Cuba : During Part III

Another huge and unique part of my trip to Cuba was being immersed in the richness of their culture. This was one of the things that I'd been looking forward to the most, partly because I simply love experiencing new/other cultures, partly because I'd heard so much about the generosity of Cuban culture from previous pilgrims to Cuba, and partly because I knew I wanted to immerse myself as much as possible into their culture because it was a once-in-a-life-time opportunity. As excited and somewhat mentally prepared for losing myself in their culture as I thought I'd been, the richness and uniqueness of their culture took me by storm.
Perhaps one of the greatest aspects of their culture is that it still shapes who I am today. To be brutally honest, I can't really adequately capture my experiences there. The experiences I had with the Cuban culture were my own, and what poor descriptions I can provide can't really do those experiences justice. Once I'd been embraced by their culture, it almost felt like I was living in a different state of mind... What I had considered as normal had changed, what it meant to be a friend evolved into something such deeper, how I saw myself because of how others saw me changed my view of myself dramatically. I saw just how culturally bound values and things that are important were. But those thoughts are just a fraction of the metamorphosis my own sense of the world underwent through being embraced by the Cubans there. In short, it felt like the meaning of everything had changed. This was not just because I was speaking through a language that wasn't what I grew up learning, but more importantly because I was experiencing a new and different yet no less valid way of life.
This new way of life began with meals. I learned a lot of my Spanish at the table, chatting with my Cuban friends during the sobremesas. I learned this amazing rhythm game that we drummed along to on the table, the small saucers of cafe clinking with the beat of the table. I learned the sounds of animals in Cuba, and on the other hand how ridiculous animals sounds in the EEUU are.
I learned first hand about the cultural subjection of certain social issues. All of us watched a film where there was a fight between two women and there were a few short scenes of prostitution. It fascinated me how the kids from the US were more visibly uncomfortable with the sexual scenes yet how the Cubans reacted incredulously to the cat-fight. That movie showed me more than what type of "issue" is worse in Cuba, it also taught me a lot about myself and my culture. Obviously, I may has well have left my pre-conceived notions of normality at home.
Perhaps one of the things that fascinated me most about my trip to Cuba was a short memory of a mural in the lower side of Matanzas. The mural was simple, yet its messages and symbolism incredibly profound. It was a quote from Cuba's president, Raul Castro. The effect this mural had on me wasn't so much due to the words that Raul Castro spoke, but it was the strange sense of history that ignited in me. For me, that mural was like a time-capsule, a snap-shot, a thing that made abundantly clear to me the raw power of history. Everything about it captivated me, from the Spanish text to the stark image of fresh blue paint flanked by decrepit houses. For once, I could truly see with my own eyes what I'd only learned about in school, the Cold War, the US Embargo of Cuba, the Cuban Revolution, the Communist Government... These topics are enough to start me off on an hour long tangent on a good day, but ever since that day, history took on a completely new form of meaning for me. It was alive.
Yet as meaningful and life changing as all of these experiences were for me, losing myself in the richness of Cuban culture, the table games, and the more complicated culture-bound issues each of us faced, all of these aspects of my trip were highlighted and surrounded by the sheer generosity and sincerity of the people. I firmly believe that I have had some of the most important conversations of my life with people there that I had considered almost strangers the day before. This belief goes beyond whatever it was that my friends and I spoke about onto a much deeper, more beautiful level of friendship. Every conversation seemed to skip past the tedious and safe-zones of small talk, hitting instead on what was really on your mind. The pace of it all was astounding. Maybe part of the reason we all became so close was because we weren't going to be there for more than ten days, but regardless, the level and truthfulness of the friendships I created with my Cuban friends is nigh unfathomable. This simple, honesty characteristic became one of the most crucial pillars of my trip... So leaving that beautiful rawness and sincerity behind became one of the most difficult and heart-wrenching changes I had to face as I returned home, feeling almost like a stranger to my own country  =^. .^=