Shack Day Seven: Crazy, Amazing Week

Hola! Well we have pretty much finished shack week. Tomorrow at 5:30am we will be let back into the big house across the street. It is really crazy to think that it’s over. It has been a long, hard, crazy, fantastic, wonderful and amazing week. We have all learned a lot about what it is like to live in Mexico without a whole lot. We have learned what we can and can’t afford to eat, as well as how to start a fire with damp wood while using only one match! We have learned how to work in a tomato field, how to pick rocks (yes there is a specific way) and we have learned how to go clamming. All of these things were worth learning and by doing them we also learned a lot about ourselves and what life must be like for those who do these jobs regularly.
We learned how to work as a team through thick and thin and learned to rely on each other. We learned how to wake up at 4am so we could catch our bus to go to work. And we learned how to shower with a pot of cold water and an empty bean can. But most of all we learned how to live a life that is much different than our norm.
I wouldn’t change anything about shack week. It has been such a fantastic week but I don’t know if I could have done it for longer. I know I could do it if I needed to but I don’t think I would choose to do it for longer. But what I have taken out of this week will stay with me forever, things that I don’t think I could ever forget. This has been the best experience and I have learned so much: I know I sound like a broken record but I really have learned a ton. Watch out everyone because I am home tomorrow and I will have a million and three things to say about my shack experience.
xoxo – B
(written by Britney Favreau, LiveDifferent Academy student)