varadero!

We're back from the beach and headed right into another week. Varadero was just as beautiful as everyone told us it would be and we had perfect weather for the whole weekend. I'm beginning to understand why Cuba was the mafia's playground before the revolution. So close to the US and incredible beaches/climate.

It was a great weekend trip despite the tiny- yet dramatic - electrical fire fright at the beginning of the trip! I'm sure you'll hear the stories later :)

another full week...

on our way into the Feria del Libro - held at the fort in Havana

It's Friday afternoon and we just finished our 'evaluation' (which is our weekly check-in) and are waiting for lunch. As soon as we're done with that we'll head out to Varadero - a carribean, white sand beach.
 
We all reflected on how quickly this week went and how full it felt. Tuesday we visited the Literacy Museum (more on that later - a pretty incredible place), Wednesday we spent the afternoon at the Book Fair, and yesterday we toured the University here in Havana and spent the evening out dancing and listening to live salsa. Not to mention class every morning and readings on Cuban history and Marxism at night.

I'm physically exhausted, but enjoying all that I'm learning and hope to write a more meaningful reflection on some of it at some point next week. For now: vamos a la playa! :)

cold front, warm heart

It’s a chilly afternoon and I’m happily cuddled up in bed reading Cuban history and analysis of Marxism and napping on and off occasionally.

The group schedule originally had a trip to the beach (only about 40 minutes away) planned for Saturday but mid-week all of the locals started talking about the ‘frente frio’ (cold front) that was moving in and how it would be an awful week to head to the seaside. I’ll admit that I was skeptical; not actually believing that it would get very chilly but it rained all day Friday and after spending the first two weeks here in tank tops and shorts we all threw on long sleeves and sweaters. It’s a welcome change, really. And it’ll be 90 and sunny again by mid-week, so hopefully the trip planned to Varadero (another beach) next weekend won’t also be cancelled.

Hard to believe we’re wrapping up week two already. Our ‘evaluation’ or check-in of sorts that we do each Friday was really interesting this week. Lots of good things, but there are also some frustrations surfacing. And I could feel it in myself too – I was homesick this week and unjustifiably bothered by little things.

Being away on my birthday is always harder than I expect it to be. Some of you know that I wasn’t sure I’d even tell people here it was my birthday…but since my host family got my passport information before I even arrived, it was never up to me. :) They had plans from the beginning – and since I’m living with the daughter of the director of the MLK Center, there was a big cake at lunch and singing and a formal blessing from my host-grandfather wishing me health happiness and ‘un buen mozo’ (a good husband). In the evening we all went out as a group and after the first two places we attempted to get into were closed we ended up at a third venue and had a blast bonding and dancing until far too late in the evening/morning.

I must also mention that the brightest parts of this weekend were receiving so many beautiful emails from loved ones all over the world. I feel so fortunate for the windy, sometimes unnerving, always exciting path that has been my life up to this point. This last year has been one of enormous learning and of being pushed to be mindful and of realizing how much of a choice I have about whether or not I am happy. I can’t say how powerful of a realization that’s been – something so seemingly simple.

And with all of that in mind I must also say thank you to all of my teachers and friends and inspirers and all of the people that have been the reason that those simple lessons finally started making sense. Thank you.

quite taken

Sunkissed and exhausted after a lovely Sunday afternoon of mojitos, good political conversation, and a long walk along the malecon (a boardwalk of sorts along the shoreline), I’m feeling quite taken with Cuba.

Clearly I’m in the honeymoon stage – but Cuba seems to have all of the marvelous parts of tropical Latin America (and more) with so much less of the crud. Of course any place has its crud. Dirty streets, smog in the city, noise, long lines, bad service, cat calls and kissing noises when you walk by…but there’s less of it here. And so much less of the really awful crap – next to no crime or violence, low levels of corruption, and rare is the beggar or passed out drunk or child asking for money.

Imagine this: it’s not ‘risky’ to make the 25-minute walk home from work/the MLK Center, with a purse, alone! And when I commented “I probably shouldn’t take my computer since we’re going on the bus” my host moms laughed at me. The fact that crime is almost a non-issue makes taking care of a group of young foreigners a whole lot less stressful and it changes the way communities interact. I should probably put that the other way around – it’s likely because of the way communities interact.  Whatever the cause, it changes everything, this absence of fear of the people around you. I don’t know if I realized how much that fear has affected my experiences in Latin America over the last four years. And now that it’s gone, it feels…well, liberating.

And the conversation! I’ve had incredible conversations with Cubans on just about any topic – clearly I’m spoiled with my host family – my two host moms are progressive, highly educated pastors. They differ in perspective and table discussions are fascinating and always educative. But beyond them, I’m continually amazed with how *much* Cubans know about their own history, about global history, about politics and economy and health. It’s really fun. They also talk more than I’ve ever been talked to. Hardly ever in my life have I had to really fight to get a word in edgewise…Cubans give me a run for my money. I’m working hard to listen more and am enjoying what I’m hearing. I’m certainly learning. My perspective and paradigm are being stretched and pulled in interesting and exciting ways.

I’ll say it again. I’m taken.

que linda es!

My Cuban adventure has begun!

It is baffling to me to think that a week ago I was running around with my shoulders to my ears on one of the coldest days of the year in Minnesota as I prepared for departure. It has always stretched my understanding that a person can be in two entirely different realities in such a short span of time. I’m one lucky girl: this spring I have been given the opportunity to work with CGE’s new semester program in Cuba for three months. The 12 students, 2 professors, and I hopped on a charter plane in Miami on Monday afternoon, and a half hour later landed in Havana.

Walking down the roll-up staircase to exit the plane and toward the one-room airport, we were embraced by the soft-sunlight and gentle heat of late afternoon in ‘winter’ in Cuba. There were a few questions about our visas and the typical waiting that happens when you travel in a group of 15 before we headed to the Martin Luther King Memorial Center (our home base for the next three months) in the working class neighborhood of Marianao.

To our surprise we were greeted there with dinner and our homestay assignments! We hadn’t even put down our bags before we were being welcomed into our new families. And they have been beyond welcoming; students are acclimating incredibly well and programming is moving along beautifully.

I feel incredibly blessed to be here and can’t wait to process and share some of the things that we’re experiencing. That being said – blogging will be a challenge given the internet situation here. Wi-fi is nearly non-existent and when you can manage to get a connection the social networking sites (among many others) are blocked. My dear mother has agreed to ‘administer’ the site if I can manage to send her text (and maybe even pictures occasionally) through email.

Thank you for all of your kind thoughts and support through these last few weeks of transition. I am so grateful for such an incredible support system!