They Say It Helps to Drink Hot Chai

Its summer and its hot. Really hot. Not since I was a kid living in Buffalo did I feel my life dictated so greatly by the heat as right now. If its 12 and I haven't left the house yet, I'm not going to be leaving the house until evening. If, for some infernal reason, I am required to leave the house between 12 and 7, upon getting home I immediately strip off the clothes I was wearing. I have absolutely no clue why, but aside from playing sports, shorts are incredibly inappropriate for men to wear here. I've heard it said its just as bad to wear no pants as to wear shorts (when you are not playing sports). I have yet to confirm this but its getting hot enough I might try.

Its not just me. Khachmaz could be confused for a ghost town around 2, its so empty and quiet. No one wants to move. If you're a business lucky enough to have air conditioning you stay in your closed door cube. If you're in a house which doesn't have air conditioning (such as: all of them) you will do everything in your power to avoid walking in the heat. I've been without gas for 4 days simply because I didn't want to go out in the heat. Why should I pay to have heat when that's what I'm trying to avoid.

Its not so much the actual temperature (which is high-though not as bad here as other towns in Azerbaijan) or the humidity (which is constant) as much as the direct, unblocked sun. With the lower caucuses to our immediate West all clouds are blocked for days at a time. We'll have sunny, pure blue sky days for a week. Its actually quite beautiful if one could stand to be outside during this time. But this geological obstacle is also one of our greatest benefactors. Because at the end of a week of uninterrupted skin-cancer causing sunlight the mountains can no longer hold back the clouds that have been accumulating and they pour over the peaks readying themselves for a rain to fall in a couple of days. And after this early morning rainfall we'll have a couple of 70 degree days which make Khachmaz seem like the most wonderful place on earth in the Northern Hemisphere.

ps: Oh and that think about the hot chai cooling you off...doesn't work

Seriously, We Need to Come Up With A Better Name

As has been frequently observed (such as here and here), 2011 has seen a sizable amount of material coalescing around, for lack of a better term, 'Arty R&B'. This really is a bad term, but it helps describe what I find to be some of the most interesting sounds this 2k11. Artists like James Blake, The Weeknd, and Thundercat are playing with sounds that are both soulful and haunting, while one of the biggest names in pop this year-Adele-is achieving major crossover success from an R&B sound.

Anyways, I guess this is really just a long winded way of saying: 'Hey its still interesting'. Check out this new track released by The Weeknd - The Birds (Part 1) and fall in love with drums again.

The Weeknd - The Birds (Part 1) by The_Weeknd

Hard questions

Goal number 1 of the Peace Corps is to promote cross cultural exchange. Usually this is of the 'smile and nod politely' kind, like when you are being served your 15th cup of tea. Other times it is of the 'I am learning' kind, like when someone opens up to you about why they liked the Soviet Union better. And once in a while it is of the 'holy crap, what the hell is happening here' kind. This week I had one of those experiences.

This story largely centers on my friend who is also my site mate. She was at our favorite doner shop getting lunch, when a gypsy girl came in to beg for money. Now, the gypsies are annoying, they get in your face, pull at your hand, and follow you for blocks, usually only leaving you alone when you forcefully tell them (Men pul yoxdur!) (tangentially, they surprisingly have good teeth). The man who prepared the doner yelled at her and grabbed her by the hair and aggressively shook her, yelling at her to get out. Pretty shocking stuff.

And in less time than it took you to read that paragraph my friend jumped up from the table and started shouting at the man to let go. She shouted at him in front of everyone in the store, in English, saying things like 'you can never do that' and 'she is only a child'. Apparently it got really intense and each was getting in each other's face. Quickly she went and got the owner to bring him there and explain what happened. It was at this moment that I cluelessly walked in (which has become an all too frequent script annotation in my life). Everyone was shaken, each for different reasons.

It are these moments that really challenge my values and perspectives. It's been extremely easy for me to maintain my middle class values of equality and tolerance and justice in the United States because they rarely are challenged beyond the abstract. Just like the Ivory Tower dilemma thrown at academia, there is a gulf of difference between theory and action.

After lots of though, I agree that my friend took the right action; regardless of cultural perspective or upbringing that was unacceptable behavior, and I admire her for taking immediate action to bluntly communicate that. Every Azeri woman she told this to also agreed with her actions. What freaks me out is the unknown if I would have reacted the same way.

This event slapped me in the face with the big difference between saying and doing and the really messy grey in between. I'm a pacifist but can I recognize, and do I have the courage to rise above, the line that separates this from compliance. I consider myself a cultural relativist but I certainly wouldn't want to become a nihilist through laziness of thought and action.

These are hard questions, especially for the post-structuralist volunteer who has difficulty believing in absolute truth. Finding an appropriate balance between cultural sensitivity and cultural assertiveness is difficult enough when you're trying to think of a way to refuse the third helping of dolma. What about when the situation actually matters? I want to think that with this case study situation under my belt I would now act in the same way, but I also hope I won't have to find out.

First Cut of Softball Pics

So I finally got my camera battery, which means I finally can begin taking pictures again. It also means that my former goal of 10% of shot pictures are keepable has gone down substantially. But, inshallah, this will improve again.

Check out some of my faves from the Softball Tourney. More here

Good 'ol American Music

This past week had some interesting events contained within. My clubs started this past week, which was a relief to get that first day over. I also met with the Minishter of Education and the Methodist (responsible for the region's English curriculum) to clarify my role as a volunteer and not just a free teacher. That went well and already promises to lead to some great possibilities (like attending the Methodist's birthday party-booyah). There were also some other, more dramatic events, which I'll leave for the blog as I don't want these emails to become 'Josh's Sad Pants Hour'.

One thing that was unexpectedly awesome was a concert which I had begrudgingly committed to attending on Thursday. Now concerts in Azerbaijan are a dime a dozen, and for a jingoistic country with so many holidays no one knows what is actually being celebrated, or mourned, or remembered, there is an opportunity to attend one about twice a week. But in an act of 'you scratch my back I'll scratch yours' I committed I would be there.

I'm glad I did. Apparently this concert was funded by the American Embassy and it was startling to walk in and see four African Americans sitting on stage. They embassy had brought an American gospel band and they were in a room full of students from the music school, with their instruments, doing a cultural swap of musical ideas. It was really cool to watch.

Afterwards there was to be an outdoor concert, and during the time in between I got to speak with our new Cultural Attaché. I asked him about some of the events he's done and those coming up. As we were talking he happened to mention that he really wants to bring a hip-hop group out, and even try and sponsor a hip-hop festival. Barely keeping myself from salivating I asked him if he was big into hip-hop and he said not really and would love any help I could provide.

The outdoor concert was great and it was so nice to experience those things that I only now recognize as distinctly American. There was a 30 minute soundcheck. Before coming to Azerbaijan I've always thought they were annoying. After being here and listening to microphone scream and at least one speaker blow up every time a PA is used it has become welcome. Or crowd banter, everything is highly scripted in Azerbaijan, so hearing off-the-cuff crowd banter was nice. Or music I understood-that was a welcome feeling.

Anyways, overall it's been a nice introductory week to my summer work in Khachmaz. Next week will be a bit busier, but that will be welcome.