In Which We Are Abandoned and I am Melting

It's. So. Hot.

I'm trying to form words to tell you about my day today, the adventures of getting to the deserted Volunteer House in Singburi. But all I can think about is how hot it is. I am sitting in the shade with a fan running full speed nearby, and I'm dripping sweat.

My computer is also quite warm - I don't know if it's in response to the heat or if it's an electrical issue. I should probably be more concerned about that, but it's so hot.

I was feeling better this morning. I slept for 14 hours total - the 4-hour nap plus 10 hours at night. That helped. I was also in an air conditioned hotel room and I had rehydrated. All good stuff. I'm not feeling so great right now, but I'm wondering if it's a combination of the heat and the jet lag (3:00 PM local time, 2:00 AM at home).

They had dal at the hotel's breakfast and some kind of bread that looked like a crepe and tasted like naan bread. Pretty good.

We met the fellow in the hotel lobby at 10 and he took us to the bus station, handed me our tickets and said "Take bus to Singburi. Last stop. Last stop. Everyone else gets off, you get off. Mr. Paiwan will be there. He will say, "Amanda!" Last stop, okay?"

And with that, we were on our own on a bus to Singburi.

The bus was "first class air conditioning" which was nice. It also had some awful British movie playing that was dubbed into Thai. It was violent and pornographic in parts and I finally pulled out my iPod to tune it out.

When we reached the last stop, a man met us at the door of the bus. He led us to a truck with benches built onto the bed in back, hefted our suitcases up, and handed us each a paper that welcomed us to the Greenway Ecohouse.

We drove through the town, through a neighborhood, and reached the Ecohouse - a complex of a canteen, a series of rooms like one-story dormitories, and a few gazebos. Aside from a Thai woman laying on a bench watching TV with two kids, the place was totally deserted. The man led us to "room number one!", put our bags inside, then waved "Bye-bye" and left.

Huh.

So, this is a bit different than CCS and Pueblo Ingles.

Jenna and I did some scouting and found our names listed on a paper naming the different groups on a bulletin board on the bar of the canteen. From what we can gather, we have a week of Thai Culture introductions starting tomorrow morning at 8:00. Each day seems to be booked until 5:00 pm, when dinner is served in the canteen. In the meantime, there's no one here and no explanation for what's going on today.

And so I sit in the canteen, enjoying the wifi (yay!), sweating mightily, and waiting until 5:00 when I hope more participants will show up. Or a program director? Or someone to welcome us and answer some questions?

Maybe?

It's really, really hot.