Escapism and Cut Copy

There is so little opportunity to escape into some semblance of America in Azerbaijan that when volunteers get together to socialize there are always significant resistance strategies at play. People will cook American recipes, will drink, will smoke, will do anything to forget, if only for a few brief hours, that we are in a place that calls for such resistance. And as sure as we can be that there will be opportunity and support for retreat we can be as sure that the emotional hangover will be there the next day.

On the mashrutka (mini-bus) back to Xachmaz the day was grey and rainy. Even on a day like that, its easy to see why Azerbaijan is one of the oldest places of human civilization. Its winter and the countryside is still green and the soil fertile. Yet the landscape evokes a national emotional hangover; Azerbaijan dealing with the nausea of a polluted and restricting Soviet past. The very earth itself works to process the toxins out of its system.

And I suppose this sense of moving beyond the excess, working towards a potentially never obtained state of balance, is the theme I hear in Cut Copy's excellent new album Zonoscope. Moving beyond 2008's electro banger excess In Ghost Colors, Zonoscope, musically, is the morning after, dealing with the after effects of all-night parties, club hopping, waking up after not going to sleep.

Zonoscope is an album of reflection. Channeling Echo & the Bunnymen and New Order, Cut Copy pieces together last night from texts, voicemails, and souvenirs buried in pockets. Looking to each to clarify the doomed question 'What happened last night?' We all have our moments of escape, but there is the process of rediscovery when we retreat too far back.

'Need You Now' is an immediate standout and will certainly be a top track this year. Listen to it here.

Lets talk about success baby

Its pretty easy to get down on oneself here. Its cold and grey, there's not a lot of vegetables, you don't speak the language-blah blah blah, complain complain complain. Most of the problems brought up are those that will be minimized in the long term (language, not knowing people, etc) and its usually better for volunteers to look at the short term. Peter Hessler wrote that in the Peace Corps, the "pragmatists survived, and the smart ones set small daily goals" We need these goals so badly because most times they're the only way we can feel successful.

So here is a small list of some small success that have come my way recently.

-Finding a just opened Cinema Club, which has free wifi, coffee, tea, and hookah. Introducing myself to the owner, asking if girls can come there

-One of my teachers now uses an interactive teaching method without me prompting me to (its called sentence cross-out)

-Starting a conversation club with Lannea that has become a surprising success-we still have to turn people away from the door

-Starting a conversation club with my teachers, where we didn't do the lesson plan, but we began to plan an upcoming English Party

-Convincing the teachers that tackling Shakespeare for this English Party might not be so wise, lets start with fairy tales instead

-Getting my kindle to download new books

-Correctly telling the shop owner that 'I need a half kilo of Holland (yellow) cheese) instead of pointing and grunting

-Using grunts and pointing to get behind the counter to check out the wine they have

-Finally finding the 'good' cheap Azeri wine

-Visiting a new friend in a village, playing chess with him

-Figuring out that direct and indirect objects totally mix me up in Azerbaijani and getting my Azeri teacher to give me homework specifically on that

-Learning how to wish someone happy birthday

-Getting on a daily greeting basis with maintenance staff at our school

-Getting kids to prepare a Bingo board in less than 20 minutes

-Teaching kids how to play charades

-Watching them get better at playing charades

-Getting teachers to begin using drawing as part of their lessons

-Finishing the massive PCV first month report

-Finalizing my first intra-country teacher training

-Troubleshooting and fixing a counterparts computer problem

Not necessarily moving mountains here, but we've all got to start somewhere.

Carmel Hagan - A History of the Harlequin

The incredibly savvy Carmel Hagen recently gave a TEDxBoulder talk on the the romance novel industry. Its a very funny presentation on an industry most of us look at (apparently mistakenly) as some bizarre stepchild of paperback publishing. Check it out.

The Ultimate Test: The Host family

Once accepted into the Peace Corps I began to receive a lot of information about ways my life was going to get more difficult. I heard about culture shock and how it will affect me in different ways. 'You'll get sick;' 'You'll sleep more;' 'You won't feel motivated;' etc etc. I heard how wearing it is to live in a fishbowl, to live in a place where I am so obviously different from every other person there. How everyone will know who I am, how my every move and dress will be watched and noted, how people will sometimes stare at me with mouth agape. I heard a lot about all the modern conveniences I would be forced to forego. The way things get done here, from washing clothes to eating at a restaurant to going to the bathroom, are different from what I am used to.

All of these items certainly have a stress associated with them, but I've found I've been able to take them in stride as I led Peace Corps to believe I could (phew!). No, it is not these that is the massive stressor in my, and most of my fellow volunteers, life. The ultimate stressor is the host family.

In previous emails I've emails I've written how I didn't really have the greatest host family situation during training. What I have currently is a 180 from then. My host family is great now. The house is great. My room is great. And I can't wait to get out of there.

The thing with a host family is, when you are living with one you never have any downtime, any escape from the culture you're in. After you finish your long day teaching classes in an Azeri school, after meeting with teachers who have much different ideas about what is effective knowledge transference, after the various conversation clubs you might hold, and after the long walk home, it is then when you have to begin the real cultural work. Now you're in an intimate setting, the home, with people who don't speak your language. And navigating the balance between assimilation and maintaining some degree of your own personal identity is both difficult and exhausting.

After a long day of working with Azeris, I want nothing more than to go home and veg out. Whether that be watch tv or read, I want some alone time. This idea is so foreign to this culture, to come home and immediately try and separate yourself is bizarre. You've been away from the family for so long, you need some family time! Its nice, but not what I want.

There are also the physical demands of a host family. I no longer have any control over my diet or eating schedule. As I get used to the country it can be sort of nice, but it creates a feeling of dependency I don't remember the last time felt. My senses are always in a state of alert. Always preparing myself for the potential guest or dinner or trip to the village that I possibly was informed of but certainly had no clue was coming.

I really like my host family. I completely lucked out in my site placement in every way. But I can't wait to be an adult again.

Much love,

Josh

Some Hip Hop for a Snowy Day-2k11

One of my favorite times in winter is at night, during a silent snow fall, and every sound is muted. Its as if God has turned the volume down on the Earth. There is a sort of warmth in this silence and it lulls you. This is the feeling I go for in Some Hip Hop for a Snowy Day.

Some Hip Hop for a Snowy Day may be one of my favorite mixes to make. I usually keep it shorter in time with a tempo that encourages one to get warm with some hot chocolate and be glad you're indoors. Though hip hop is the main genre represented, I try and push what could be considered, or incorporated within a hip hop mix.

So, without further ado, here it is the 4th Annual 'Some Hip Hop for a Snowy Day'

Listen to it here (it takes a bit to load)

Download it here: files.me.com/joshehr/ij96l6.mov

1) Flying Lotus - Galaxy in Janaki

2) Big Boi ft/Jamie Foxx - Hustle Blood

3) Kanye West ft/Rick Ross - Devil in a New Dress

4) The Jesus and Mary Chain - Just Like Honey

5) Nas - Memory Lane (Sittin' in Da Park)

6) James Blake - CMYK

7) Four Tet - Sing

8) Drake - Over

9) Pink Floyd - Shine on You Crazy Diamond, Pts. 1-5