The worst times of the quarter

For me, the worst times of the quarter are the beginning and the end. At the end, we have to collect and grade last second work from the students, give grades and detailed comments, meet with parents, deal with my students that didn't get full credit or are slippin, and plan for the next quarter. My students also tend to melt down because they are trying to make up for all the work that they hadn't been doing during the quarter.

When the new quarter starts we have to create and schedule students for Wednesday elective classes, meet with my new homeroom students and their parents, schedule new homeroom students, create lesson plans and execute them, deal with kids goofing off because it's the start of the new quarter and they think they can, deal with la vidas loca of my students, and update homeroom student grades and credits in their files. So little of my job seems to be actually in the classroom teaching.

Losing a good person

I had this one student. He was an amazing kid. He lived a crazy life. His biggest enemy was himself. He didn't think that he would live past 24 years old. His environment was leading him to a quick death. He got into it with a female student and now he is out of the school. I was really bummed to lose him. He needed the safety and stability of my school to restrain himself for his own good.

"Jesus on the lean donkey is the emblem of how the rational intellect must control the animal-soul. Let your spirit be strong like Jesus or the worn out donkey grows to a dragon." -Jelaludin Rumi

This girl tried to step up to him like she was a guy and she got punked. He threw some silly putty right into her face. Since he went there, he's gotta go. I know that girl and she likes to talk some shit. There are certain people that you can't go there with. This kid is one of them. Once again, I'm not condoning what he did...but she got her karmic result from talking shit to the wrong people.

Now this kid talks shit too. No doubt. He's an angry angry young black kid who is brilliant but his anger runs him. He witnessed domestic violence against his mom and yet he's misogynistic. No father in his life. He's been in juvenile hall and we got him with an ankle bracelet. He doesn't have 3 squares a day and has no money in his pocket. He has to hustle for what he wants. I was giving him noodle bowls and pop tarts. He doesn't feel that he has control over his life. He was scraping by and decided that he if he was going down in this world he wasn't going out like a little bitch. It was so hard to watch a brilliant kid whose justified anger coupled with a tall frame and dark skinned blackness conspired against him. Society and family life had traumatized him. He needed therapy. But people feared his large framed angry darkness. The kid was always respectful to me and 100% honest. Dead honest. No filter dead honest. I was trying to get him to code switch and it was happening.

I'm saddened because I fear for his life. 105 murders in Oakland so far. 80%+ of the students in my class have lost someone close to them by violence. My school was a place he was safe from the crazy streets and his personal life. He once said to another teacher he would rather die than go back to prison and lose his freedom. Good luck G.

Haters!!!

The present fucking zeitgeist is anti-LGBT. Unfortunately, this plays out in my school too. We've had some racist and homophobic language written on our bathroom walls. For example, there was one writing specifically stating that one of our gay students gets it up the butt. Then we recently had "Faggot ass niggers go home!" and other wonderfully written phrases. In response to this, I started up a Gay-Straight Alliance to deal with the homophobia and try to make the school safer and more secure for everyone. Unfortunately, we encountered a significant amount of resistance from the parents of the students in the GSA. Apparently, Christians aren't too fond of homosexuality and don't want their kids anywhere near a GSA. Of course, their children in the GSA weren't gay because... there are no gay Christians!!!

Anyways, I recently had some speakers come to a class to talk about being gay and the issues they confront. I wanted students to meet some gay people and humanize their situation. Get it across to people that it isn't ok to be hateful and intolerant. Well apparently some students couldn't deal with this and took to telling their mommies. Then I find out that the school got called because a parent was pissed off. She wanted to know if we were going to show the other side of the story and wanted to come in and speak on the Christian ideal. My coworkers talked to her but I didn't get the chance cause I was on a field trip. When I got back, the student came up to me and told me that his mom wanted to speak to me. I called her on the phone and talked to her and asked her what she would do if "Faggot ass niggers go home!" was written on the walls of her school. She didn't have an answer for me. Once again she wanted to know if I was going to present the other side of the story. This was absurd to me because heterosexuals weren't the victims. No one was hating on heterosexuals. So what, if I'm going to teach about racism I should bring in a neo-Nazi??? Fucking ridiculous! I bet that if "Fucking Niggers go home!" was written on the wall, people would be outraged and want to do something to make it better. But if you put the word faggot in front then it's ok because it's really referring to the homosexuals and not really the racial part of it.

When I was talking with a group of students about the homosexuality and their views I found it very interesting when one student that was Christians said to me that his religion taught him to hate gay people. But he said that he didn't believe that because he had been around them and didn't find them to be any different than anyone else. All week long it rang in my head him saying that his religion taught him to hate. It's incredibly ironic that a figure as loving as Jesus has spawned so many "followers" that are hateful and intolerant. I'm not a Christian but I know enough about Jesus to know that he wouldn't like being used to justify violence and repression.

A totally unacceptable situation

So 3/4ths of the students at my school are on free and reduced lunch. I've never liked the school lunches that are sent to us, but there didn't seem to be any other alternatives. Then one day I was told by another teacher that the boxes our school lunches were being sent in contained roaches. Kids were stomping on roaches as they took their lunches from the box where the roaches came from. I was angry to say the least but luckily a past parent sent me a news article about a company called Revolution Foods. Then I spoke to a friend at another school and he told me that his school worked with the company and they really liked it. He said one of the good things about the company was they were able to give feedback to the company and have menus changed as a result. I gave them a call and set up a meeting.

The meeting went well and our principal was down with the company. Here's the problem though, right now our food is supplied to us by the district. There are cafeterias at various schools and they make the food for the district. Then the food is sent to other schools within the district. This means the roaches we are getting are coming from the cafeteria at another school. The snag is the food services at the other schools. Working with Revolution Foods would be a direct threat to the business and personnel of the food services throughout the district. In my opinion, if the food that we are getting is bad and unsanitary, then I'm not worried about the business and personnel at food services. I believe that the goal of everyone working in or with education should be the advancement and enhancement of the students. I know, I know it's crazy talk. If food services isn't doing its job right then we need to get something better. They have had plenty of feedback to know that the food they are serving isn't that good. They have had plenty of time to correct the situation.

There are those that would say that the kids should be lucky to have any food at all. I agree with that. Some bad food is better than no food at all. However, in the richest and strongest country in the world I think we have to have significantly higher standards than that. I know, once again it's crazy talk. One option is to get the parents involved. We have to get the parents to push the school district to allow us to change the situation. If we try to change things in-house it won't happen. The push has to come from outside and if parents make a big enough stink then there could be a change. We'll see what happens in the coming weeks.

Raiders vs Kansas City

What a heartbreaking game. The Raiders had a chance to win it. But an interception ended that. Culpepper holds onto the ball too long and his accuracy was way off. I also saw him bobble some snaps that he shouldn't. But the Raiders could have won that game. When you got a QB as inaccurate as Culpepper you need to run the ball as much as possible. The Raiders did that, but in the end Culpepper rushed and threw the game ending interception. Hopefully the game against the Titans will be better.

Raiders at San Diego

At the end of the day, the Raiders still need a lot of work. Running the ball on Miami was great but only because Miami was weak against the run. The zone blocking scheme gives the guys something to work with. And having a scheme and being bad at it is better than having no scheme and being bad. You can improve in a scheme. The problem is who is better at defending against the zone blocking scheme than those in the AFC west. Division rivals see each other the most. They have to know their most immediate enemy the most. But this didn't explain why Kiffin didn't try to establish the run. I understand that the Raiders got behind early, but you can't make your team one dimensional.

And Daunte... rough. My friend that grew up in Minnesota and a Viking fan tipped me to the fumbly-bumbly hands of Daunte Culpepper. He is at best a transitional quarterback that can win enough games to be respectable until JaMarcus can be phased in. I can understand Kiffin wanted to get Daunte going early... but you have to give the man some breathing room. He was only like 5/12 or something in the game against Miami. Run the ball.


LaDanian Tomlinson is the best running back in the NFL in my opinion. I just wish that he wasn't in the AFC west so that I could like him more. The man is amazing. I am glad that he has Norv Turner as a coach instead of Marty Schottenheimer. I think Norv is a great offensive coordinator but I don't think he's a good coach. I don't think he's a good leader of men. Schottenheimer couldn't win the big one, but he won almost all the little ones.

Raiders Thoughts

I've been a Raiders fan for a while. In that time, I've had a lot to complain about. For the longest time, I have been harping on why the Raiders don't use a zone blocking scheme. When I first learned what a zone blocking scheme was I became a convert. As much as I hate the Broncos, I respect what they do. Terrell Davis' game in the Superbowl really showed me the power and importance of the running game. Elway was choking in the '97 Superbowl. They won that Superbowl on the legs of Terrell Davis. Terrell Davis and the lightest offensive line in the league. However, Denver had the zone blocking of Alex Gibbs. Then Gibbs goes to Atlanta and they are a top running unit. Then, Gibbs consults and Tom Cable is learning the scheme. Now we got Tom Cable and the line is 1000% better. Lamont Jordan, a RB I've never been impressed by, was running like a champ under the zone blocking scheme. Then, Justin Fargas, another RB I've never liked, comes in and runs like a champ. The scheme is why Denver has been producing 1000+ yd backs for so long. Blocking is also better in pass protection. To put things in perspective though, Miami sucks shit.

Reflections on my third year

So being in my third year is great!!! There is a really high teacher turnover rate and I can understand why. The first year is a killer! The second year I marveled at how much more sleep I was getting, but I was still doggy-paddling. The third year things just make so much more sense and are so much easier. My teaching is better and students are learning more while having more fun. My interpersonal relations with students are smoother and less fraught with rancor. Teachers just need to get to the third year and the sailing is a lot smoother. Also, the staff at school is more unified and on top of things. We can now work on the task of truly making the school better instead of just trying to get a lesson plan together and survive the day.

Over the summer, I did a lot of thinking. I thought a lot about why I wasn't getting along with kids and kids weren't getting along with me. I realized that I was being too strict. Many of the students at my school haven't had much discipline in their lives. They aren't used to people asking how they are doing in their classes and keeping tabs on them. Many students hate school and haven't achieved in school for various reasons. Sometimes the hard approach isn't always the best. I had to take a more Daoist approach to things. I have to be more yielding and practice wu-wei. Through doing nothing all things are done. Also, I thought about how well I get along with people in the different areas of my life. It was stupid that I wasn't getting along with students. I realized that I had to be myself more and have some more fun. Because when I was getting on students it wasn't making me happy and it wasn't making them happy. So now I try to allow my regular personality to shine (within reasonable and acceptable school boundaries), and I find my interaction with students are 100% better.

Right now I'm teaching two Intro to World culture Classes and I'm trying to access as much prior and self knowledge from the students as possible. So I'm asking them how they celebrate weddings, how they do funerals, holidays they celebrate, and other questions about their cultural background. Many kids don't know their cultural traditions and histories so it's a good exercise to force them to learn and also interact with their parents. But it also made me think a lot about my own cultural background. Chinese people will yell at you in hopes of making you better, so that you won't be satisfied, and so you won't become arrogant. It is their way of showing they care. If they don't care about you they just ignore you. As much as I've always hated that aspect of my culture I find myself mimicking the behavior. It's part of the socialization process. Then I find myself doing this behavior with students that don't have that within their cultural background. And surprise! It don't work. So with each kids being different and being from different cultural backgrounds I have to figure out how to interact with them in a way that works.

On Thursday, AL and I rode in a '57 Chevy with Papo's nephew Eric to the Cueva de San Tomas. Unfortunately, the guide was not there...he was on vacation. Hey, everybody should have a vacation. So then our plans changed and we decided to go to the Cayo Jutia beach. It was a long drive and the road wasn't very good. Cubans don't give much space to pedestrians or other vehicles and it can be a bit unnerving. I guess I'm also a bit gunshy because I've been the passenger in accidents in Taiwan, China, and then someone I knew dying in a car accident in Mexico. The first dead body I ever saw was a traffic accident in Taiwan. In my area, we give pedestrians wide berth and veer into other lanes to completely make sure. But in Cuba, they roll right up on a person's side, even when the other lane was completely empty.

Anyways, the beach was way cleaner than Playa del Este and had a lot less people. But for me most importantly...I didn't see SHIT floating in the water. I'd forgotten, but tropical storms just will run up on you. It will be nice and clear...and then some dark ass clouds will roll in and dump massive amounts of rain on you. We left when the storm came with it's lightning and thunder. It seemed the right time to go. As we were driving through the downpour and the driver and his buddy are wiping down the fog in the window, I had a moment of temporary panic. But then I told myself who drives better in the rain than people that drive in the rain all the time. Plus we were in a big old school American car and there weren't many cars in the road.

On our way out we got stopped at a checkpoint and a cop gave Eric a ticket because he wasn't supposed to be taxing us aruond. This was the first time that I'd seen a Cuban argue with the police. Eric was by no means being aggressive, but he was definitely pleading his case. I've seen locals stopped in Cuba all the time, but they were all very deferring. I thought it was weird that we had to carry around a passport to the beach, but now I understood why. Cops are always stopping people for whatever reason.

The best time we've had in Cuba has been in Vinales. The family we stayed with are incredible and a very loving family. You can't fake he way their kids are. To show our appreciation, we bought Papo a bottle of Ron Anejo Especial just the kind he said he likes. I also left a lot of pens with Magali because she's a teacher, her sisters are teachers, and the kids could definitely use them. Our next step was back to Havana and then to Cancun.

Climbing mogotes, the revolution, and help from the saints

The revolution is alive in the countryside. In the country, the people love Fidel. Papo was telling me that Fidel walked on the street right in front of his house. I said we talked to people in the city and they didn't like the revolution and they wanted something else. Papo said that people in the city don't want to work, they want to live but they don't want to work. Considering how hard people in the country work...I'd have to agree with him.

On Wednesday, Papo took us on a walk up a mogote where a water cult called "Los Aguaticos" once lived. Now there are only 5 families left up there. The climb was fun and we saw a lot of vultures. There were a ton of mango trees and Papo pointed out a lot of different plants to us. The view at the top of the mogote was magnificent . Vinales is a beautiful lush valley and is perhaps one of the most beautiful views I've ever seen.

While we were up there, we met another guide and Spanish couple at one of the abandoned houses. Their guide was hilarious and sang all these revolutionary songs about beating the Yankees. Papo was telling me that Fidel brought the government to Vinales and the people. Before only the people on the coast had stuff. Fidel brought education, healthcare and greater development to Vinales. What Fidel brought to the people is also what attracted Chinese to Mao. For much of history the vast majority of the people had nothing and a select elite had access to "luxuries" like education and healthcare. As AL and I were driving out of Havana, we saw all these gigantic and palatial estates in Miramar. I thought to myself, no wonder the Floridians are so angry at Castro. He took their nice shit from them. I read that at one point, US companies owned 2/3rds of Cuba's farmland and most of its mines. And this was a country whose economy was largely based on sugar. I remember when the US freaked out because Arabs wanted to buy a port in the US from a British company. Can you imagine a foreign nation owning 2/3rd of US farmlands and mines???

As we continued on the hike, Papo took us to a family of farmers that lived on the top of the mountains. What a hard life that must be. The view from there house was amazing and the family was really cool. The man was named Antonio, his wife was Sophia and their 9 year old son Noel. We drank good dark coffee, freshly made lime juice, and we sat on their rocking chairs overlooking the beautiful valley. It was incredibly tranquil and serene.

As we were walking down, I asked Papo how Noel went to school. He said that a teacher climbs the mountain twice a week to teach Noel. Incredible. The teacher goes to the student. And having climbed the mountain... it wasn't an easy climb. Plus, I'm figuring that the teacher has other students to teach...so, I guess I'm just a whiny baby when I complain about commuting a half and hour on the bus to my work. Teachers climbing mountains to teach students is yet another reason the people in the country love Fidel. The walk down the mogote was incredibly easy. When I said this to Papo he laughed and told us of a Cuban saying that when you go downhill all the saints are helping you. To which I replied that when you are climbing up you are all alone.

The only drawback of staying with Papo was that his place had no air conditioning. When we got back to our place the town also had a general blackout which meant no fan. Luckily it started raining really hard and that cooled things down. In August, it is easily in the low 90's with 100% humidity. It sucks and all I do is sweat.

Vinales and spelunking

On Monday, we made our way to the town of Vinales in the western province of Pinar del Rio. From Havana Centro it was a 3 hour bus ride. The countryside was really beautiful and it was so nice to leave the hustle and bustle of Havana. Havana was cool but we were both getting sick of city life. First off, we're not really city people. The throngs of people, the pollution, and the constant hustling were starting to wear on us. At Vinales we were met by a friend of Mary's and taken to her casa. The couple were named Papo and Magaly. They are a really nice couple and they really took their time in talking with us and explaining all the things we could do in Vinales. Vinales is a real small town with a main road and maybe 4 parallel roads. When you're in Vinales you have to immediately slow down. It's really quite nice and a wonderful contrast to Havana. In many ways I felt like I was in Hawaii. The air is fresh, the people are nicer, and the pace is infinitely slower. There are chickens walking down the street and I can hear a pig in the neighbor's backyard.

The family made dinner for us and they are wonderful cooks. They made the best rice and black beans we've had in Cuba period. After early dinner, we walked around down and did a bit of exploration. There are essentially 3 bars in town and walking the length of the town took about 1/2 hour at a VERY leisurely pace. It was nice to be in a place where we could see the stars and hear crickets. In Havana I could hear the thump thump thumping of music at 4 o clock in the morning. In this environment, there is something calming to hear the buzz of a light or a refrigerator, the sound of a fan blowing, or the occasional roar of a passing motorcycle.

The next morning I woke up tired and angry. Here's the thing with living in the country. Fucking rooster at 5 o fucking clock in the morning. I'm a vegetarian, but I thought to myself, "I'm going to catch that rooster, kill it, and eat it!" After our wonderful breakfast we went horseback riding through the valley with a guide named Domingo. The scenery in Vinales is breathtaking. We rode through crops of yucca, rice, tobacco, and corn. The mogotes, as they are called here, are mountains that look similar to the mountains in southern China. It reminds me of kids filling up a bucket full of sand and then turning them over. The area here is incredibly lush and is the tobacco region of Cuba. The dirt here is a bright bright red and very productive. Apparently the soil in the south of Pinar del Rio is white.

We first rode the horses to a house where a guy grew, processed, and handrolled cigars. The cigar was so good that even Allison tried it. It was one of the smoothest cigars I've ever had. The tobacco leaves he rolled with were processed with lemon, sugar, rum, guava, and he sealed it with honey. He also made us a drink with coconut milk, rum, and honey that was really smooth. After hanging out drinking and smoking, we rode our horses to one of Pinar del Rio's many caves.

The cave was called La Cueva de Silencio and after walking for about 15 minutes we reached a natural swimming pool. One of the guides got in the water and I was the first of our group to go in. I didn't have swimming trunks on so I just got in with shorts and underwear. The water was really cold and I followed the guide deeper into the pool with a group of Spaniards trailing behind. The thing about being in a cave is that it's pitch black. If you are outta the light you don't see shit. All I could think the whole time I'm moving through the water is that this was the beginning of a scary movie. What really freaked me out was at the other end of the pool were a trio sitting in the dark. By the mud on their faces and bodies I figured they were making out. Menage a trois freakers making out in a cave. It was pretty cool checking out real stalactites and stalagmites. After that we rode back and my ass was saddlesore. I just had to laugh cause it hurt so bad and both our right knees were fucked up because of it. Plus, our horses seemed to be in competition with each other as each jockeyed with the other to be in the front. I think our guide was getting a kick out of it because our horses started to speed up which made my ass hurt all the more. What the fuck can you do? I wasn't about to walk back. I've never been spelunking before and I had to say that I had a great time. Allison... not so much. But hey... it was something new and different to do.

Getting propositioned in Cuba, sweating, and the national dog

Sunday was our last day of folklorico dance. We haven't really been doing salsa rueda at all and have just been doing folklorico. Dancing rueda is intimidating. In rueda, moves are called out and then everyone does those moves. If you don't know the moves it is very obvious to all the people doing the correct moves.

So everyone talks about Cuban cigars and I've been wanting to go to a factory for a while. We decided to go to the Partagas factory but the place was closed. The store was open and so we perused. Not that we could have bought because shit was ridiculous. Boxes of cigars for 300 CUCs or more. There was a 1500 humidor as well. Unbelievable.

Then I decided to get a guayabera. I had noticed a nice store in Habana Vieja so we walked our asses over there. The shop was closed and this was actually the third time I'd tried to go to this store. Now as an American my gut instinct was to ask, "How do you make money?", but then again I wasn't in America. Since that wasn't happening we decided to get the touristy carriage ride. Actually, I gotta say it was a pretty cool ride and very informative. It was here that we found the Rum museum. We also saw sections of Habana Vieja we never saw before. Definitely the touristy area, but hey there was a lot of history there. I saw the birthplace of Jose Marti and I really paid attention to the big oil tanker from Venezuela as we passed by the port. So when we were done, we decided to go back to the Rum Museum. hehe...hehe...hehe...

We started walking and came upon the casa de las arabes. It cost 1 CUC to check it out and so Allison and I went in on my insistence. There was a room with Muslim rugs, clothing, and a mannequin in a burqa. The guy was working there was cool and we tried talking in my poor, limited, and broken Spanish. I understood a good bit but missed a lot more I'm sure. he showed me the mosque which I later read was the only working mosque in Havana. He said there were about 40 followers that came on Friday. As a gift I gave him a lapel pin of this hindu god named Jagannath. Jagannath is the hindu god of universal love, brotherhood and no caste distinction. On top of that he's a happy smiley face. I also have been giving out ballpoint pens to everyone that we came in contact with and were cool to us. People really appreciated the pin and the pens a lot. So far, I've seen cathedrals, a mosque, 2 synagogues, and people that practice Santeria, but no hindus. And of course when we got to the Rum Museum it was closed.

At this point, AL was getting tired and still getting over being sick. We went home to drop her off and so I decided to get out and take pictures of El Barrio Chino. We had a charged batteries and 2 GBs of memoy. I could afford to go Japanese tourist crazy. I'm taking pictures of everything that's got Chinese writing on it and anything that looks remotely Asian. It was here I learned about the very different experience of going out by myself. In short, I got propositioned 3 times. Nothing like that ever happened when I was with AL, but as soon as I was alone... women were asking me if I wanted a friend/companion.

When I was walking on the main Chinese restaurant strip I met another Chino Latino. Half Chinese guy named Enrique Chung that owned a restaurant named the Great Wall. Enrique also happens to be a pimp because he asked me if I wanted mojitos, cigars, or a woman. I told him that I was married and he backed off. Then, moments later one of his girls came up to me and he told her to back off. What a trip. Across the street from him was another restaurant with another Chino-Latino and he was of the full blooded variety. I thought he was a tourist at first cause he was full blooded and was eating with chopsticks. Of course, it turned out that he was the boss and the restaurant was the only place with a real Chinese chef. The place was called Tien-Tan and sports a tai-chi symbol on the wall. Though I didn't eat there, my money would be on that place as having good Chinese food. In the Bay Area, I have certain rules about where I'll eat Chinese food. The first most important thing is word of mouth. If I am just checking out a new place I look for how many Chinese people are there. Then I look to see if they have chopsticks on the table or a fork and knife. Since Cuba didn't have any Chinese people and every restaurant had fork and knives, I'd go with the place with a real Chinese chef and the old Chinese owner sitting outside.

When I got back, AL was feeling better and wanted to eat at a paladares. She wanted some rice and beans and there's no shortage of that. Paladares prices are usually set at around 10 CUCs and include some salad, your choice of meat, rice, beans, and a drink. It was at the paladares that I devised another method for saving money as a vegetarian. First, ask the price for the food or a menu. If they don't have a menu, ask what is included in the meal for 10 CUCs, making sure to ask if drinks are included. Then you ask how much things would be without meat and say how expensive meat is. The restaurant will usually quote you a lower price. You can also ask how much meat items cost and then say that you are a vegetarian and that you don't want the meat. I didn't come up with this entire method until after we ordered, but when I had argued that things should be cheaper cause we weren't ordering meat, the girl agreed with me but said that my cold which I was already drinking had cost 3 CUCs. This was a total lie since beer is 1 CUC, but I didn't pursue it any further. She said that we could share a meal because it was a lot. The meal was ok and all in all our meal cost 15 CUCs. 10 for our meal and they charged us 3 CUCs for a guava juice AL ordered and a 2 CUC "service charge" that is essentially like a tax. I've noticed that some places charge that and some don't.

Sidenote: Late July and August is the hottest time in Cuba. It's hot and humid and literally all I did was sweat. Now when many people use the word literally, they actually mean figuratively as in "I literally jumped out of my skin." But when I say "literally all I did was sweat" I mean literally all I did was sweat. Sitting in the living room that doesn't have air conditioning, I sweat. I eat at a paladares and I sweat. I walk around and sweat. There are only 2 times when I'm not sweating and that's when I'm sitting in an air conditioned room and when I'm in the rain. And even the latter I'm not sure of because I think I maybe can't tell that I'm sweating.

The national dog of Cuba is the dachshund. Ok, I don't think Cuba has a national dog, but if they did I think that the dachshund would be it. There are little weiner dogs everywhere. Everyone has got one. You can even see that some of the strays are mixed with dachshund. I wonder what led to everyone getting one? Was it a fashion statement? I know when the Queen of Denmark got a wirehaired dachshund, it became very fashionable for others to get one. Maybe the same thing happened in Cuba. everyone wanted one. Did Fidel have a dachshund?

"El ultimo" and awkward situations

On Saturday AL was feeling sick. Since we had eaten the same exact thing I wondered what was giving her such bad problems. Our friend Yeni said that maybe it was the heat because that can cause similar problems. Either way I had a private dance lesson.

After that I went to go exchange money at the cadeca. In Cuba, people are used to waiting in lines and in this case it was no different. There is even a term they use to describe the last in line. You are "el ultimo". As I was standing there, an older cuban lady asked me if I had lines like this in the US. I said no and she laughed. Then, I described the oddity of seeing cops on the beach. The lady said they were in the mountains too. A guy standing nearby chimed in with a joke that Cuba had 2 million people and 1 million were cops. Both Cubans laughed at the joke.

Since AL was out, I went out with the dance group to Palenque. Palenque means a hideout for runaway slaves, but here it was a dance performance. To get there we took a private Cuban cab. You know how you hear about old ass American cars in Cuba? Well a lot of those are private taxis. So we got into an old American car and Hermes passed around some rum that they sell in containers like juice boxes. Rum in juice box containers. I love it. Innovative. Because sometimes you don't want a bottle.

At Palenque they performed folklorico, rumba, and salsa. I got to see the performance of Eleggua done by someone in full costume. Let's just say there was a world of difference between the stuff I was doing and what this person was doing. As I watch the dances and learn more and more about Santeria I become more and more a henotheist. I respect the other gods, but follow only one. After the performance people just started dancing salsa and there were some amazing dancers there. One off the things I really loved about Cuba is that people of all ages dance. It's cool to see grandmas dancing. Young or old, fat or skinny, everyone dances. This is something Americans really have a problem with. We are so inhibited. I think it has a lot to do with our puritanical backgrounds. The only time many Americans feel comfortable dancing is when they are trashed.

After the performance was finished, I decided to take everyone out to eat. I could only do this because AL and I saved a lot of money, we'd been budgeting, and things are relatively cheap in Cuba. The ride back was in another old American car where we dropped people already in the car off at various locations. We ended up going to the paladares that AL and I got up from when we were with our biker Danny. Hilarious, but I didn't mind eating with these guys.

In a relative sense, AL and I have a lot more than most in Cuba. Even I make more in a day than most make in a month. But when you are generous with people they start asking for more and more. For example, one of the dancers had a backpacks with numerous holes and asked me i I could help him out with a new backpack. I was going to send everyone a care package of things they needed but it would be cheaper for him and us to get a backpack here. Plus, he needed it now. So I kicked him down 10 CUCs to get a backpack and he was happy. But after we were done walking back from dinner he asks me if I can leave my Keen's sandals with him. Now I like this guy but I wasn't about to give him my Keen's. In a relative sense, I'm doing very well compared to him. But in the US, I don't get a big ass paycheck. I explained to him my situation and told him no. It was just weird though to be placed in that situation.

When I went back to our casa AL was sitting reading the last Harry Potter. Good book when you're under the weather.

Hitting the beach in Havana province

On Friday, the 27th of July, AL and I had our daily dance class. After that we decided to go to the beach. But we didn't want to go to the tourist beach we wanted to go to where the locals were. We were told by our family we were staying with that we should go to Playa Del Este. We walked over to the Plaza Hotel where we thought there would be a bus and found out that we had to book a day in advance. Here's a tip: the buses in Cuba are actually pretty good and it's not a bad idea to take a bus to get to places. Buses with private companies are comparably priced and make less stops. So AL and I looked up the cost of a bus with Havanatur to Vinales and found it was roughly the same as our reservation but we didn't have to take a taxi to the inconveniently located public bus terminal. Also we didn't have to leave at 9:00 in the morning and would make less stops.

Since we had planned to go to the beach and couldn't get a bus we decided to take a taxi. It cost us 15 CUCs to get there and was well worth it. This is another important thing we learned. Traveling sucks. Sometimes it's better to just spend a few bucks more on traveling to get there in relative comfort. But ultimately you have to pick and choose. In my opinion, if the place is relatively close then save your money. But if the place takes time to get there, pay for comfort. In most places you probably won't end up spending that much more money.

The drive out of Havana was beautiful. Cuba has a lush landscape and you see that as you leave the main city area. Our driver was a Chino-Latino and he showed us an ID card that said his name was Jesus Chiu Alvarez. Fucking hilarious! I love it. It was Friday, so when we got to the beach it was packed. Also, everyone had pool reclining chairs and an umbrella that they rented. Of course, they paid in Moneda Nacional while we paid in CUCs. But it really didn't cost that much. I think 6 CUCs all together. The Cuban sun is really hot so I was glad to get there after 2:00. That's something I learned in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. Stay out of the sun from 11-2 which is the hottest part of the day. Though later, a Cuban said to me that 1-3 was the hottest part of the day in Cuba. My farmer tan and white bodied self needed some color, but even after 2 I knew I shouldn't stay out too long. There is nothing like chilling out on a beach on a tropical island to make you really feel like you are on vacation.

Sitting in front of us were 2 Spanish couples. One of them came up to me and said in English that I should be careful because he had his cell phone right next to him, closed his eyes for a second and it was gone. People target tourists. And it is always easy to spot them.

Anyways, one of the things that I immediately noticed was the huge amounts of alcohol at the beach and how dirty it was. People would bring entire bottles of rum into the ocean and just chug them down in the water. I saw one old lady smoking a cigarette in one hand and finishing a bottle of rum with the other. After she finished the bottle, she just threw it deeper into the ocean. But the worst thing I saw was as I was walking out of the water back to AL. It was a fucking piece of shit floating in the water. From that point on, I noticed mothers taking their bare assed babies out to the water then bringing them back in a time period longer than it takes to have a piss. Ok... it's one thing to piss in the ocean. But to shit in the ocean when the beach is packed with people. That just ain't right. I noticed people littering everywhere like it wasn't a big deal. Beer can left for people to scavenge. Cigarette butts everywhere. Empty boxes of rice, beans, and chicken legs just left on the beach. Chicken bones were everywhere. It was really quite disgusting. And this was the straight local beach. Even though I spent no more than 10 minutes at a time in the water and out in the sun for a total of probably 30 minutes, I still got a lil sunburn.

Ok... if you know me then you expect to hear it from me. There were some nice asses out there. Not as beautiful as Brasil, but nice nonetheless. Perhaps, it is because there are less G-strings in Cuba and Brasilian women, in my opinion, are more beautiful. It was nice though to chill out at the beach and check out the "local scenery". As with everywhere we go there were police with guns patrolling the beach. What a trip that is. But the worst job had to be the military guys that were dressed in long sleeve shirts, long pants, and Fidel hats that just had to stand and look out into the ocean. I presume that they are looking for people trying to escape to Florida. Not a fun job in the scorching Cuban sun. And like everywhere in Cuba there were stray dogs hanging out on the beach as well. I was astounded by how mellow the strays are in Cuba. People leave them alone and they leave people alone. However, it's a humane society nightmare there as there are a ton of strays and none of them seem to be spayed or neutered.

When we finally decided to leave, a guy asked us if we wanted a taxi. I asked him how much and he said 10 CUCs. This was 5 CUCs cheaper than getting there and we had been told it was 20 CUCs both ways in the book. However, I soon found out why it was so cheap. Can you say hoopty mobile. A different guy pulled up in a beat up, leaning to one side, cracked windshield piece of crap. Against my better judgment we got in. Here's another tip: Follow your instincts when traveling. Don't be afraid to say no and be rude if need be. Luckily, we got back to the Plaza Hotel no problem. I would only pull that shit in Cuba because it was so safe with cops every 5 km or so and pulling over everyone that they wanted to. No way would I do that in Brasil. The guy's car windows in the back wouldn't go down and the guy couldn't put his car into 2nd gear. Also, his alignment was totally off and his odometer was completely broken. At one point, going up a hill I felt like the little engine that could. It also smelled of gasoline in the car. But we did get back safe and sound and saved money as well.

Siempre una aventura en Cuba.

The small time Cuban Hustler's rap

Question: Where are you from?
Reply: I have a cousin/aunt/sister/brother/etc in (fill in the State).
Question: How long have you been here?
Question: What do you think of Cuba?
Question: Do you like to dance?
Question: Do you like cigars?
Question: Do you like mojitos/Cuba Libres?
Question: Where are you staying?

The best thing to do is keep walking. You can give vague 1 word responses but keep walking and go about your business. When you walk you need to walk like you have a destination in mind. If you respond in the affirmative to some of the questions then you'll find that everyone knows the best place to get whatever or the best place to go where ever.

On Thursday, we started with 2 hours of folklorico. Even though we took salsa classes in the states it was intimidating doing it in Cuba. There is a lot of pressure on the guy. Also, AL and I realized that we don't really like the Cuban salsa music. We got an album from the group that is considered by Cubans the best salsa group, Los Van Van, and truthfully we don't even like it that much. We just like dancing with each other. Truly, we like Samba better. But folklorico is fun too. Very hard. By the end of the class, we were drenched in sweat. We danced to the Orisha Ogun who is the orisha of the countryside.

After class, AL and I started to walk to Vedado from our location in Havana Centro. Nothing like walking to help you learn a place. As we walked along the Malecon we came upon the US special interest building. This isn't the consulate but the "special interest" building. The place is guarded all around by Cuban security and they won't even let you walk on the same side of the street. Right next to the building is the Cuban Anti-Imperialist plaza that flies numerous Cuban flags. Actually, the place had more flags in one place than anywhere I've ever been. The anti-American government sentiment is strong in Cuba and all around Cuba are propaganda billboards extolling the virtues of Cuba and the evils of the US and GWB.

From there, AL and I had lunch at a state-run vegetarian restaurant called "Carmelo" in the Vedado region. When we first went in I asked how much did things cost. The lady said 10 CUCs in Spanish. I asked for a menu and on the menu it said 8 CUCs. Everywhere we go people are always trying to hustle us. I pointed to the price on the menu and the lady nodded in the affirmative and said in Spanish, "Si, ocho CUCs." Always ask for a menu. The meal was vegetarian and pretty bland and boring as I found most Cuban food to be. Maybe, when you get meat there's more excitement but the vegetarian fare was sparse and unexciting.

After our lunch, we went looking for our friend's uncle that lives near the Hotel Havana Libre and was actually born and raised in New Hampshire. He said after being in the Korean War something drew him to Cuba. The guy was almost 70 years old and quite a character. He also kept commenting on how beautiful and gorgeous AL was. It was hilarious in a dirty old man kind of way. His neighbor and friend was also the first Chino-Latino I saw in Cuba. So AL and I hung out with the two for a while shooting the shit and drinking rum while they chainsmoked Criollos cigarettes. The whole time we were talking he would stop every so often and whistle or talk to women passing by. Old or young, it didn't matter. A real character.

While the uncle was nice, his age was starting to show as he repeated the same phrases and stories to us roughly 5 times over. It's rough when you get old. So we made up an excuse of meeting some friends near the Plaza de la Revolucion and made our way over there. It's at the Plaza were the famous Che picture is on the side of the building. There's also a monument to Jose Marti there. Other than that, the Plaza isn't much to see and is far from most things.

On the way back, we also had ice cream at Cuba's famous Coppelia ice cream. It was hear that I learned another lesson. Always ask, "Cuanto cuestan?" We thought that since the prices were on the board we'd be ok. But the guy charged us for another thing that he said that he had brought us instead. Now it was only 1 CUC more that he was charging each of us, but it's the principle dammit! But in the end I didn't want to get all hyphy over 2 dollars, so I chalked it up to another lesson learned. When people got it hard they are always trying to squeeze a it more outta you, especially in the cities.

As we walked back, we stopped to sit and relax on the Malecon. This is where I learned by best response to the hustlers. 2 lady approached us and gave us the hustler rap. I answered nicely that I don't drink, smoke, or dance. In fact, I was a vegetarian and very religious. Upon hearing this, the two lady hustlers said goodbye and got up and actually moved down the Malecon 20 yards from us. They just sat there the rest of the time. I guess they figured that hanging with the religious guy would be really boring. Sweet.

Notes on Havana

After eating with Leo and Beto, Allison and I went on a mission. Allison had brought the wrong recharger for the camera. She had brought the charger for the vonage phone. We have a 2GB SIM card that can take 700 pix in 10 megapixels, but we didn´t have a charger and the battery doesn´t have a disposable variety. Let´s just say I had to stay very calm. Especially since AL felt really bad about the situation. No point in making it worse. So we figured the best place to get a charger would be Old Havana where the tourists are. We wandered through there again and found a shop but by the time we got there shit was closed. So we wondered and took in more of the sites in the area. The place definitely has an old world charm. When we finally got hungry we ate at La Domenica which is considered the best Italian restaurant in town according to Lonely Planet. The place had pizza that tasted like pizza and was cooked in a wooden oven. Traveling and being a vegetarian isn´t easy.

On Wednesday, we had our first folklorico and salsa class. For 2 hours it was just a bit more than 20 dollars and the lessons were totally one on one. Can´t beat that. I like the folklorico stuff, but the salsa makes me nervous. I still can´t hear the timing and don´t really know when to move. Salsa is hard because there is a lot of responsibility on the guy´s part as he´s the leader. The girl just has to follow. If I don´t know what I´m doing then it ain´t much help for her. In folklorico, we learned the basic dance for the orisha Eleggua. A mischievous orisha and my favorite kind. It´s funny cause almost all the people from the group came. Yeni and her daughter Casey, Glandis to run the music on the DVD player, and Leo to dance and Beto to hang out as the manager. We danced right in the living room of our casa particulares. After the dancing, I invited them to a matinee at the hot salsa club in town Casa de la Musica, which we are conveniently located right above. The matinee started at 5:00 s we had some time to kill. So we went on our recharger mission. We got on a bike taxi and we told the guy to go to Habana Vieja. As we were biking we were chatting with my limited Spanish and mentioned that we were going to a photoshop. As we were biking he pointed to a shop on the way and so we stopped there. It was to no avail, but when we came out our biker was being questioned by a police officer. This is a scene that I was to see play out many times. Cops randomly pulling people over and questioning them and people reacting the same way. No arguments just answering quietly and calmly. I guess the biker must have said something because he left the card with the officer and biked us to the placed recommended by the people in the photoshop. He said the cop wanted money from him (bribe) but he didn´t have money to give. He asked me for money, but I pretended to not understand him. At the next place we met with success. The result of the black market. I explained my problem to the lady and she made a phone call and told us to wait. Moments later a man came into the store with a big bag and pulled out a Chinese multicharger. Bless my people. 40 CUCs. Undoubtedly, way more than it was worth, but he had us by the balls. The guy was a professional photographer and showed us his digital camera. He was going to sell us a SIM card but he saw that we had a 2 GB one. Our mission was a success so we decided to get some food. Our biker said he would take us somewhere and we said that we wanted authentic Cuban food. But I mentioned that I didn´t want to pay too much. I als odecided to invite our guy with us. The first place was too expensive. The guy wanted to eat meat as all Cubans do and his dish was 10 CUCs while our dishes were only 3 CUCs for the rice and beans. I wasn´t about to pay for a meal where his stuff cost more than both of us combined. I got up and left that place. So now he got the picture and took us to a place nearby where the whole meal was 8 CUCs for the 3 of us. This actually was the best deal that we had in Cuba. It was in a lady's house up some shady ass stairs. If this wasn´t Cuba I would never have followed him. We had green beans and onions, salted avocado, rice, beans, and water. It was pretty good and definitely worth the price. After that we returned home to get ready for dancing. The guy tried to invite himself along with us to that as he was a salsa "professor", but then óf course aren´t they all.

The group playing was called Bamboleo and are pretty famous in Cuba. We invited the gang but Leo couldn´t make it. Unfortunately, Casey was too young so Yeni had to take her home and couldn´t come either. The club was cool. It was just DJ music for 1-2 hours until the band came on. Alcohol is incredibly cheap in Cuba. Their 5.4% beer was only 1 CUC and small plasitc cups for mojitos were only 2 CUCs. But the mojitos were strong and good.

Ok so here it is. Cuba like much of Latin America is an ass oriented country. The US is all about the titties. Girls there were bouncing their asses like they were trying to fan a fire. As a connoisseur, I gave it a thumbs up. Whenever I walked to get drinks, I had girls approach me. Perhaps, it was my Chineseness, perhaps it was my obvious tourist look and money, and maybe it was both, but hey...I was there with wife. Flattering but no thanks. The band was great and played salsa, reggaeton, and romantic music. The lead female singer was hilarious and during a song called "Agua" poured water on herself and threw it on the audience. People were loving it. During the time I also got to talk more to Glandis and Beto. They are really cool guys.

Around 9, AL and I decided to have a nice romantic dinner. Glandis took us to a restaurant called Los Nardos and we had to wait in line to get in. Of course, the place was heavily meat oriented. I made the mistake of ordering too much because I thought I wouldn´t get enough.

Notes from Havana

On the day we traveled, Allison set the alarm clock for 3.45pm. Our flight was for 6am. I went to bed at around 2am because of my excitement. We had a taxi that was going to pick us up at 4am. In my sleep I heard her cell phone go off and I woke up shortly thereafter. I remember thinking in my sleep that Allison would have set the alarm clock correctly, but I better get up just in case. It was a good thing that I did, because it was 4.11. I ran to wake up Allison who had her eye mask and ear plugs on. She was totally disoriented and we had to hurry and get our shit together. Luckily, the taxi was still there. What a way to start the trip! But it was all good cause we got to the airport in time. From Oakland, we went to the land of Yao Ming. Then from there we traveled to Cancun. We had a 4 hour layover there. At one point we were sitting down and we had to move because some college kids we being really loud. I didn't want to be associated with them at all. Sometimes, Americans can be really loud, obnoxious, and oblivious. Hence, the term ugly Americans. I've noticed that when people are on vacation, there can be a sense of entitlement and a desire to be served. Also, I think that since people feel they won't ever see those people again that they can be anyway they want. I'm a firm believer that if you want to see how a person is, then put them under stress or in a situation where they feel they won't really have any consequences or people won't know what they did. As my friend Jeremy's dad says, "Integrity is what you do when no one is looking." No doubt, I've acted like an ugly American before, but I try to be more aware and make sure that I don't. We moved when I noticed people turning their heads to look at the group.

From Cancun, we flew into Havana. When we got off the plane, the 1st thing that I noticed were the women airport workers all had very short skirts. I thought to myself, "If this is how it's going to be, I'm going to like this place." After we got our luggage, we got stopped by airport security and questioned extensively. The lady questioning me was thorough, while the guy questioning Allison looked to just be chatting her up. Afterwards, she said to me that he didn't even know what questions to ask and how to deal with followup questions. He had to keep referring to his plain shirted boss. When we were done, the lady was all apologetic and said it was her job. We left the airport and exchanged some Euros into pesos convertibles (CUC), which is the money used by tourists. We were expecting to be met, but after a few minutes of searching we just took a cab to our Hotel.

For the 1st 2 nights, we stayed at the hotel Lincoln for 46 pesos a night. The hotel was... sparse. Of the 2 nights we spent there, we had hot water once. Only 1 elevator was working and infrequently. On the night we arrived we got totally ripped off because it was late and we went to a market to get water and were charged 6 CUCs for 2 large waters. Of course, we come to find out water is 70 centavos everywhere else.

On the 1st day we walked the Malecon, which is the sea wall surrounding Havana, and we also walked in Centro Havana and Havana Vieja, or old Havana. The area we are staying in is a bit rundown and reminded me of areas of China in its deterioration. Colonialism is ever present in the architecture but poorly cared for in our area of Havana Central. Havana Vieja is the more touristy area and it shows because of how well everything is cared for. Havana is interesting because the tourist area and the city is also where people live. So we are strolling down avenues and we can peak into people's homes and they are just doing their thing. Our 1st full day was definitely a learning experience because the hustle was on strong. Basically, if people were being overly friendly and speaking English they were trying to hustle us. I knew one set of hustlers were working as a team because I told one guy we were staying at Hotel Deauville and minutes later a guy said he worked at Deauville and saw me there. He knew it was me because I am Chinese. Another thing, everywhere I go, people like to say "Chino, Chino" Now my answer to them is "Todos mi vida" or all my life.

On the 1st full day, we visited the Museo de la Revolucion. It has all kinds of interesting things. They've got a turbine of the famous U-2 spy plane that was shot down and lots of history about the revolution and a small section on the Spanish American War. There's a lot of propaganda there, but you get that in any museum that has the history of a country. Lots of Anti-imperialist stuff too. After walking around Allison got museum feet and we were tired and hungry.

As I've come to understand, Cubans are carnivores. They love their meat. As a vegetarian, I have to look and work a bit harder. No problem cause I don't trust the meat as I've seen meat just sitting around in this hot and humid weather. People just got slabs of meat sitting around uncooked waiting to be sold. This was the same in Brasil and China and other places I've been to. With this weather, it's just a bacterial love fest. I hope and knock on wood I'm less likely to get food poisoning because I'm not eating meat. Anyways, we looked through our Rough Guide to Cuba and decided to eat at the Cafe Santo Domingo. It was nearby and we wanted to walk through Habana Vieja anyways.

As we were walking we happened upon an artist studio/home run by an artist named Jorge. While I enjoy practicing my Spanish from high school, I was happy to find that Jorge spoke some damn good English. We got to talking and of course with me we started to get into politics. I was really quite surprised to hear Jorge bad-mouthing the system and saying that after the revolution people were fucked. He said that he was scraping by and that he wanted out of the country. Sadly, I was to find this sentiment echoed by many others. One of my criticisms of the system has also been that something must be going on where people are trying to get out in overglorified innertubes. Surprisingly, Jorge didn't try to sell me a painting. He told me that when I was done with my trip if I still wanted a painting I should come back to see him. I tried to invite him to have lunch with me and Allison but he said that he had an appointment with a friend of his. This made me trust him and also think more about what he said. After all, he wasn't trying to hustle me which so many others had been trying to do already.

At the Cafe Santo Domingo, we both got olive pizzas and were less than impressed. Hey we're from the Bay Area with the best food in the world and one of the easiest places to be a vegetarian. At the Cafe, I was introduced to one of the National beers called Bucanero which I assume means Bucaneer because of the pirate on the can. This one was called Bucanero Fuerte and has 5.4% alcohol. ARRRGGGHHH me matey! My Chinese self doesn't need much to get me going.

After the Cafe, we walked around and took in the sights of Habana Vieja. It truly is a beautiful area and it is unfortunate that more of Cuba be in the condition that it is in. But this was where the tourist dollars go and this was just the beginning of the increasing disparity I am seeing in this country.

After walking around for a while, Allison and I finally had dinner at a Middle Eastern Restaurant called "Al Medina". The food was...nothing to blog much about. The pita bread tasted like the dough our pizza was on and the falafel didn't taste like any falafel I ever had. But hey it's not easy being a vegetarian. My options are limited and restaurants aren't catering to me. But the whole time I'm eating there I'm thinking that I'm eating better than the vast majority of Cubans. I later found out how true this was.

As we were walking home we got our first true Cuban hustle. We were unprepared for this because it came from a couple. Up until this point, we'd only had single guys hustling us. This couple befriended us and told us they would take us to a lcoal bar. I should have known better because a number of obvious tourists were brought in and there were girls that moved in immediately on them and starting rubbing themselves on them. In the end our crappy ass Cuba Libres cost more than our dinner. Then we got hit up for milk for their kid. Stupidly, I actually bought milk for them. The whole time though, I was the one getting milked. After that, they wanted to go to another place, but I was like fuck that. It's been a while since I've traveled overseas so I totally didn't have my "don't be afraid to be rude" attitude on. You live and you learn and I said I would make sure that never happened again. Depressed, Allison and I returned home, vowed we would never let that happen to us again, and passed out.

Now usually Allison is the one that is always on time, but here our roles are reversed. The next morning, I had to wake us up so that we didn't miss our less than memorable breakfast. But it was free so...you know how it is. Hard boiled eggs, bad pizza slices, bad coffee, and toasted white bread. But once again, undoubtedly better than most have it. After that, our jetlagged asses went back to our rooms and took a nap. Later on that day, we switched to a casa particulares run by a nice lady named Mary Cruz. In Cuba, people rent out rooms in their places as an extra way to make money, but considering I always see Mary and her husband Roberto at home it seems to be their sole source of cash. Her place was only 30 CUCs compared to 46 at the Lincoln. The beds were bigger, the pillows less lumpy, and we had more room all around. It was also cooler to stay at a person's place instead of at a crappy hotel. It works out for the both parties involved. For the most part, whenever I travel it is a good reminder of how good I have it in the states. Sometimes, in my everyday I forget that and just get caught up in my own shit and complaining about that.

So on that day after we got settled I contacted our California salsa rueda teacher's friend Beto. Beto brought another guy named Leo who was going to be our teacher for dance. Leo spoke a little English so it was good because we both got to practice. He spoke to me in English as much as possible and I spoke to him in Spanish as much as possible and when we didn't get each other we switched back. Leo is one of the dancers of the group 7 potencias while Beto is the manager. We talked about setting up classes for the next day and agreed on the price of 10 CUCs an hour. Holy shit. You can't beat that. 10 CUCs for essentially private dance classes. They would easily be 40-60 dollars in the US at the bare minimum. After that, Allison and I invited them to lunch. They decided to take us to a placed called "Los Tres Chinitos" in El Barrio Chino. El Barrio Chino is Havana's Chinatown, when Chinese came to Cuba to find work and get a better life. Most of the Chinese in El Barrio Chino are from southern China, Guangzhou in particular. I was excited to see the Chinatown and was bummed to see only 2 Chinese people there that were obviously tourists. I knew they were tourists because the woman had the visor on. If you've seen it you know what I mean. If you haven't, you'll probably see it one day on a Chinese person. It's a darkened visor like LaDainian Tomlinson has on his football helmet but it's on a normal visor. You can pull it down to cover your entire face or wear it above you head. It's hella Chinese style. I've never seen anyone but a Chinese Chinese wearing it.

At lunch, we had another interesting conversation. Beto talked about the problems of the government and the 2 currency system. In Cuba there is the moneda national (MN) and the peso convertibles or CUCs. Cubans get paid in MN, but nowadays more and more stores only accept CUCs. Beto said that 200 MN only yielded 10 CUCs. Since our money was in Euros. I got 1 Euro for 1 dollar 45 cent. My 1 Euro got me 1.22 CUCs. You do the frickin math. Leo said that he had 2 kids and when they need shoes he can only buy them in CUCS, but he doesn't have enough of them. He also talked about the increasing disparity in Cuba. Those that have family outside and get money sent to them have an infinitely better material life, while those that don't...dont'. I countered with the beauty of the health care system and he said there are two hospitals systems. One for the tourists and one for the Cubans. You can guess which is better. Also he said that since Castro has been sending so many doctors overseas it is really hard for them to see doctors and they have to wait a long time. But hey at least they get to see doctors. but then comes the other problem. Getting medicine. It's in short supply. The food at 3 Chinitos didn't taste like Chinese food and there were no chopsticks on the table. In the states that's my first sign not to eat at a place. But hey maybe the meat dishes were better. AL said her fish dish was just too salty though. Leo said that sometimes he sits in bed and just thinks... What am I going to do. A sentiment mirrored by many is that their parents say things were better before the revolution. I don't know about that but that's what people are saying. If I were to say maybe for the lighter skinned people well Leo is a black black man.

I'm running out of time on my pay by the half hour computer so I'll blog more later.

The Sweet Sweet Schadenfreude of Paris Hilton

I hate Paris Hilton. I hate her. It's not very holy, religious, or big of me. But I do anyways. She represents everything I despise in celebrity-driven pop culture. The girl has grown up in a fairy tale and it has spoiled her. She is an insolent brat and it has finally caught up with her. I have never been so happy to see someone miserable. It's not something I'm particularly proud of. But the lil devil on my left shoulder won out on this one.

Now she's got to live in reality and it doesn't get more real than that jail cell she's in. She's in there by herself. I sickly wonder if it would be possible for her to cry throughout the entire 45 days. That would be cool. The incredible lack of dignity that is handling herself with is even better. It brings me even greater joy. When Martha went to jail she just went and did her time. I bet Martha even did her home improvements on the jail. Paris... no class. No dignity. Nothing. It's frickin' awesome. The contradictions between what her publicist is saying and how she is reportedly acting amuses me to no end. For the first time ever I am searching for Paris news. It's hilarious. I'm like a 15 year old girl I'm so consumed by anything Paris.

One of the best lines I've heard is the statement attributed to Paris, "I would hope going forward that the public and the media will focus on more important things like the men and women serving our country in Iraq and other places around the world." First off, I would love to know if Paris could find Iraq on a map. Second, this has to be the first time that Paris has wanted people to not focus on her. The girl is an attention whore. I'm sure that in her time in jail the thing that she is thinking about is our brave men and women overseas...yeah right.

Seriously though, her case does highlight major problems with the justice system and the inequities within the system. And I suppose I should do some analysis of that... but shit I do that all the time. I just want to savor this sweet moment of joy. One of the things that I have hated the most about Paris is that teenagers somehow look up to her. She is by no means a role model. It infuriates me that white America condemns the actions of poor colored kids, but when Paris does her crazy things they get on Entertainment Tonight. Can you imagine a poor black girl going around flashing the world her pussy like Paris does when she goes clubbing??? Bill Cosby would pop a blood vessel in his head. I need to stop... I'm starting to rant and get angry and excited, when I just want to smile and be happy at the Sweet Sweet Schadenfreude of Paris Hilton.

Finding alternatives for kids

My favorite student at school isn't a rocket scientist. She's got a thick ass IEP (individualized education program) and she feels defeated. She doesn't have the credits to be in the grade she's supposed to be. She also has a crazy family life and social environment. One time she got jumped because some girl was trying to get into a gang and the gang told the girl that she had to beat up my student to get in the gang. In short, the girl needs some protection. I talk to her about finding a safe place for herself, but that in itself means nothing. I wanted to find an alternative for her. Someplace that she could be safe and learn how to protect herself.

The first martial art that I ever learned was judo. Learning how to fall was one of the best things I ever learned to do. I figured my girl needed to learn some martial arts. I used to train at this really cool ju-jitsu dojo and I'm still good friends with the instructors there. I decided to take her to the dojo and if she was interested, then I would pay for her classes. My friends at the dojo are totally cool and they have a sliding scale payment plan so I knew that if she got into it classes wouldn't break my meager pocketbook.

The first time that we went she just watched. Her dad made her come with her little sister because he didn't trust her. Understandable. The girl isn't a saint, but then neither is her father. Her little sister got really excited and was into the ju-jitsu too. The second time we went I made her get out on the mat. You don't learn ju-jitsu by watching... unless you are really good. After training, she was really into it. She said that she wanted to train 3 days a week. The next day, she told me that she was showing her family everything she learned and they were practicing with her. Fucking family bonding with the dysfunctional family! I love it!

I'm hoping that getting into ju-jitsu will get her into something other than the crazy life that she is into right now. I'm hoping that ju-jitsu will teach her physical self-defense as well as mental and emotional self-defense. I don't know if she'll graduate (she's almost 17 with barely sophomore credits), but I'll try and help her however I can.

Taking a step back

Things were getting real intense. My students were getting frustrated and I was as well. I started to feel like I didn't have control. Ironically, of course I don't have control. Isn't that what I tell myself all the time? I cannot control what happens but only my reaction to it. I must do what I do, but beyond that things are totally out of my control. And of course I don't listen to my own advice. It was only when my boss told me to take a step back. She said that I was too much of a perfectionist. I take that coded as obsessive compulsive. She's right though.

The thing is that I want my students so badly to do well, that I get overly invested. Not healthy. It is very important for my sanity to draw a line. To be able to say enough is enough. Teaching has a high turnover rate and a high burnout rate. The intensity of the situation can be overwhelming. To always have to be on. To judge your success on your students' success. Not being able to plan for stuff that you have no idea is coming. To constantly feel judged. Then to have a punk ass kid spit at your efforts. That coupled with the low pay... Teachers all hanging out is one big bitch session. Teachers talk so much crap about kids. We gotta. We gotta let off a lot of steam.

Part of taking a step back means focusing more on myself and my life. I must not get into defining my life via my job. I have never wanted that. I gotta focus more on my family.

Married life rocks! I am far better at taking care of AL and me as a family than I am in just taking care of myself. I'm a better team player than just being an individual. Albert Einstein got me all jazzed about finance with his quote, "the most powerful force in the universe is compound interest." I had to sit and think about that one for a while. Then I started going OCD on the finance shit. Read Suze Orman's "The Nine Steps to Financial Freedom" and "The Road to Wealth". I've been reading "The Motley Fool" alot. I'm trying to get all these things in place to take care of my now and future family. Compound interest is going to help take care of us in the future.

But of course I can't use the capitalist system and just kowtow to its amoral structure completely. I gotta go with socially responsible investing. Can my compound interest be as least exploitative as possible, please? Sadly, the Motley fool has an article called "The myth of Socially Responsible Investing." I found the article to be an argument for laissez-faire capitalism. He uses the idea of all or nothing "morality" and chooses nothing. He says

Suppose you want to invest in the chemical industry. What are you going to do, invest in the firm that pollutes the environment the least? If it pollutes at all, why invest at all?

My answer would be... yeah I'm going to be more down with the company that pollutes the least. The world is by no means perfect. But I believe in always trying to do a little bit better. We can have a goal in mind but never reach that goal. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't have a goal. I think that financially rewarding and investing in a company that is more environmentally conscious is a good thing.

If we can't be perfect then we shouldn't try to be better at all??? I wonder if the author has children or works with children? That's not the type of message we want to hand down to the generations.

End of the second quarter

This Friday is the last day of the second quarter. I'm proud to say that my entire advisory group's cumulative GPA either stayed the same or went up. However, I know that isn't going to be the case this quarter sadly. I don't know what it is but I've noticed that students really lag this quarter. I don't know what it is. Their grades drop. Maybe it's the weather I don't know. Perhaps in the first quarter students do better because they are excited for school and eager to do well. Then in the second quarter they lose momentum. Finally in the spring quarter they want to do well because they saw that not doing well in the winter quarter really fucked them up.

So, I finally got my teaching credential! YEA for me! They send in the mail a green piece of paper that had totally been printed out on the computer. $30,000 and I get a computer printout. But that's how it goes. It's just another hoop that they make teachers jump through and make it harder and less desirable for people to enter the profession.

I need to lose 10 pounds. I'm right now the fattest I've ever been. It's fuckin hilarious. One time I was sitting around and coughed. Then my pants button went flying off and I heard it bounce off of something. It's bad. So to get into shape AL and I are taking dance classes. We're going to dance in the Carnaval parade with my old Capoeira and Samba school. We're also taking Cuban Salsa classes. I went out dancing with my friend for his wife's birthday. But when we got to a club all I could do was watch. I was pissed. I hate standing around watching. I decided then and there that we had to take group and private classes. Now that I'm older I gotta learn to partner dance. Enough of this dancing by myself shit.

It's been a long time

So I haven't posted in a long while. It's not that I'm some amazing teacher now and I don't need the reflection. Far from it... I don't know. You just get away from the things that you love sometimes. Take for instance today, AL and I went down to take Samba classes to dance in the Carnaval parade. We're taking it from my old Capoeira teacher. The man has been a mentor and friend to me for a long time. But life just got busy and I haven't seen him and his family in a long time. Then I went down to hang out and dance and it was great. His two daughters are like my little sisters and it was great to see them. It just felt like I was coming back home.

So I'm going to try and get back to blogging and dancing and doing the things that I like.

So Kenneth Eng...

What a weirdo. First off, I'm wary of supremacists of all varieties. What was AsiaWeekly thinking? Irregardless, I would happy if there was a debate that sprung from this. If people started to talk about racial hostilities between black and asians and the history behind it, I would be happy. Sadly, I don't think that will happen. America doesn't know how to even begin to have a dialogue. This country is about talking heads and talking points. No one is trying to hear the other side. It totally bums me out when the country decides to focus on the ridiculous hate filled rants of some supremacist idiot.