Chronicle of a Cuban Family

By: Delia M Pacheco

We were a total of fifteen students who had just arrived to a very different country, everything in there was very different to what were are used to in a daily basis back in our country, they drove different cars than ours, the old Spanish streets were also very different compared to the streets we are used to seeing in our country, even though we all spoke Spanish their Spanish was different then ours and of course their cultures and beliefs were very different to are very own. My classmates and I had different mentalities and different opinions on the our ways to see life, all of us in different levels of life, some  were younger than the others and some of us were older, some of us were there to celebrate graduations and some others were there because the credit for the class was needed, but also with the same intention to learn about a new culture.

We wanted to go to Cuba to get the complete experience, well at least I know I did. When we first got to this new beautiful  country, we were able to notice right away that everything the professor told us was true, she had talked to us before traveling about the really hot and humid weather, also about the rain and other issues regarding the nature (like mosquitos and sun that could burn your skin for example )  to me that happens almost everywhere around  the world and honestly we did not mind at all after the second day, because we found out that in Matanzas and everywhere around Cuba people  had a lot to offer to us , so much that those little things did not matter to us at all.

This trip to Cuba was very important for me, I learned a lot, it was and It will always be an incredible and unforgettable experience for me. I met a lot of people there with a lot of talent and a lot of potential as well, I learned a lot from them. All these talented people from Cuba taught us a lot of different lessons about life. But in reality it was not just the authors who did, also all the staff from the hostals, who did a really good job at taking care of us during the whole trip. They were very sweet and loving and really enjoyed spoiling us during our visit. They really made sure we had everything we needed. They cooked very good cuban food for us, it was very delicious. Working with Norge (the writer that was assigned to us) was very helpful as well, we were able to understand his Cuban roots and also understand a little bit more about the history there. I believe it is a really good idea to work with the authors in person, because you get to understand what you’re translating when it’s time to translate a lot more better, even though we had a lot of questions he was always so happy to help us figure it out l, we were able to get his essence on the work we translated. Sometimes when other people translate other authors work it doesn’t come out as well as it should have, because for the simple reason that they really don’t know the real life about that author. So when they translate it, they translate it with their own words trying to guess the writing assigned to them.

Our professor Mabel also introduced us to four new friends (also editors we worked with) who were the best thing that happened to me on this trip, even though they were very young , I really learned a lot from them because they were very cult, intelligent and very humble. They taught me to live my live in a positive way even when negative stuff would happen to me. Their names were Adrian a very down to earth man, Elizabeth very beautiful and smart women, Hector so intelligent and o course the life of the party and Lorena very interesting and humble women. I really have no words to describe how thankful I am with life to have put these people in my life, my connection with them is unbelievable! I am still in contact with them. I really have to be in contact with them, they courage me to live my best life. I really enjoyed hanging out with them on a daily basis, I would literally get up first thing in the morning to hurry for class and be able to see them and learn more from them. I am very grateful with Mabel, Neysi and the University of Houston for giving me the opportunity to be a part of this great experience. And I am really thankful also for people like Mabel and her partner in this world, because this is the way it is supposed to be, people should always try to help the others even if it’s little by little. While having a conversation with my classmates after the trip was done, we realized Cuba really helped all of us realize that life is so good when you see it in another perspective, with no hate, no negativity.

I was also able to see my favorite professor (Mabel) present one of her books to the Cuban community and of course to us, I felt so proud of her when I saw her talking about the poems she had wrote. All of us were able to live that great experience. And one last thing but not last… I really have to say that I loved the way all my classmates and I got along during this trip, we were almost like a family. Brothers and sisters all taking care of and caring for each other. We were all like a family. The authors, the professors, our friends, and some part of the Matanzas community and all my classmates were a Cuban family. We were a Matancera family.