So, following on from another thread where I'd mentioned spending time with the Amish community in Lancaster County, P.A. I'd been asked to elaborate as to how that came to be and I'm happy to do so.....as per the title, sorry there's no sex involvedwhatsoever and it's not actually in any way "gay" - other than it was a gay man experiencing it.
So, several years ago I was involved in a local committee here in my home town which was set up to mark and celebrate direct links between my home and a town in PA. So about 20 of us left N. Ireland to travel and stay with our American hosts for around 2 weeks and as their homes were located bang in the middle of Lancaster County (Amish country) some of their neighbours just happened to be Amish and so it was easy for them to arrange for us all to meet to say Hi and in fact to our surprise the Amish had it seemed expressed an interest in meeting us also.
The Amish whilst always friendly generally to their neighbours are also well known for being very private and stand offish, even with their close American neighbours and they prefer of course to remain "separate" from both them and society in general. So, we (and our hosts) were more than surprised when all 20 of us ( but not our American hosts strangely) were invited to dinner at a local Amish home during our trip. We were happy to attend and brought along a few carefully chosen gifts which we were told to ensure were VERY plain and simple and something that had no design or logo or colour on it ( we brought Irish Linen tea towels from memory.
We were told to arrive for dinner at 6pm and we were dropped off at that time by our hosts, who again were quite clearly told that they weren’t invited and that they should wait for us at their own homes just.
So, after walking up to the door alone and knocking the lady of the house came out and politely (but firmly) told us "ahhh, but you're an hour too early" - as it turned out the Amish work/ worked to a different time zone to their non Amish neighbours ( who surprisingly had forgotten that important point). So, we assumed "ok, so we’re early, bad manners yes but no real problem" ......hmmm, no, not quite it seemed as we r’re then told us again clearly and firmly that as her Husband and sons were still out working in the fields and they wouldn't be back until the appointed time we were welcome to go and walk around the farm but there was NO way she could admit us to the house without her husband’s direct approval – this we did.
The men of the house arrived home at the appointed hour and in we all went. The first thing to point out was that being 20 of us we had “assumed” that we’d be split into groups to attend different neighbouring houses to eat, but no apparently not ! So, on we went into the kitchen were we noted her own family’s seats ( for maybe about 14 people) PLUS our 20 seats – all laid out around a massive table. It then became obvious to us that catering for such numbers was nothing strange to the lady and her daughters that were serving us and catering for very large numbers ( after church on Sundays) was it seems an almost every day occurrence for them.
So, after pleasantries we all sat down to eat and noticed there was lovely fresh bread sitting pre-cut along all our places, all set out with lovely homemade butter. So being the Ulster men that we were we all immediately lifted the warm fresh bread, buttered it and got “stuck in” and it was delightful. We did however notice the Amish looking at us slightly strangely but thought nothing more of it. So, the meal carried on and we were then served warm corn on the cob with butter, all cut from their own fields and it was to DIE for. We were then served a beautiful plate full of meatballs each, all in a rich gravy, with fresh potatoes and vegetables, again all grown from their own farm which again tasted just out of this world.
We did note that it was only then that the Amish lifted their bread and started using it to mop up the gravy and we realised why they’d been looking at us so strangely before as we now of course realised that the bread was to mop up the gravy and that we were now left sitting with our plates covered in gravy. Assuming no issue we then moved on to dessert which I think was some form of hot cherry pie and as we handed back our dinner plates to wait for dessert to come NO – and BANG ! the cherry pie and cream was served right into the middle of our by then cold gravy ! Ha and we THEN realised why the Amish had used the bread – to clean their plates – and were told with no embarrassment whatsoever that “ well you have one plate, why would you possibly need two” and that THAT was the Amish way – ha they had a point and we all quietly laughed at their smartness and our own stupidity and made a mental note not to make that mistake again.
Another interesting note of the evening was that whenever you spoke to the wife and asked her “anything”, she then looked to her husband who quietly nodded to give her “permission” to answer, that took a bit of getting used to for the women in our group, but I think that only lasted for a few minutes to set precedent and after that she was given general permission to “speak” freely and things proceeded at a slightly more relaxed pace. As I had been placed at the far end of the table beside the younger people ( 20 / 25 year olds) the conversation and questions from them about us and our Country was ever flowing but as I’d said in my main post their (apparent?) lack of knowledge about the outside world in general and geography etc, was quite surprising BUT they were aware of this and explained that they stopped schooling very early to concentrate on working on the farm and as I said before what they lacked in worldly knowledge they more than made up for with hard work and simply business acumen ( and there was a small fortune’s worth of crops waiting to be sold out in their barns).
As the trip went on we ended up being introduced to and dining with several different Amish groups and making firm friends with several Amish families and we found them all to be warm, friendly and welcoming and in fact several of them made us gifts of beautiful personalised handmade leather items to take back home with us. The older families tended to stick rigidly to their old style teachings and habits as they are known for ( at least in front of us but it did all appear 100% genuine to me) whereas the younger families did perhaps tend to look for some shortcuts to help make their lives just that little bit easier ( such as gas powered cookers and fridges etc and rechargeable battery lights - but those powered by an electric charger, but one that was placed OUTSIDE the house) so still remaining true to their Amish way of life and whilst of course that is and was something very alien to me I came away with nothing but respect for them and their simple hard working way of life (but I’ll not be signing up to join anyway sooner perhaps though !).
There are other stories of my meeting younger Amish guys and drinking with them and even going to the local bars with them etc, but the above for me nicely encompassed that part of my trip and so I’m happy to share my experience and I hope you enjoyed reading about it – apologies that there’s no sex involved for those expecting it, but that was one trip were even “I” behaved myself and was living a somewhat “normal” everyday non slutty life (for a change) :-)
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