Jenny Mourad, Social Scientist.

Philadelphia and Lancaster County: Emily

We are now in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania after spending the night in Philadelphia and the day touring the city. If you don't know what Lancaster County is famous for, I'll give you some hints: horse drawn carriages, long dresses, curly hair due to no straightening irons, and guys who wake up sober before noon on Sundays. All of these things are foreign to me. All of these things describe the Amish. Oh wait, I forgot to mention their #1 fan....Jenny Mourad.

Let me just say that I feel sorry for these people. Mainly because their worst nightmare, my mother, has come to town to stalking their carriages and farms trying to take their picture and discover their reasons for having a simple life and not "progressing with the rest of America." She's become Jenny Mourad, social scientist, immersing herself in their society (except we are staying at a Hampton Inn with electricity and have no plans to give up our little Nissan Versa). I'm not kidding when I say the ONLY time she's let me drive on this trip was so she could roll down her window on the highways of Lancaster County to wave her hands and scream "Excuse me! Can I take your picture?" to an Amish carriage going 50 miles an hour down the highway. 

By the way... while I'm writing this she says: "Don't make fun of my people" and "OMG it's 1AM. I have to get up early with the Amish farmers!" 

She describes this as Heaven. I guess I have just been in the big city of New York for too long, but really?..... No electricity, no cell phone, no facebook, no internet, no email, no pandora, no boyfriends, no parties, no short dresses, no Gap, no H&M.... not my definition of Heaven. I'd also pay ALOT of money to see Jenny Mourad, social scientist, truly immerse herself in their culture and see if she comes out alive, much less calling it "Heaven." Woman loves her cigs, silver jewelry, L'Oreal Preference, and black and white pjs too much to even think about going Amish. 

The land and the farms truly are breathtaking, and, as interesting as their way of life is, it's magnificent to see what God has created and how untouched and organic the land is. Everything closes at 8PM. Let me tell you, when I was looking for a restaurant at 9PM tonight about to eat mom's arm because I was so hungry, there was not a single store open. Obviously very different than NYC where I can get a slice or hop into a deli any time of the night. 

I'm very interested and already embarrassed to see how mom handles seeing her subjects in their natural habitat. Apparently, they do not like having their picture taken because they do not worship false idols so when mom goes up to an Amish family pushing them together for a picture and saying "Now smile for the camera!" I'm sure something hilarious will happen. And if you know mom at all, you know that this one rule of theirs will not stop her from taking their picture. Say a prayer for the Amish tonight.... they do not know what's headed their way tomorrow.

Mom's also been giving our blog address to everyone we've met along the way so hi to all our new followers! I'm sure there will be a few conversations tomorrow that mom has with the Amish women that will go like this:

Jenny: "We're mom and daughter and we're on a 20 day trip across the Eastern Seaboard. Isn't that neat?" [This is what she says to everyone. I still haven't quite figured out what the Eastern Seaboard is because I still haven't seen water.]

Amish: "That's very interesting, I wish my daughter and I could do that."

Jenny: "I guess it's impossible for you to do this because...you can't really take a carriage across the Eastern Seaboard can you?"

Amish: "No, no you cannot."

Jenny: "Well, you should live vicariously through us and read our blog! Here's the address..."

Amish: "I do not have a computer or internet access either." 

Jenny: "How in the hell can you live like this?"

I'll keep everyone posted on how this goes down tomorrow. I'm sure you'll be able to read her novel Amish: Why? tomorrow night that she will add to her novella collection on the blog. 

Off to bed because we have to get up with the Amish farmers...... 

E