I truly loved going to the HADF retreat in the mountains. It was incredible to be so immersed in nature. The views of the surrounding mountains were absolutely breathtaking as well. Something that stuck with me from the retreat was the sense of community that was present. Everyone would band together to help make meals, set-up meals, and to clean-up after meals. Specifically, I loved when we would all work together to make our dinners over the open fires at night. It was always so relaxing to sit and continually add food to the pan. It made it extra relaxing when they would play music for us to cook to. 

The sense of community was also added to by how we would all dance and make music together. It was so incredible when we learned new dances from Ice. I also enjoyed how he learned new dances from us. It was so fun to have this exchange of popular dances between us and Ice. It really enhanced the sense of community at the HADF retreat.

I also loved how excited everyone was to be around one another, speak to each other, and to learn from one another. I also found it incredible how excited everyone was to teach and learn new methods from one another. For example, how Anna learned a new way to cut and juice a lime while she was assisting with making dinner. Another example of this is through how I learned from Kahn that it is typical to use a spoon to eat more than a fork in Thailand. Our first night there, I originally had only picked-up a fork to eat with. Kahn looked confused and grabbed a spoon and personally handed it to me. This was a great learning moment for me about Thai culture. It also enhanced the sense of community as she went out of her way to ensure that I had all of the utensils that she believed I needed to consume dinner.