According to the Countdown Calendar I made with Child 2, there are 10 days left before we move to Fiji. I still have to finish my current job, and we haven’t started packing yet. There was a list in my head of things we would do before leaving (dentists, hairdressers, shopping…). I’ve already mentally reassigned them from “Very Important” to “Optional”, and now I’m reassigning again to “I’m sure they have those in Fiji”.

Leaving Thailand does seem like, well, an awful lot of effort at the moment. I’m able to sit on my arse writing this because the kids are with their grandparents and/ or a revolving group of cousins and neighbours’ kids. (I’m being vague because I’m not really sure; they’re around here somewhere though). The village feels like home, both Partner and I can work from here and the Kids can hang out (one of them just floated through the room, by the way, so is definitely still with us). We have a house we like, we’re comfortable.

So why leave? Maybe partly because we’re so comfortable. First I saw a job I liked: right in my area of expertise, new stuff for me to learn, lots of potential… if I were single, no Kids, I’d have jumped on it, without question. And then I thought, well seriously, it’s Fiji, how bad can it be?

(We’ll see if those words come back back to haunt me).

Over a decade in Thailand has left me a little jaded. It’s not Thailand’s fault, any country would be the same — but I remember that feeling of being in a new place, the feeling of not knowing what’s going on or why, the awakeness that comes when you’re looking at things you’ve never seen before. And a holiday wouldn’t be enough; it’s learning to have an everyday life, finding a routine, working things out that’s exciting. I’m not sure how we’re going to get through the next 10 days, but I can’t wait to get there and have that ‘Wtf is going on here?’ feeling.