Pt. 1- Thanksgiving
Usually Thanksgiving reminds me how much I love my family and good food, but since this entire trip has made me realize those things, Thanksgiving this year was more about how much I love to be in a kitchen. There’s something inexplicably wonderful about being in a kitchen, even if you’re not cooking. Perhaps it’s the sense of community or perhaps it’s the perks - like licking clean the bowls that held banana bread batter or chocolate frosting. Needless to say it’s always been my favorite place in the house and spending two days cooking up a storm was two of the most soulfully satisfying days I’ve had recently. One of our chefs at the residence Tato, went to all extremes in order to help us and even taught me how use a meat grinder in order to make perfectly lump-less mashed potatoes since we didn’t have a masher. I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but those mashed potatoes were probably the best mashed potatoes I have ever made.
The dinner was amazing. Tiana and I set up the tables in a big “U” shape and then made flower arrangements for each table. The food was set out on the inside of the “U” in a buffet style and everyone could pick what they wanted. We probably had about 8 dishes ranging from Mac’n’cheese to eggplant Parmesan. All the dishes turned out perfectly and we were worried about not having enough food but it was able to feed all they people who were eating and still there were leftovers. We invited our professors, our tour guide who has gone with us on almost every trip outside of Habana, some Cuban students we met with who are learning English in University, and other friends we’ve made during our time here such as an American woman living here and working for Granma. We also invited kids from Harvard and UPenn. In total we were probably about 35 people and the room rang with a mixture of English, Spanish, Spanglish, and Cubañol until that moment when the only sound you hear is forks on plates because everyone is too busy enjoying the food.
So that was my Thanksgiving. And of course I missed my family and I imagined all the good food that was being eaten at my sister’s house and how nice it would have been to be there, but our Cuban Thanksgiving was pretty damn good and I was surrounded by new friends and it was certainly one of my favorite Thanksgivings ever.

Pt. 2- Everything else
My God, where to start. It apparently has hit us that we only have 3 weeks here and we’ve all been trying to cram as much stuff into our free time as possible which has made it so I have a lot to write about and that’s not including what I’m learning in classes or in a paper I’m writing on immigration from Cuba to the US.
On Saturday Aidan, Tiana, and I went to Regla with our friend and tour guide Jesús. Regla is a part of Habana but it’s across the bay so you have to take a ferry to it that costs 20 Cuban cents. When we were boarding they searched our bags which was surprising and Jesús explained that it was because in the past people had high jacked the ferry in order to get to Miami and the last time it happened which was about 10 years ago, people were killed so now they check for weapons. As we crossed the bay we threw coins into the water for Yamaya and made wishes and discussed how much money must be at the bottom. The water was slick with oil and Jesús said that there was a refinery that dumps a lot of waste into the bay, you can see the refiniery from Habana with it’s huge smoke stacks, one of which shoots fire out the top. The day before we had had a class on the environment in Cuba where we learned that there were a lot of interesting things going on in terms of preservation and reforestation but they still had a long way to go and some initiatives were nearly impossible due to lack of money and they had to wait until they could find foreign investors, perhaps this was one of those initiatives. Already a power plant had been shut down along the bay because there was too much pollution.
A note about this class: We went to a huge park that sits on a watershed and separates Habana into two parts and it’s preserved existence is essential for Habana’s existence. As a man who works for the park talked to us about the environment and what Cuba is doing in order to build more environmental awareness we slowly all realized that both our vans parked outside were running and had been running for the past 30 minutes. This is a big problem in Cuba, the state awareness is there but on an individual level, it’s perfectly acceptable to throw your beer cans in the ocean or drop your crash in the street.
When we reached Regla we went to the Church of Regla, which was the reason we were going there in the first place. The church is interesting because it is shared by Catholics and people who practice Santeria. There are other churches in Cuba where this occurs as well such as one I went to in Santiago de Cuba but I still find it intruiging that the churches and the saints seem to be shared in relative peace. In the church is the Vírgin de Regla or Yamaya as she is known in Santeria. She is dressed in all blue and is the saint of the sea. What makes her unique is that she is a black woman, which I thought was cool since you normally don’t see any saints of color in churches, which I could go on about, but will refrain. The church itself faces the bay and during mass the doors are always left open so the Vírgin de Regla can see it. In reality, I wish I knew more about the church or the Vírgin but really, I am just regurgitating everything Jesús told us. There were a lot of people there though and it’s interesting to see the differences in a Latin American/Caribbean church and a European church, I think they’re both kind of creepy in very fascinating but very different ways. I only say creepy because whenever I go into a church I feel like I’m surrounded by ghosts, and ghosts give me the heebie jeebies.
After the church we went to Jesús’ mom and sisters’ house for lunch because they live right around the corner. They made us rice and beans and cut up hotdogs that were delicious and being around a family immediately comforted me, and when we had to say our goodbyes I wanted to stay a little longer.
That night Aidan, Tiana, Ana, and I set out for a jazz club called La Zorra y el Cuervo or The Fox and the Crow. We got all dressed up and then walked over, stopping to get ice cream from a man who supposedly has the best homemade ice cream in Habana (he has a scout who goes from house to house each day trying different peoples’ ice cream and whoever has the best one he buys and takes back to his boss who sells it in a little stand on the street). The club is underground and was everything a jazz club should be (minus the 80 year-old European tourists who apparently were unable to move their bodies in any sort of rhythmic way). It was dark, low ceiling-ed, smoky, and crammed with tables and people smoking cigars and drinking. The band, I wish I had caught it’s name, took a second to warm up and everyone sat a little tensely hoping the musicians would get more into it. When they finally did…I don’t really have words for it. There was a phenomenal piano player, a bass player who held it down, a kit drummer and a percussionist, and a mind-boggling trumpet player. They wailed their way through 3 hours of jazz and it was amazing. By the end all the old extranjeros had left and only the kids remained and the club was wild. They closed their set with a nearly unrecognizable version of “Dos Gardenias” and it was great, everyone was moving and hooting and I really wished that my dad could have been there because he would have been going crazy. When it finally ended it was about 2:00 in the morning and so we all walked home exhausted and reeking of cigarette and cigar smoke but so happy and we all plan to go back again before we leave.
I have so much more to write about but I also have a few papers to work on and I guess it’s time to do something academic after 3 months of enjoying the sun, reading for pleasure, exploring Habana, and taking naps. Hopefully I can write a few more times before I leave, I have 3 weeks now and it freaks me out but I’m trying to enjoy the time I have as much as I can.