In no particular order…

Knowing exactly what’s expected of me from my job, cold pizza for breakfast, night & weekend minutes, relative anonymity, locally brewed beer, Jamaican beef patties w/ coco bread, discovering new restaurants, Soterios Johnson, NPR, not having to be on malaria medication, cockroach-free bedrooms, spinach enchiladas, delivery pizza with salad, getting dressed up for something, mosquito-free sleeping, happy hour, being able to check email constantly, margaritas, unlimited alone time, fish tacos, Dear Prudie every Thursday, burritos, brunch, eggs benedict, good public transportation, refrigerators, not having stomach problems, friends & family

What I will miss when I get back to the States:

Setting my own structure to my job, kinkeliba, being able to take a mental health day whenever I want, having the time to read, having time to think, Pulaar humor, paying almost nothing for good street food, laughing a lot, full nights of sleep, riding my bike everywhere and never having to lock it up, exploring new places in new languages, going to the beach and having no specific time I have to go back to work, watching little kids dance, spending monopoly money, finding the true meaning and limits of self-motivation, bean sandwiches, exercising compassion like never before, making connections with people I could never have communicated with if I didn’t learn their language (rather than them learning mine)