Vacation Part 2: Amish Country
The second leg of our one-week vacation brought us through the Amish countries of Ohio and Pennsylvania. Can you think of a bigger contrast?
The driving was long, but the places were cool. I have a respect for the Amish beliefs, even though I don't largely agree with them. It makes me think about being born into that culture, which I suppose is no more strange than being born into any other culture vastly different from our American way of life. That's what the Amish are like, citizens of another country alotgether. Given their Dutch heritage, that's suitable to say.
They have a unform, plain. Married men have beards; no mustaches, those are too militaristic for them. Women with white prayer coverings on their heads (they don't ever cut their hair) if they're married, black if they're not, and no jewelry (not even wedding rings). These clothes, as well as their shunning of photographs, they feel encourages humility.
And yes, I did have Weird Al's "Amish Paradise" stuck in my head a few times.
They're not as stuck in time as we tend to think. In fact, they can use electricity, but they have to generate their own. No Con Ed showing up at their farms. At a couple of the farm stands we stopped at, they did have small refridgerators they used to keep milk cold. Their horse-drawn buggies were everywhere, even on the main roads among the cars, but out of laws they bear reflectors and some even had twin lights on the front which simulated car headlights. Good idea, that.
They also speak Dutch first and the kids learn English once they start school. In fact, they think of all the rest of us Americans as "the English."
We came away with some great homemade foods and tons of fresh vegetables. All in all, a good experience and one I consider humbling. Me and my fancy laptop computer and my A/C and my job on the 11th floor concerning a Web-based appliation!
The driving was long, but the places were cool. I have a respect for the Amish beliefs, even though I don't largely agree with them. It makes me think about being born into that culture, which I suppose is no more strange than being born into any other culture vastly different from our American way of life. That's what the Amish are like, citizens of another country alotgether. Given their Dutch heritage, that's suitable to say.
They have a unform, plain. Married men have beards; no mustaches, those are too militaristic for them. Women with white prayer coverings on their heads (they don't ever cut their hair) if they're married, black if they're not, and no jewelry (not even wedding rings). These clothes, as well as their shunning of photographs, they feel encourages humility.
And yes, I did have Weird Al's "Amish Paradise" stuck in my head a few times.
They're not as stuck in time as we tend to think. In fact, they can use electricity, but they have to generate their own. No Con Ed showing up at their farms. At a couple of the farm stands we stopped at, they did have small refridgerators they used to keep milk cold. Their horse-drawn buggies were everywhere, even on the main roads among the cars, but out of laws they bear reflectors and some even had twin lights on the front which simulated car headlights. Good idea, that.
They also speak Dutch first and the kids learn English once they start school. In fact, they think of all the rest of us Americans as "the English."
We came away with some great homemade foods and tons of fresh vegetables. All in all, a good experience and one I consider humbling. Me and my fancy laptop computer and my A/C and my job on the 11th floor concerning a Web-based appliation!
posted by Jeff LaSala at 8:53 AM
6 Comments:
Sounds like a great trip! I'm reminded of the vacation trip that my family took way back when, driving from Virginia to Nebraska to visit my dad's sister and her family. On the way out, we took the southern route, and on the return, the northern -- and we managed to visit a lot of other friends and family as we travelled. Highlights: breakfast in TN with a great-aunt and a great-uncle who were like a Gracie Allen and George Burns comedy duo; a picnic lunch somewhere in MO at Big Springs; the ho-hum experience of crossing the Mississippi River at a place where it wasn't even as big as the Roanoke River back home; dad struggling with the traffic around Kansas City; rice paddies in Kansas (contrary to what I had learned in my 9th-grade geography class); and the Amana colonies, which are, as I recall, in Illinois. Somewhere there I had a cinnamon roll as big as a dinner plate for breakfast, and we discovered how well cinnamon ice cream goes with fresh apple pie. Mmm-mmm...
The Amana Colonies: http://www.amanacolonies.com/welcome/
I've been to the Amana Colonies. It is neat there and the origin of my "veggie burger" story (for those who don't know, I ordered a veggie burger from the menu and received a cow burger...with lettuce & tomato...their version of a veggie burger).
But, the Amana colonies are not Amish. Iowa has an abundance of Amish - just not in the Amana Colonies. - Kate
Ever the schoolmarm, I'm gonna throw in my $.02 worth concerning the term "Pennsylvania Dutch." The Amish and Menonites are not, in fact, Dutch, nor do they speak the Germanic language spoken in the Netherlands. They originated in what is now Germany, and speak a dialect of German know as Deitsch. (Modern German is referred to as Deutsch.) This (or these) was Americanized to "Dutch." The Amish embraced this term, mostly because "dutch" indicates "low German," of which their dialect is a part.
As for the rest, what he said. :)
Indeed! Marisa has since picked up a book on the Amish and has been learning a lot more about them; namely, the fact that there's tons of variations on the Amish, not counting the Menonites!
Veggie burger--too funny! By that token, a Big Mac would qualify. Cultural differences at work. :)
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