It seems incredible that we've been here for eight months now.

Ramadan has started. Its culmination will be the third big festival since we've been here. Christmas, Chinese New Year, Hari Raya Idul Fitri -- next will be Divali, which we celebrated in India last year.

In honour of Ramadan, big blue and green light displays are beautifying the Pyramid, additional clothes outlets have sprung up everywhere, and huge gift baskets are appearing in all the stores.

The election year, on the other hand, seems to have got stuck in the pipeline. Ever since we've been here, an election has been "imminent". Well, it still is -- except it won't happen during Ramadan, so we have a bit of a respite. The prime minister's avuncular figure is ubiquitous in all the trains and stations, so we'll all have a bit more time to let his message sink in.

But the year is moving on in other ways, too. The days are dark for longer in the mornings. And the bauhinia is flowering, its pink-purple blossoms still beautiful even when fallen.

In contrast to the hot, dry weather that was plaguing us before we went to Myanmar (not to mention that contentious, acrid "haze"), we've just had a cooler couple of weeks, with rain pretty much every day. I'm not sure quite what this change means, though -- the newspapers I read are still pointing to low reservoirs, and predicting that unusual dryness will last well into September.

And next week, in step with Monash's Australia-related year, the students will be back, and another term will begin.

I wonder where we'll be for all this next year?