Day ? (I’ve lost track of the days!)

6/24
For the next two nights, we are staying in the Arenas Blancas in Varadero, a resort city outside of the larger city of Matanzas. The pools are beautiful and huge. We can have as many drinks and snacks as we want, every meal is included, there are Spanish, dance, and bartending lessons, sports activities, their own club, and, surprisingly, other American (granted they are loud and rambunctious).

The schedules have been jam-packed with information and it feels like our brains are being overloaded. Today, we went to an art school for 3rd through 9th graders. We saw the students performing, and we were all very impressed. The 6th graders who were in their second year of classical ballet training looked like pros already. Classes start for them at 7:10am and end at 5:30pm. In normal schools, classes end at 4:30pm. Some students at this art school live on campus because their houses are too far away. Unlike at Claremont Middle School, the students only have math, social studies, and language arts every day. The other classes occur with less frequency (e.g. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays). This ensures that all students have access to a holistic education. Further, students are graded beyond just academics. The final mark includes character traits, such as punctuality, attendance, work ethics, etc. In the U.S., students may receive a citizenship grade but it has no effect on GPA and in fact in Oakland Unified as long as you pass the CST (California Standardized Test) you can move on to the next grade/class. Note that passing this test in math is equivalent to getting 60% of the questions right. In comparison, the standardized tests here are included as part of the final mark in addition to the other factors mentioned above.

There have been interesting conversations regarding censorship. A lot of our group members ask questions such as “How do you teach critical thinking when the government discourages dissent?” “Is there another reason for why there is no internet access amongst the populace?” “What do you think of the limited TV/media availability?” which are always answered as if there is no realization that America thinks of the Cuban government as a repressive dictatorship. My question is this: what is the purpose of asking a question? Is it curiosity? To learn from the culture? To share our American opinions?

In the evening, we went to see a music show at the Teatro Mello in Habana. It was AWESOME! It reminds me that in the Bay Area, I really should go see more live shows. I was absolutely amazed at the talent on-stage. The keyboardist and frontman for the group was incredibly talented and his stage presence seemed to carry forth a full-body immersion of the music into his every fiber. The drummers – traditional and African drums – were continually smiling at each other as if there were invisible messages flowing back and forth on the stage in a language only familiar to them but whose sound effects could be heard by the audience. It left me feeling so energized and elated.