Hola Cuba! Primera parte..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Right when you walk out of the airport you see this billboard with a picture of Che on it that reads: “You see every day pure as a child or as a pure man. Commander Che, friend”.

 

 

This is the front of the quaint Cuban airport

 

This is our tour bus driven by Alejandro, which we would have for the duration of our trip. Interesting white doll hanging from the ceiling.

 

Everywhere we went, there were Cuban flags hung proudly

 

I snapped this picture of two children that were walking to school. Taking in their clothing, and long trek to their school.

 

The meals here, were by far my absolute favorite dishes to eat. Even better than Europe. Everything was fresh and healthy.

 

This man at the Martin Luther King Center in Cuba had on a shirt that said "Give me Liberty or give me death", and I thought this was particularly interesting. An American must have given him the shirt. All around Cuba, we found little things from home such as a Yankee cap, or Nike shirt.

 

Our first pina coladas

 

This was the Cuban home we were welcomed into. Our host Rosa and her family were amazing and kind. I also got to practice my Spanish a lot with them.

 

This is how they transport their water

 

Our guide Alerto is in the red, and he took us to a "shop" where he was looking for a light bulb for his house. We got an insiders look into their culture and how buying things worked. Every shop was sort of like a thrift shop where they had a multiple of things, and they were not always stocked up.

 

 

 

 

 

We got to visit an elementary school, and they were so thrilled to see us. We played games with them, met their principle, and sat in their classrooms. The students are encouraged to know what they want to do for a living, then they go to school for that specific purpose. Students who they think will be good at sports are sent to a different school so that they can work on honing their athletic skills.

 

Then there was Iowa..

Okay, so this may not be the most exciting place I have been, but I have grown to call Iowa home. Well, for the last three years, and for one more year at least.

I have had some interesting times here, and have learned a lot, other than academics of course.

It was here that I used my first lawn mower, rode in my first tractor, where I first learned to live in the snow, climbed into my first silo, learned to jump from hay bundle to hay bundle, and first held newly born puppies. Needless to say, Iowa is a great place. I have met my best friends here that I know will be with me till the end.

 

Iowa is a place where you learn to use lunch trays and twister mats for sleds because you're in college and broke,

 

Its a place where when you leave your car in Iowa over winter break this happens...

 

Where you meet cool people who love to "Freeze for a Reason",

 

Where dogs roam free,

 

And there are tractors to be driven,  

 

Corn to be held,

 

Silos to be climbed,

 

More tractors to ride in,

 

Puppies to cuddle,

 

Even more tractors..

 

Hay to be jumped,

 

 

And cows to be seen!

 

Bomb threat

 

The small Wal-Mart in Indianola was the least likely place I would have ever expected to have a bomb threat... but there we were, my roommate and I, making a late night trip for some delicious ice cream laughing and joking and being oblivious to our surroundings around us. We walked right up to the Wal-Mart doors, and a man came to greet us. He said in a deep voice, "You cant be here right now."

 

I thought he was joking with us so I laughed it off and  continued to walk in. He then said, "No really no one is allowed into Wal-Mart at this time"

 

My roommate and I were stunned, not sure what to say. "Why? Are you serious?"

"Theres a bomb threat going on right now and no one is allowed into the building."

 

For the first time we looked around at our surroundings and sure enough there were cop cars in the front of the store, and everyone was waiting in their cars in the parking lot. We felt so dumb, and we ran back into our car and laughed till we couldn't breathe, still in disbelief. So after that we went to Hyvee to get our ice cream and warned everyone there of the situation down the street. It was an odd experience for sure.  

 

 

Janky took a dump

 

Another adventure happened when I decided to drive my roommate home from a party so she didn't have to walk, and being in college, I am always broke and never fill my gas tank up. So with that in mind, we got into Janky and proceeded down the street. Janky felt great, she had her power going, and everything was smooth.. until we hit the town square with a bazillion stop signs.

 

I started to feel Janky falter and I turned to my roommate and said.. "We aren't going to make it what do I do?"

She told me just to keep going home, but Janky did not have the strength so at two am I ran all the stop signs in the town, because if I stopped Janky was going down and she was not getting back up.

 

So we crept along and she was just rolling on the streets while I was praying. There was a parking lot on the side of one of the local bars so I turned into there, but only made it halfway into the lot and half onto the sidewalk. Janky's steering had locked up. So we sat there and laughed not knowing what to do.

 

We got out and tried to push it on our own and that failed. Just then this guy with a Navy shirt on came out of the bar and started to scold us.

 

"Are you trying to get yourselves arrested?!"

We were nervous at this guys approaching and yelling at us.

 

"Um no, our car ran out of gas."

 

He sighed regretfully and told me to get into the car and steer while my roommate and him pushed the car into the parking lot of the bar. We thanked him and he threw his left hand up at us while he walked back to the bar saying as he left, "You're lucky, here come the police now."

 

And sure enough, a cop cruised slowly by, looking at us as to survey the situation.

 

"Man he must have thought we were drunk or something."

Which could have been understanding, as we were giggling hysterically and dressed for partying.

 

We laughed some more at our luck, and she walked home while I ran all the way back to the party, I was not walking across town in the dark.

 

Poles break toes

 

The summer between my sophomore and junior year, I was staying on campus because I did not want to take all my stuff home to AZ. Plus it was convenient because I had a weight room and track here within walking distance.

 

Towards the middle of the summer I was doing my normal running routine, when I decided to stretch afterwards... I never stretch. Ever. But for some reason I thought it'd be a great idea that day.

 

The other great idea I had was to do the stretch where I hold onto a fence and swing one of legs back and forth. Well I was doing this, and my right leg went well. But when I decided to do my left leg, I decided the fence wasn't sturdy enough for me so I grabbed the pole instead.

 

While I was swinging this leg, my boyfriend and my friends arrived to play some soccer. I waved to them and watched them while I stretched. Big mistake. Who knew you had to focus while stretching?

 

Anyway, I swung my leg down and my left foot smacked right into the side of the pole. It hurt like a mother.

 

But with pain, I don't think about it and keep telling myself that it doesn't hurt and soon enough the pain goes away. I thought I had just stubbed my toe, no big deal, I do it all the time.

 

So after this, I went and played soccer with my friends. But strangely my foot did not stop hurting, it got worse.

 

Once I got to my apartment, I took off my shoe and cocked my head to one side. I looked over at my roommate who is an athletic training major, and asked if my toe looked normal.

 

Her eyes got wide and said the words I did not want to hear, "We need to go to the hospital now."

 

I freaked out and started to cry right then. I am deathly sacred of hospitals. I don't know what it is but  I hate the smell, the environment, everything. I never go to the hospital for anything, and now she told me I had to.

 

Not believing her I called my mom, and she told me I needed to go to the hospital too. I started to ball.

 

So she drove me there, and I found out that I fractured my big toe, right in half. It was a clean break thankfully, but it hurt really bad.

 

They made me wear a boot for two months.. and there went the rest of my summer running. And my toe is now crooked permanently.

 

So watch out when you stretch.. you never know. Or maybe I am just special.