My intentions with this blog is to share my thoughts and opinions about everyday life that all 20 – something year old’s go through at some point. Or maybe I am the only peculiar one with this thing we call “LIFE.” I am a graduate student, fulltime employee (sometimes fulltime is an understatement) and I wrote a book, that is not published yet, but I’ll get it done sometime in the future.
Emma, I live next door to your parents on one side, and Enos and Rhoda live on my other side. They are all good neighbors and are good people. I would not want to live the Amish life either, but it is interesting to find out the reason for some of the ways things are done. I have your book on my Kindle and loved it~
Just discovered your blog via Saloma Furlong! I grew up in a more liberal amish home.
Hi, my name is Ana, and I’m doing an investigation work for the university about amish’s life with some friends. I study in the Rey Juan Carlos university of Madrid.
I would like if you could give us an interview about your community or all you know about Amish. We would be so thankful.
Thank u, I hope we can talk soon. 🙂
Ana, yes I’ll answer questions! Send me the questions to gingerich.emma@gmail.com. thank you!
Hey! I have a quick question about your blog. Could you please email me when you get a chance? Thanks!
Chris, email me at gingerich.emma@gmail.com. Thank you
Just finished your book… you are really brave, strong and deserve a better future than Amish life.
Just a word of caution – you keep mentioning that you speak “German”. I don’t know what kind of derived ancient language mix it is you spoke at home, but none of the words (“Hau”, “vegates”, “vi bischt du” etc. etc.) exist in any German dialect. Amish are usually not understood by Germans at all, whatever they speak is VERY different.
Just wanted to warn you – if you apply for a job or whatever and tell them you speak German, you might get in trouble brause they’ll assume you can communicate in current German.
Look up Schwäbisch which is similar to Pennsylvania Deitsch spoken in some Amish communities. This is not too surprising given that many of the original Pennsylvania Dutch came from Swabia and nearby areas. German is not as uniform as many would believe, especially at the time of the first German immigrants to the United States. I speak a rural northwest German dialect and while it is very different from her dialect, both are indeed German.
I never said her dialect didn’t derive from German. But even someone from the Schwaben area (which coincidentally is where we live) will not understand a Swartzentruber – try it. All I said was that if she claims to speak “German”, an employer might assume she can communicate with current German speaking people, which she will not be able to. Just trying to protect her, as many Amish have had this problem.
Katrin, your criticism of Emma’s language is unwarranted. There are so many dialects of German in Austria, Switzerland and Germany. I read her book and realized that she was writing German phrases phoenetically. Instead of Ver I would write Wie bist du. She referred to the corner as Eck, etc. Any employer would not accuse her of misrepresentation. She is not saying that she speaks Hoch Deutsch! I lived in Austria for many years and I know that Austrian ‘ s complained about the Wienerisch dialect. I myself had a problem understanding the Steyerisch dialect. Anna speaks a dialect of German. Just not Hoch Deutsch and that is okay.
As a non native German speaker at a kindergarten, holiday camp etc. here in Switzerland you would recognise those phrases, parents saying that to their little loved ones… Brought a tear to my eye. Very powerful use of dialect. Made me want to read the whole book in dialect.
To communicate with a native german in a business talk, you have to speak “Hochdeutsch”!
Ich gehe mal davon aus das Emma es schwer haben dürfte diesen Satz hier zu verstehen.
@Daniel:
So gut wie wir Süddeutschen bzw. Alemannen/Schwaben/Pfälzer Emmas (älteren) Dialekt verstehen können, so gut wird sie auch das Hochdeutsch verstehen. Sie scheint eine kluge Frau zu sein. Ich traue es ihr zu. Natürlich braucht es etwas Übung.
Im Übrigen muss ich schmunzeln: Dein “hochdeutscher” Satz setzt sich aus einem Umgangssprachen-Wort, einem Rechtschreibfehler und fehlenden Satzzeichen zusammen. 😉 But if you are a non-native German speaker, you did a great job anyway.
I grew up on a farm near Grand River, Iowa and now live in Oklahoma. I enjoyed your book and following your journey. Thank you for sharing! My niece is dating one of your cousins! You are a very brave young lady!
Wonderful blog! Do you have any tips for aspiring writers?
I’m planning to start my own website soon but I’m a little lost
on everything. Would you recommend starting with a free platform like WordPress or go for a paid option? There are so many options out
there that I’m completely confused .. Any ideas? Thanks!
I believe what you posted made a lot of sense. However, what about
this? what if you were to write a killer post title?
I am not saying your information isn’t solid., however suppose you added
something that grabbed a person’s attention? I mean About
| The Life of an Ex-Amish Girl is kinda boring. You might glance at Yahoo’s front page and note how they create post titles to grab people to click.
You might try adding a video or a pic or two to grab people interested about what you’ve got
to say. In my opinion, it would make your website
a little livelier.
Just saw your Australian interview Nd I’m buying your book right now. Well done and all the best of luck for a bright future! As a teacher I applaud your pursuit of education. I’m sure you’ll do very well in life.
Hi! We are three french students working on a project about Amish. It would really be great if you could answer some of our questions so that we can put kind of an interview in our work! We’d be so happy and thankful if you told us about what it is to live in an Amish community, what the advantages and disadvantages of this way of life are, how you manage to live without trading with the outside… There are so many things we’d love to know! Hope you’ll answer soon ☺
It seems you get this a lot, but I have a project due for my Foundations of OT class about the Amish culture. It actually requires we do an interview which is quite hard to set up. I was wondering if you’d be willing to answer some questions? I feel like you must be tired especially because all of the questions are probably the same! However this project is worth 100 points and if I fail it, I fail the class and get dropped out of my program.
I would really appreciate the chance to ask a few questions!
Hello Kenzilee3, do you have questions you can email to me? Or are you needing like a video interview? My email is gingerich.emma@gmail.com. I am currently traveling so I might not get to respond immediately. thank you! Emma
Emma,
You were recently in San Antonio at the TLA convention promoting your book. I picked one up and you autographed it for me. My friend and I said how strong you must be to leave and start new all alone.
I read your book, I couldn’t put it down. Your story is a testament to who you are, a strong woman. I hope you write many more books.
I kept running into you in the exhibit hall and outside the convention center. Your smile is beautiful and your expressions in your eyes always seemed to say , “I would love to talk and visit.” I wished I had asked if you wanted to chat. Texas Librarians are pretty friendly and I hope you get to meet a lot more of us.
God’s blessings to you.
I pray that your dreams come true.
You find a family that sees your inward beauty as well as your outward beauty.
Beverly York
Emma, I really like this Amish girl as i have said, but from what i am told no way the 2 worlds can meet….I love her simplicity and smile and life, but also there are things on outside that she wants and can’t have, not bad things…
I used to be a bit radical myself so this song applies, probably destroys everything anyways..I love the LORD, but at times old things come in handy..you wont change me, so no one changes, just a little to meet in the middle? Confused. Must she escape, or must i convert, or just let it go as a wandering star in the night that never meets its binary star?
Sorry, its heavy music but the words tell truth..I see it in her eyes every time..we speak the same language so to speak..we silent speak also, as well as words..her escort always there..she is alone4 and so am I and we understand each other..it is sad….listen if you can endure it..it speaks the truth on these back roads with 2 lonely souls who seem we cannot ever be…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5xKR-BJ79s
Thank you for sharing your story. You’re a beautiful inspiration, and I hope you continue to discover more learning, love and joy in your life. Can’t wait for your next book.