2.1.10 Blogging instead of Reading

Hey everyone, hope you’re well.
This morning involved a Spanish placement test, and the acquisition of Tupperware. They happened. Neither were major triumphs nor defeats in my book. Tomorrow, I shall be assigned to a level of Spanish. If it is not high enough for tufts standards, I may try to swing up, but I can’t understand hardly anything Cubans say, so I’m disinclined to try it. Vamos a ver.
In the past few days I think I’ve witnessed a lot of Cuban love. The machismo here is a very strange thing. It is so different than in our culture. An example is below:

Veronika is talking with a 30 something year old man in Spanish at the local outdoor vegetable market. She signals for me to come over for help. ‘Buenas’, the man acknowledges me, but quickly focuses his attention back on Veronika. ‘I want a wife equal to you’ he tells her in Spanish. ‘oh, thanks’ she replies. He asks her if she wants anything from the vendors. I tell him that we’re all set. The fact is we have discovered that the best days for the market are Tuesdays and Sundays. Most of the things we had intended to buy were sold out, probably the previous afternoon. ‘Piña o guayaba?’ he asks if we want pinapple or guavas. ‘ really, no thanks, we don’t need those.’ We both reply with some force. He is persistent. Pineapple then? ‘No, we have a pineapple already’. To this response he begins loading guavas onto a scale only stopping to hear the weight before loading more. Nine guavas later, he presents them to Veronika. ‘um, thanks. I can pay’ she says. He declines the offer (of course) and asks her if he may give her his number. She thanks him for the bag full of guavas, but refuses his number. He asks if she will return. Yes- she tells him. We walk away to meet up with the other girls and buy some tomatoes. He comes over with a pineapple and sticks it in the bag. ‘See you Tuesday?’ he asks. “It is possible” we say, “we will return.”

This happens all the time to Veronika. I think each girl probably takes such courtship differently. We are all whistled at and blown kisses constantly. As we walk in the city even police officers will comment “que linda” ‘how pretty’. They like Veronika’s curves and Jennifer’s blonde hair. But the machismo really isn’t bad. If these men are rejected, they will leave you alone. It is an interesting thing. What is really so bad about letting a girl know you think she is pretty. One seventeen year old would not stop making the kissy noises at the baseball game the other day. As we rode the bus home we talked with a companion he was with. “your friend annoyed us.” We told him bluntly. “Why did he do that the entire game?” His reply: “He wanted your attention”. Here is the unanswered follow up: What for? He got our attention; we would turn scowling many times. It is too bad he didn’t want to direct our attention into conversation rather than simply distracting us from the game.
I don’t sense the machismo as much here as in Costa Rica or Guatemala. The men here are polite, just not subtle. They extend a hand as you exit a cab, offer to their seats to women on the bus, etc etc. And while some men are known to “not use their wedding rings”, I’ve seen many lovey-dovey couples on the Malecón and men on the bus and in the city that are very protective and comforting towards their girlfriends/wives.

It is a very interesting phenomenon. Perhaps I’ll have a different perspective on it after more time here.