Cubans R Cool, indeed!

Hi. It’s been a really hectic week. Papers have lined up for me to write…I think that I am having an intellectual breakdown which means that I read and take notes and all that, but I simply feel that I am incapable of analyzing things. I just finished reading this novel called Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina Garcia. It is about the Cuban Revolution, exile, tragedies that happened in this one family, separation and consequences of individuals’ ideologies. I have to write a paper about it tonight. Ozlem (my best friend and roommate) and I are now in the library and are going to be here for a good number of hours. I have a feeling writing a paper about this book is going to be hard for me, just because I feel too close to the experiences of all these characters in the book. They all sound familiar to me one way or another. So the process of detaching from the characters and analyzing the novel will be hard process for me. As you can see tonight will be a Cuban party in the library for me! If political situations of countries and their impact on families fascinate you (another words if you are dedicating your academic life to this king of literature like me) I recommend this book.
Now let me tell you a funny story about last night. Imagine a poor sleepy girl who is trying to start a paper at 4 am after having done a million other things during the day. I was definitely falling asleep at my desk. But at the same time I was starving, too. Starvation and sleep depravation were to their maximum altitude. Ozlem was already sleep and as we Iranians say, I think she was dreaming about ‘the 7 kings’ (She was truly asleep). I finally fell asleep on my laptop and when I woke up after a 5-minute-long nap I remembered that I was dreaming about drinking French Vanilla and chewing apple-pie. The answer was obvious: McDonald’s drive-thru! I wore my coat, went downstairs and drove to McDonalds. It was obviously closed. But I didn’t give up. I parked at the order-spot and said, “ Hello, hello. Anybody there. I would like to order a small French Vanilla and apple Pie”. And, of course not even ghosts of the night answered me. I drove back home and turned the volume of the Arabic music up to wake myself up. The man was singing, “Habibi…mansour…jamil…”. That is about all I could understand. I got home and searched every single cabinet in the kitchenette for food. I found absolutely nothing. I finally found one potato from a while ago. I felt like a primitive woman trying to feed her family with one potato. Creativity was now the key. I decided to fry the potato slices. We didn’t have any oil however. But I found a 0 calorie oil spray for pancakes in the cabinet. So I sprayed the can with it. And yes, you could here the sound of the potato slices getting fried. But then since the oil was pancake-oil they got burnt and smoke covered my face. I was afraid that the dire alarm goes off, so I tried to pick up the pan, but the clumsy person that I am, I burned my finger and let me tell you it is painful! I was so furious that I threw all the fries out and went back to my desk to work. Pain had conquered my poor body and my finger was growing in size! Finally at around 5 am I concluded the night with hunger and pain and went to bed! I was planning to wake up at 5:45, but of course I barely made it to my 9 o’clock class. Don’t laugh at me. It’s not like you have not done all these silly things when you were in college!
Thanksgiving is approaching and I am planning to simply stay on campus. Although I have to say that I really miss my mom, my dad and Lily. But alas seeing them all at once is an impossible dream at this point. And seeing them separately makes me even more nostalgic. So for this short break, I prefer to stick with the unread articles and novels that I have for my classes, stay here with Ozlem and get some work done! I will hopefully be able to write some more in here, too.
Oh, one more thing: I really appreciate your kind comments in my baby weblog. I have to admit that your kind notes throughout the hard years of immigration have always helped me keep up my hopes and to proudly survive. Ok, now I have to go back to the Cuban party I was telling you about earlier! See ya!