Checked out.
The packers are gone. Our junk is out of the apartment. There's a Rewe shopping cart downstairs in our storage filled with garbage bags that are, in turn, filled with stuff that will be going into a donation bin down the street. The kids are extra clingy. The pantry, the fridge, and the freezer are populated with the odds and ends of our remaining food stores. Everything that's coming with us on home leave is either in a suitcase, or can easily be chucked into a suitcase. We are almost done with our time in Berlin. I have now reached the hurry up and wait stage of our departure. When we left out of Ashgabat a little over 2 years ago, it was a giddy and desperate affair. We were giddy that the tour was over, and desperate to shed as much weight as possible so as to make our pack-out and departure that much faster. Our predawn exit from that country was as surreal as our arrival. I wish I could say that these past two weeks in Berlin have been the exact opposite of tha