It has been a busy few weeks and I can hardly believe it is just 4 days until Christmas!

It seems hard to believe that back home it’s cold and dark and probably quite stressful, with shopping to be done and excited children and Christmas carols playing on a loop.  I can honestly say, I have had maybe 3 reminders of Christmas in the last weeks. Once last week when I was shopping for my secret santa gift for work, there were Thai style Christmas songs playing and the shop girls had tinsel in their hair.  Then again at our staff Christmas party last weekend when one of the teachers played some carols on her cornet, almost brought a tear to my eye.  And then last night watching some nonsense on the telly, there was a tourism advert that was playing Christmas songs and had traditional Christmas scenes.  If I’d have blinked I could quite easily have missed all of this and woke up on Sunday wondering what all the fuss was about!

Of course, we have a Christmas tree at work and I’m fortunate enough to be off all of next week so there is talk of what people are doing over the break at work, but it’s just not as in your face and shoved down your throat as I’m used to.  Plus the weather is glorious, so in my head it’s constantly August!

Work finishes this Friday and we are back again on the 2nd Jaanuary.  I’m looking forward to some beach time.  It’s funny, I could go months and months and months at home, even years, without even glancing a beach and not think too much of it.  And now, just going there at the weekend never seems to be enough!  I might even throw caution to the wind and get a motorbike for a couple of days so I can go and explore at my leisure.  Only ‘might’ mind you, I still haven’t made up my mind!  On Christmas Day I’m meeting up with some friends for a traditional Christmas dinner (after a couple of hours lazing on the sand, natch) and on Boxing Day I’m going to a party at my local and favourite bar (run by one of the teachers at the school).  It is her mums birthday on Boxing Day and she is over for a visit, hence the reason for the party. And with it being my mums birthday on Boxing Day too, I’ll be there in her honour!

The last few weeks have been great.  My best friend came to visit for a week, it was so good to see her.  We went on an amazing trip around the Phi Phi Islands by speedboat, the scenery was absolutely amazing.  I was made up to actually be able to visit Maya Beach, the beach made famous by the film ‘The Beach’.  Admittedly, it doesn’t look quite the same as in the film, of course it doesn’t, but it’s one of my favourite films and the scene where you see the beach for the first time still takes my breath away.  To actually be stood on that sand and swim in that sea was priceless, I’ll never forget it.

We also had our staff Christmas party last weekend. For the festivities, everyone buys a present with a minimum value of 300 baht which gets allocated a number.  Then on the night of the party, everyone picks a number out of a hat and gets the present that corresponds to that number.  Slightly different to our secret santa at home where you actually know which person you are buying a present for, but interesting nonetheless.  I was given a lovely set of lamps that now sit by the side of my bed and the present I gave was a set of 3 photo frames.  The party was great.  Everyone is encouraged to perform a talent.  We had singers, dancers, acoustic guitarists, a harmonica player and Vanessa on her cornet!  The boss made a massive tub of his famous fruit punch, which needed refilling halfway through the night and one of the hotels across the street provided the sumptuous food.  Each act that performed got a bonus and there was even a lucky draw with first prize at 5,000 baht!!  I didn’t win.  Or perform a talent.  I’m new, I have stage fright!

So with 2011 drawing to a close, I guess most people will be bleating on about making plans for next year and starting to worry about the January bleakness.  Not me.  I’m happy with living day by day at the moment.  I have nothing to plan for, there is no need for me to fret over tomorrow when it hasn’t even arrived yet.  My days are filled with meeting new people and experiencing new things and there isn’t much call for wondering what is happening next week or what I will be doing at the weekend.  Somewhere in the far back of my mind I acknowledge that my life can’t be lived like this forever.  But an acknowledgement is all that is needed right now, I don’t have time to think any more about it, I’m too busy living.