Well we survived day 1 of our packout. For those of you that aren’t in the Foreign Service and don’t have a need for a special name for everything that just means the movers are here. Our stuff is divided into surface shipment (will take the slow boat across the ocean and will arrive in 6-8 weeks), a small air shipment of necessities that will be shipped a few days before we leave and will arrive 2 weeks after we arrive and then our suitcases that will travel with us. Follow that? I know it’s very complicated.

Before we jump in, here are the hooligans yesterday as I wrapped everything up on the prep!

This is our 5th time in 5 1/2 years in the foreign service to “packout” and I have to say I think we finally have the hang of it. We felt really good going in to today and that is a first! My goal was to have everything sorted and organized in such a way that unpacking will be easy easier.  That part is yet to be seen but so far it did help the packing to click along.  The packers plan on being here through Thursday which sounds like a crazy amount of time!  They are doing such a meticulous job that I think each wine glass practically has a box of it’s own.

The boys spent the day between school and friends and our friend Daniela brought us a delicious dinner! She even brought flowers to brighten our now very white home! After dinner the boys enjoyed racing around the big empty spaces and between boxes!

The boys are peacefully sleeping and we are finishing the day with a strawberry mojito and an episode of Hoarders (this is to make us feel better about all of our stuff).

Yesterday I hosted a lunch for Seth’s coworkers. He wanted an opportunity to thank them for making this post a great one! He has really enjoyed working here and has had great co workers, both local employees and his fellow officers.

So, we picked the last possible day to have people and somehow we pulled it off. In some ways I felt like a crazy lady hosting a crowd just before packout and in other ways it felt like a really good way to finish out before we pack up.

For all you foodies, here is the menu…

Grilled Meat Platter- pork tenderloin, sausages, skirt steak

Grilled Vegetables

Fruit Salad

Tomato and Fresh Mozzarella Pasta Salad…this is one of Ina’s (we are on a first name basis now) but it isn’t online so I will get it for you!

Bread basket

For Dessert we served Brownies and  Triple Berry Crisp– this one I found on Gina’s Skinny Taste and it was delicious!  Served with whipped cream

All of the food turned out and everyone enjoyed a midday break from the office!   Thanks to the Consular staff in Bern for being such a great team!