Questions 1-5

Hello! In this post I will answer the questions 1-5 we got for our homework. 

 

1. What is something that surprised you about the descriptions of Amish beliefs and lifestyle descriptions?  

• For me as a german person it surprised me how much of the german language is still present. Most words like 'Ordnung' or 'Gelassenheit' are german and even 'rumspringa' is from the bavarian or austrian dialect I think. It also suprised me that even if it is very difficult there is a way for outsiders to become an Amish. The number of children they usually get was unexpectedly high. I knew their way of living and beliefs before I read the text so that wasn't a surprise for me. 

          What is something you would like to know more about?

• I would like to know more about their language. If I could understand them and if they would understand me if I speak german to them.

 

2. What is something that you learned about downtown Lancaster?

• Lancaster is very cultural with old markets and lots of history but also gets more modern, creative and artistic with a lot new restaurants, bars, shops, galleries, street musicians and a global theatre.

3. Which place shown in the Lancaster video was most interesting to you? Why?  

• The restaurants were most interesting to me because I love good food and would like to experience all the different kind of meals they offer.

4. How does downtown Lancaster seem similar to or different from the town you are currently living in?  

• I live in Lancaster so this questions doesn't make much sense to me. But before that I lived on Long Island NY and it was much different there than it is here. What I missed there a lot is the culture and the countryside. For me where I lived it was just in the suburbs of New York City. There were shops and parks and malls and the beach but that's it. No real town or culture or anything else but these things. So here it is very different which I like a lot.

          Your hometown?  

• My hometown is very similar to Lancaster. Germany is a very old country so we still have buildings coming from the middle age in our cities. My hometown is a small village close to Munich and obviously we have much history and culture. In my village I live next to fields and farms so when I came here it felt like home which I enjoyed a lot. But Lancaster itself is a lot bigger than my little village. 

  

5.   What is your reaction to the article about Amish romance novels? 

• I am suprised that the novels are that succesfull. But they seem very interesting and good choice between all the fifty shades of grey books we have today. For me they have something mysterious because they guide you into a totally different world which we know barely anything about and the leck of apparent intimacy but the passion they feel about each other makes it seem very interesting.

          How do you think you might react if you were an Amish person?  

• I would be curious what the 'English' people think of the Amish people and would probably read a few books and see if I like them or not.

          How do you think you might react if romance novels were being written about your home community by outsiders?  

• When the author writes wrong information about the Amish culture and what he/she writes is also against my beliefs then I probably would be a little angry because he/she could have inform him/herself better before writing his/her  book. But otherwise I wouldn't mind.