April 23 Recap

Yesterday, April 23, we learned various things about what life was like in the west. For example, we pretended we were living in a soddy, which is a house-type structure, typically one story, that is made of a mixture of mud and grass. The walls were often 3 feet thick, a perfect insulator. During the activity, we had to decide where we would sleep and eat and such. We figured out that without much space, we would have to pack together tightly. The next activity was basically to sit still for one minute straight. During this time in the west, people had to be completely still while someone took their picture, otherwise the picture would be blurry. It was easier said than done- you had to keep your facial expression constant, which I had trouble doing. If I was living in the west without the advanced cameras we have today, there would be no clear pictures of me out there. The final activity was smelling sod, which made up the sod houses. We had to discuss whether or not we thought we would be able to get used to the smell. Most of the people in my group agreed that they would, but I thought differently. I would get so sick of the smell after just a couple minutes. Overall, I feel like I learned a lot of good background details about the west. I like doing activities like this because it makes the information taught easier to understand and remember.