Learning the town and thunderstorms

September 13, 2016

Learning the town, thunderstorms, jobs well done

Having realized that all of my volunteers knew the schedule and that the hosts would provide escorts, I slept a bit late, only to discover that we have one sick volunteer(not GI, just fever and cold sxs).  After getting her settled with ibuprofen and liquids, I headed out to explore a bit on my own.  The quiet wifi park had an exercise group underway.  When I later inquired of one of our local team, she said:  "that's for old ladies"; guess I will fit right in when I show up tomorrow!

Browsing through the town, I wandered into the library, the local stores(not much to see, except a lot of cheap shoes) and the local market(trinkets of one sort or another).  The streets are filled with lively people of all ages, much laughter and color, despite the physical changes that the poor economy and neglect have brought.  There are signs of renewal, with many homes and larger buildings clearly having attempts at restoration.

I found my way to the church, where Suzanne P was ensconced with the sewing group, working on a rug.(this is hard to describe, some combo of crocheting and hand knitting).  Let's just say that she is a quicker study than I am; at the end of the morning there seemed to be many more "Hasta mananas " aimed in her direction than in mine.

We headed to the community center to meet the team, stopping at our restaurant of choice to checkout the menu.  Arriving at the community center, we found an energetic and happy team; having experienced all sorts of adventures earlier in the day:  don't pull the wrong plant at the gardens!, ran out of paint at the community center, etc.  All in great spirits.

A lovely siesta followed lunch, with time with a swim(and water dancing with Phil) before the skies lit up and opened; the resulting storm cooled off the temperature considerably; making our evening much more tolerable.

After a filling, but not fantastic dinner(how many more meals including rice and beans do we have? ) we headed to the community center for our teaching; hopefully more prepared than last evening.  Our hosts had heard our suggestions, and had rearranged tables and chairs to allow us to spread out the students better, and not be so claustrophobic !  Over 50 students joined us, again age 5 to over 60!  Suzanne, Suzann and I took on the "little " ones again, this time ready for multiple rounds of Ring Around the Rosie, Simon Says, and Hokey Pokey.  Ring Around the Rosie was the biggest hit!

An excited and rejuvenated team ended the evening with drinks and ice cream; satisfied with jobs well done and blossoming new relationships.  

Hasta manana!

With love from Cuba

Barbara

Sending the team off to a first day of work

September 12, 2016

Sending the team off to work, wifi access, teaching English and a kiss on the cheek

Bright and early, our gardeners, clad in hats, sunscreen, and gloves headed out with their host to work in the garden. Kind of like sending kids off to their first day of school.  Next the "maintenance" crew,  including Phil, headed off to work on a sanding and painting project at the Community Center.  Lastly, the sewing and English teachers headed out for their work sites.  Sounds complicated, huh?  The whole schedule had my head swimming, until I realized that these are adults, not kindergarteners, and each team was graciously picked up and escorted by a local team member.  What a difference the intense involvement of the community makes.

After visiting with the sewing circle(I could have stayed there all day!), I had to resume my team leader duties:  getting lunch orders, scouting our dinner restaurant, getting dinner orders....you get the idea.  Suddenly it was time for lunch, and by some magic all the team converged on the Community Center.  Joined by many of our host team members, we enjoyed a simple, but filling lunch and had a short meeting(how's it going? What's for dinner?  Oh, the schedule has changed).

Instead of returning to the hotel for our afternoon break we headed to the silver factory, where the artists make all manner of jewelry and art from old silverware.  Well, so, ok, I couldn't resist, and we will come home with a couple of pieces.  Very hot and tired, and I had a delicious swim before Phil lead a group to the wifi park for attempts at connecting with the world beyond Cuba.  This proved both exciting and frustrating, as not all functions worked, but mostly all were thrilled to have at least some contact with home.  I was stunned to find that I can't access my CU Course dashboard from out of the country, and I am trying to figure out how I will keep up on my course, stay tuned on that one.

At Garnish Restaurant we were served in our own private room,  Ropa Viega(a direct translation of which is old clothes). I will leave the rest to your imagination, but it was delicious, and combined with the best rice and beans we've had, as well as papaya and pineapple, it was very filling.

Our last activity for the day was 2 hours of English teaching.  Suddenly the Community Center was filled with 30 laughing, shouting Cubans of all ages, from 6 to over 60.  It was noisy and chaotic, frustrating and claustrophobic for some, deeply satisfying for others.  Just when I was wondering how much we had accomplished with our challenging 6 and 7 year olds, little Nathan came over to give me a kiss on the cheek, and say "until tomorrow"

Missing all of you

With love from Cuba

orientation and a (long) church service

September 11, 2016
A city lost in time and a long church service

Morning came quickly after a late evening of organizing and delivery of small welcome bags for the team.  At a lovely room overlooking the surroundings(cows and horses), we enjoyed not so strong coffee, yogurt, omelettes made to order.

A walk into "town" took us past a lake, with an egret standing guard, beautiful steel sculptures, and the wifi park.  Ciego De Avila seems like a city lost in time:  once elegant brightly colored buildings with ornate steelwork stand as they were, guardians of a past time of prosperity. Homes and businesses that were once proud and likely luxurious stand as they were:  still inhabited by local families and businesses but in disarray and disrepair. The old cars from the early 1960s line the streets, some pristine, others rusted and beyond help.  Horse carriages line the bigger streets, replacing the usual motorized taxis.

Arriving at the money exchange, I was definitely prepared for a long wait( I mean, 12 people from the USA, all trying to change different amounts of money?).  Suddenly I realized from my air conditioned perch, that it was my turn!  Fast and furious, the two cashiers had efficiently (and with warmth and good humor), exchanged everyone's money.

Onward in the sweltering heat for a short tour of the town, including Jose Marti Park, and then back to Emanuel Baptist Church , where we joined in the Sunday morning service.  We were greeted warmly by both Eduardo, as well as the congregants, as the Cubans do like to say hello with a kiss!  Most of the service was in rapid fire Spanish, so I was in the dark, but we could understand the flavor of things, and the music was lovely with beautiful voices.  From what I could tell, Eduardo gave a fiery sermon about the role of the church, but as someone commented, he does "go on for a bit".

After greetings to "go in peace", our hungry group enjoyed our first ride in a "coche y caballo"(horse drawn carriage) to arrive at the community center for a scrumptious and typical lunch of rice & beans, pork, and my new favorite: fried plantain chips.  

Eduardo started off our orientation with passionate words about the relationship with Global Volunteers:  it is a bridge between two countries, it is the way of the future, it is not about how many weeds you pull, how much English you teach, or how many walls you paint, it is about the relationships between people that will lead to change and lead to mutual understanding.  He made my job easy after that: explaining Global Volunteers philosophy of service, he had said it all.  And way more articulately than I could have.

Despite some groans and grumps from some veteran Global volunteers, we proceeded with our goal setting and orientation activities.  This is a great team and rapidly came up with goals, characteristics of an effective team, as well as a schedule of who would do which projects tomorrow.  By 4pm a tired, very hot, but organized team headed back to the hotel for beer, mojitos, and a delightful swim in the pool.   From what we've seen so far of the Cuban people, I shouldn't have been surprised that the pool was full of family and friends, loud music, and lots of dancing!

A short walk through the nearby sculpture park lead us to our restaurant for the evening, where after some struggles with language and menu items all was settled with pork, fish, chicken, as well as beer and wine.  Then ensued a lively conversation about the politics and history of Cuba(only partially informed by the facts!), as well as sharing of photos of dogs and kids.

A tired but seemingly content team has dispersed for the night, and it is very quiet in our comfortable room.  Looking forward to some great sleep, before our work projects begin tomorrow am.

With love to all of you from Cuba
Go in peace
Barbara

The team gathers

Friday, September 9, 2016

It was cool and dark when Marty and Jane picked us up to head for the airport this am for the start of our journey towards Cuba, with a stop in Miami.

An uneventful, but long day , brought Jane, Phil, Suzann and I to the Miami International Airport Hotel:  something of a relic, although recently renovated, located right in the middle of the busy departure terminal.  Arriving in Miami is something of a culture change: many languages all around, but predominance of Spanish:  starting to get my ear attuned to rapid fire Spanish.

A quick Uber trip, with, guess what? a Cuban driver......lead us to a wonderful Spanish dinner at Casa Juancho where we feasted on Spanish beer and paella, accompanied by roving musicians.  On the way back to the hotel, our Uber driver, from Nicaragua, expressed his dismay at the behavior of some of the Miami Cuban population; he was surprised we were going to Cuba! Kathy arrived next, and after catching up on everyone's latest news, we headed for our cozy(not large) rooms to settle in for a long day tomorrow. 

Looking forward to the gathering of the rest of the team; we will be 12 altogether by tomorrow evening when we all convene in Santa Clara, Cuba. Hoping that the new American Airlines flight is uneventful, and our arrival smooth.  We hope to be in Ciego de Avila, our home for the next 2 weeks, by late evening tomorrow,

With love from Miami, and in great anticipation of the work to come,

Barbara

The Team Gathers in Miami: To Cuba tomorrow

Friday, September 9, 2016

It was cool and dark when Marty and Jane picked us up to head for the airport this am for the start of our journey towards Cuba, with a stop in Miami.
An uneventful, but long day , brought Jane, Phil, Suzann and I to the Miami International Airport Hotel:  something of a relic, although recently renovated, located right in the middle of the busy departure terminal.  Arriving in Miami is something of a culture change: many languages all around, but predominance of Spanish:  starting to get my ear attuned to rapid fire Spanish.

A quick Uber trip, with, guess what? a Cuban driver......lead us to a wonderful Spanish dinner at Casa Juancho where we feasted on Spanish beer and paella, accompanied by roving musicians.  On the way back to the hotel, our Uber driver, from Nicaragua, expressed his dismay at the behavior of some of the Miami Cuban population; he was surprised we were going to Cuba! Kathy arrived next, and after catching up on everyone's latest news, we headed for our cozy(not large) rooms to settle in for a long day tomorrow. 

Looking forward to the gathering of the rest of the team; we will be 12 altogether by tomorrow evening when we all convene in Santa Clara, Cuba. Hoping that the new American Airlines flight is uneventful, and our arrival smooth.  We hope to be in Ciego de Avila, our home for the next 2 weeks, by late evening tomorrow,

With love from Miami, and in great anticipation of the work to come,
Barbara

The Cuban Experience Begins at Home

Wednesday evening, September 8 2016

Some of the bags are packed, Persey's stuff is ready for her trip to Bergen Bark Inn early tomorrow am.  Having had long conversations with our team at Global about all the Cuba logistics, I am feeling confident(well, kind of) about everything going smoothly for our arrival in Santa Clara on Saturday on one of American Airlines first  commercial flights to Cuba.

Meantime, my gracious and wonderful Spanish teacher, Don, arranged for Phil and I to spend the evening last Saturday with his dear lifelong friend Waldemar, a retired architect who left Cuba at the age of 21 in 1961.  He welcomed us, strangers, into his lovely Lakewood home.  With my meager attempts at practicing Spanish, we got started:  learning about his young adulthood, his parents, his exit from Cuba, and his many years in the United States.  His slide show of his recent return to Cuba told the story of his journey home to bury his aunt, renew his Cuban ties, visit his childhood home(found in much decay) as well as his school and childhood haunts.  The photos revealed the poverty and aging of his old community outside of Havana.  He spoke longingly of the Cuba he remembered and despairingly of the changes, the decay, and the poverty of  the Cuban people.  He admonished us to "just smile", even if we disagreed with something the government was doing, warning us that the "government will be watching you".  He gave us advice about money, transportation, language and culture.  Finally, he wished us safe travels and good luck. 

More to follow from Miami and Cuba.  Meantime, thanks as always , to everyone at home and at work who will be carrying on and taking care of everything while we are gone.  

With love from Genesee,
Barbara