On Israel, Internships, and Relationships: Interview with Alex

One of the friends I made on my work abroad trip to Israel was Alex, a leadership consultant and author. She works with leaders, mentors, and coaches who are working on building their purpose-driven team of clients and employees. She helps them learn how to make a large social impact, mentor and develop a group of people, whoever that is in their niche, while also generating income. Since December Alex has been running her own business. It's definitely looked a little different with COVID, but it's allowed her to be totally virtual and work anywhere, which she appreciates. If you'd like to to join a community of leaders looking to improve their leadership skills, check out Alex's group We Build Killer Teams here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/webuildkillerteams/

Read on to learn about how our trip impacted her life both professionally and privately.

Click this link if you'd like to watch/listen to the interview: https://youtu.be/VA_fh4_vFYg

Mariya: What made you decide to join the Onward Israel internship program that fateful summer of 2013?

Alex: It kind of just attached to my Birthright trip. So I went to Northeastern University for school, and one of the summer trips that they were doing was the Northeastern trip to Israel with Birthright, and I really didn't want to stay for just two weeks. I was like, "Why don't I take advantage of the free ticket?" Since they allow you to stay for free. So what I ended up doing was two weeks of Birthright, I travelled alone for over two weeks, and then I did Onward Israel for two months.

M: Nice! And that was your way of kind of continuing to connect with Israel?

A: Yeah, and I think I didn't want to go home either [laughs]. So it was my way of being like let me have this incredible experience. It's basically paid for by Onward Israel, by Birthright, it was such a good opportunity for me to get to explore and it was literally a once-in-lifetime experience. I don't know when I'm going to have three months to do that again.

M: What did you end up doing for your internship in Haifa?

A: I worked at the University of Haifa and I did an internship in their Psychology Research Department. It was actually kind of interesting. They were were doing a study on acculturation with people who were immigrating to Israel from the US, Russia, and there was one more country, I think it was Spain. They did tons of interviews on what kids went through when they moved from those countries to Israel, so they did all of these recordings. So I was the one to watch all of the recordings, transcribe everything from Spanish, Hebrew, and English into this one transcript for them and help them analyze that. And it was sort of interesting because I was going through my own acculturation process and I got to hear about these kids who were adjusting as well. So some of it was boring like literally sitting there for hours transcribing, but a lot of it was really interesting.

M: That must have been a lot of work to transcribe all of those interviews. Were you transcribing from all of those different languages? How did that work?

A: At the time, since I had just finished my freshman year of college and I was coming from a modern Orthodox Jewish school where I was literally taught Hebrew for 16 years, so I could read, write, and understand it. If there was something I didn't understand, then I could look it up. I also minored in Spanish so I could understand a lot of it. And I speak English. So it was a good fit in that it was all of the languages I was decently proficient at in one study.

M: Did you find that it helped inform the career decisions you’ve made since then?

A: Yes, because I'm nerdy. I like to read, I'm very science-oriented, result-oriented, and I do like learning about research. The actual doing of the research was really boring for me. Like sitting there and assessing the results for hours, staring at a computer screen for hours - I could not get into it. So that did actually change my direction. I started to realize for the classes I took at Northeastern plus that experience that I'm not sure I want to go the research route. I want more of the human connection as well.

M: It sounds like you did get some of that with learning about the acculturation experiences. It's similar to what you're doing now with building teams.

A: Yeah, it's definitely similar in some ways.

M: What were your biggest takeaways about Israeli culture in life and work?

A: I think you were at this training they did about what are the differences between the Israeli workforce and the American workforce. I definitely found this to be true: they are very direct, very blunt, very to the point. Not just at work, but everywhere. So like I'd stand at the bus station and the old ladies would shove me to the side as they make their way onto the bus. I think how direct they are is very different from everyone here. And even in my experience building teams, everyone is terrified of having tough conversations, they tip-toe around issues - it's definitely not the same in that respect.

M: Yeah, I definitely saw the same thing. Even in a school culture where I saw teachers talking to kids they were very like, "I'm not sugarcoating anything for you just because you're younger! I'm telling it like it is!" which I kind of appreciated.

A: Yeah, I liked it.

M: Our leader, Stef, really tried to build that sense of community and appreciation for Israel. What are some of the most memorable moments or events for you that really deepened your sense of connection to Israel and other Jewish people?

A: I feel like she did a good job of letting us know what was available. We lived in Haifa, which is not a super touristy area, it's not like Tel Aviv. So there were a lot of people there who didn't speak English, it was definitely very different in that way. So she just did a good job of letting us know what was going on and helped us assimilate well.

One event that stood out to me was, and you were there for this, was the salsa events. The main square where we lived, they used to do these salsa nights. All the local people who lived there used to come and do that. I think it was free and you just showed up. It was so much fun!

I do feel connected [to Israel], my dad was born there, and I actually technically have Israeli citizenship too because he was born there. Besides that, I love the country and I love the people, and I love learning about the history, but I'm not sure I'm super passionate about it in general. Although I love going and I love everything about it. But it's really just like my family history. I got to go places where my dad grew up, there were things he pointed out that I got to go and see. That was sort of special too.

At the time that I was there, also, one of my cousins had her Bat Mitzvah. They came to Israel and I happened to be there at the time, so I got to take part in that. They did an incredible, special service on top of the largest mountain you can climb. I'm blanking on the name.

M: One of my cousins had his Bar Mitzvah while I was there, so I got to go to that too. That was a very different experience because they were Orthodox. And all of the women in the synagogue were behind this divider that had these small spaces that you could poke your eye through to see what was happening on the men's side. So I was watching the whole thing through these little cutouts, which made me think, "I don't know how I feel about this, but alright." But still it was cool to have that experience there.

M: Have you done anything specific in the past 7 years to sustain your connection to Israel or parts of Israeli culture?

A: I think the biggest reminder was that I bought a lot of things to put around my apartment. So I have different posters and different things I bought from the shuks, the markets, that I still have hanging up that remind me of it.

I think the biggest thing that the trip did for me was...I had travelled to vacation-y type spots, touristy spots with my family, but this was the first trip where I went not just to go on a vacation to relax, but to genuinely try to learn and understand a different environment, a different lifestyle, a different place. I mean I just loved that so much that I've just taken so many more trips that, again, aren't just vacation-y and relaxing, but really allow me learn and experience other cultures. So I think it empowered me in that way too. I was like, "Oh, I can do this!"

M: Yeah! What other trips have you gone on?

A: My boyfriend and I went to Iceland for two weeks and we travelled all over there, which was really really amazing! We went to England, we went to France. I feel like I'm missing a country too. There's definitely another place that we went to recently that I can't remember. We started to actually do research on where do people actually hang out. We wanted to get a sense of what this place is really about.

M: Awesome! So you and I developed our friendship over the course of the trip and sort of stayed connected when we got back for a while, but then because our lives got busy we became a bit more distant. Then we re-kindled our connection this year around January just before COVID-19. What prompted you to reach out again and what advice do you have to those who are looking to revisit or sustain those kinds of relationships?

A: Well number one, for the last four to five years my life was, chaos is the wrong word but, non-stop work. So I was literally working from 5am to 9pm six days a week. So it was less that it was a purposeful loss of connection and more that it was just me and I didn't have space for anyone with the point that I was at in my life. That was part of why I wanted to get control back of my time, I want to get control back of my lifestyle. Like I didn't even have time for my boyfriend. I was only seeing him nights and part of the weekends. So once I made the switch to starting my own business, which was end of December/January, I was like, "OK, who have I not talked to in years because I haven't even had the time to take care of myself? Now, who do I have time for?"

I guess I would say, one, it's important to make sure you can take care of yourself before you're reaching out to other people and trying to get set up. Anyone that you had a good connection with, they'll remember that and they'll remember those good memories. So I think like you remember the salsa lessons and you remember the fun we had together. There are definitely plenty of people that I reached out to in January that didn't get back to me or were offended that I didn't have time for them. But you win some, you lose some I think. The people who matter will get back to you and will take you up on it.

Israel: From Working Abroad to Connecting at Home

Israel. The very name of this country evokes a variety of feelings and opinions in many people, particularly in the United States. Even in its 72nd year as a country, its legitimacy still comes into question by people across the political spectrum. As with any country, it is important to separate a nation's government from its people. Unfortunately, they often do not work in conjunction with each other's values.

For those who are less acquainted with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the gist is that it is akin to a religious turf war. Diasporic Jewish people have sought after a home for generations due to the rampant anti-Semitism that has existed throughout history. The location for this home was chosen because of the archeological evidence of Jews living in that area eons ago. Christians and Muslims from surrounding regions settled there centuries after the Jews were forced out, but have not had much autonomy as a nation due to imperial rule by the Romans, Byzantines, Ottomans, and British. Both Jews and modern-day Palestinians claim ownership of the land, and neither wants to give it up completely to the other. Compromises have been attempted, but they have mostly failed. 

I grew up attending a Jewish school in which Israel was regarded as our holy land and rightful cultural home. As a result, I cannot be unbiased in my opinions on Israel. I have visited multiple times, I have family that lives there on opposite ends of the religious spectrum, and I generally feel a kinship toward the country. I fervently believe that Israel has a right to exist. Do I stand with every political decision that the Israeli government has made? Absolutely not. The same can be said for my thoughts on the US and Russian government seeing as I am a Russian-American. Regardless, I will never stop supporting the legitimacy of Israel as a Jew.

Now that the stage has been set, I'd like to return to the core of this blog's mission: connection. The summer after my junior year of college, I applied to an organization that was offering two-month internships to Jewish college students in Haifa and Jerusalem. There would be a guide to lead us through the program to familiarize us with the city, newly renovated housing provided, and a stipend. I recognized the privilege of this opportunity and saw it as a way to not only develop useful skills in my area of study, but also improve my Hebrew which I hadn't spoken for 7 years at that point, and see relatives that I rarely or never met in person. 

Each participant in the program was placed in a setting that most closely resembled their desired workplace. At the time, I was considering speech pathology as my profession, so I was placed in the Ofakim School for Special Education, which serves about 90 children and young adults with neurological and physical disabilities such as cerebral palsy. I shadowed the speech therapist in that setting and served as an assistant counselor during their summer camp session. Additionally, I worked at an after school program for students with intellectual disabilities such as Down's syndrome. 

I witnessed the more relaxed culture of school personnel compared to my experiences in the US and the much more forward way that teachers communicated with students. They never talked down to the children and young adults, and they showed them a great deal of respect. I also learned how vast the possibilities are for communication. Body language became crucial in understanding and supporting students. 

On the weekends, which stretch from Thursday night to Saturday as opposed to Friday night to Sunday due to the Jewish tradition of keeping Shabbat on Friday nights and Saturdays, our group leader took us on various field trips around the country. Part of the purpose of these kinds of trips was to see the vast and natural beauty of the country and to encourage us to one day make aliyah. For those who don't know, making aliyah means immigrating to Israel, which is also known as returning to the Jewish homeland. 

As a group, we connected strongly with our group leader and continued to keep in touch in various ways after returning home. For some time, we also kept in touch with members of the group with whom we had developed closer bonds. Many of us remained in Massachusetts, the location of our respective colleges and universities. Even though it has been years, the memories from that trip have continued to empower me in my role as an educator.

Stay tuned to learn about my connection with a friend in the program as well as our guide in future posts.  

Celebrating Shabbat

Interview Part IV: Anara Frank on Staying Connected

The following is the final installment of Anara Frank's journey as the program coordinator of trips to Cuba. She talks here about the feedback she's received and the opportunities she's had to expand her programming to the Dominican Republic while also staying connected to Cuba in the midst of the global pandemic.

Q: What is some of the feedback you've received from both Cuban hosts and American travelers regarding your trip programing? Any that stood out to you over the years?

A: So starting with the Cuban dancers: I think that there are two really strong methodologies for dance teaching in Cuba and for dance and art programming in general. There's the line of high-level arts where people elected to be in an arts school and people who show extraordinary capability and talent, people who are being coached to develop that talent to the highest level, and that type of arts coaching is very strict and very focused on exactly how to be the best you can be. You're being given a chance to develop and represent the country at no cost, and there is a high level of expectation for your performance. Then there's also the community kind of dance and music programming, which is like "we are here for everyone." Everyone is here to have fun, everybody is here to learn. Whatever way we learn is fine, whatever way you do the steps is fine. If you look awkward it's fine, if you look beautiful it's fine, if your voice is off-key it's fine, if it's perfect it's fine, and it's all great! We're all just here loving it. It's dance! It's music! And there is a direction in that line that's all just fun and let's do it! You know? Yes, there's also the informal line, if you will, of just kind of picking things up from friends as they go along. Like a lot of people say, "I never learned salsa, I just knew how to do it. I would watch people," and they tried, you know? So I guess that would be the informal line. So there's three possible paths, but the two that are considered art because they're very divergent.

So what I would, as a dance instructor in the United States, who was bringing my students, had to look for how to develop [was] another type of instruction because I knew that most of my travelers were not coming to be the Olympic champion of Cuban salsa. But at the same time, they weren't coming to play and be like "Everything's wonderful! Whatever you're doing is wonderful, everything's great!" No, they wanted to learn. So figuring out how to create that space where you could be in the middle, where you could have fun but also be advancing and learning at the same time I think was surprising to the artists we were working with because they had come from one line or the other. We had both, but there was this strange place in the middle where people were learning a lot, but not being made to feel bad, I guess. It was like trying to find that little balance. So I think that was really surprising. I also know there is a lot of competition in Cuba amongst artists because there are only so many spots and everyone has good education in the arts. So we were looking for how to work as a collective that was non-competitive. No one was trying to take your role in the show, right? In Cuba, there are only a few spots for teachers, only a few spots for top performers, and so many amazing artists that it's really a fight to have your spot. With us, it was like we're building a collective, we're building a family. There's no fight for your spot, let's just keep having more students, and we all have a spot, we all work together. So I think those two things were very surprising and also some of the things that made them happiest. They had over time become such skilled instructors for people who weren't coming out of the Cuban system; [it] was something really important to them. They learned how to work with people from around the world and how to give feedback in such a way that their students, who were not Cuban, were developing. There was a saying, when I was going there, when I was younger, "Don't worry about it, you're not Cuban! You're never gonna dance like us, it's not in your blood." But then what do you do with that? Why do you even bother? So that's not useful instruction. So getting over that and getting to the point where we believed that it was actually possible to teach someone how to do something, and to teach them to do it very well, with positive energy, and helping them feel reinforced, and also that it was possible for us to be such a strong group that we didn't have to compete against each other, that there was something for everybody. So I feel like those are the two best feedback items that I think everyone has felt and that it has been very moving to watch as the group becomes more and more united based on those things. Those are the best things for me from the Cuban side, and then possibly what we were talking about earlier, that overcoming of prejudices, that what people imagined versus seeing the great diversity of what Americans actually are, and the ability for Americans and Cubans to build really beautiful relationships instead of the challenged relationships we tended to have. So I think those are the strong feedback items from the Cuban side.

From the side of the travelers: and I say travelers because not all travelers have been American. There have been many from all parts of the world. Some have been living in the United States with greencards, but also travelers from other countries who come with us on the trips, or who are born to other naturalized citizens. So there has been plenty of diversity of travelers. And I think some of the best feedback is, something that unites what I said earlier, the bonds that were able to be created in such a short period of time; the incredible experience of being totally surrounded by dance, music, and art in a way that you're not necessarily used to experiencing in our daily lives; being surrounded by a feeling of love and acceptance and appreciation regardless of what level you were at, regardless of how you looked that maybe people don't have in their daily lives, but many people were getting as part of being in our group when they were on the trip. A lot of love, support, and acceptance.

And I think the best part is what those things have meant for someone coming back afterwards. Like a lot of people have had the trip be kind of the spark for some other life changes. The spark for changing their physical health situation; the spark for making the decision to change into a different career path; the spark for being ready to take on relationship situations. So something about that leaving daily life and being in this environment of love, respect, acceptance, dance, music, art 24/7 kind of gives you a new outlook, maybe? A new way to look at things, and then be able to bring that back into your daily life and say, "OK, here is a change I want to make. I would like to change my daily life by bringing more positive energy, love, and acceptance to the people around me." Maybe they hadn't known how to do that before. Or I would like to change my daily life by figuring out how to have dance, music, and art around me every day, and maybe I hadn't done that before. And maybe I want to change my daily life by wondering and seeing what other types of career paths are available to me that have more meaning for me than the thing I'm doing right now that pays the bills. So I think those types of experiences create a spark for whatever is going to happen next. And so I think the best feedback that I am able to receive is the impact the trip made on my life is something really special. For me that's the best type of feedback that I could get.

Q: Given the restricted movement policies due to COVID-19, how are you maintaining that connection with your Cuban colleagues?

A: Actually, we kind of surprised ourselves! The start of COVID-19 was on the tails of extreme additional restrictions presented by the Trump administration for Cuba, many of which didn't hit the top of the news, but were being felt in drastic ways by my friends and family on the island. And so it was like we were already moving into a crisis. In the first few days of March, I think I got home on the 3rd from the Dominican Republic, and in the Dominican Republic I did not have a lot of contact with my friends and family in Cuba, and when I got home, we started to talk, and I was starting to realize the full impact of what was happening and how it was impacting them. Then, it was like the virus came, and then the realization that everything we did to earn money was being shut down. Not only were the people I really cared about were in crisis, but now I didn't even have a tool to help. I couldn't bring travelers, I couldn't even teach classes the way I normally would. There was a feeling that you know the people you love are suffering and the tools for how to help were being taken away. So there was a lot of internal struggle around that, and I felt really fortunate to be part a team that got good at solutioning [laughs] through all the years of challenges! And we said, "Wait! There is something we can do about this." Actually, for the past two weeks, we have been really actively working together to build what we had been working towards for the future, which is an online school and online learning community. It doesn't just provide instructional videos, but also virtual tours and experiences that people can connect to the feelings they had in Cuba but even from the United States. And that the artists are able to stay in touch with people even though [they] might not be able to see each other physically, we can be together in some way. And so we were developing this vision for this website, this online platform, and we had so many hours of videos and photos ready for it, and such a layout, and a plan, and a strategy for how to do it, but we had been going at baby steps as we did the trips, which is actually what's important.

We didn't think that the website would be a tool to support us for many years. We said we'll work on this slowly for the future. And, well, it's been the only thing we could do [laughs]! So very quickly the artists in all of the countries, in the Dominican Republic and Cuba, here in the United States and we also have partners in Canada that work with us, so the North American region, we have been working around the clock at taking all of the footage we have, editing it, getting it ready as instructional videos and other types of learning materials, and working on building the platform so that our supporters can have access to dance and music as much as they would like to access it from their own homes, and that they're able to support the artists financially that are creating all of these materials. And that everybody, by being able to stay connected, can have their spirits lifted. It's already started, and we haven't even launched the site yet. We should actually launch, hopefully tonight or tomorrow [April 1st or 2nd], it's very exciting. There have been so many technical issues. You know when you're working step by step you have specialists that help you work through the technical issues, but when you're just throwing stuff together overnight, you run into them and you don't always have help to get through to the other side. So you wait for it or you wait for someone to fix the problem that's not working, so that's the phase that we're in. But just the connection between us and the artists, I mean all of us are noticing the difference. We talk about how we've been feeling two weeks ago compared to how we feel now, and how we have a glimmer of hope in how we've been able to stay connected, and now we feel like there's a reason. Because you know we're all artists and when we're depressed, we're not necessarily dancing up a storm [laughs]. If we're creating instructional videos, and learning experiences, we are dancing. We are dancing a lot and we're sharing with someone who could really use it.

And so to be able to imagine that we have past travelers and students and people who have participated in our events who are going to feel better exercising with us and dancing with us and staying in touch with us, that's amazing and motivational! These people can help us make sure that the artists in the two countries we work with that don't necessarily have enough of a support system to assume that they'll be able to have food on the table have a weekly stipend. And so we can ensure that every week they have at least enough to buy food, at least enough to be able to make it to the next day, and for us that's hugely important. Figuring out that there's a way that we can do that using the internet while we're here in our homes has been incredible! We are actually giving thanks every day for the fact that we have this capability, that we have the technology, we have the internet service, that everything is possible. So I think, do we have a way to stay connected? Yes, more than ever, and we're working on making it better and better so that all of the people who've participated with us can feel that same thing that we're feeling about the joy of being reconnected again after so much time.

Q: As you continue to develop your programming for trips to DR, what have you learned from your experience building connections in Cuba that you can apply to this new adventure? And what might you do differently?

A: That's a great question. I'll start from the beginning. When people were travelling in Cuba with me who were from the DR asked me to do programs in the DR, my first reaction was, "How could I do a program in the DR?" The only reason I could do a program in Cuba is because of so much of my life [was] spent in Cuba. How would I possibly be able to do that in the DR? So as we would talk about it and they told me how important it was to them, how important they felt it would be for artists in the DR, how important it would be for overcoming prejudices that people had of the DR, I could see that there were experiences that I had lived through in building the programs with the artists in the community in Cuba that could be really useful to have it at least be as a starting model. I think it would be a big mistake to imagine that we can take a program from one country and plop it down in another. But we can say, let's use the model and see what we can develop that's working for the other. That's where we need to be. It's actually something that's gone both ways. It's really been special over the past, it's now, 3 years that artists from both sides have met each other and danced together and were able to exchange that way, but also they've been able to exchange music, dance steps, things like that, and also we have program tools from each country that are actually helping the other. So some system, some activity, some documentation chart invented in Cuba helps the DR program. And then the DR program invents a new type of system, program, or chart, or tool that then we take and it helps the Cuba program. So I feel like it's really been a great back and forth of how we can support each other to create best practices as quickly as possible by being able to compare with someone else. I think kind of like we do naturally here like as a teacher, I talk to other teachers and I say, "What are you doing? What's working? How can we exchange?" So I'm seeing that same type of thing as a program designer, we can utilize things we've learned from both, but without assuming that their two countries that speak the same language, that are islands in the same sea, that the programs are going to be the same.

The programs are very different in a lot of ways based on what's special and unique about each country that the artists would like to show the world, but they're very similar in that we are all on the same page, all of the artists from North America, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic about wanting to create a space where music and dance can connect us and bring a type of joy that we might not always be experiencing in our daily lives, but by creating that space we can. By creating that space and having that experience, we might actually be able to improve our daily lives, I think for everyone -- for the hosts and for the travelers. And so I think that that's the most important thing for all of us that we maintain throughout all of the trips is that there's really special connections, really deep cultural exchange, really deep conversations about reality in each country in order to help us overcome prejudices of being able to see the beauty in what is there, acknowledging what's negative that maybe people want to change, maybe learning also on how to withhold our own strong opinions about how another country should be, or how another person should choose to live, and being able to just learn, and be curious, and be accepting that maybe different cultures have different best practices. So sharing our best practices when possible, but not trying to impose what's good for us on someone else. I think that's been really important as we've begun building between the two countries, and I would say without a doubt, that whatever I have first built here in the United States, it was absolutely essential to have something as a model of the work I did building up a dance program here in order to be able to do what I did in Cuba. But it was equally important what Cuba was giving me and nourishing in me to be able to build the dance program. And I would say the same thing with me and what the United States programming has given me to be able to do in the DR, but also then adding Cuba into the mix. And then all three regions being able to help each other and support each other has just been incredible to be a part of it.

M: Thank you so so much for taking the time to tell me all about this. It will be really cool to see what feedback I get on what you say in terms of just the importance of having those kinds of global connections especially in a time when people might feel really isolated. So thank you, thank you so much. I really appreciate that you took the time.

A: You're welcome!

Interview Part III: Anara Frank on Cuban Impact

The following is a continuation of my interview with Anara Frank. Here she speaks about the way the Cuban culture of arts and dance became a necessary part of her life in the US and the ways she has grown from orchestrating the trips to Cuba. You can find the first two parts of this interview in previous blog posts if you want to get caught up on the bold and adventurous life of Anara Frank.

Q: What are some of the ways that you've brought Cuban dance culture back to the US?

A: I think I've had two main ways in life that I felt I could participate in being part of cultural exchange. The first phase happened when I came back from living there. I had experienced things from being part of a culture that is really passionate about social dancing and the way that social dancing was happening -- like the type of joy that it brought, the fact that you could dance with anyone of all ages, that it wasn't a romantic thing necessarily, you could dance with your uncle, you could dance with your neighbor -- it was just all about how humans connect. That feeling I didn't really know how to access in the United States. As a young person, it had become essential in the way that I lived and felt happy. There are aspects of dance culture, not necessarily salsa dance culture, but all the arts, every type of dance, music, and theater, were readily accessible in Cuba that it becomes an essential part of daily life that for me, who had not been as connected to the arts prior to living there, it felt like it became part of my necessity, my breathing. I had to have it around me. I hadn't realized that I had a lack of access until experiencing it 360. So the feeling of: everyone is welcome, free classes open to everyone, everyone has a place to sing, everyone has a place to dance, no matter how good you are you should just do it because it's so fun and so rewarding for you as an individual, and it's so spiritually uplifting, there should be art all the time everywhere around you, murals and walking down the street, music, and just everything, that I wanted to figure out a way to make a small part of that possible where I lived. And so the first piece for me was the welcoming and the accessibility for people who didn't think arts were for them or who didn't previously have access to the arts.

So my first company, non-profit organization, provided arts programming, both instructional and entertainment, for masses of people. We usually had about 2,000 students a year in ongoing classes, many many more if you count one-time events where we do a residency at a school. We might count 10,000 a year with that. And audiences regularly measured over 100,000 because we were always looking for places where lots of people would go who might not have that type of interaction and accessibility -- like festivals and parades. We didn't want to just be in a parade and be there by ourselves in our costumes. We were always looking for ways to get everyone around us to dance with us and join us. So that aspect of the accessibility and joy, that music and dance were part of everyday life at all times, is something I brought back with me almost as if it had become a part of me. I don't even know that I could say as a teenager that I was fully aware of how much Cuba had given me in that respect. All I knew was that I had been told it was my responsibility to be a cultural ambassador and it was my responsibility to find ways that people in the United States, young people in particular, could access music [and] dance.

For me, one of my arts was acrobatics, so some people don't consider that dance, but for me that was what I had done. [I was] a part of making that possible for as many young people as possible and eventually as many adults as possible, as many communities as possible. So I feel like that's the first piece of my connection [that] would have happened without the underlying ideas behind it. Did we do some Cuban styles of dance? Sure! But I didn't actually, at that time, feel safe or comfortable developing a program that was very Cuban-art-oriented. It was art oriented; it was community art oriented; it was social art oriented; it was community building. Dances that were popular with young people at the time [were] being put on a stage. It was making everything that we loved about social dancing to be art, and everything that we loved about art able to be social community building. I felt like that was my first goal. I didn't usually speak the word "Cuba" in connection with it. I do think that is a part of Cuban dance culture, but we were doing dances that mostly weren't Cuban. I led that organization for 15 years. I actually stopped because I had a tumor. I wasn't able to healthfully participate; I had it on my leg, so it had gotten worse and worse to the point where I got it removed, but I couldn't walk for a long time. So it didn't seem smart for me to stay in that type of leadership role in an organization that needed someone really strong and ready to go. So I stayed with that organization emotionally, but I left [physically].

Once I got better, the company decided that I should continue, myself, the aspect of Latin dance because it was less strenuous than all the other things we did at that company. We had a feeling in that company that it was a mix of hip hop, Latin dance, and gymnastics. Those were kind of our three pillars, and then many other styles of dance around that as many people came in and out and wanted to share that. It was all about sharing a cultural dance or a dance form that you were passionate about. The Latin dance program was the only one that didn't involve a very high level of physical intensity, and it was all that I could do; I could barely walk. It was determined that I could keep running a Latin dance program and see if I could get better while the instructor, who was then running the company, could continue doing gymnastics, hip hop, Capoeira, and all those other styles of dance that they had. That's how my second company was born, MetaMovements, as you know, with just focusing on the Latin dance aspect. It was basically the concept of what could I do walking or from a chair [laughs], and that's how I started. At that point, the political issues between Cuba and the US were not as intense as they had been before, also salsa was a lot more well-known. So I started focusing on being able to talk about Cuba because as a salsa instructor I really should be talking about Cuba. Cuba is the root that we need to study. Son and Rumba and many other styles gave birth to the salsa that we do today, so it became a more focal point of my instruction to talk about Cuba and Cuban influence in the history and dances we were doing because the dance were doing was salsa. I think that has stayed with me to the present day -- the really big focus of looking at the roots and history and how it led to the salsa we do and how we can connect the salsa we do to the way they do it in Cuba.

Cuba inspired me to build things like Salsa in the Park that I'm sure you have participated in. The community-based feel that I knew as reality there was what I was aching to bring into my reality here. And as travelers would go with me to Cuba, they would help me build what today is Salsa in the Park into something really strong. That was definitely, definitely inspired by my experiences in Cuba. We brought the concept of Timba lines where people were lining up and doing follow the leader in salsa parties, which was not something that was done here at all. Again, this is something that comes from Cuba that brought us so much joy and connection by being in the whole group and moving our bodies together, and really not minding looking silly because we were all in a big line just doing it for fun. Like all of those community-type-building-feeling I am thankful to Cuba in my life, and I keep trying to make it available, let's say, in other people's lives.

Q: Has anything about the trip surprised you?

A: I do think that there are always surprises in everything we do [laughs]. You know, especially in a place like Cuba that has a lot of challenges and shortages, there have been times when a program has been set up for months and then the light goes out or the water goes out in the place we were supposed to go, then we have to invent something else on the spot. We got used to saying for every program that we have a plan A, B, C, and D for every activity so it would move fluidly. So I think now, looking back, it has given me a capacity to solution, to think outside the box, be ready to improvise, be ready to try different things. So I think one of the most surprising things that came out of the trips is pushing me a lot as an individual to have personal growth in those areas and just to be ready to come up with some positive way to handle the challenge in front of me.

I think the other most surprising thing is the deepness of the relationships that have been built in a short period of time -- sometimes 4 days, sometimes a week -- but so much connection to the point where there were many many tears usually shed upon departure, and real hugs and friendships that mean the world to people occurring in such a short period of time that we wouldn't think usually of that being the way to develop a relationship. It's been beautiful to be a part of creating a space where that's possible where for this small moment in time we are no longer political adversaries, we are no longer people who the other is against, just creating this tiny space and hole in our existence to find each other through joy, through dancing, through music and all of a sudden something opens. We are able to connect in a way we couldn't before, we are able to interact in a way we couldn't before. There's almost no way to maintain strong prejudices when your prejudices are being challenged to that level that everything that you expected is different. I feel like those things have been surprising for me and also really motivational to keep doing this type of work.

M: I would say that was something I felt too from having gone on the trip is how quickly everyone connected and the fact we're still in touch almost a year later. It's really amazing.

SEE PREVIOUS POSTS FOR PARTS I AND II OF THIS INTERVIEW.
STAY TUNED FOR PART IV.

Interview Part II: Anara Frank on Changes

In the following segment of my interview with Anara Frank, she describes the main changes that have occurred over the course of time alongside the trips to Cuba she has organized and, in some cases, because of those trips.

Q: How have you seen aspects of Cuban life change since you've started these trips?

A: I guess I want to start by saying a lot of aspects of everyone's lives have changed since 2002. If we think about American life in 2002, it was really different than American life now. The world is changing so fast, particularly in the changes in technology that change the way we communicate, that change the way we do business, that change even the way we think, and the way we move around in the world. So first of all, I would say that there is there huge overarching change when you think about the number of years that we've been having programs (just the years that spans in human development). I mean, sometimes I think five years ago the United States didn't look the same.

I just want to start out with that overview that so many things have changed that it's hard to pick out just a few, but I thought of a few examples right off the top of my head. The first example I have is the difference that it makes to have access to internet and cell phones. So cell phone and internet use is still very expensive for every day Cubans. There are still a lot of challenges with connectivity. We go back the embargo. The majority of the fiber optic cables in the Caribbean surrounding Cuba are owned by the United States, which means that Cuba should not be using them for communication. I heard all sorts of different stories from different sources over the years about how Cuba has been able to access the internet and telecommunications, and they've ranged from satellites and ships in China, [also] Venezuela gave some fiber optic cable through some trade deal with Cuba. Little by little they've built the ability to have access. Under Obama, there were opportunities for US companies to get involved with Cuba being able to have access. But nothing can compare, in my memory, with the level of connectivity they have right now. Particularly in the big cities, but there has also been an effort in the country to bring more and more communication through cell phones and internet to rural areas as well.

For me personally, this type of difference has been specifically marked in the past few weeks. For most of my life, wherever I am between Cuba and the United States, I could only communicate with people there. It's been a challenge for me because there are times when I spent so much time communicating daily with them there and then I disappear when I leave the country. And it's been strange for people, especially here in the US, when they think we'll be able to stay connected through internet or telephone. But it has proven many times almost impossible from Cuba. When I think back, I remember I had a card that I wrote for my cousin when the laws changed in 2003 and people could no longer visit their families and no longer do the types of programs that had been happening previously. For me it had been visiting my family but also "People-to-People" programs in which professional research programs had been happening. And I wrote my cousin this very heartfelt letter about how I didn't know if we would ever see each other again. I didn't know if we would ever be able to be in touch. I wanted her to know how much I loved her. I think about it now, and I wasn't in touch with her for years! There were years that we really couldn't have communication! Then when the trips started, obviously things were better, but it was still a big black hole. When I was here I was here, and maybe there could be a few extremely expensive phone calls, maybe a few very challenging-to-get emails, but that's there when I was there. And then I was a black hole for the people who were here, so this has been an interesting feeling over the years.

Right now, it feels totally different, and it's building towards this place. But I am so thankful that at this start of what we have as a worldwide shutdown, where we're all in our houses, and we can't travel, and we can't be connected in so many ways, I've never felt more connected to my artists in Cuba. We are in a group chat where we can talk and share every day! Never has this been possible before! My cousin leaves me messages many times a day. It is almost like it's been working its way into reality. But because we didn't need it, and because we had the habit of not being in touch, we just weren't. But because we are working on a project together, it's just amazing! And the feeling that we have of connectedness, we're all still so surprised! We're surprised when a message shows up in our phone from the other person, so I feel that is a hugely dramatic change. Although, I know it didn't happen overnight. It has felt that way for me. I think it has had a longer existence. Had you traveled more, you probably would have felt it sooner. But when you only travel there once a year, you've used the communication systems so much and the ease has grown and grown and grown over the years that you've felt good probably about the past several years worth of communication. Whereas for me, since we were so in the habit, and I was going back and forth so much, I think we didn't lean into how much we could communicate until right now, and it's just been incredible.

Another really interesting change that I've watched a lot over the years and has been very impactful for me is how family, friends and families of friends that have stayed with me, and just every-day Cubans' life and well-being has been. It's been so different in different eras, and experiencing those changes has been very impactful for me. It's been impactful for me to see the struggle to get through daily life right now compared to what daily life looked like five years ago. It was an era hope. People in Cuba were really inspired that Cubans and Americans could have relationships again, [and] there were a lot of positive changes in the opinions of people on both sides of the straits. It was an incredible time to be visiting back and forth and to feel like a cultural ambassador. Watching this evolution happen before my eyes of that people who had negative opinions of each other opened the door to the possibility of first a civil relationship and then a real friendship. Though, along with that, came the ability for every-day Cubans, at least some of them, to earn a little more, and usually in families, for example, in the city where more money was needed to live, there could be in many families someone who was able to do work in tourism, or a mixed venture (which would be a venture that involved another country along with Cuba), maybe it was a restaurant, maybe some kind of hotel, but it was some place where they had access to earning hard currency, and the the whole living situation was much better for many people. I won't ever say that there is a situation where you can see an entire population without challenges. Definitely, it was a marked difference from what I am experiencing now. It's so interesting for me to mark the difference at different times in my life and notice these ups and downs in the relationship to how the majority of the population is living. Now is a really, really, really hard time for Cubans every day. I am grateful that we can be in touch, I am thankful that we are finding ways that we can be of support, but it's really stressful and challenging to see how much struggle they have after you could see the positive results of what happened under our last president.

Q: Do you feel that travelers' perceptions of Cuba have changed from going on these trips?

A: I think any time you have an experience in a place you've only heard about, whether on the news, or in books, or from other people, I always think there is this moment of shift when you're starting to experience the real thing. I think it's been very interesting with Cuba over the years that there have been in the United States access to very negative opinions about Cuba and we have access to very positive opinions about Cuba. So travelers are often predisposed, depending on where they live and who they've been in touch with, to have one or the other side. Coming to Cuba with an impression of how horrible it is, I've heard things like everything's gray, everyone's depressed, everyone is starving. Lots of, kind of, absolutes on that end. I've also heard a lot of absolutes on the other end by people who have pictured what's been achieved in Cuba that's been hard to achieve in the US as part of being like a utopia. "They have the most amazing public health system, they have the most amazing free education system, the most amazing ability to access arts and culture." But then the picture is so high that it might miss some of the challenges that are really there.

Back to: they're living under an embargo. It's the most extreme economic sanctions over the longest period of time for anyone in the world. It's been interesting on both sides, and I feel like the real thing is that no place is perfect. Every place has some really special unique qualities, and every place has challenges and things they need to improve. I would say that about my own country. There are so many things I love about my country, so many things that make me so proud to be from this country, so many things that make me want to be here and living here in this country in this moment in time, but also so many things that hurt me to the core. So many things that I think in our country are really wrong and unjust. There are things that I find to be somewhere in the middle like this keeps changing and I'm kind of neutral about this or others that I think are silly, and I think it's going to be like that for other places as well. The situation between Cubans and Americans is so politicized that people come in strongly believing a caricature in some way, shape, or form. I would like to open a space for them where they can have enough information from whatever's different from what they think that they can let themselves have a real experience. So for people who think that Cuba is a living hell, I want them to see some of the positives so that they can have a real experience. For those that think it is living in heaven, I want them to see some of the negatives so that they can have a real experience. So my goal is that people can experience a lot for their own selves. It's just helping us get out of black and white. There are amazing things happening there that we need to learn from, and there are other amazing things happening here that they can learn from. That type of exchange is really going to help everybody in both countries. I've had many many travelers tell me how surprised, how shocked they are about something. There's always something! Because everyone comes with a preconceived notion about Cuba compared to almost anywhere else.

I actually would say that it has happened in the other direction as well. A lot of Cubans who have participated in our program have really changed their impressions of Americans as well. Now the difference is that most Cubans change their impressions within the first few experiences with us. Because it's so repeated, now that expectation is there. The expectation is that Americans do come in different shapes, sizes, colors, economic backgrounds, and ways of life. If you experience that several times, you start to believe it even though that's not what you thought. If you thought that people in America looked like people on a sitcom the way you saw on TV, and only certain sitcoms, and only certain movies, more like a soap opera, then of course the first few are clashing with your opinion and reality, but then it becomes normal. So I think that every artist or every person who worked in a restaurant or in a casa particular [Spanish for private house, which could be a homestay or bed and breakfast] that we built a relationship with that we continue to work with, every organization changed their perceptions of Americans within the first few trips. Because of the amazing exchange and contact that we had in each trip, it would then last and continue to others where each new trip, especially because there'd be repeating members, our hosts were already so ready to receive us because of the experience they had before. So I think it felt like more of a revelation on the part of each American because it was their one experience as opposed to Cuban people who were working with us, it was like they were having repeated experiences. I've had many American travelers who had come with us on multiple trips, three trips, four trips. And then the same type of thing starts to happen that this becomes real, this becomes the reality they know is there. Then there's not as many changes of opinion.

SEE PREVIOUS POST FOR PART I OF THIS INTERVIEW.
STAY TUNED FOR PARTS III AND IV.

Interview Part I: Anara Frank on Cuban Travel

A year after traveling to Cuba last April, I've continued to stay in touch with the organizer, Anara Frank. As an American gymnast and dancer with strong familial and friend ties to Cuba, she blended all of her passions and her identity into creating these phenomenal trips. I had the pleasure of interviewing her to get a glimpse into the behind-the-scenes work of putting together not just an ordinary trip or vacation, but an unforgettable experience that stays with you and shapes your life thereafter. Here are her responses to my questions:

Q: How did the MetaMovements trip to Cuba come into being?

A: That's a great question! It kind of appeared organically, but to go back in time, when I was living in Cuba as a teenager, I lived in my sister city where I was a tour guide sometimes and I assisted a little bit. And in 2002, there was a request from members of the sister city that I assist with coordinating travelers between our sister cities. At the time, Cambridge and the city of Cienfuegos were sister cities. My responsibility was to develop meaningful programming from arts to education to local political involvement and learning how people from each country in those cities were able to interact in their daily lives when they were brought together. I was able to support the sister city program for two trips before President Bush cancelled our ability to travel. Because it was kind of floating out in the wilderness that it had happened and people had positive experiences on the trip, the agency that supported the travel for the sister city programs contacted me in 2009 after Obama became president. They asked if I could support people who were in my line of work to be able to travel to Cuba legally in the intersection of arts, education, and public health. This had been the areas that my non-profit organization had touched and delved into during the sister city program. So they were looking for people like myself who had connections with Cuba, had experience there, able to translate, and were in a line of work that allowed professionals to travel, and that gave people a really positive feeling about the opportunities for useful and meaningful exchange between Americans and Cubans in a certain line of work. So specifically, it was under a professional research license that I was able to help everyone from therapists who were using arts as a tool in their practice to school teachers, primarily people who were language teachers, social studies teachers, Caribbean studies teachers, to dancers, musicians and artists. I had that opportunity to be a guide and a link between all these different groups of people. I was asked to be a Contracted Program Consultant. That was the title at the time: to consult on programming for meaningful exchange between professionals from the areas that I focused on.

And when Obama opened "People-to-People" exchanges, it was open for everyone to be able to travel. So for the first few years, it was just for people who fit the "Professional Research" category of the time, and following that it opened for "People-to-People" for anyone who wanted to travel. At that point, MetaMovements qualified for a "People-to-People" license, and we were able to bring people on a fairly regular basis. The cost of getting the license had to be considered: all of the legal costs, all of the administrative costs, and so in order to be able to support that license, we made it a very regular ongoing program as opposed to before we were doing it upon interest of travelers. At that time, we started to do outreach and let people know about the trip so that we would be able to help people go on an ongoing basis. Between 2009 and the changes that Obama made and (I believe it was) 2014, during that period of time only professionals could travel, and so we helped professionals travel a few times a year. It was a great connection to the regular program we did. I did work with a lot of professionals in those fields and it was the type of thing where I could help people who were interested in that type of exchange to participate in a meaningful way and get to know our Cuban counterparts. When we made the change to "People-to-People," the ability to have this license was very much cost prohibitive for almost everyone. For that reason, only some of us decided that we were going to take the plunge and say, "OK, we're going to take a lot of trips to Cuba," because it would be the only way to cover the cost of being able to have that type of legal support and being able to purchase the license. This is what allowed people to regularly travel to Cuba and have the kind of cultural experience that you had!

The important underlying feature is that ever since I lived there, as a young person, and built relationships with friends and family there. I felt that there was always this feeling that there were very few people that had the ability to have a foot, let's say, in each country, who were able to make it possible to go back and forth. I'll never use the word easy. There were many times when it has been very very challenging, but I had the ability to, and I have been thankful for that for my whole life because many people in my family and that I know don't have the ability to, visit back and forth. I was told by many people that I had kind of a responsibility on my shoulders. If I was given this privilege, that I was able to get to know both countries so well, and have positive experiences in both countries, that I had this responsibility to serve as something like a cultural ambassador. Both sides were spreading a lot of stories in a form that we often refer to as propaganda. I don't know if everything was propaganda because sometimes people telling their true version of the story they'll feel like that is the truth, but they might be missing so many other pieces of the story that what comes out to us is an image that might not actually be what we would see if we were there in the other place. I would get asked questions from the Cuban side about what was happening here and from the Americans about what was happening there were so interesting for me because the vision that each had of the other country and the people of the other country was so formed by the media as opposed to personal experience or people talking to them, like family or friends, but not always family or friends who were living a complete or full experience. Most people who had family in the US who were Cuban had family living in a small area, let's say Miami, specifically, or maybe Union City in West New York, but mostly living in very Cuban communities and not having a lot of knowledge of what life in the US was like for non-Cuban immigrants and many American citizens. I did feel the weight of that and always tried my best to share music and dance between the two countries, to share differing opinions between the two countries, to help each country remember that the picture that they have been painted may not contain the full truth, it may contain a part of the truth, and that there might be more that they want to learn. So opening that door to communication has always been really important to me. So whenever the opportunity arose when someone asked for my support to do that, I was ready. Whether it was helping with American travelers or groups of Cubans coming to perform for a cultural exchange in the US, my goal was to always be able to assist with helping people from the different cultures view each other at least with an open mind to get started so that a relationship could be built. I think that one of the challenges is when you hear so many negative things about the other side or exaggerated positive things about the other side, how do you find the truth and decide that for yourself? As a person in the middle, I try to help people see the many versions of the story, and as a person who helped people travel in both directions, I try to help people see as broad a view possible that might not have matched with what they heard previously. That was always my goal. How can I help people see that there might be another part of the story? And I think that's why I always answered that call to support people in either direction trying to organize some type of exchange so that I can see how by being in the middle, I might make it be able to be a little more fruitful, a little more supportive to people having eye-opening experiences getting to know each other.

Q: What obstacles did you face when putting together and maintaining programming for this trip?

A: Almost everything is always clouded by what many call the blockade or the embargo. It's not exactly one thing. It's a whole series of laws that put together affect travel, exchange, sharing of information, to such an extent that everything can be traced back to that. Are there are other obstacles that come up along the way? Sure! But when you peel back the layers, it usually goes back to these specific situations that we find ourselves in based on a series of laws dating back to the 1960s, primarily, that maintained us apart for so many years.

So we may say that the finances are a challenge. But when you peel back the layers, you'll see that the finances are a challenge because they are related to this series of laws. If we could say that flights have been a challenge at many points in time, but when you peel back the layers, the issues of flights are related to this series of laws. So each time that you say what is a challenge you face, when you peel back the layers, you come to that at the bottom. So it's not to say that there aren't a lot of challenges that we are working on solutioning [sic] every day, it's just something that we have to do because this is something that hasn't moved since the 1950s and some pieces of it since the '80s. So we are solutioning around it, but I do feel that the root cause is this and that without the blockade, I believe we would still have had challenges as you have challenges in anything, but they would all be very different challenges. I would have to say that this is the root cause with helping people travel legally to Cuba is that there is an issue with traveling legally to Cuba. All of the ramifications -- the political issues, the financial issues, the freedom of speech issues -- that come into play with this series of laws.

STAY TUNED FOR PARTS II-IV OF THE INTERVIEW.

Edit: Previously, the following errors, which have now been corrected, were made:
- Anara was incorrectly identified as Cuban-American as opposed to American with Cuban connections.
- The request to start the programming was from members of the sister city, not her sister.
- The name of the sister city is not San Fuegos, but Cienfuegos.

Demystifying the Mythos of Cuba

Photo Credit: Dan Seal

Myth #1: Cubans don’t like Americans.

While there are people who believe that I would receive poor treatment as an American in Cuba, particularly when travelling in a tour group of Americans, my experience was vastly different. It was abundantly clear that Cubans are able to distinguish between the leaders in government and the average citizens of a country. I was shown nothing but kindness and generosity during my trip there with the dance-based tour group run by MetaMovements.

Of course, it helped that the leader of this group had built up meaningful connections with everyone we encountered from the hotel staff to the dancers who accompanied us on nights out and even led some of our excursions. However, beyond the partnerships that existed before I showed up, there was also the feedback the leader received from those communities we encountered. One prominent case had to do with our cultural exchange with an organization known as La Colmenita (Spanish for The Little Beehive). This is a program that offers theater, music, and dance classes and performance opportunities for children who may have traumatic home lives and/or have disabilities. One of the instructors in the program scoped out our group before allowing us to come visit and meet some of the children. She felt confident after meeting us that we would be a good fit for interacting with her “little bees.” We got to tour the Havana-based center where the magic happens (they have a few locations across the island) and learn about how these children learn theater and music through play by playing with them. We also then had the honor of watching them perform and they even invited us onstage to dance with them at the end of their show! They announced at the end that this was the first time that particular group of children had performed for an international audience, and it had given them optimism that they could do it again in the future. Meanwhile, the larger company of La Colmenita has been performing for international audiences for many years. They have won many accolades including a best actress award at the Cannes International Film Festival. I am sure that other travelers' experiences may be different depending on how they decide to travel (independently or with a tour group) and the people they encounter. I acknowledge that my trip was unique in many regards, but I stand by my general impression of the Cubans we met was positive.

Myth #2: Cuba is still communist and is strictly against our democratic values here in the US.

After speaking with a tour guide who lives and relies on both the Cuban government and tourist tips to provide for her family, my understanding is that Cuba is no longer communist; it is socialist, which means that although most people are still heavily reliant on the government for their rations of food and most services are government run, there are opportunities for earning money independently of the government to supplement one’s income. Additionally, there is much more of a thriving private sector than there had been prior to 2009. In the tourist industry, as this is the one I encountered most while being there, the supplemental income is accomplished through tips. MetaMovements prepared our group with a delineation of what is an appropriate tip to give different people depending on the service they provided. We tipped everyone from chefs in the hotel cafeteria to the dancers who taught us to the tour guide and bus driver who helped us navigate the city of Havana.

These tips can really go a long way for people particularly because of Cuba’s dual-currency situation. The country implements a resident-friendly currency known as the CUP (Cuban Peso) and a tourist-friendly currency known as the CUC (Cuban Convertible Peso). 1 CUC is nearly 30 CUPs. While this may feel unfair to tourists who in actuality are dishing out a lot of money for just tips alone, giving what is essentially $1-2 to people who provide you with quality food service or $15 for the bus driver is not as significant as you may think if you have already spent the money to visit Cuba in the first place. However, 30 CUPs for the average Cuban can go a long way into helping them care for their families. While I understand that Americans may not agree with everything the Cuban government has done to run its country (even I don’t), it doesn’t mean that individual Cubans should be held responsible for the failings of a larger system, which brings me to the next myth.

Myth #3: The US-Cuba embargo is still necessary for American safety.

There are varying interpretations of why the embargo is still in place that come from the US government as well as American citizens. Personally, I find the embargo to be unnecessary. It is clear that limiting travel and US exports to Cuba have had a negative impact on Cuban economy and infrastructure, but it hasn’t changed the government from a socialist to a democratic one the way some US politicians had hoped. Although it may sound cliche, I do believe that the first step out of this is educating both US travelers and Cuban citizens.

I do not purport to be an expert on all things US-Cuban history and relations, but it has been my impression that the limited desire Americans have to travel to Cuba stems from feeling it is unsafe to do so. The socialist government, the associated costs with paying for a visa even for a short trip, and the potential to have a run-in with the US government are all valid reasons to be cautious about travelling there. However, the enriching experience to be gained from going should not be undermined. I did not know much about Cuba going into the trip with MetaMovements, but they did a thorough job with explaining the cultural elements that are important to know as well as what to expect at the airport in order to avoid any travel concerns. With proper support and research, you, too, may find yourself on line getting your Cuban travel visa to enjoy the warm Cuban climate and beaches of Havana.

The other aspect of education that is necessary is on the Cuban side. Having a socialist government means that while all schools are public and therefore free, which is fantastic, it also means that there is a standardization of thought. Often when talking to people in Cuba about the political situation, they referenced how the revolution of 1959 “triumphed.” It tells you a little something about how poor the circumstances were for the majority of Cubans prior to the revolution as well as how they were told to speak about the revolution. That, along with the restricted access to the internet, only available in certain hotspots or if one is lucky enough to get a certain phone from a foreign provider, severely limits the chance that any change in political thought will occur. If the US government truly cared about improving the political situation in Cuba, they would find ways to provide greater access to the internet where citizens can be exposed to a wide range of opinions and beliefs that challenge their own assumptions.

Myth #4: Cubans are woefully repressed and unhappy due to their circumstances.

Though I did encounter some dilapidated buildings in Havana, and I did hear first-hand the challenges particularly of relying on the tourist industry for survival, the general Cuban population has shown a great deal of resilience in their day-to-day lives. Thanks to Former President Obama’s détente, access to certain resources made it more possible for building restoration to occur. In fact, even before Obama’s modest relaxation on travel restrictions to Cuba, there were people who focused their energy in finding creative ways to restore streets and buildings that were in dire need of it.

Additionally, Cuba is home to a world renowned ballet company and theater comparable to the Bolshoi Theater of Moscow. Aspiring dancers from around the world come to Cuba for a chance to vie for a spot in the ballet school there. That, along with being the originators of salsa dance and music (along with many other Latin styles), make Cuba a desirable place to be if you want to know what it feels like to connect with another human being through movement and music. While I was there, we danced everywhere from the underground clubs to the beach to the senior center in old Havana. People walking by stopped and either watched or joined in with us. I am grateful to live in a city in the US that has tried to emulate some of that culture through its nightclubs and outdoor dance festivals in the summertime.

When touring Old Havana at night with one of the dancers from the company that accompanied our group, one of us had asked if Cubans are happy living here. Without missing a beat, this dancer/tour guide’s response was (and I paraphrase), “Undeniably. We love life and believe in living it to the fullest and that’s what we do here in Cuba.”

Myth #5: New sanctions on the US-Cuba embargo make it impossible to travel to Cuba.

It’s not impossible; it’s just more difficult. If what I’ve written above has not convinced you already, I will say it now: I think Cuba is a joy to visit. In my experience, there isn’t a country out there that has a greater desire to build meaningful relationships with other countries. In fact, I got to meet one of the representatives in the government-run department that works to establish friendly relations with foreign nations. She spoke about the programming they do to rebuild the country, particularly in the agricultural sector, but also how desirable Cuban doctors have become abroad. Cuba’s medical schools are free for those who come from Cuba or elsewhere and they are known for their strong curriculum that makes them exemplary medical practitioners that other countries look to in programs such as Doctors Without Borders.

While the simple people-to-people exchange visa is now practically off-limits, there are many reasons to visit Cuba and many visas that you can sign under in order to get that coveted spot on an airplane to get there. As someone who visited, I will tell you: the people are worth it, the sights are worth it, the music and dance are worth it. Just go - you won’t regret it!