When I finished the course in English as a Second Language in 2003, I looked around for somewhere to put my new found skill into practice. Previous to Algonquin College I had considered a much shorter course offered by T.E.S.OL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) This was a crash course in teaching abroad and was aimed at university students upon graduation who wanted a bit of an adventure, and to earn some money. Many of their graduates went to Japan where they were hired as auxiliary teachers in conversational English.
Just after I finished at Algonquin they contacted me to see if I would be interested in teaching in Cuba for a short time. They had some sort of contract with the Cuban Government and had previously taken a group of Canadian teachers there for six weeks. We would not be paid, but would get room and board supplied. We would also have to pay our own air fare. One of the points my contact made was that this arrangement with the Cuban government was about to end, and this chance would not likely be repeated.
I thought, it would only be for a short time, and I would be with a group of people led by someone who knew the ropes. So I signed up and prepared to leave for Cuba!
As we assembled at Ottawa Airport we were about fifteen people, all ages, from twenty and up. A couple of Americans, who were not welcome in Cuba at that time, were travelling as Canadians. I thought this was a bit risky but as our leaders did not seem concerned I did not worry too much.
On arrival at Havana Airport we climbed on a bus and ended up at an old resort on the north coast used by the Cuban Government as a periodic Conference Centre. There were enough rooms so we did not have to share, and air conditioning, a great boon! The rooms gave strait onto the beach and a beautiful sea view. Mostly a wind blew all the time and our washing fluttered like gay flags. The whole place had a rather worn down look but it was very clean.
The first few days we did orientation to the village and surrounding Hotels. Also I think our leader used that period to get a handle on how much we were really able to teach. Meals were served in a central dining room off the bar. During our stay we did get rather tired of the somewhat limited food. This is the only place in my memory where completely unadorned pasta was served as a main course! The kitchen was pretty minimal and on many evenings the lights would go out. There was no recourse to seeing in the twilight as in Cuba the dark descends rapidly to pitch black. Luckily some of us had flashlights and we lent them to the cooks until the electricity came back! The bar was the central gathering place and I really enjoyed a rather potent drink which was made with mint in the mix. I think it was called a mohito??The mint grew just outside the door and was a really fresh ingredient very conveniently placed!
The drawback was that they nearly always had Castro on the television there, haranguing the population. The broadcasts were endless and took place in what looked like parliament buildings. The participants could be seen taking their places and if you watched closely, they would be surreptitiously sliding food and drink under the desk tops. They obviously needed this to stay the course! Our pre dinner drink was punctuated by the background noise of Castro’s shouts.
Because the Cuban Government was involved with our stay it was not clear if the local hotels were happy to see us! The idea was that we would expose staff at the resorts to English and improve their ability to communicate with the guests. All levels of staff were meant to attend, but the managers often had busy schedules and did not turn up.
There were very few resources for us to work with except a very useful manual produced by T.E.S.O.L. The students also had very little in the way of notebooks but we were all practiced at doing with very little by the end of our stay. Also, we had been warned to bring markers and such with us. Mostly we worked with newsprint as a base because this was easy to transport and lasted quite well enough for our purposes. You could always tell the teachers in the community by the rolls of newsprint under their arms! Wherever we landed up teaching, we would stick the newsprint on the wall and go for it!
One of the stipulations from the government was absolutely no fraternization with the Cuban population! I am afraid the younger female members of our group paid no attention to this. They seemed to hook up with young men very quickly and the guys were only too happy to show the girls a good time. At one point a girl disappeared for three days and she was found to be staying over at someone’s house. Most younger people did not take these rules to heart, not having experienced the heavy hand of a Communist Government! Maybe some of this behavior was what made a group like ours finally unwelcome.
I really grew very fond of the Cuban people. They had so very little and yet remained cheerful and involved in their communities. There were shortages of everything. The shops run by the government had very little for sale. Sometimes there would be a frisson of activity and an illegal truck would appear. No matter what was suddenly available, people rushed to buy. Usually it was fresh produce or other scarce commodity, and it was gone in a flash.
There was no public transportation so people walked or hitched a ride with friends. Mostly I went with a horse and cart. This you could pick up at the small café opposite our resort. There was no schedule . You went hopefully and stood by the roadside and would see the approaching cart from far off. You would say where you wanted to go and climb in. I really worried about the horses, as they were pretty skinny and only went at one speed. If the driver tried to hurry them they picked up for three paces and then reverted back to the original! I never saw what might have passed for a pasture and when not being used the horses were often left on the boulevards, reins hanging, grazing busily.
On my way to the bank in one of these carts, one day, we stopped for two old women at the side of the road. The conversation was animated. Further along they were getting off when I was asked to stand. Under my seat was a stash of vegetables. My driver chose some to give to the women and as they said goodbye he pressed some coins into their hands.
On reaching the bank I got down and my driver moved on .As I turned to the bank I realized there was an armed guard on the door with a rifle and white gloves. He politely opened the door for me and I stood in line to be served. As I completed my business, I was anxious about where my driver had gone and whether he would return.
I think he went to water the horse at a friends and he came very soon to get me. So we returned picking up more passengers on the way. I was really glad to see the café and the resort after my adventure. I had been worried by what turned out to be small acts of kindness. I was very glad that the journey had contributed in some small way to a helping hand for the driver’s friends.
Leave a Reply