Hello From Cuba – Part 4 – Bureaucracy Galore –
Hello From Cuba – Part 4 – Bureaucracy Galore – The University Of Havana
Yesterday I had to enroll for my Spanish path at the University of Havana. The Campus of the University is an astoundingly exquisite selection of classical constructions and a Cuban tank graces the doorway to the library.
At 9 am your entire international scholars, approximately 40 of them, met in the Edificio Varona and we were shepherded by way of diversified professors into a very antiquated lecture hall. (By the way, of the five or 6 washroom stalls within the womens bathroom, basically 1 or 2 have bogs in them, no lavatory seats, and no walking water in the sinks. Again a sign of notably run-down infrastructure…)
There they advised us approximately this system, yet basically in Spanish, which become ok for me, when you consider that I discuss Spanish, but approximately 1/2 the community become thoroughly misplaced. We then needed to do a immediate written placement examine to assess our present Spanish talents and then the paperwork begun.
We came upon out that we vital the subsequent data:
– a replica of our passports
– an respectable replica Extra resources of the motel visitor card and/or a duplicate of the licence of the personal Casa Particular
– two hundred CUC (Convertible Cuban Pesos) in income for a 2-week course or greater for different courses
– 40 CUC for changing our traveller visa to an instructional visa (in monetary stamps which we had to attain abuot 5 km away)
– 2 passport photos
– 25 CUC in dollars to expedite our instructional visa if we're in town for most effective 2 weeks.
I associated up with a number of overseas students and we headed off collectively on our quest to fulfill the Cuban want for Burocratismo. We first bought income at bank at the Hotel Havana Libre, then acquired the passport snap shots completed (to be in a position for pickup three hours later), then searched for the alternative financial institution on Calle 23 that may supply us with the 40CUC stamps for the academic visa. With ultra long lineups in every single place, this took us approximately 2 or 3 hours.
Then we obtained easily hungry and we have been approached by using a regional “Jinetero” (restaurant tout) who promised us a comprehensive meal with predominant dish, salad and facet dish for 6 or 7 CUC. We walked with him, basically to discover that the wait on the Paladar (confidential eating place) may be about forty five minutes to even take a seat down, not including cuisine coaching time.
So we walked up Calle 21 and a exclusive eating place owner approached us for a meal and we gave in and got here internal. It turned into a pretty colonial villa, apart from that the visitor room with is essential 3 tables and 12 seats used to be in a dark small dingy room thoroughly with out home windows.
However, we had a delicious homestead-cooked meal, I had roasted hen with rice & beans, salad and a lemon comfortable drink, thinking about eight CUC (about eight US$). 2 of my pupil colleagues have been from Germany and any other fellow is from Toronto as neatly, yet in the beginning from Poland. We had some first-rate conversations and it changed into intriguing linking up with a number of Europeans in Havana.
After a brief leisure inside the lodge, my pal Pedro back picked me up in the night and I couldnt lend a hand but inform him approximately my ride with the Cocotaxi driving force the day past, who had tried to decide on me up, despite my clarifications and statements that I turned into married and not fascinated about any amorous movements.
Pedro defined that sexual family in Cuba are a fantastically long-established, gentle-going element and that it's very straight forward for folks to link up for fast “meaningful overnight relationships”. He noted the Cuban folk as very “passionate and scorching-blooded”, I guess that explains a couple of the advances that I were receiving thus far, especially since there's also rather a variety of sex tourism where men (and even females) come to Cuba to engage in definitely a possibility erotic experiences.
Pedro and I walked simply by the ancient the town and of route along the Malecon (the seafront side road) and noticed the alluring Plaza Vieja and the Plaza de los angeles Catedral in which a mass was being held for the passing of Pope John Paul II.
This became very pleasing, seeing that Cuba is a Communist / reliable atheist country and there are a whole lot fewer Catholics as of late than prior to the Revolution. Actually a great deal of Cubas religion is a mix of Catholicism and Santeria (spiritual practices of the African slaves). Regardless of religiousness, Cuba has declared a three-day “duelo nacional” (a national mourning length for the Pope) and the mass became attended by using a whole bunch of folks.
Pedro and I then had a nice meal inside the “Barrio Chino” (Havana’s Chinatown) for 5.60 CUC (much less than US$6) for 2 employees and a couple of vegetarian food and soft beverages. After a nice dinner he returned flagged down a neighborhood deepest car motive force and gave him approximately 1 CUC for picking us up and dropping us off at my Hotel. At hour of darkness I dropped into mattress, exhausted.
However, at four am this morning I awoke with major intestinal complications. Apparently my Chinese meal had not develop into me so effectively and I had critical digestive complications emanating from each aspects of my physique. This morning I realy felt rotten and I ended up via my own clinical kit for the first time and took a few Immodium.
I became unable to devour breakfast, however I made my approach to the university where at 9 am our periods commenced. Surprisingly the placement take a look at had positioned me into the extent of “perfeccionamiento”, the top degree and the extent of Spanish in my magnificence turned into certainly very top. The class incorporates 7 students, a younger woman from England, a younger girl scientific student from Denmark, a center-elderly female health professional from Finland, a young male regulation scholar from Sweden, a young woman and man from Norway and myself from Austria/Canada.
Obviuosly there's an extremely heavy Scandinavian slant in my class and it looks everybody in the type is a hobby sociologist, political scientist, environmentalist and historian. We requested some tremendously challenging questions about Cuban existence, the political components, the economic hardships, the double economic climate, the place of adult females and blacks in Cuba, machismo and the main issue of the surroundings.
Some of those questions made our feminine professor consider highly uncomfortable and it looked like she was squirming beneath the barrage of probing political and sociological questions. She received very shielding a number of times about the Cuban equipment and simply after we mentioned the good and undesirable facets of European and Canadian societies did she loosen up a bit of and come to be a little bit extra open and frank about the real Cuban existence. It looks that to nowadays Cubans ought to be very cautious about what they are saying in public.
For example, she frankly admitted that racism still exists in Cuba and to at the moment that is nonetheless a country with plenty of machismo. However, she did not admit that Internet entry and get entry to to non-Communist media is forbidden for Cubans, she only defined it as an economic subject. (Several of my colleagues had heard another way of their travels in Cuba, in reality that a Cuban shouldn't be allowed to have access to the Internet). She additionally admitted that it will not be allowed for Cubans to go to the tourist locations of the Cayos (e.g. Cayo Coco) that is exclusively reserved for tourists and Cubans don't have any access to that vicinity whatever, a precise aspect of contention one of many locals.
Class ended approximately 1:20 and my disappointed abdominal did not let me to consumption any nutrients. I headed back to my motel, slept a bit and have been at the Internet for the previous 2 or so hours (racking up a bill of approximately $US 20.00 or s0), documenting my day out.
It’ll be a quiet night this night when you consider that I am seeking to calm down my belly. But I am sure the adventures and the researching will preserve tomorrow.