A Rainy Day in Augusta

Today I went on a trip which took us to Augusta in Wisconsin where we went on a tour around the Amish community.
The Amish are a group of people totalling around 200,000 across the United States, who live their lives with no electricity, a strict dress code and without any support from the government.
When we arrived in Augusta, we were joined by two men who work in a local shop in Augusta that also work as tour guides. The shop they work in sells a variety of furniture and woodwork, the majority of which is sourced from people within the Amish community. It is the sales of such furniture, crops and dairy that provides their main income.
With the tour guides, we drove around the area where the Amish people live and made a couple of stops, however much of the tour was from the bus. Not that that was a problem as the weather was disgusting! Due to their beliefs we were not able to take photos in the Amish area itself as Amish people are not allowed to see themselves or be photographed. The dolls children are given to play with have no facial features for similar reasons.
The tour guide who was with Annie and I grew up in Augusta and had a number of friends within the Amish community from when he used to deliver things to their homes as a child. Our guide was very knowledgeable and having grown up so near to Amish people, there were no questions he couldn’t answer for us.
On our first pit stop, we went into one of the shops where they sell furniture and the man who owned the store was an old friend of our tour guide. After looking at the furniture, we went into another shop where his wife sold pies, maple syrup and cashew crunch which we were given samples of. Their children looked at us like aliens and our guide explained that this was because tour groups only come through about once or twice a year. The Amish children have never seen people from other countries such as China or even people in clothing different to theirs.
One of the questions we asked was what happens when someone is sick. The guide explained that if it is something the Amish nurse in the area who uses herbal medicine etc cannot diagnose or treat, they will go to a proper hospital and get a diagnosis. After having their illness diagnosed in Eau Claire, due to having no insurance, they then drive to Tijuana in Mexico where they will have their illness treated, which depending on the problem can save them $25,000!
The tour lasted about 3 hours and at one point we stopped at one of the families houses which they leave for people to look around meaning we could take photos. Outside the house was the buggy in the photo, they leave one outside that we can take pictures in it which was fun.
You can see in one of the photos the dining room in the house. The weekly church services are held at people’s homes for which there is a rota system. The men and women sit separately and after the church service is when the boys and girls ‘date’. Between 17 and 21 is dating age and if a girl is not married by the age of 21, she is considered an Old Maid and moves out of the family home into her own house which looks slightly like a shed.
The tour was really interesting and I learnt loads, still I couldn’t quite grasp the idea of being completely cut off from everything and considering it has just been September 11th, I found it incredible to think that there are 200,000 people in America who don’t even know it took place.
Other than the tour, it has been a relatively quiet week, as I have had loads of work to do. The workload is much bigger here in comparison with England and I don’t really know how the American students manage to hold down jobs at the same times as studying.
I just finished watching the 4th season of Desperate Housewives with Annie which was awesome! I’m now ahead of you! As if finishing this season early isn’t good enough, Season 5 starts here in about 2 weeks! Perfect timing!
Tomorrow I’m getting up at 7 to watch the Grand Prix, not liking the time difference but just glad I get to watch it! Come on Lewis!

Hannah
xxx