Amish Gone Wild

"I like your beard." I said to a man dressed in a jump suit with short hair and wearing no hat. He gave me an odd look as two toddler boys in blue suits and straw hats ran to his side. Oh. Yup, observant Stephanie just complimented an Amish man on his beard. He was camouflaged though, how was I supposed to know he was Amish?? I interviewed the majority of Pike and Hume, NY, included several Amish youth too. The vibe between the Englishers and the Old Order was very different than up north by Canada. Up north, the Amish seemed much shyer, traditional, and friendly. The English had great things to say about their neighbors and people hung out together pretty often. Here, they lived just as close in proximity but there was more tension between the groups. I sat in a barber shop in Pike where the people were talking about their Amish neighbors
"I just saw a group of Amish walk by."
"Were they staggering? Are they drunk already?"
That is NOT the first question I would ask about any group, traditional or non, about those walking at 5 o clock in the evening on a Thursday night. She then went on to tell the story how recently, a horse and buggy was getting stopped by the police for a DWI. The driver, in drunken logic, spurred his horse on faster to try to outrun the cops and when he realized it could not be done, he jumped out of his buggy and ran into the woods. Apparently the Amish around this area, who even hire drivers to go the post office, are not nearly as traditional and have a secret love for booze. Amazing.

I realized this trend of dissolving traditional values first hand when I doing interviews with young Amish who were buying Doritos and energy drinks at a gas station. I never thought I would be chatting with an Amish boy my age drinking a Monster talking about working construction. The girls just giggled and chatted in Pennsylvanian Dutch. I answered their questions in German they were asking each other about the survey and they looked at me with wide eyes and giggled some more. Strange, I thought the girls would be more comfortable to talk to me but I only chatted with female Amish a couple of times but I talked to a dozen Amish men.

That night I took side roads in Ohio and sure enough, I drove passed an Amish school. There's nothing cuter than little Amish boys and girls running and playing tag in straw hats and bonnets. A little later, I drove by a local store and saw a few horse and buggies tied up. Long story short, after I asked to take a picture of a man's horse and buggy, he offered to give me a ride. "You won't be too scared will you?" "Um, NO!!"

It was awesome. Totally made my year. Turns out all these talks and hanging out with Amish and even getting a buggy ride doesn't really happen too often. People are pretty surprised when I tell them I've interviewed a dozen Amish, "And they'll talk to you?" they reply. I guess so!

I apologize for this blog entry. I am pretty sure I have fully come down with a cold. My brain is clogged up so it's not working so great. I think I just spaced off at the computer screen for a full 5 minutes before I remembered what I was doing.

So many thoughts since I've been in the Midwest, continuing on ideas of racism, poverty, generosity, and purpose. Sadly this is my first chance at blogging in almost a week. I should have time tomorrow and hopefully my brain will be working by then. Well, as much as it ever is.