This is all a bit confusing but hopefully we’ll be able to explain what happened and the Peace Corps will release us and help us get home. It began a few months back when the Hard Times attempted to interview Mission of Burma when our search engine auto-corrected to “mission to Burma.” Well, one thing led to another, and now we’re in the Peace Corps.
Hmm. Fuck.
The first indication we’d made a mistake was when the Peace Corps recruiter, who at the time we thought was Mission of Burma’s manager, kept correcting us that it’s ‘Myanmar’ now. But we just thought, “wow, they changed their name! This will be really great interview material.”
Then there was the three months of Peace Corps training we had to complete. That was our next clue. And while we couldn’t figure out why we needed to know how to dig a well in order to interview 80s post-punk icons, we figured it was just some old school DIY stuff.
It wasn’t until we were actually on the plane on our way to a settlement outside of Myitkyina, staring down at a duffel bag full of potable water and sun hats emblazoned with the Peace Corps insignia, that we realized there may have been some slight miscommunication on our part.
Though it was disappointing that we weren’t able to speak with the band, we are adjusting to life in the Peace Corps well and have funneled much of our energy into projects within our new community, including reinforcing the infrastructure of the settlement and discussing the satirical relevance of the Dead Kennedys’ song “Holiday in Cambodia” with local residents.