Hello From Cuba – Part 4 – Bureaucracy Galore –
Hello From Cuba – Part four – Bureaucracy Galore – The University Of Havana
Yesterday I had to sign up for my Spanish route on the University of Havana. The Campus of the University is an astoundingly pretty series of classical constructions and a Cuban tank graces the entrance to the library.
At 9 am all of the overseas scholars, approximately forty of them, met inside the Edificio Varona and we had been shepherded by various professors into a completely antiquated lecture corridor. (By the way, of the 5 or 6 washroom stalls in the womens bathroom, in simple terms 1 or 2 have toilets in them, no lavatory seats, and no running water within the sinks. Again a signal of exceedingly run-down infrastructure…)
There they instructed us approximately this system, yet handiest in Spanish, which was k for me, seeing that I communicate Spanish, however about 1/2 the workforce was wholly misplaced. We then needed to do a brief written placement test to assess our existing Spanish potential and then the forms began.
We stumbled on out that we needed the following data:
– a duplicate of our passports
– an legitimate copy of the resort visitor card and/or a replica of the licence of the exclusive Casa Particular
– two hundred CUC (Convertible Cuban Pesos) in revenue for a 2-week route or extra for other courses
– forty CUC for altering our vacationer visa to a tutorial visa (in financial stamps which we had to attain abuot five km away)
– 2 passport photos
– 25 CUC in dollars to expedite our educational visa if we're in town for merely 2 weeks.
I associated up with a host of international students and we headed off at the same time on our quest to meet the Cuban want for Burocratismo. We first obtained revenue at bank on the Hotel Havana Libre, then obtained the passport snap shots carried out (to be all set for pickup three hours later), then sought for the alternative financial institution on Calle 23 that might deliver us with the 40CUC stamps for the academic visa. With relatively long lineups world wide, this took us about 2 or 3 hours.
Then we bought definitely hungry and we have been approached by means of a regional “Jinetero” (eating place tout) who promised us a full meal with predominant dish, salad and facet dish for 6 or 7 CUC. We walked with him, most effective to find out that the wait on the Paladar (private eating place) would be approximately forty five minutes to even take a seat down, not inclusive of meals preparation time.
So we walked up Calle 21 and a inner most restaurant proprietor approached us for a meal and we gave in and got here interior. It turned into a pleasing colonial villa, except for that the guest room with is essential 3 tables and 12 seats became in a darkish small dingy room completely with no home windows.
However, we had a delicious domicile-cooked meal, I had roasted hen with rice & beans, salad and a lemon comfortable drink, fascinated by eight CUC (about 8 US$). 2 of my student colleagues had been from Germany and the alternative fellow is from Toronto as properly, but in the beginning from Poland. We had a few huge conversations and it turned into enjoyable linking up with a host of Europeans in Havana.
After a short relax in the lodge, my friend Pedro to come back picked me up within the evening and I couldnt lend a hand but inform him about my trip with the Cocotaxi driver the day before today, who had attempted to opt for me up, no matter my clarifications and statements that I changed into married and no longer curious about any amorous pursuits.
Pedro explained that sexual kinfolk in Cuba are a notably straightforward, straight forward-going aspect and that it's miles very user-friendly for folk to link up for swift “meaningful overnight relationships”. He observed the Cuban employees as very “passionate and hot-blooded”, I bet that explains a few the advances that I have been receiving up to now, rather on the grounds that there's also highly many of intercourse tourism wherein males (or even females) come to Cuba to have interaction in honestly attainable erotic experiences.
Pedro and I walked using the antique town and of path along the Malecon (the seafront side road) and observed the eye-catching Plaza Vieja and https://blogfreely.net/sionnatarw/moving-to-panama-significant-united-states-of-america the Plaza de l. a. Catedral wherein a mass became being held for the passing of Pope John Paul II.
This used to be very attention-grabbing, when you consider that Cuba is a Communist / legit atheist nation and there are a great deal fewer Catholics right this moment than ahead of the Revolution. Actually plenty of Cubas faith is a mixture of Catholicism and Santeria (non secular practices of the African slaves). Regardless of religiousness, Cuba has declared a 3-day “duelo nacional” (a nationwide mourning interval for the Pope) and the mass was attended via tons of of laborers.
Pedro and I then had a pleasant meal inside the “Barrio Chino” (Havana’s Chinatown) for 5.60 CUC (less than US$6) for two worker's and a couple of vegetarian nutrition and soft drinks. After a pleasing dinner he again flagged down a local individual motor vehicle driver and gave him approximately 1 CUC for deciding upon us up and shedding us off at my Hotel. At dead night I dropped into mattress, exhausted.
However, at four am this morning I woke up with great intestinal complications. Apparently my Chinese meal had now not changed into me so neatly and I had extreme digestive trouble emanating from equally aspects of my frame. This morning I realy felt rotten and I ended up with the aid of my possess medical package for the 1st time and took some Immodium.
I changed into not able to devour breakfast, however I made my approach to the collage in which at nine am our courses commenced. Surprisingly the location scan had put me into the extent of “perfeccionamiento”, the very best level and the level of Spanish in my elegance used to be certainly very prime. The magnificence comprises 7 pupils, a young girl from England, a younger woman clinical scholar from Denmark, a center-aged girl healthcare professional from Finland, a young male rules scholar from Sweden, a younger female and guy from Norway and myself from Austria/Canada.
Obviuosly there's a particularly heavy Scandinavian slant in my category and it seems to be everyone within the elegance is a passion sociologist, political scientist, environmentalist and historian. We asked a few somewhat demanding questions on Cuban existence, the political process, the monetary hardships, the double economy, the concern of women and blacks in Cuba, machismo and the state of affairs of the ecosystem.
Some of these questions made our female professor think relatively uncomfortable and it gave the impression like she became squirming below the barrage of probing political and sociological questions. She obtained very defensive several instances approximately the Cuban formula and merely when we mentioned the nice and horrific elements of European and Canadian societies did she chill out a bit of and transform slightly more open and frank approximately the actual Cuban life. It appears that to this day Cubans ought to be very careful approximately what they are saying in public.
For instance, she frankly admitted that racism nonetheless exists in Cuba and to at the present time it truly is nevertheless a country with a number of machismo. However, she did no longer admit that Internet get right of entry to and get right of entry to to non-Communist media is forbidden for Cubans, she without difficulty explained it as an monetary limitation. (Several of my colleagues had heard in another way in their travels in Cuba, purely that a Cuban is absolutely not allowed to have access to the Internet). She also admitted that it isn't really allowed for Cubans to visit the visitor places of the Cayos (e.g. Cayo Coco) that's completely reserved for vacationers and Cubans don't have any access to that region whatsoever, a certain aspect of competition one of many locals.
Class ended approximately 1:20 and my disenchanted abdominal did not let me to consumption any nutrition. I headed again to my motel, slept just a little and have been at the Internet for the past 2 or so hours (racking up a invoice of approximately $US 20.00 or s0), documenting my experience.
It’ll be a quiet nighttime this night considering that I am looking to quiet down my abdominal. But I am confident the adventures and the gaining knowledge of will continue the next day to come.