I like hearing Spanish all the time and I like the food and I like everything. going back might suck... OH NOOOOOOO
Vamos a VERRRRRrrr
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
the night before...
Well. Right now I am laying in my hotel room on my bed, just hanging out, waiting for a reasonable hour to fall asleep and then waking up tomorrow for a long day of travel, ironically, to a country that is a mere 90 miles away. The bureaucratic process it will take for us to get cleared and aboard a plane is ridiculous (apparently--I will have to describe it later in a different post), but from what we were told, we are expected to be at the airport at 10am for a flight at 2pm.... WHAT?! That's a bit ridiculous and will probably consume my soul for the day (soul consumption is going to be a large aspect in this blog).
I was going to post last night, but after skyping with my friend, I had a bad sleep spell and just passed out without finishing what I wanted to...which meant a somewhat hectic morning. The ONLY thing (so far) that I am appearing to be missing is a swimsuit :( I really like it, too, but I have other shorts that will suffice/I can maybe buy a sweet one there. Woohoo. I am going to talk about what I did to prepare so YOU can learn what to prepare when going to a Latin American country/any country that maybe isn't the most developed in our definition of the word.
First things first--the clothing
I have always been an over-packer and probably always will be, but this time I did a pretty good job. My bag (you'll see a photo of) weighs only 38 pounds! The maximum I can bring down without any charge is 44 (but this includes carry on items, but I'm not carrying 6 pounds worth of stuff onto the plane), so I am pretty much right on target. I, since this is an extended stay and I am going to be more of a resident versus just a tourist, decided to bring clothes that represent my style as best as possible. Meaning fancier shirts, fancier pants--stuff that I would actually wear in the U.S. versus light clothes and fanny packs. Here are a few photos of the piles I am bringing:
You definitely don't want to bring too much. You will end up with that 50lb soul-sucking duffel bag. And you'll end up with a bunch of clothes to wash, take care of, and it just all around sucks. I know you can bring a lot and then leave them wherever, but carrying them around until you decide to leave them can be days or weeks, and especially if you are doing a lot of traveling, that will really weigh you down/hurt you. HURT YOU. I am bringing pretty unconventional travel clothes because I will have one place to be for 3.5 months because I want variety and I will be able to leave clothes in a safe place if I travel elsewhere. After the 3 months, I will most likely leave a lot of clothing at the hotel for the cleaning ladies/anyone that wants it as I probably won't need flannel pants for a while... o_o. Yeah, I have flannel pants. Feels good, man.
This is old information for 99% of everyone, but I can't stress it enough. It's just scary and sad seeing someone carry 2 50lb bags for a trip because it's just so unnecessary. You're not moving there. Bring more neutral clothes that won't stand out so no one can call your lazy butt out for wearing it 3 times a week. I mean... I do that in the U.S., but still! Reduce, reuse, recycle: applies to travel wear also.
Here's my bag:
Shoes
My parents were on my case about getting better shoes, better arch, better support--just get walking shoes. And I hate tennis shoes. I have not liked a pair of exercise shoes probably ever. I like my sambas, my converse, but I do admit these shoes would not fair well on day hiking/walking excursions. So, I conceded and purchased a pair of more heavy duty travel/walking/hiking/adventuring shoes.... I am not proud of this purchase, but I do have a sort of affinity for hiker/mountain people fashion--it's just NATURAL and FREEEEEE. So, I found a pair that I thought was decent and went for it. After trying them on, I did notice how these could definitely come in handy. They sort of... elevated me and made me have an extra spring in my step... really strange feeling wearing real shoes for once. I'm used to slippers and rubbery-canvas shoes. Here is a photo of them:
They're not TOO ugly, right?? They're hyphy in their own respect. My dad's friend gave him very important advice: Never go cheap on shoes, spend extra money on quality shoes. I think that's true. They are something that attribute to you structurally, versus clothes that are just meh, cosmetics. Winter gear is another thing that should probably not be spent lightly on.... but that's for another day, another trip (Mt. Everest anyone??). So yeah, be sure you have decent shoes. I know looking at tourists and their shoes makes me want to vomit 99% of the time because they are just SO DAMN DORKY looking. Just like look at my little shoesies designed for meeee especiallyyyy to travel the worldddd! But, seriously, shoes are important, so suck it up and walk out and be a proud gringo, all you gringites, you.
Technologic
So bringing technology is important: to document what you're doing, to take pictures, to get videos, GPS things, communication. So I have brought three crucial things to my life in Cuba. One: my beautiful Canon Rebel XSi (no picture of...mmm...google!) Two: my laptop and Three: A NEW VIDEO CAMERAAA!
So I bought a brand new video camera that is HD (apparently, but what does that even mean anymore) that can, wait for it, take videos/pics UNDERWATER. So, beach time here we cooomeeee. The best part was that it was only $99...although we bought 2 memory cards for $29 each..but..whatever it was worth it:
So I'm excited about that... taking videos on the street, of demonstrations, dances, whatever. I want this to be a very multimedia trip as I am a very multimedia person. After all this I will have a huge compilation of things to make a beautiful slideshow/movie... Sundance film festival? Cannes? Elizabeth Winters can you get me a spot to show my filming??
When documenting a trip, it is important to realize that YOU are actually THERE. You are taking the picture, but also see and recognize what you are taking a picture of. Don't just blindly snap at things and look at them later and be like o_O? Take a moment to recognize what you're looking at, snap a BEAUTIFUL shot, take another moment, then move on. Don't just blindly point your cameras every which way--I know I'm guilty, definitely, of doing this, but AWARENESS.
When taking photos of people... this gets tricky... I always get super nervous. So I asked my friend for some advice and she told me to just do it and then have a conversation with them. Talk to them a bit, show them the photo then move on. Don't be a spy taking creepy pictures. I mean if they are in a public place doing whatever that's fine, but if you are blatantly snapping photos of them, talk to them, ask them permission. For children, the same. If the children are playing and their parents are just watching ask the children snap a shot, talk to them a bit, talk to their parents. If the parents ask for money, just say sorry and walk away! Hah, a little sketchy, but you got consent from them already and money for the photo is just them scamming a tourist. If they have a shop, you can buy some gum or something that'd be coo. Rambly rambly.
My laptop is old as crap. I got it like sophomore year of high school and used it until Senior year of high school when I got my new one for college. I know 4 years is definitely not old, but in the technology world it's like a completely different generation. Just reusing this now I'm realizing how many advances have been made since I bought this one (which was pretty pricey at the time, now would be worth a quarter of the original value):
See, it's pretty and shiny, but old and a little rusty. There's also this problem with the screen:
If it's not situated correctly it will just fall flat back like this :( so sad. But I will be using the laptop to type up stuff, put it on a USB, zip to a computer with internet and be done so I don't get slapped with a $6/hour charge :( so expensive and not worth it (slow connection). I also brought all my music and all my movies so if I ever get homesick, Chappelle's show babyyyyyy.
Toilet-trees... I never understood this word until I was like 10 probably. I always thought like.. toilet trees... oh youthful ignorance
So I brought pretty normal stuff:
The usual: contact solution, ibuprofen, AD pills, chapstick, contacts, deodorant (I like Tom's because aluminum in traditional deodorant freaks me out...also, funny story. this particular brand at Target is only found in the woman's section. So my mom frantically tried to find it in the men's section also, but, alas, I had to overcome social barriers and venture into the women's deodorant aisle and snatch myself up some tree-hugging [apparently feminine] d.o. DAMN YOU SOCIETY), sunscreen, toothpaste, and these things called: probiotics. They're essentially just a pill a day that contains 10 billion bacteria things that help your stomach and do other good things. I don't know if they actually work that well, I took them before/during Nicaragua and I was fine, but just to be on the safe side I decided to take them again for this trip just to get my stomach a little extra padding/protection. So if you think your stomach might need some protection from Montezuma's Revenge, give 'em a try!
MoNeEeYyy
The money situation in Cuba is so bizarre. U.S. banks won't allow U.S. citizens to withdraw money in Cuba for whatever reason, so I have to bring ALL my money over there (I think I already mentioned this, but it's a refresher). I converted my money to Canadian dollars to bypass the 20% tax they impose on U.S. currency when you try to convert it in Cuba. HAH. In your face Fidel. But really, 20% is a huuuuuuge chunk. So hopefully I can sidestep it as long as possible (I do have some U.S. currency also...)
When I first get there, I will have to convert my money to the CUC which is the tourist currency which means you get ripped off for everything basically. It is a conversion rate of pretty much $1USD to $1CUC, so everything will be the same price. Here's an example... An ice cream bar will be $4 (without a label) so tourists will walk in and pay $4CUC because that's all they have, but Cubans will pay $4 in Cuban pesos which is roughly 40 cents... something like that. So hopefully when I get my visa squared away and get my student ID, I will be able to use the awesome Cuban peso and avoid the plague of getting ripped off. I will still carry with me probably USD, Canadian dollars, CUCs, and pesos just to use in various places that require whatever. It's still a mystery, but, I'm gonna figure it out.
Literature
I bought 3 guidebooks for Cuba, have a 4 year old Spanish--English dictionary, and a photography book about Cuba from an Omaha born/Chicago based photographer:
I am a little sketchy about guidebooks, just because they are so gringo-ey, but I figured with 3 months, I will have a lot of time to check out the country and these books would be a good investment. You can see their titles, and they all have really different stuff. The Frommer's one is mostly maps, the Eyewitness is just a blah of information, and the Lonely Planet one has very intricate details about restaurants/museums/everything all over Cuba. They are all pretty comprehensive of the country, but I will just have to wait and see until I get there!
The dictionary is a must. Obviously. But the black book is a photography collection that my mom got me from that artist who is originally from Omaha? But lives in Chicago? I'm not quite sure. I brought just for inspiration in my photography and it contains little snip-its of Cuban culture and Cuban-Spanish. It's also autographed by the artist :) woo-hoo.
The book I ordered came in like MONDAY. Cutting it so close.. remember:
1. Don't Be Afraid, Gringo: A Honduran Woman Speaks From The Heart: The Story of Elvia Alvarado -- by Elvia Alvardo, translated by Medea Benjamin
It's a hardcover and everything. In really good condition... $.01 for an originally $28 book. Looks good to me. My friend said it was a pretty light read, but it is about 300 pages, so I'm a little weary of what a light read is to her ;) but I started reading it and it is pretty good/interesting so far. I hope it can maintain my interest so I can finish it while I'm there and apply what I learned from the book to the country whilst being there. Kind of the point right?
For future reference...
This semester, as I mentioned, I took that class with Matt. The semester before Nicaragua I also had a class with Matt, but this really doesn't relate to him. These are some books that you should pick up if you want to learn more about LAC. They may pertain specifically to one country, but the themes mostly overall cover LAC issues:
1. Don't Be Afraid, Gringo: A Honduran Woman Speaks From The Heart: The Story of Elvia Alvarado -- by Elvia Alvardo, translated by Medea Benjamin
This one's about a Honduran woman who speaks about the troubles of the Honduran people. She mentions the struggle of her growing up and becoming a woman in power in community organizing. She works in regards to acquiring land that is legally entitled to the Hondurans under the current law, but the corruption and wealthy elite are huge factors in why she can't succeed every time. Very easy to read and gives great insight into daily struggles for people of LAC.
This is the story of one woman and her interactions with the Nicaraguan revolution in 1979. She discusses her role as a woman functioning in the man-powered (literally) front for Nicaragua with the FSLN (revolutionary group). It's an interesting memoir and gives you a lot of insight into what life was like, but she was a pretty wealthy Nicaraguan and was kind of an awkward mother (as you will find out)
This man actually came to talk to our class. The book is basically a general history of modern Nicaragua mostly. It is kind of a tough read, but if you get basic information about Nicaragua first, you can follow along fairly well. It's a pretty intense read.
I didn't actually finish this book... woops. But, it is about the most deadly journey in the world: crossing the border into the U.S. It sounds crazy that that is the most dangerous journey in the world, but it really is and the death tolls are astounding! Read for sure if you want to know more about why and how people from LAC come to our country.
Well, that's all folks for now. Time to hit the ol' dusty trail. I will hopefully try to update this blog as much as possible, but it won't be as easy as it has been and it definitely won't be so comprehensive and long. I just wanted to get out some initial information/advice for travelers. So, hope you have enjoyed what you've read so far and I am heading to La Habana tomorrow!
Peace out U.S.A.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
How I am preparing and/or procrastinating...
I just found out today that my overall weight limit going into Cuba is 44 lbs.... Including carry on items, cameras, laptops, everything! They have a $1 charge for every pound over, which isn't too horrible, but they warned us that leads to suspicion and they might check through our bags to make sure we aren't bringing anything into the country to sell. How they settled on 44 lbs confuses me, but I'll play by the rules -_- , although it might end up being a challenge. I do plan on bringing my old laptop. It has since turned into a piece of crap since I received the beauty sophomore year of high school. The screen flops back if not positioned carefully and I completely restored it to factory settings, so I hope I can revive it from the depths of my trashed room. My room always gets exponentially messy. I swear, one day I will clean then one thing will be put on the ground, then 5, then 10 and next thing I know I'm swimming in a sea of clothes I may or may not even own. But it's all organized up in the noggin, no worries.
My friend told me it is not only an easy read (which... I like :P ), but it gave her more insight into Cuban politics than anything else she has read. So I am definitely excited for an easy, crash course into the Cuban political system.
I am planning on bringing a bag with WHEELS. Oh my lanta, I am never again bringing a duffel bag without wheels unless it functions as a backpack. I swear carrying ~50 lbs of crap in duffel bag without wheels destroys not only your arm usage, but your soul is actually sucked out of you. I wish I was more buff... I could handle that bag like a boss. But, come on, if you know me, carrying ~50 lbs for an extended distance is... a joke. SO, for future travelers reading this: get a bag with wheels. I don't mean the biggest bag ever with wheels, that's just too much, but anything really with wheels saves you the stress of travel. I am also bringing a 'backpacking' backpack. You've seen 'em, you know 'em. In Nicaragua 'mochileros' (backpackers) had such a terribly reputation. From those awkward conversations with the host family, I'm nervous to show up with a backpack, mandals, khaki shorts, and an awkward skin semi-burn, semi-tan, semi-PALE and just look like a total gringified idiot, but I am definitely going to leave behind the blue-blockers, Hawaiian shirts, and chubby family of 5 in matching swimsuits, so I am HOPEFUL I can find a balance between a shady, hippie Latin American wandering soul and a Generation X, McDonaldfied blubbering fool (no offense... but really ;) ).
My computer will mostly just be used to transfer photos to a portable harddrive, but I might, if I just want to chill with some downtime, watch a movie or something. But I am definitely bringing all my music in case I need to shed on anyone the glorious collection I have been acquiring for 5 years. Everything from Bhangra Beatz (what I'm jamming to now) to the Beatles Discography to Eurotrash Techno, I got it ALL. I probably won't ever encounter a wireless signal or even be able to use my laptop to connect to the internet, but I will hopefully be able to use local cybercafes or the University's system. My friend recommended me a place that charges about $6 an hour, but it was the cheapest/fastest option. I might bring a dinkier camera that doesn't take 5 mb sized photos, so MAYBE, just MAYBE I can upload some photos. I would really like to, just to keep this blog more interesting, but it is definitely not a guarantee.
Because the country is communist, there are a lot of weird things I have heard.... For example I just heard today that the government is stopping handing out soap rations because it has been deemed unnecessary, but anyone can also go to a store and pick some up.... It'll definitely be interesting to see how capitalism/socialism/communism/Cubanism all work together and how they affect me. Since I have money and I am not a citizen, I will have to rely on the free market to get what I want/need, but it'll most likely just be akin to walking to a nearest Walgreens and buying whatever I need. I will bring shaving cream, razors, and contact solution however.... Everything else will be available and most likely a lot cheaper than anything I can find here. I know, I will have to forfeit my Garnier Fructis hair restrengthening, moisturizing, color-guarding dual shampoo/conditioner combo, but the sacrifices of life! :P
I read an article about Cuba and the recent influx of capitalistic tendencies, but they mostly pertain to food and general products. I am very ignorant still, I know, but the article mentioned that while the food markets and such are illegal, they are actually crucial to the economy and the survival of many people. If you receive your rations and they are insufficient, you take your money to a market and buy a little something extra. This appeals to me. If everyone receives the basics and a certain amount being all equal under the law and whatever power, they can either choose to survive on that subsistence, or with the money they earned from working they can purchase more and have that freedom to do so. I think this makes sense for a Cuban level scale. For the US, anything close to this would involve extreme planning and extreme debate. Pick your poison everyone!
I have recently watched 2 movies about Cuba, well 3.
- The first I watched was not really a movie, but it was a documentary about the wildlife of Cuba. It was fascinating! Being a pseudo-scientist I am definitely very interested in evolution and the diaspora of species across the globe and even across a stretch of ocean. Because Cuba is an island, the species have been isolated from most external influence and competition, therefore the wildlife is extremely unique to the island. I will embed the video, if you want to watch a little of the beginning or watch the whole thing!
- The second movie I watched was a film called 'Viva Cuba!' It is a wonderful tale of two Cuban children, a boy and a girl. The film starts with their friendship and just shows general Cuban life for these 2 children. The film takes on a Romeo and Juliet-esque style in that the families of the children do not care much for each other. The girl's mother decides to move out of Cuba to the US, and her daughter is completely against it. The film shows the children's adventure across the island to visit the girl's father to convince him to let her stay on the island. I won't give any more spoilers! The film is available also on hulu and I'll embed it here, also. But it is also available on Netflix instant streaming.
- The third movie I watched is probably the most famous regarding Cuban music. It is a documentary called 'Buena Vista Social Club'. This is a documentary done by Ry Cooder in his attempt to revive these almost forgotten musicians that are well into their 70s, 80s, even 90s! He wanted to record their music before their talents and before they are completely forgotten. He also organized tours and performances for these musicians across the world. It's an AMAZING documentary. I'm always a sucker for documentaries, but this one hit a particular chord. You can just feel the music and see the passion these musicians have. Especially after hearing all their stories and hearing/seeing what they can do with their voices and instruments, it's just an incredible experience that just makes you FEEL it. I love music and whatever, but this in particular just... wow, I just felt the music. This movie is ALSO available on hulu! I think hulu has some sort of affinity for Cuba. The movie is also available on Netflix instant streaming.
Apart from watching movies, I have printed off several 'academic' articles from the Library online system when I was back at Pitt just to use up my 1600 pages of paper. I have read only one reall :P but it was so interesting! It was about sex play-labor in Cuba, focusing mostly on male participants. Basically there are those who live this lifestyle strictly for swindling people and getting money, work permits to live abroad, basically mooching off any foreigner interested in a good time. But, there are those who choose this lifestyle who legitimately enjoy what they do. They enjoy the glamorous lifestyle and truly put their emotions into everyone they service. They do appreciate the money and the opportunity to spend a fancy weekend on the beach somewhere, but they are not out to fully rip off tourists, they pick and choose who they want and look for those who appear to be genuinely good people. They are more like ambassadors to the island in a more 'carefree' manner. These 'laborers' may take their foreign interests around town, bring them to clubs, show them a good time, although they do expect some sort of payment. The article argued that this profession should not be deemed pitiful, disgusting, or that these people are being taken advantage of, just simply they enjoy living this lifestyle and enjoy having a sort of power over foreigners in their own manner.
I just recently bought a book on Amazon for $.01 (with a $3.99 shipping fee of course), but I am desperately hoping it makes it to Omaha in time. It was recommended to me by my same friend who gave me a world of advice. But the book is called 'Without Fidel' by Ann Louise Bardach.
This last semester....
I took 2 classes relevant to Latin America and the Caribbean. One was called Introduction to Latin America and the Caribbean and the other was Hispanic Civilizations. The first was basically a crash course introduction to prominent themes in Latin America/Caribbean--I will probably now abbreviate it as LAC, fyi--such as: (neo)colonialism, imperialism, US influence, revolution, migration/immigration, and the list goes on. The professor was Matt Rhodes, the same professor who spent time with us in Nicaragua. He is an amazing human being/professor and my best friend... just kidding... but really. Anyway, in that class we had a final project we had to choose ourselves based on a country in LAC. I chose Cuba, of course, and I focused on racial relations and kind of the history behind what has happened in Cuba regarding these relations. Here are the links to my powerpoint and my actual paper if anyone is interested in reading through them (do not click the big download button in the middle, scroll down to where it says 'Save file to your PC' and click that, do not do anything with the big DOWNLOAD in the middle, it's just a dumb ad :(, also do not steal my paper/powerpoint for your own usage or I will hunt you down). In summary, here's some prominent bullet points I found most interesting in my research project for that class...
- During the conquering and colonization of the 'New World', many philosophers and scientists debated the justifications for the actions of the conquistadors. They came to the conclusion that these people were sub-human, they were living in the forest, their religion was false and based in satanism and animistic rituals. From this, they deduced that the conquistadors/Europeans were helping these people find God and civilization.
- After the Haitian revolution, Europeans/Spaniards were terrified of Black/African revolt. Many slave owners from Haiti moved to Cuba and brought with them tales of horror of Black angst and aggression. Spain tried to stop revolt in other colonies, such as Cuba in a few ways: they reminded Cuban slaveowners of the Race war (the Haitian Revolution), spreading rumors/stereotypes about African religion and culture being full of devil and idol worshiping and other rumors about African sexuality being animalistic in that, because they were subhuman, they acted most like animals in a crude and impure sexual manner. These stereotypes still continue today. Many people when they think of the Caribbean think of Voodoo and African/Indigenous creole shamanism. The most prevalent, I feel, however, is that of stereotyped Black sexuality and its prominence in the sex labor business in Cuba. Many people still perceive Afro-Cubans to be exalted sexual objects and are deemed desirable for many sex tourists searching for the most exotic and culturally distant sexual experience.
- Cuba was one of the last places in the 'New World' to eradicate slavery, so a lot of the racism and discrimination based in slavery hasn't had the time to heal and diminish as much as possibly here in the US. However, a surge of Cuban nationalism sought to eradicate this racism and Spanish rule. The nationalists argued for men to all be equal under a new Cuba, and there was success in that every color of man was seen working together after Spanish eradication, until US imposed a new wave of neoimperialism from 1898 -- 1902. From this, several US business owners purchased land, claimed ownership of natural resources, and basically shattered the nationalists' dream of a new Cuba by reinstating those same inequalities as before: the rich got richer, and the poor got poorer, meaning Black/African former slaves were put right back down to the lower levels of society.
- Then the Revolution happened. We all have heard something about the Cuban revolution, the glorified figures of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. During the revolution, Fidel wanted to reclaim the nationalist ideology and push forward with the equality that all deserved as a Cuban nation. Part of his plan to eradicate Cuban racism was to lower housing costs to allow former slaves to move into better neighborhoods and he also instated anti-discrimination laws to protect the former slaves. These are both debatable, but have allowed for former slaves to move out of more dangerous, poorer areas, and the anti-discrimination laws have been somewhat effective, but most people believe these acts were flimsy at best and have not aided the situation as much as Fidel believes. He believes that these acts (as well as others I have not mentioned, surely) have ended the war on racism in Cuba. This is most completely false, but the issue no one is really allowed to discuss the issue without being possibly reprimanded by the government.
- Today in Cuba, there are efforts by Afro-Cubans/Blacks to push the discussion into the open and bring the Mestizo (mixed European and Indigenous heritage) population into discussing the same issues that affect them being essentially of darker skin than others that appear more European, essentially more 'white'. They have even pushed their efforts outside of the country. Just this year in Pittsburgh (of all places) there were a few events focused on Cuba, particularly on race. One event was a Cuban rapper named Soandry who came to perform in Pittsburgh and around the US, but I unfortunately did not get to see him perform (my parents were visiting). Here is a youtube sample of his music:
- Another event was one that I was actually able to attend. It is an exhibit (that is still ongoing as of this post) at the Mattress Factory in Pittsburgh. I went with my friend Hannah and it was pretty sweet. The exhibit is called Queloides which in English is keloids. Keloids are (according to dictionary.com) an abnormal proliferation of scar tissue, as on the site of a surgical incision. I believe this refers to the scars left from years of oppression and discrimination on the Afro-Cuban population. Here are some pictures from the Mattress Factory website of some examples of the artwork (if you click through, it will take you to the page and give you more information about the artist/what you are looking at):
As I mentioned earlier, this exhibit was directed specifically towards racial relations in Cuba as you can probably tell by prevalence of Black/Afro-Cuban peoples painted. I hope you noticed a familiar face (President Obama) as he plays an interesting role in Cuban/the world's race relations. If a man of color can obtain power in a 'Western' country, it simply gives the Afro-Cuban population hope for a better, more equal future.
The other class I took was Hispanic Civilizations or more colloquial, Hispanic Civ. In this class we covered a thousand topics from pre-Colombus times to revolution. In this class we focused more on a critical view of LAC. We learned about the tactics used in regards to the power of text, the advantages of both sides (Europe and the Indigenous populations) during the colonization, the role of women, the role of the mestizo/creole/slave, so so so many topics they are jumbling around in my head right now. I won't go into them, because most of what I learned about Cuba I applied in Matt's class and discussed said points in my paper and in the above bullet points.
So that was how I prepared this semester academically/culturally for this upcoming adventure. I started this post a few days ago and didn't get a chance to finish it then and I got a little sidetracked from what I was going to say, so I am just going to leave it here at this heap of information. I am cleaning, packing, and jamming to Cuban music. I am trying to read those 'academic' articles, but bleh. I am still on 'winter break' and it feels good.
Monday, January 24, 2011
more of a detailed explanation:
So here is the: Pitt in Cuba facebook page. It's a little out-dated and I'm the only one that 'liked' it besides the Pitt study abroad page. That has some information, but maybe you'd like to 'like' it also to see if there's any updates that we can't necessarily get out, but the study abroad office in Pittsburgh can? Who knows! But we should show every program at Pitt some support! Here is the Pitt in Cuba official page. The website has changed recently I guess, and this one is already updated for 2012! But I'm assuming it's the same information.
I facebook creeped someone that popped up on my newsfeed and saw that she went to Cuba and I was like: must creeeeeeeeeeeeeep. She had wonderful photos and I decided to message her in hopes of acquiring as much information as possible. Just this week we had an hour long skype session about it. She was/is too helpful. But here's our dialogue over facebook. She will be anonymous just because that might a bit too creepy...
I just wanted to include this conversation because it covers a lot of questions already and they are answered by someone who has already done the program, just to give you an idea what to expect for me!
I will go over some of the basics..... a lot of this information is just what I've been told/speculated... so, I'm not sure how much is exactly true (but that's the fun part, right?)
Living Situation:
I will be staying in a hotel/hostel in Havana, Cuba (if you have not figured that out yet). The University rents out rooms for students (most likely foreign exchange students, but I'm not sure), but the hotel still functions as a regular hotel. The hotel is called: 'El Hotelito Viejito', I believe, and I couldn't find any website or anything. Each room will hold 2 students, so I will have a roommate. His name is Eric and he is a senior at UPitt Johnstown. I'm not sure of any of the other accommodations, but there will be a safe for each resident... I think. The rooms will be cleaned and the sheets will changed just like a regular hotel (kind of freaks me out, but, hey, I won't complain), but my goal there is to meet these employees that clean the rooms, especially my room. Under the communist-esque reign, everyone is guaranteed a job, so many of these employees were just assigned to the hotel and sometimes too many people are working at once so all they have to do is just stand around. Perfect for a good conversation! Maybe I will make this a baby-project. I definitely want to do my project that I wanted to do in Nicaragua: take pictures of FACES. So, maybe I will do that. start with these employees and then attach their stories to the pictures! Awesome.
The hotel is supposed to offer 2 meals a day to us as part of the program fee... such as part of our room & board/meal plan. I've heard the breakfast is fantastic, but it's always a gamble for lunch and dinner. My friend mentioned a boiled eggplant soup o_o.... kind of outside my comfort zone. I am normally not too picky... in Nicaragua I would eat anything and everything. There was one time... this bean paste soup with hardboiled eggs in it... that was a bit too much. BUT, other than that, the rice, beans, avocados, platanos, everything... so good. I will hopefully find cheap eateries around Havana also to take advantage of... most likely for lunch. I know in Nicaragua going out to eat for dinner was pricey because that's when the wealthier/tourists would go out to eat and, of course, spend more money. But since Havana is a bigger city with more nightlife, I'm hoping to find some cheap nighttime excursions. I would prefer to dine out at night.
The hotel is about a 10 minute walk to the University and is real close to everything Havana. I really don't know much and I don't think I really want to know much right now. I want to kind of get there and just be like this: O_O and explore (I've been really into making faces lately...o_O). I don't know how long it will take me to get accustomed to the Havana layout or even how big it is. I could be way off. Leon was very small, and I stayed close to the center--which was easy. Havana is a capital city and according to Mr. Deardoff's human geography class, the Latin American city layout is completely different from the U.S. Maybe I just pulled that out of my butt, or maybe it has merit. I think this is what it's like... I'll just have to explore myself!
I got it, I got moneyyyyyy
I decided to include this here because it just came to me and I think it's one of the most interesting aspects of this experience/trip/study abroad situation. Because of every political situation ever, I am not allowed to withdraw money while in Cuba. This means I have to bring all my money, in cash, to the lovely island. I am debating how much to actually bring, but it's definitely nerve-wracking to think about the possibility of running out of money! I am definitely going to have to be money conscious, but that's usually not a problem for me. I am just ALWAYS a sucker for souvenirs. For example, I bought a leather bottle case (it is painted and adorned beautifully) and it has a long strap... to like... carry on my shoulder. Why did I buy that? Who cares, I don't. It's awesome. But, awesome was affordable when I had an ATM a block away. Awesome in Cuba can mean no meals for a day :O. The sacrifices I might make. But really, I will be fine. Just dealing with so much cash freaks me out.
The U.S. currency is taxed in Cuba, heavily. For every ONE dollar you convert, the government takes off 20% of it. So you're left with $.80. It might not be that much of a loss for minor exchanges, but if I want to exchange $300, I lose 20% of that! This is why I am going tohopefully bring Canadian dollars, which I believe do not carry an excessive tax.... Things will for the most part be cheaper in Cuba, I believe. I think I can find $1 meals, but there will also be $10, $20, etc. I'll just have to figure out what I want to do/what I can do when I'm there. I definitely went into Nicaragua with a lot of expectations and so many were shattered... from that I've taken on a new mentality of never assuming. It's good to be educated about a destination, but that can only take you so far.
My Edumacation
I will be an official student at La Universidad de La Habana. Because I am an official student, I am considered, basically, a resident of Cuba. Because of this, I can use the Cuban peso currency (or as they say la moneda nacional) instead of the CUC which is basically the tourist currency. More about the currency later. At the university I will be taking 4 classes.
Here is what the Pitt site says about what I will actually be studying while in Cuba:
Students will enroll for 12 credits on the Pitt in Cuba program. All courses will be conducted entirely in Spanish and are organized as follows:
1. Core Course
Pitt in Cuba will be organized around a core course in Cuban studies, which all students must take.
2. Language Instruction
The University of Havana requires that students enrolled in this program have completed at least 4 semesters of Spanish language instruction or the equivalent before they apply.
All students will be assessed upon arrival in Havana and placed in the appropriate level of Spanish. The levels of Spanish will be matched with the appropriate Pitt course number for the level of Spanish. All courses will be approved by the chair of Hispanic Languages and Literature at the University of Pittsburgh.
3. Film Course
All students will also take a class on Cuban film studies.
4. Additional Course
Students will take one additional course from selection of offerings in the School of Arts and Humanities. Details of this course are still being finalized and will be published as soon as they are confirmed.
I will choose the last course from a list that they show me when I get to Cuba. Right now, I have no idea! I could choose Cuban Island Botany, Marxism, any class that I want. The real question is whether this class will count towards anything at Pitt. I know I'll receive credit, but will it work for my major, minor, certificate, gen-ed--only time will tell! It's definitely a mystery.
I am unsure of the advantages available to me as a student in the city. My friend told me that university students are highly respected, especially foreign students who come to learn and not to simply snap a few pictures and leave. I am interested in possibly joining some clubs, tutoring English language students, anything really.... I just really want to meet other Cubans around my age! In Nicaragua, it didn't happen as well as I wanted it to :( , but I am going to try in Cuba! I hope my Spanish/cultural barrier doesn't affect my attempts too much.
Outside of ^that^
I don't really know what else to expect without regards to school and the living situation. Who knows what kind of friends I'll make. Who knows what habits/hobbies I'll start. My friend gave me some contacts down there, so I'm definitely on a good start for meeting new people and starting a new social life, albeit a short one. I expect to smoke the forbidden Cuban cigar and sip (chug??) the sweet Cuban rum, dance my rummed bum off, but really I'm not going into this with any fixed ideas. I would love to volunteer and join clubs at the university, but those might not be legal for me or those opportunities might not even exist. One thing I know for sure is I want to complete some photo projects I have in mind and still take a million and one pictures. I regret my selection from Nicaragua. It was always scary bringing out such a device. I didn't want to intimidate/anger anyone and I didn't want to look even more like an outsider snapping shots here and there without taking time to appreciate the actual PHYSICAL object. You will see a plethora of photos the week of May 15 and beyond when I have photoshop and a strong internet connection ;)
If you have any questions, email them or leave them in the comment box and I'll try to address them in another post before I leave or maybe while I'm there!
con mucho amor,
John
A week and some change...
Hello everyone and welcome to my (hopeful) blog about my semester spent in Havana, Cuba.
This past summer I had an amazing opportunity to spend 6 weeks with an amazing host family in Leon, Nicaragua as part of the Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS) Field Trip Seminar they sponsor every summer to a different area of Latin America. Part of this program was living with a host family and experiencing Nicaraguan culture, more essentially: a study abroad experience. The twist, however, was that it was officially a research based field trip designed for students to conduct research and write a paper based on our findings. I had another blog devoted to this time, but I unfortunately did not keep up with it that much, and I was a little distracted most of the time (in a good way). My research was done a little... naively, I would say. But I did manage to write a pretty hefty paper focused on the toils and tribulations that Native Nicaraguan English teachers go through, with both their and their students' experiences mentioned in the paper. If you ever want to read it/skim through it, shoot me an email before I leave for Cuba, or after I return.
I loved my abroad experience this summer.... I met amazing friends both from Pitt and the lovely city of Leon. I couldn't have asked for a better family. Well technically it felt like two! I slept basically at the grandparents' house and hung out mostly in a pharmacy (so interesting). My host mom was the most hilarious and hardworking woman EVER, my host dad was the proudest and most hardworking man EVER, my host brothers and sisters (when I saw them, they lived at the other house and traveled often to Managua) were inviting and shared the same sarcastic, witty, funny spirit of their mom (my host dad was their step-father, but they definitely treated him as their biological father). My host cousin was most like my host sister, always working at the pharmacy everyday except for Saturday when she would go to classes to study Pharmacy.
I was a bit naive jumping into that program, I was a freshman looking for opportunity and I wanted to continue to distinguish myself from the rest. It wasn't enough to move across the country, it wasn't enough to live in the honors dorm (which I will always appreciate, no matter what), it wasn't enough to have one of the craziest jobs on campus, and it wasn't enough to take 18 credit hours second semester--I needed something more. I found this program and was enthralled by how mature it sounded. I would be in control of a project that I would choose.
So I spent a semester in the class leading up to the journey, discussing project ideas, learning about Nicaragua, reading books, reading articles, hearing speakers, all the while ignoring the fact that I really had NO idea what I was doing. It was an opportunity. Opportunities happen anywhere and everywhere and for me they usually just fit right in and I can handle them fairly well. This journey, however, was a bit too much for me, and in hindsight the cost was substantial and the outcome was less than desired. I did, however, take with me the most important and crucial aspect: love for Latin America and studying abroad.
I came home over the summer and well... kind of fell into a stupor. I don't want to go into too many details, but it involves a lot of the past, freshman year, the future, and an over-thinking, anxious brain (mine). The stupor still tugs at me today as I am writing this, but I am getting over it. I have made several positive decisions to push me forward and have tried my best to keep pressures and worries to a smaller scale, to make this crazy transition in my life possible. I couldn't imagine that going to college would be this intense, and I definitely went into the journey naive and full of expectations, ignorant beliefs, and an overly confident attitude. Being honest, I wasn't prepared for college life as best as I could have. The years of self-medicating and self-philosophizing (this makes sense to me (: ) were definitely warped and manipulated in ways that I didn't imagine. I wasn't emotionally/mentally/physically prepared for the transition, but I'm glad I did it. I have met amazing people and have conquered a year and a half (ish) away from my comfort zone, and although the toll has been hefty, I am still trucking on and refuse to stop.
I decided halfway through 1st semester this year, I needed a change. I was of course going to finish the semester, but I didn't know whether this change meant transferring schools, quitting altogether or if it was something minor like switching majors, or quitting my job. I decided I needed a completely new atmosphere that wasn't shrouded by people I truly care for, and I figured I'd study abroad. I figured a new place with a new me was exactly what I would need/the only viable option if I were to stay at Pitt (for financial reasons), yet still be away. I didn't think I was actually going to study abroad, but I needed something different and I saw it right there on my facebook newsfeed: Pitt in Cuba. Was it a sign? Maybe. Did I decide to pursue it? Why not? It is a Pitt sponsored program which meant to me:
- I didn't have to deal as hard with any bureaucratic bullshit regarding grades and credits transferring, financial aid covering costs, getting anything and everything approved--it can be a nightmare from what I've heard.
- I didn't have to deal with any 3rd-party bullshit including weird application fees and requirements that I just did not want to worry about. I also wouldn't have to rely on them accepting me, me waiting to hear from them, and THEN starting step 1.
- The program goes to CUBA! The mythical land stereotyped and ignored so heavily by US culture and public education, I figured I had to experience it for myself. Only a handful of schools even have this program in the US, so I should take advantage of something unique to Pitt to distinguish myself I suppose (sorry, graduating from a school with the 2nd tallest educational building in the world just doesn't cut it for me... but the nationality rooms... yeah, those make the cut).
- Although the stereotypical study abroad stigma is easy classes and having fun, I was skeptical about the grades transferring as a letter grade back to main campus. That freaked me out. But, I've since learned the classes are less troublesome than normal, so BRING IT GPA STEROIDS.
- I WANT TO LEARN SPANISH. I am definitely pretty proficient in Spanish... but Cuban Spanish is a different story. I learned a lot of Central American Spanish being in Nicaragua and so I'm hoping I can adjust pretty well, then transform into a beautiful Spanish rambling gringo.
- I am tired of the US right now. No, just wait, hear (read?) me out.... I'm not some anti-establishment, uber-liberal, crazy student who spent a week in Mexico who thinks I have a right to betray the homeland. Everything has just felt SO politically-charged here recently that it's just blowing my mind. I am exhausted of environmental disasters, horrible economies, lying politicians, assaults on civil liberties, the Wikileaks/Julian Assange issue becoming a new pseudo-McCarthyism-witch-hunt-crusade-wild-goose-chase-of-Indiana-Jones-with-some-super-secret-relic-or-secret-that-will-completely-change-the-world-look-how-long-this-is-it-probably-isn't-anywhere-near-grammatical; (a semi-colon felt appropriate there) so I am just tired of everyday something new and tension causing is creating a huge dichotomy in this country that is just disgusting to watch. Where is the unity? Where is the discussion? People are so rooted in their ways nowadays (compared to my vast experiences in the past as a 19 year old :|), that it's even hard to ask each other to sacrifice five minutes for a favor or ask a friend to do something that is not their top choice. Not saying I'm not stubborn, but when I relinquish my stubbornness and see so much still emitting from everyone like it was their natural body odor, it irritates me. I want that stereotypical laid-back Caribbean lifestyle. I know I won't necessarily have it, but I want a place where it's normal to take 20 minutes to stroll somewhere without worrying your late, I want to not exist in an atmosphere where the "American Dream" pushes people to all-nighters and sketchy, back-stabbing competition. The "American Dream" as I see it, isn't valid for me, nor is it even correct in it's very derivation. "America" expands 2 contents and 35 countries, a fraction of which experience what we stole as the "American Dream". I've put myself under a lot of pressure to keep up with the Jones': AP credit, Honors classes, joining clubs, taking exams, going to college, getting a job, joining new clubs, getting an assistantship, taking way too many credit hours than I should be and I just want to say: for now I am done.
- I know it's ironic: I'm leaving one politically charged country and entering CUBA, one of the most famous countries known for its super-charged-politics; but alas that's not what I'm after.
Sorry if this is turning into a huge rant that makes me sound like an uber hippie punk that took a 6 week vacation and came back as a "changed man", seeing the world anew and fighting for world peace. That is very true, I might have come back a changed man, I do see the world anew, and world peace will always be a distant dream that I will probably never see, but I do have opinions regarding inequality and world history/politics based in my education, that would probably group me with these crazy hippie liberals (but I'll keep off your lawn).
Cuba for me isn't about anything political (as I mentioned), nor is it anything about me wanting to change lives or share with the world the horrors of an "underdeveloped" country; it's about me right now, and that's all I want it to be. I will take pictures of children, some probably wearing dirty shoes with holes, people, going about their lives selling fruit, art, or clothes, the ambiance, the run down buildings, almost mummified 50s Chevrolets, but remember this is their reality, and you have yours. Don't compare development from the United States to a place like Cuba. Every country has its own organic, personal development model that works for that country. Sometimes things get hazy, children are hungry, people die, wars start--but it's their country, their situation, and most importantly their business. We can and should help, of course, if needed and wanted, but we shouldn't look down with pity at the poor children playing with sticks and rocks or the $2 paycheck an employee will receive for the day, try to just accept their situation without comparison and try to understand how this happened in the first place. Education! Either it'll freak you out, enlighten you, bore you, or simply let you pass on by.
I wrote this straight through and it might not make sense, maybe I'll edit, maybe I won't, but I hope you have some insight into what I am doing, who I am, and what I'm thinking. A lot of people ask "why Cuba?" and the answer isn't straightforward, at all: a little escape, a little adventure, a little self-renewal/acquisition, whatever. Superficially: I'm going to be living in La Habana, a walk away from the ocean, enjoying mild, summer-like weather, hearing Spanish everywhere I go, seeing a place almost trapped in colonial times, and hopefully making relationships with people, places, and overall the experience itself.
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