This weekend held so much promise...

Our first weekend in Phibun…there was so much to do! We had plans to meet with friends in Sisaket, run errands in Ubon, then hang out on the island and swim in the waterfalls in Phibun.

Well….we did errands in Ubon. And that was it.

Friday night Tim and I headed to a Korean BBQ (I guess here it’s Thai BBQ) place right by our apartment (hotel) and it was AMAZING! Tim cooked the meat, I was in charge of the noodles and veggies. We had beers with dinner and after about probably 2 hours we headed home. We checked in on the computer, and watched a little of the Tour de France.

Saturday we woke up with plans to take the bus into Ubon (we were told it was about 30-40min away, it was more like 1.5hrs) to run some errands - get school supplies, a few pieces of teacher clothes, etc. Once at Big C there MUST have been somebody important there, as while we were shopping, kids started running in masses to a different part of the store, and we could hear delighted screaming. We didn’t bother to check it out, as we wouldn’t have known who it was anyways.

After Ubon we had planned to take a bus into Sisaket to see our friends Ryan and Tracey for their school’s home football (soccer) game. Unfortunately, when we got to Ubon we learned the last bus back to Phibun was 5pm. So there was no way we would be able to see them this weekend So we headed back and tried to find a movie to watch (at least with English subtitles)….no such luck.

On Sunday I woke up, and WENT FOR A RUN! It has been about a month and a half since I had been on a run - so I was ready to get some motion in my legs. I only ran about a mile - just over the bridge to the other town. It was so humid already (at 930am) that I was afraid I would dehydrate. But at least my legs remember what it’s like to move! As I ran over the bridge - it reminded my of the chilly mornings I spend running across the Georgetown Bridge with Spicy. Instead, I was sweating at 930am in the blistering heat - with just my ipod buzzing in my ear. If I thought walking around town on our first day elicited a lot of stares, running through town elicited about 3 times as much. RUNNING?!?! and a WHITE PERSON RUNNING?!?! That’s just unheard of!

After the run, I got ready to head to our island with waterfalls and picnic areas. Apparently Thailand (or Phibun) doesn’t know what an island is. The river where we had dinner earlier in the week was what they considered “an island”, and it was no where near the waterfalls. With that idea gone, we decided to head over to the pool that is at the resort across the bridge. Once at the resort, we find out the pool is closed. As in, NO ONE can use it. UGH. 2 strikes already, and it wasn’t even 2pm.

So basically I learned this weekend:
- there is no place to relax and swim (as we were told)
- the bus to the city is 1.5 hours minimum (not 30-40min)
- if we miss the 5pm bus from Ubon to Phibun, we are stuck (no dinner dates in the city)
- neither of the 2 movie stores have any movies that even have subtitles in English
- there are NO bookstores with english books to read
- the only thing to do on the weekends in Phibun is eat and sleep.

Needless to say, I am already going stir crazy…no movies, no english tv’s, no books, and no phone that I can use to call and talk to anyone.

Now it’s time to get ready for a FULL week of teaching (5 days…AHH!!). I have to actually start teaching lessons now (no more paper airplanes) so I’d better do some planning!

Sawasdee Kha,
Apes