Hello there! :)
Today’s post
is going to be a bit short because next week I have to sit 3 exams and all my
spare time is packed with learning.
One of the exams I’m going to take is
Spanish. This semester all culture topics are about Latin America. While
studying for this exam I started thinking back to my holidays in Cuba in summer
2013. The 3 weeks I spent in this country had a formative influence on me and I
thought it would be a good idea to share this with you guys. As I mentioned
before I’m quite busy right now so I only focus on what made me change my way
of thinking and skip telling you about the landscape etc. But if I don’t forget
I might add some pictures for you later. :)
The first
few days of my holidays I went on a trip to various places in the middle and
western parts of Cuba. Our guide told us a lot about the history of the country
and the current situation. Did you know that they still use ration books in
Cuba? [for those of you who don’t know what this is or just in case I looked up
the wrong word: this system intends that every person or family can only get a
certain amount of food and things of everyday need like toothpaste etc.] And
although there are shops which sell practically everything the Cubans can’t go
there because these shops are only for tourists and even use a different
currency. That’s why many people desperately try to get some money from the tourists,
e.g. in Havana there were lots and lots of beggars. Hearing and experiencing
this gave an unpleasant taste to the whole trip for me.
After the
tour I spent two weeks in a hotel located at the coast of Varadero. There I
spoke to some members of the entertainment team and to my surprise they quite
frankly told me about the problems and negative aspects of living Cuba. To put some
of the things I was told there in a nutshell: the water supply is a problematic
issue sometimes, electricity breaks down a few times a day and everything is
very expensive compared to the wages people get.
All these
facts made me think a lot about my lifestyle and how lucky I am to live in a country
where these problems don’t exist or at least to a much lesser extent. Soon I
started to care about saving water and electricity, reusing stuff like towels
more often and to avoid wasting food. Back at home I also tried to convince
other people to do so as well by sharing my experiences with them but I soon
found out that this only had little to no effect at all. Maybe many people have
to see it with their own eyes before they can really appreciate these goods. I hope that this blog
makes some of you consider your behaviour and you try to be more economical
with water, electricity and food.
I have to continue
learning, so I’m going to stop now. I wish you all the best for your exams!
