Anna's weekend

This past weekend, we did a lot of things : on Saturday, I slept until 07:00 am before we went to the Korean church with my patner to meet other people. Margaux came with me and we went to Six Flags, a huge adventure park. It was the first time I go on a adventure parkWe made a lot of attractions, like roller coaster. We  arrived really early, so there was no line to go on the rides. I was really scared at the beginning, but it was so coo l, I wanted to do it again. Especially for one of the biggest roller coasters of America, at first, I didn’t want to do it, but Margaux wanted me to go on  it with her and it would certainly be the only time that I would experience this attraction in my whole life. Moreover, nobody was waiting to do this. It was incredible, I was not feeling the gravity. After riding some other cars amusements, we went back to the car to eat : we all had a sandwich and a drink (CapriSun, really good taste). Where we finished eating, we came back to the adventure park to go on the last ride. It was a really great day. On the way back to home, we stopped in a Vietnamese Restaurant, were we bought noodles. It was pretty good. We came back home to put our things at home before going to Alex’s party, Guillaume’s partner. It was a nice evening.

On Sunday, we chill at home until 12:00 before Margaux’s partner pick us up and lead us first at her house and then at Springfield Mall to go shopping for the last time. I went to American Egale, and Target. Target is a really big Supermarket with food, clothings, decorations, etc …

Then, we came back home. This was my lats week end in Philadelphia, and it was pretty good.

Anna

My week-end

On Saturday, with Maya and our partner, we went to the Philadelphia Mall, to spend a ''little'' money. It is an enormous shopping mall with our favorite brands of clothes!!! We had fun and we bought a lot of things!

Later on, we went to the play at the high school. It was a play from the 18th century with awesome actors! ''Sense and sensibility'' lasted 2 hours. It was written by Jane Austen. I didn't understand everything but I laughed a lot! And finally we went to a party to celebrate the success of all actors and Guillaume's birthday!!

 My mother will  not be happy because 

I bought too many things!!

Estelle Lauret

                                                                   

Second Weekend in Philly

On Saturday morning my hostfamily and I went to iHop to have breakfast. iHop is a little restaurant where you can have breakfast, little snacks and sandwiches.

After this, around 12:00, Karishma’s mother and I went to the Springfield mall. There I bought a hoodie for myself, some creams at Bath and Body Works and some souvenirs for my family and friends. After the mall we came back home and rested for 1 hour. At 6:30 Karishma and I went to see the school play, there we met the whole group. The play ended at 21:00 and after we all went to the cast party at Guillaume’ partner’s house. All the cast from the play was there and it was really fun! It was a really good party :)

On Sunday we didn’t do a lot of things. We went to see Karishma’s brother playing tennis in Delaware. He was very good and won almost all of his matches. After the tournament we went to eat in a little restaurant near UDel. The food there was delicious. At 17:00 we took the car to come back home. I then packed my suitcase because tomorrow is our last day :(

Karishma's brother and father

Karishma's brother serving

Ashley Adouobo

Marie Line's & Tasnim's weekend

24th\25th October

On Saturday, we did some shopping in the second biggest mall in the United States, King of Prussia, a one-hour drive from Philadelphia. Then we went to Chloe’s, Adele’s partner, with Tasnim and Scarlett. We spent time there until the beginning of the play, performed at FCS. After the play, we were invited at Alex’s party where we met all the French students and the play’s actors.

On Sunday, Tasnim and I went to Target to buy our last things from America, especially food. After that, we ate at Max Brennen’s which is a well-known restaurant specialised in chocolate. We had such a good chocolate fondue with bananas, strawberries, chocolate chip cookies, milk chocolate, dark chocolate and toffee sauce. We couldn’t eat until the next day!! 

My last week-end in Philadelphia

      On Saturday morning, I went to a basket-ball game, my partner belongs to the winning team. After this game we were starving so we went to Taco Bell. Its the best mexican fast food. It was really really really big and terrific. I took a volcano box :-french fries.
-A big tacos.
-Two 'small' sandwiches.







        The afternoon we slept but during the evenning we saw a play organised by Friends'Central School. Later we went to a party organised by the Guillaume's partner, we celebrated Guillaume's birthday and we ate a really delicious cake.

         On Sunday morning we slept, in next we went to the Mall, I ate a cheesesteak at Tony's Luke'.
In a cheesteak we found melted cheese (I took provolone), steaks and onions.
We came back to house and the cousin of my partner brought us to shake shack, a famous burger maker : 
After it was the end of my last week end in Philly, a big thank you to my host who gave me the best hospitality that I could have.

GROWING UP AS AN AMISH

Guder Daag !

Let me introduce myself, my name is Levi Miller and I was born on September 8th 1987 in Lancaster county. My parents had eight children and I came after my five siblings. I was born at home, which is pretty common in our community. The Amish have three options : we could choose the traditional birth method, so the future mother could give birth at home, she could go to a Birth Center or the woman could give birth in a hospital. The families pick the 1st option more often because the environnement is usually, more comfortable than a the hospital. Moreover the cost is more important in a hospital than in a Birth Center or at home.

I had a beautiful childhood with my family and the whole village. I went to the nearest school from 1st to 8th grade, there was an unique class with a teacher, who wasn’t  recognized by the State. I studied English, German, Mathematics, Geography and History. I’m always smilling when I think about all the good times I had with all my friends playing baseball, volleyball, riding our scooters in the countryside or walking on the way from school to home (around 15 000 feet per day for the children). Otherwise I had my chores, I could be asked to watch the animals, to milk the cows, or just to help my dad… My childhood was very pleasant and restful. But I was really looking for something else, something that every Amish child is seeking for.

You might wonder how we get medical treatment right ? You need to know that we use the same physicians as you do. The problem is that it was really expensive, because we don’t have any health insurance, God is ours; but we do participate in taxes for the State, we only use them when we have a big emergency like a heart attack or when you are badly wounded.  

Rumspringa is the time I was waiting for, it started when I turned 16. You may think it is a strange word, you are very right ! It means ‘’running around’’ in Pennsylvanian Dutch.

Granddad was always referring to that period as a vaccine, ‘’inject the desease to be safe’’ he said. My family were very tolerant and gave me a lot more freedom. They wouldn’t punish us for the things we did. You could go to the ‘’English world’’ (every non Amish thing is called English) during that period, and experiment new things. We swapped our regular clothes for English ones, some girls were even starting to wear make-up. We also didn’t have to go to school (because we stopped after 8th grade) so we could hang out with our friends. During this period we also had to choose our husband/wife, the one we are going to spend our whole life with. I remember the first party I ever had, it was taking place at an English boy’s house. My Amish friends were all smoking and I drank my first beer !

It was so fun to discover new things and to finally do those ‘forbidden’ things.

At the age of 23 my Rumspringa was finally over. I really loved this period and it was one of the happiest parts of my life but I realised this wasn’t the life I wanted. I found my soulmate: during our trip to the beach, I met Carrie Fisher a breathtaking woman, we began to be really good friends. Later she became my wife.

I joined the church, promised to be loyal to my community and I commited to adopt the Amish lifestyle for the rest of my  life ; I am a real Amish man now, here for his family and ready to participate in the church.

                    

Ashley, Leandre, Deport, Anna

The Organisation of the Amish Community

Each Amish community is independent and has its own traditions. Communities interact with each other but there isn’t an organization on a regional or national scale. Communites are supervised by a bishop, a preacher and two levels of deacons. Women stay silent during ceremonies, except for singing, Their role in the community is minor but like the men, they could participate in elections. Women only  wear dresses but they are not allowed to wear pants because they follow the Bible’s rules. Women are said to be “subordinate but not inferior”.

In the Amish community, women are housewives; they are in charge of the housekeeping. When they get married, women leave their job to to take care of the children and they become a housewife.

Men work on the farm and the fields to bring some food and money. They must be hard working to keep their lifestyle.Their life is based on their  interpretation of the Bible.