Ordinary World (Part 2) (by Beenie Girl)

“Every world, is my world... I will learn to survive
Any world, is my world ... I will learn to survive” (Ordinary World – Duran Duran)


Like I said before, some things in this place seem so foreign to me and yet others seem quite normal. But there are some things that may seem completely ordinary to the average Cuban which are so foreign to me. Let's look at some more of the peculiar things I have seen or have found out so far:


One day my friend Sylph and I were talking about rules we had when we were growing up. Rules which NEVER made ANY sense to us at the time. When I was little I had no idea if anyone else had these rules so I was completely shocked to hear she had some of the same rules I had! Maybe it was just a normal part of growing up Trinidad and Tobago in the 80's! Maybe you can relate to not being able to play with the "good toys" you got for Christmas because after New Years Day they got "put away". You all excited about your brand new tea set, or a nice new Cindy doll (remember those?) only to see it put up? What was up with that? Well if you think childhood had rules, you need to come to Cuba LOL Somehow I learn a new rule regarding something everyday. And you know when I ask how do you people know this? Is this written in a law book somewhere? A stone tablet even? Many times no one can seem to tell me, but everyone just seems to know the particular rule for that particular situation and they obey it too! For instance, my mom walked over to my office to stretch her legs a bit from the hotel, so when she was leaving to walk back to the hotel she grabbed a few of our newspapers which came in the bag to go home read and catch up on the local happenings. So she had them in her hand and was about to walk out the door when one of our local staff runs up to us “Permiso!” with a look of horror on her face! “Momentito Senora, You cannot walk outside with those newspapers, you have to place them in a bag.” Then she gives my mom a black plastic bag to hide the newspapers in. So of course now my interest is peaked. “Why pray tell can’t she walk with the newspapers outside?” I ask foolishly. “No no that is a rule here, you cannot walk with the newspapers or books outside” There was that word again – rule. Of course I had to ask why and where is this rule written. I am YET to find this so-called rule in writing but I have not given up yet LOL
Now I know allyuh waitin fuh me to compare this to Trinidad and Tobago, but trust me I'm not keen to! LOL To be honest I think the only rule we have home is break the rules. Especially if it appears to be a kind of unwritten rule? Well it might as well not exist. I feel jus now to make people do the right thing home they will have to do signs in opposite to what you want in order to get people to conform – here are some nice ones the government can borrow from me - (dump garbage here) (speed limit 200) (park at this bus stop) and my personal favourite (double parking allowed mon-sat)

Well I am not an expert on communism but I do have some idea and I am reading some stuff these days, but from my limited knowledge of communism and its efforts to create an egalitarian, classless society I can see why there is a limit on most buying and spending here. A quota for everything from how much toilet paper you can buy each month to how many electronic items you can buy each year. In a sense it is great because it gives almost everyone a chance to get to buy from the choice of goods available. I dunno, I just say thank God I was not born here, not with my shopping genes! You know sometimes I take for granted the ability to buy whatever I can afford home and not have it controlled in anyway (expect by how much money I have of course) so I am not used to living with quotas. Look when I was shopping to move here I think I bought ALL the conditioner on Charlotte Street. Really I think I did!

Yuh know something? All this talk about rules and quotas make me think about law enforcement, and honestly I think while I am in Cuba I am going to embark on an experiement – I am yet to see a FAT police officer or a BIG BELLY police officer. I know there must be one out there somewhere, but I just can’t seem to find them! In fact, I not goin to lie, Cuba has some hot police dudes, no for real, I need to take some pics. But on the real, I know I have not been outside of Havana as yet but I refuse to believe all the policemen here are slim and fit. Maybe I am so used to seeing ours in their grey shirts with the buttons struuuugggling to stay closed over their beer belly that it stood out to me how slim the ones here are? But don't worry I am going to find one, you wait and see!

All in all despite the adjustments, I am learning to survive. This place is interesting and actually quite entertaining too.