Editor's note: This is the final column from Elizabeth Luscombe, a Spanish teacher from Plattsburgh City School District who has been in Mexico with the Fulbright Teacher Exchange program.

Our stay in Huehuetla, an isolated, tropical mountain village in Puebla, Mexico, comes to an end soon.

My daughter, Rachel, and I have been reflecting on all we've experienced. We take much back to the United States with us -- lessons learned in gratitude, deeper cultural understandings and a sensitivity to what constitutes "a necessity."

It has been a school year of cross-cultural sharing and discovery, new friendships and an opportunity to better understand the ties that bind us all in a much greater sense.

It's difficult to leave, but we look forward to being reunited with family and friends.

We leave behind the vendors, the sights and sounds of the Sunday market, fiestas rich with age-old dances and rituals, a slower pace and simpler way of life.

We've learned a lot about others but also much about ourselves as individuals and as Americans.

It's possible we will experience reverse culture shock upon our return. While we've learned to live without many amenities, we've also enjoyed luxuries of another kind -- the warm convivial nature of Mexican people, a generosity and hospitality that goes beyond politeness, a sincerity and kindness that invites a deeper connection and an appreciation of nature for its vital role in our lives.

For a time, we have been able to live and walk in another's shoes.

We hope never to forget that we can happily live a much simpler life. Sharing a tiny room with your teenage daughter (or mom) and calling it home for a year can be a wonderful thing.

You can eat well, work and play when there is no running water indoors or electricity for days on end, because life goes on without Internet, television, cell phones or a shopping mall.

Washing clothes by hand is a tedious task that constitutes aerobic exercise, but scrubbing on a concrete washboard gets your clothes really clean. Hanging them to dry on the rooftop clothesline affords you a breathtaking view of the mountains, treetops and town.

We happily discovered that huge spiders really aren't interested in you but that blood-sucking flying insects of any size, unfortunately, usually are.

We've learned how to prepare flavorful and satisfying meals with just a few fresh ingredients and that sometimes eating your fill of fresh mangoes for dinner instead is a treat. A kitchen can be where the fire or hotplate is, and a refrigerator, of any size, is a luxury, not a necessity.

We've learned lessons in gratitude that reinforce the notion that having everything you need is a relative term. Transportation is more about being able to get somewhere than how comfortable the ride is. Anywhere you are in the world, people will help you, though sometimes you have to ask.