The whole group had lunch at Castillo de Jagua today, but Madison, Pepe and I were at a different table than the rest of the group. It was fun but I think that the waitress (the same as yesterday) hates me and Madison or something because she wasn't as nice to us and today she never brought the flan that we had ordered, and Pepe had to ask her again after we'd already asked to pay. So then we had to go to the art museum without any dessert. :(
My class today was really interesting. We talked about the Santeria religion and the orichas (gods), watched a video of the oricha dances and we danced too a little. Tomorrow is the excursion day and we are going to the Museo de Chocolate to chat and practice. I need to remember to make a PowerPoint for my final theme this Thursday, however.
The whole group had lunch at Castillo de Jagua today, but Madison, Pepe and I were at a different table than the rest of the group. It was fun but I think that the waitress (the same as yesterday) hates me and Madison or something because she wasn't as nice to us and today she never brought the flan that we had ordered, and Pepe had to ask her again after we'd already asked to pay. So then we had to go to the art museum without any dessert. :(
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Last night we went to a club called 1830. I had been imagining a typical US club--a dark space with loud music--but this is Cuba. It was actually painted wrought-iron chairs and tables on a patio with beautiful views of the sunset over the ocean. The drinks and music were excellent and the people their danced a lot and very well!
This morning I felt a little better but I still had a cough and obviously I'm still sunburnt.
We went to the Museo de la Revolucion today. It's a building that used to be the Presidential Palace so there's a mix of things from the time of Fulgencio Batista and artifacts from Che, Camilo Cienfuegos and the Castros. It's interesting that there are still bullet holes in the wall of the building from gunfire during the Revolution--there are more than 300! They also had busts of Jose Marti, Simon Bolivar, Benito Juarez, and Abraham Lincoln. There were caricatures of the US presidents Ronald Reagan and the two George Bush's with another of Fulgencio Batista. Outside of the museum there's the Granma Memorial with the yacht in which Che and Fidel arrived in Cuba, planes and other vehicles from the Revolution, and an eternal flame for the martyrs. (Written the next day, June 7)
Yesterday we went to the Regla Museum in the morning. It's a small museum, but it's really interesting because it explains the Santeria religion, which is a mix of Catholicism and African religions. Each god (oricha) has its own animal, colors and a saint with which it's syncretized. I remember that in Miami (in Little Havana) I asked Pepe why there were so many rooster sculptures, and now I know that it's because of the influence of Santeria. Several of the "warrior orichas" are connected with the rooster, including Eleggua, who is syncretized with the Holy Spirit. As I suspected, the directors/professors did not let me switch classes today. I had to wait for Teresa (the director) and she was a bit late and then she told me there isn't space (physically) for me and that I can change to classroom two on Monday. This made me pretty upset since I've been trying to change classes for four days, and I couldn't spend another day in intermediate so I decided not to go to class today. I called Pepe first and told him the situation. He told me that Sarai would go today and talk with them. I told him that I was too frustrated to go to class, and since we only need 80% attendance, I skipped.
I can't believe I've been in Cuba for five days already! Today I began to get out and explore more, and mostly on my own because I'm afraid that no one else seems to want to do the things I want to do here.
Unfortunately it rained again today. I hope that this weekend it doesn't rain because I went to add my pictures to my computer and it made me sad--I don't have many and not really any good ones. I'm hoping to change that this weekend. I'll be bringing along my big camera for some "serious photography". But of course it will help out a lot if it doesn't rain. |
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