The Amish have it going on.......I want to convert, but they won't let me....I asked.

Jenny:

 I guess one never really understands a group of people so different than oneself, but I did do my social experimenting in Lancaster, PA yesterday and I was truly amazed at what I saw and heard on the streets of this most beautiful county in America. You would not believe the sheer beauty of this area.  I've never seen anything like it in my 49 years, and it made me wonder if I landed on the part of the earth that I was destined for.  I'm thinking I might should have been an Amish girl.  I'm not quite as religious as this group of people, but I think they have it right - the whole "Live Simple" idea.

This part of the country, Lancaster County, PA, is spectacular to look at.  The county is made up of a few towns, and we stayed in Lancaster, but visited Bird-in-Hand and Intercourse, PA - yes, Intercourse, PA - why it's named that?  I don't know.  But it must be embarrassing, because this area looks nothing like sex, it is filled with the most beautiful rolling hills and the landscape, as far as  you can see, is dotted with huge farms and beautiful crops, land and farm animals. The homes of all of the people who live amongst each other in this area:  the Amish, Mennonites and English people are huge.....they are well- kept and their barns, many of them huge dairy barns and farms are immaculate and well tended to. You can tell from what you see that these people take great pride in their land and savor the beauty of this area as well.

I know that there are many, many ways that I'm so different than the Amish, but in my lifetime I've wondered  and questioned many of the ideals that they live from day to day.  I find this group of Americans to be so interesting and I can't wait to read the 13 books I bought about them in every store I went in. LOL They very much live a different lifestyle than the majority, but their lives aren't what most people think.

There are two groups of "these people" in this area of Lancaster, PA:  The Amish and the Mennonites.  Most people group them all as "Amish", but they are not.  There are many differences in these two groups that we learned about yesterday - but the basic differences that we learned about are:

Both groups came over to America by invitation of William Penn to escape religious persecution in the 1700's.  They arrived by ship, many of them from the Dutch areas of the world.  They have a distinct "Dutch" dialect, even today - none that we talked to had the traditional Pennsylvania accent - it was very Dutch.  The Amish are more strict in their lifestyle - they do not have electricity, however, they do heat and light their homes with propane.  The Mennonites do have electricity.  They look the same - men with beards are married - no makeup for the women, all the males wear straw hats and the women and girls either where a bonnet or a net like thing on their hair that is long, but pulled up in a sort of bun.  Many in both groups were barefoot - and we asked why and we were told that they have skin like leather and prefer to go barefoot in the summertime - even walking on the hot concrete, in the fields, in the stores, etc... Both groups are strictly religious - but the Amish children are taught all together in a one room schoolhouse in their communities and only go to school until the 8th grade - the Mennonites go to what we would call "normal" schools - they look like ours, but they, too, only go to the 8th grade.  None of these people have an education about 8th grade, and at the completion of 8th grade, go back to work on the farms and help their parents - girls help with girl things, and boys help with the boy things.  Both groups use horse and buggy for their transportation, but the Mennonites will and do have cars, and will ride in them.  Amish will not.  If they do have a car, the Mennonites, they will paint all the bumpers and chrome black.  Neither group will willingly have their pictures taken, and will hide their head or turn their head if they see you taking their picture.  I did get some darling kids in a buggy to wave at us and we took their picture from the back of the buggy we were following in the car.  They were adorable.  There is so much more to tell about these people, and I've been told to use Cliff Notes, and I just can't.  So, if you wanna know more, ask me what I learned when I get home, or borrow my books.

My overall general impression of these people is that they are very sweet, humble, hard-working, religious, "of the earth", traditional, simple-life seeking people.  They are weird - but weird is really just another word for "different".  They seem very happy and content in their world and I was very impressed at how they all live in harmony with each other and the other "non-Amish or non-Mennonite" people in the county.  We witnessed a car accident on the highway and the Amish people had stopped in their buggy and off their scooters and were parked alongside the firetrucks and policemen helping assist with the accident.  It was a strange picture - but a nice one - yes, I took a picture of the scene and Emily thought it was nutty for me to do that - but, hey, I'm nutty.  Bwahahaha.

I interviewed an Amish man on the street named "John" and was 30 years old and on his way home from work.  He seemed very uneducated to me and Emily, and it was strange to be talking to a 30 year old with the social skills of an 8th grader, but that is their culture. He was very nice and answered all our questions, and went on his merry way.  We asked to take his picture, and he said he couldn't let us, so I asked him if he had any family pictures at his house, and he said very few - I asked him how he would remember his grandparents, or other family and friends or how he keeps his memory bank without pictures, and he said it was all stored in his head and his heart.  I asked him if I could convert to Amish for a couple of weeks, or if anyone ever converted, and he said no - you had to be born into it.  Damn, it would have been fun for a week or two.  LOL

We stopped at an Amish farm that was advertising that they were selling fresh apricots, and we stopped because 4 of the 7 Amish kids from this farm family were selling them and I wanted an Amish kid interview - the kids were so sweet - 2 girls, age 14 and 8, and two darling boys, age 2 and 4 - so dang cute running around in their straw hats, black pants and simple shirts and barefoot -Their dad was in the barn keeping an eye on us all - lol - he, too, was barefoot and working in the barn.  The girls talked to us for a long time and the boys just smiled and giggled and kept waving at us - so cute - the 14 year old informed us that she just completed school for the rest of her life, and I was so sad thinking of all the experiences that Emily and Jared have had since 8th grade, and went to bed that night thinking of all the things that little girl will miss out on in life - but she seemed fine with her destiny and told us that she would be home with her mom and dad from now on helping on the farm and with the other 6 of her siblings.  She was so sweet, and described the seed inside the apricot as a "stone", which we thought was interesting, as if her vocabulary was as limited as we expected.  Her sister looked like a female Josh Starkey - I swear it had to be his kinfolk.  The apricots were delicious, we bought a pint for $2.00 but gave them $5.00 and waved goodbye to them.  I could have stayed all afternoon.  Their farm was beautiful, and they all seemed very content with their simple life.

I could go on and on, but have to close, cause Em wants to make fun of me, I'm sure.  LOL  She said I give her material on an hourly basis. LOL

We left Lancaster (I didn't want to leave) and headed up to the Pocono Mountains in upstate NY.  That was a mistake..........

More later.

Amish Sister in my heart,
Jenny
AKA Social Scientist