How many marks can you get for your room?

[wyq614]

If you know Spanish, just look at all the articles and calculate how many marks you can get for your room, the full mark is 100. These are the articles that the Cubans impose us on complying.

However, our record is bad ...

[wyq614]

1. If you don't make your bed, they'll remove you 9 marks.
2. If you have anything disorganized on your bed they remove you 9 marks.
3. If your shoes and packs are disorganizedly arranged, you lose 9 marks.
4. If your towels are disorganized, you lose 9 marks
5. If your clothes are found on the window or the shelf of the TV, you lose 9 marks.
6. If your floor is dirty without cleaning, you lose 9 marks.
7. If they find any food that can easily go bad in your room, you lose 9 marks.
8. If they find remain of cigarette they remove you 9 marks.
9. As they check our room when we are having classes and no one would stay in our room, if they find our air-conditioner on, you lose 9 marks.
10. You cannot dry your clothes in or out of your room, or you lose 9 marks.
11. The most important, as they write in capital letters, we are not allowed to cook in our room, if we do, we lose 10 marks.

The articles that we cannot accept are Article 2,3 and 10 as their criteria of "disorganized" is absurd, for example, they ask us to put our shoes and packs in a line, and, with such a small room we live in, they don't allow us to put things on our beds.

[Dionne]

You have no privacy? People are in your rooms examining your personal items while your away?

Is this because your now a member of the Communist Party? Are all students subject to this examination?

If you were to see the freedoms we enjoy here in the United States.....you would find the nearest U.S. Embassy and seek political asylum.

edit; United States Interests Section, Havana at Calzada between L & M streets. You may be considered a "prohibited member of the Communist Party".

check your private message.......

[wyq614]

Well, Dionne, thank you but this examination is not politics-oriented, and they seem to pay no attention else than our floor and the location of our packages.

Until now, our things show no signs of being moved or stolen. Nor do they move or touch our books or other publications.

The most important is, I don't want to abandon my Chinese nationality, much less via a foreign country (Cuba).

Now what worries us most is our right to have 7-day vacation of the Spring Festival. (25-31, Jan.) Students in my class said if the Cubans wouldn't agree, we will give up our classes during these days.

[somethingfunny]

As you are a representative of China on what is more-or-less a good-will mission to Cuba, I'm sure they expect you to be on your best behavior. Alot of it seems absurd but of course the dorms belong to the Cubans not you. As a guest on their campus you have to follow whatever rules they set....most colleges in the U.S. also perform room inspections, just not to as high a standard as your Cuban hosts have set.

Would they punish the entire dorm for the actions of one sloppy individual? I would love to have the opportunity to spend a week vacationing in Cuba....exploring the Malecon, lounging on the beach....

Those standards don't sound impossibly high. An American military barracks is held to similar expectations. I don't mean to sound like your dad ("clean your room!") but definitely get on that one. The beach is waiting!

[Dionne]

I was thinking the same thing....the comments on inspections reminded me of basic training at Ft. Polk. I also would really like to visit Cuba. I have this picture of Hemingway and Fidel talking to each other.....it has always fascinated me....wondering what Hemingway was telling Fidel?

[Derek Ortt]

they really only inspect US campuses for underage drinking

[wyq614]

As you are a representative of China on what is more-or-less a good-will mission to Cuba, I'm sure they expect you to be on your best behavior. Alot of it seems absurd but of course the dorms belong to the Cubans not you. As a guest on their campus you have to follow whatever rules they set....most colleges in the U.S. also perform room inspections, just not to as high a standard as your Cuban hosts have set.

Would they punish the entire dorm for the actions of one sloppy individual? I would love to have the opportunity to spend a week vacationing in Cuba....exploring the Malecon, lounging on the beach....

Those standards don't sound impossibly high. An American military barracks is held to similar expectations. I don't mean to sound like your dad ("clean your room!") but definitely get on that one. The beach is waiting!

Well, i did not know that room inspection is also realized in US colleges. The Cubans won't punish us for that, but they do talk to you like your parents over and over ¿Por qué no arreglan la habitación? Eso no cuesta ningún trabajo... And our guía would like to suggest you do this in the same way time after time. And what's more, the result of the inspection affects our final credit.

[somethingfunny]

As you are a representative of China on what is more-or-less a good-will mission to Cuba, I'm sure they expect you to be on your best behavior. Alot of it seems absurd but of course the dorms belong to the Cubans not you. As a guest on their campus you have to follow whatever rules they set....most colleges in the U.S. also perform room inspections, just not to as high a standard as your Cuban hosts have set.

Would they punish the entire dorm for the actions of one sloppy individual? I would love to have the opportunity to spend a week vacationing in Cuba....exploring the Malecon, lounging on the beach....

Those standards don't sound impossibly high. An American military barracks is held to similar expectations. I don't mean to sound like your dad ("clean your room!") but definitely get on that one. The beach is waiting!

Well, i did not know that room inspection is also realized in US colleges. The Cubans won't punish us for that, but they do talk to you like your parents over and over ¿Por qué no arreglan la habitación? Eso no cuesta ningún trabajo... And our guía would like to suggest you do this in the same way time after time. And what's more, the result of the inspection affects our final credit.

Our room inspections (from what I hear, as I live in my own apartment and commute to school) aren't nearly as strict with neatness rules but there are basics like:
- no non-perishable foods lying around attracting bugs
- no garbage on the floors
- no smoking in the dorms
- no alcohol in the dorms
- no dirty clothing lying around growing fungus
- no useage of appliances except for a mini refrigerator and a microwave

There's a staff member who lives on each floor and conducts inspections. They don't care so much about things like not making your bed or leaving your shoes lying on the floor...if you don't mind coming home to a sloppy room that's your business but your roommate might have an issue with it. That would be between you and the people actually living with you. That's probably the biggest difference between the US and Cuba/China - the United States puts more faith in its people to solve their own problems. Either way failing a room inspection, getting busted for underage alcohol drinking, or even fighting with your roommate will only get you kicked out of the dorm. It would have no affect on your final grade assuming you continue coming to class, as it shouldn't. Grades should reflect the quality of your studies, not your personal life.

[somethingfunny]

The Cubans won't punish us for that, but they do talk to you like your parents over and over ¿Por qué no arreglan la habitación? Eso no cuesta ningún trabajo... And our guía would like to suggest you do this in the same way time after time. And what's more, the result of the inspection affects our final credit.

It sounds like your biggest problem is the arrogant way that the Cubans go about setting and enforcing their rules. Remember that Fidel Castro has basically been the "father" of all Cubans for half a century. They can only imitate the way they were raised to follow instructions. We don't have many Cuban-Americans here in Texas but I'd guess that our members from South Florida would confirm this as a pretty standard cultural characteristic in today's Cuba.