How the ice-cold bath water feels refreshing after a day in the sun

The tropical Secret Garden-y feel of my backyard

Reading in my room with the window open

Reading to my host siblings outside

Frozen ideals on a swelteringly hot day

Trying to figure out the moon phase by counting the shirt fibers that cover it

Choco-bananas

Punta dancing

Movie nights with the kids

Watching the turkeys wander the yard

Getting drenched by a storm that passes in 10 minutes

A wedding and a quinceañera

Not being woken up by roosters

When the sun is really hot and your freshly washed clothes dry in only a few hours

Horses roaming the roads

Baby talk in Spanish

Making my host sisters laugh with my subpar tortilla making skills

Making a passable tortilla

How it takes me 15 minutes just to leave my block because all of the kids have to say bye to me

Realizing how hard it will be to say goodbye at the end of training

I think Blackie is trying to say "don't leave!" or possibly "feed me!"