The Guys

I feel like I've been really picking up on the Cuban lifestyle this past week, or at least the sleeping patterns. AKA, I haven't been getting much. Some of the girls had already been friends with this group of Cuban guys, and since I hit it off well with one of the guys, I've been spending alot of time with them as well this past week. The guys are Yohandy, Alex, Ruben, and Jose. There are a few others that come out too, but these are the ones who are always around and who are a really good time. With them, we've been playing lots of dominoes and going out salsa dancing. I don't think I've ever felt as incompetent in my life as when I'm on the dance floor with Yohandy. Basically, Cubans are born dancing. I was not. This puts all of us girls at a slight disadvantage. But it's so much fun trying to learn anyway.

Dominoes, thankfully, is much easier to pick up on, especially given my time in DR and all the sessions at Penguin's with people from Sociedad. A lot of our nights are spent just hanging out, sharing some rum, and laughing over dominoes. I'm really glad that we've become friends with these guys; it adds another dimension to life here to have contact with Cubans. You become alot more aware of the realities here and what Cuban life is really like.

One interesting dynamic in the relationship that we have with them is that we have money and they don't, to put it bluntly. Before we ever came to Cuba, Profe told us that if we were going to go out with Cubans, it was more or less necessary that we'd pay for them to get into a club or bar or whatnot, because they couldn't afford it (the cover to the last discoteca we went to would have been about a third of Yohandy's monthly salary) otherwise. Obviously for us, it's worth it to pay their way because it's fun going out with Cubans and dancing and talking with them. But I know it's also hard on them; Jose and Yohandy have talked with Whitney and I, respectively, about how they don't like us paying for them. That's why, a majority of the time, we end up staying in with rum and playing our own music and dancing (which I think is just as fun as going out anyway). Like I said, it's not such a big deal to us, but I keep trying to put myself in their situation. I thought about Boston and how, if I want to go out for a drink at night, I go without thinking twice about it. There are so many things that I take for granted at home, and being here makes me see it alot more clearly. I wish that the youth from Sociedad could experience life here; a lot of them have talked about wanting to make more money or have more hours. I can understand that, and granted it takes a lot more money to live in America than it does here, but I want them to understand that they could have it so much worse, as well. As could we all.