time marches on, and so do we...

The remaining amount of time is getting smaller and smaller. The mountain is reducing itself to a molehill. It's really happening: I'm going home. I'm leaving this place that I hate with irrational intensity.

The new people are awesome, and I am totally happy leaving this place in their hands and never ever looking back. I prepared things for them pretty damn awesomely, if I do say so, and my work here is DONE.

I will now sleep in this bed with its godawful foam mattress only 4 MORE TIMES and wake up to the overpowering disappointment that I am still here only 4 MORE TIMES. The number of days that I have to stay here can be counted on ONE HAND.

And after that it's on to bigger and far, far better things. I have no doubt there will be challenges; reverse culture shock not the least of them. I will have to make a life for myself, reinvent myself one more time, find some local friends, strengthen friendships that were strained or erased by distance, take care of all those details that are involved in living a life. But at least I will be doing it in my mother language, with family and some friends to support me, and I won't be living alone. Some of my roommates I don't know too well, but even if we don't get along I am absolutely convinced that it will be better than this.

For some reason, the goal-setting area of my brain has decided I need to finish Book 6 (for the 2nd or 3rd time) in German before I get on the plane, which is silly, since I will need something to read on the plane anyway, but whatever.