Week 5: Culture Shock
In Boston, it seems like everyone is in a rush, and stopping to meet a stranger is generally inappropriate. In Cuba, very few people are too busy to meet a stranger, and that difference hits you almost immediately. I have made more Cuban friends in my time here than American friends, and I really enjoy being able to say hi to just about anyone that I see on the street.
I’m not sure that I can define my culture shock in stages, but I can definitely break it down into the topics within which I faced significant changes.
The first is the people themselves. In Cuba, as I mentioned, people are generally much more friendly than their counterparts in the US. They are also willing to take time to tour you around the city, a kind of soft commitment that I would never have expected before coming here. For all of the positives, there are also some negatives. Tipping/begging plays an even larger role here than in the US from my experience. In addition to the numerous music groups, poor seeking aid, and service people that expect tips, there’s a general sense of obligation that as a tourist, you should give a few dollars to many of the people that you interact with, including people you photograph. This market mentality where I had previously only had a social mentality was definitely pretty weird to adjust to, but you can adjust within a few days.
The food here is also much different than food in the US. While there are private restaurants, which are out of the price range of the local populace, the majority of Cubans rely on ration cards and flea market-like shops, where food is not refrigerated and meat is often laying out on tables, with flies on much of the products. While the group was advised not to buy from these shops, just seeing it was very shocking. Beyond that, the general price of food is very low here in the places that are targetted at locals instead of tourists. For example, I had a really great egg sandwich for about 25 cents the other day.
The market in general here was difficult to wrap my mind around. Nearly everything is owned by the government, and not many businesses seem to have much business. In order to move from one apartment to another, the people have to go through informal open markets where they lack access to more centralized exchange platforms. Collectively, the market structure here is radically different from the US’, and absolutely worth learning about.
There are cameras along all of the major roads here, and the police use them to watch the Cubans very carefully. It seems like this is mainly used for speech and crime. This has led to a nearly crime free country, but also a 1984-esque vibe within the city.
People here care less about age as a determinant of what actions are appropriate. I have seen children smoking and drinking, as well as staying out well into the night. I think that there is a greater level of social independence here compared to the United States, which is contrasted with a much greater level of government influence in day to day actions.
