Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Matanzas, Cuba
By now perhaps one of you has received a postcard from me, with two Cuban postage stamps, one for 30 centavos, the other for 35, and postmarked either Havana or Matanzas. If and when they arrive, please email me. I am curious to see how long it takes and whether they arrive at all.
The Cuban government loves to blame everything possible on the bloqueo, the U.S. embargo. Such is the case with the non-existent-to-abysmal postal service between the two nations. Was it Bostonian-turned-Philadelphia’s own Benjamin Franklin who coined the term “Necessity is the Mother of Invention”? Whoever said that wisely presaged the invention of the Cuban Pony Express.
Some of you may already know that, as part of my volunteer job in Cuba, I was asked to translate a booklet of daily devotionals titled Su Voz, which is published here in Matanzas. Since last February I have received scanned copies of the booklet. I then translate the devotional for one or two calendar days and email it to one person, who then forwards it to a large distribution list. That distribution list multiplies itself as well. So there are hundreds, perhaps even thousands now, of regular readers of these brief daily meditations penned by a small group of Cuban Presbyterian pastors from around the island. Su Voz is published quarterly and includes three calendar months of daily writings about half a page long, based on a short passage from the bible. I don’t know yet how many of these booklets are actually printed or to whom they are distributed here in Cuba. I do know that it has not been easy to obtain a copy in the U.S.
Friday, September 23rd, 2011
Varadero, Cuba
This is dedicated to my dear old (boy) friend Tim Lewis of Roslyn, Georgia, whose 55th birthday it is today. And whose look-alike, a youth pastor from Huntsville, Alabama, I just met last week at the Seminary. (Depending on how much more of this Bucanero Cuban beer I down before I quit writing, I may or may not go into more detail about that.)
A picture may well be worth a thousand words, but I shall continue to have to describe in words each of the marvelous photos I’ve taken this afternoon, because uploading them takes forever.
I am sitting at a typical enclosed outdoor patio table of wrought iron painted white, under a permanent pergola made of white-and-yellow-striped canvas and a lush vine with my favorite periwinkle color of flower. The lanterns have just been lit on the columns supporting the corners of the pergola, and the church night custodian has just turned on the outside fans upon my request. The only other guests at this addition to the Varadero Presbyterian Church are a doctor and his family, and they just walked by on the way to the beach, which is a block away. I’ve just returned from my second trip to the beach today, and I may yet return for a third, after a late dinner and another spectacular sunset.
The pictures I have already taken are not of that sunset over the water, although I do plan to get those shots any minute now. The pictures on my camera from a couple of hours ago are of vehicles of all sorts: a horse and carriage; motorcycles with the cute little side-car, bicycles of all sorts, and of course many of those “classic” old American monstrosities which grace every avenue and driveway and many are adorned with a “TAXI” sign. But the best photos I took this afternoon were of the mothers and fathers and grandmothers picking up the children from the local day-care or nursery school: on bicycles! And the bikes all had the most ingenious child seats: in front of the handle bars, in front of the seat, and behind the seat. And sometimes all three, with each occupied by a little kid.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
The Seminary, Matanzas
It’s not like anyone here could possibly replace any one of you back home. And yet, perhaps as a result of living at this ecumenical seminary, I am already surrounded and blessed by several men, women and children, from the very young to very old, on a daily basis. Each one of them seems to have the same effect on me as my own dearest family members and friends. There’s Marielys, who was born the year I was first married, just a bit older than my Zoe, and who shares her inner sweetness and is already more like a daughter to me than a student. Marielys is going home to the center of Cuba this afternoon, to help take care of an ailing mother and grandmother in the town where she and her husband will eventually become pastors. She asked me to stop by their apartment at dinner time to take her husband to dinner, or he will forget. I asked her if I could take him to the movies afterwards, too. This young married couple, second-year students in a five-year course of study, seems to be the party central of the seminary campus. They invite me over for un cafecito every day after lunch, and hosted an impromptu dinner party there a few nights ago, with a game of dominos and all!
There’s Aitana, who shares the great charm and impulsivity and outgoing personality of my Ashley and my Livia. Aitana is a force to be reckoned with, very confident and commanding. She is equally generous, to a fault. The minute I mentioned that I wanted a straw hat, she brought me the perfect one the following Monday, after going home for the weekend. She notices every article of clothing and jewelry I am wearing and does not hesitate to register her compliment or complaint. The necklace I wore on the plane from Miami to Havana somehow got all tangled up and I have been struggling for weeks to fix it, only making it worse. I gave it to Aitana and 10 minutes later she triumphantly presents it to me. We were in the dining hall and everyone at the table gasped and said how beautiful! Today at lunch Aitana says to me, “Profe, we need to take you to the hairdresser…how about this afternoon?” A couple of hours from now, I’ll be getting my first Cuban haircut somewhere in the city of Matanzas.
In Varadero this past weekend, I met a woman who could easily double for my mother, if I needed another mother, which I do not. And I have two colleagues, professors with degrees from the University of Havana, who regularly reflect the modest intelligence and perspicacious pedagogical astuteness of my older sister.
I have yet to find a gorgeous Cuban woman who cries as easily as my baby sister but I have a feeling I will soon find someone to remind me of Lucia.
Alice is coming to spend her Christmas vacation with me!
Matanzas, October 14, 2011
I found myself so overwhelmed by so many new experiences that my writing could not keep up with it all, so I stopped writing. I am going to hit the send button on this or it will never get out.
Love to all and please do write back.
Elisa
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