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Sept. 3, 2025 - This Past Weekend - Theo Von
01:35:01
#607 - Young Amish Male

Theo is joined by a young Amish man from Minnesota who is currently on Rumspringa. They talk about the Amish way of life, how the process of Rumspringa works, and some of the unique experiences he’s had dipping his toe out into the world. ------------------------------------------------ Tour Dates! https://theovon.com/tour New Merch: https://www.theovonstore.com ------------------------------------------------- Sponsored By: Celsius: Go to the Celsius Amazon store to check out all of their flavors. #CELSIUSBrandPartner #CELSIUSLiveFit https://amzn.to/3HbAtPJ  Mando: Go to http://shopmando.com and use code THEO to get 20% off sitewide. ShipStation: Upgrade to ShipStation today to get a sixty-day free trial at https://www.shipstation.com/theo. Perplexity AI: Ask anything at https://pplx.ai/theo and download their new web browser Comet at https://comet.perplexity.ai/ ------------------------------------------------- Music: “Shine” by Bishop Gunn Bishop Gunn - Shine ------------------------------------------------ Submit your funny videos, TikToks, questions and topics you'd like to hear on the podcast to: tpwproducer@gmail.com Hit the Hotline: 985-664-9503 Video Hotline for Theo Upload here: https://www.theovon.com/fan-upload Send mail to: This Past Weekend 1906 Glen Echo Rd PO Box #159359 Nashville, TN 37215 ------------------------------------------------ Find Theo: Website: https://theovon.com Instagram: https://instagram.com/theovon Facebook: https://facebook.com/theovon Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thispastweekend Twitter: https://twitter.com/theovon YouTube: https://youtube.com/theovon Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheoVonClips Shorts Channel: https://bit.ly/3ClUj8z ------------------------------------------------ Producer: Zach https://www.instagram.com/zachdpowers Producer: Trevyn https://www.instagram.com/trevyn.s/  Producer: Andrew https://www.instagram.com/bleachmediaofficial/  Producer: Nick https://www.instagram.com/realnickdavis/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Today's guest is our young friend from Lanesboro, Minnesota.
He's Amish.
He's an Amish.
He's an Amish person.
And he's on Rum Springer right now.
And we're excited to learn about what it means to be Amish and what it's like and how things are going for him today.
Today's guest is Amish, and his name is Timothy.
All right, sitting here with an Amish dude, basically.
Yeah.
And you're 100% Amish.
100% Amish, born and raised.
I can speak Pennsylvania Dutch, still Amish, and still living at home.
Pennsylvania Dutch, it's called?
Yeah, so Pennsylvania Dutch is like a dialect of German.
It's quite a bit different from German, but it's quite a bit different from German, you said?
Yeah, but it's a dialect from it.
And so if someone would be talking like German, you can kind of understand them, but like most of the words you can.
Okay.
Yeah.
So do people, like, would your parents speak German and Pennsylvania Dutch?
No, just Pennsylvania Dutch and English.
And would your grandparents possibly speak German or your great-grandparents?
No, they were all Pennsylvania Dutch.
So understood.
But it's kind of a branch of, a lot of the people there have German lineage.
Yeah, they do.
Like, I think every Amish is like Swiss German because most of them came from that area.
And funny thing is, in school, like on Fridays, we learn like, so that's basically the day where we read German, spell German.
And also every morning in school, we also sing like three hymns out of a, it'd be a little book with like red pages where we sing German hymns out of it.
Now, the funny thing is like I can kind of read German and I can spell German, but I do not understand like the German that I'm reading and spelling.
Some of it I can, but most of it I can't.
So you can comprehend a little bit, but you couldn't really then recite it.
Yeah.
Well, because sometimes for like Christmas and stuff, we had to like, there's also a green German book, which when you're lower grades, like fifth and under, you read out of that, where there's like big pair, like bigger paragraphs in the back where it's all German.
And sometimes for like, well, most every time actually, for Christmas and stuff, we had to learn, memorize all of those.
And I guess I wasn't the greatest because I kind of, I guess, lost interest for it if I didn't understand it, I guess.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's probably ADD or whatever.
Do they have ADD in the Amish community?
So I don't even, what, do you know what is ADD?
I'm not even quite sure.
Oh, wow.
ADD, it's like, let me think.
You ever have that feeling like when somebody's tickling you or whatever, kind of?
Yeah.
And you're like, you just can't even handle it?
Yeah.
It's like that feeling, but it's like in your brain kind of when you're trying to pay attention.
So it's like you're paying attention doesn't work, you know?
Oh, no, I don't think, I don't think anyone has ADD that I know of.
I hope not.
Because that wouldn't be too fun to have.
Oh, yeah.
I think it's like, yeah, you get to change your mind without even doing it, you know?
So if you drive a car, if you have ADD, so can you focus on the road or you're like looking over to the ditch and then this car and the guy in the pipe, like the passenger seat?
I think it gets a little bit testy for some people.
Like it's too much, you know?
Yeah, pull that up.
Do the Amish have ADD?
Pull that up.
Let's get a gander at that.
That's a great question.
Yeah.
I've never heard of ADD before.
Then you must not have it, brother.
Yeah.
The Amish do experience ADD, but reported rates are noticeably lower than in the general population.
And diagnosis practices may differ significantly due to cultural and lifestyle factors.
Wow.
That's pretty fascinating.
When you're born in Amish country, are you born at a hospital?
Are you born at home?
What's it like?
So that varies a lot too.
Over the last probably 15, 10, 15 years, a lot more have been born in a hospital.
I know there's some people in our community, all of them were born at home.
Half of them were born at home.
And then also some were born in a hospital.
Now, me and all my brothers, we were all born in the hospital.
So it all varies, varies from family to family most of the time.
Are you allowed to use like municipalities like a hospital and like a public park and those sorts of things?
Like, where does the line differ between if you're Amish and you just straight up supposed to be at the house, you know, like using chalk and just eating butter, you know, out of each other's hats?
Yeah.
And then the line where you're supposed to be able to like go to public parks and go to like non-Amish events and stuff.
Oh, so like me going to your concert, like that would, that would not be like that.
Keep it, keep that on the down low.
But some Amish, I know some Amish, like go to like Def Leopard concerts and when they're like around my age, you know, like 80s rock, the Amish, like the Amish at like party and stuff, they like 80s rock, country.
And then I'm not sure how you call them music, but it really bumps when you turn it all the way up.
That 80s rock?
No, it's like some, I wonder if it's like, like, when it's like, like, boom, boom, boom.
Is it kind of darker artists?
Do the dark, do the artists?
You mean like the suicide boys?
Oh, suicide boys are.
It's not the suicide boys.
It's more like David Ghetto.
Like, I think I said.
David Gueta?
Gueta.
Yeah.
Oh, I see what you're saying.
Oh, like EDM house, that sort of stuff.
I don't never know what you call it, but yeah, if you turn that stuff all the way up, it really shakes something up.
Like if you, if you have like the big like stereo system in like a, in like a building, that building starts shaking.
Yeah.
So that's pretty cool.
And the Amish, they really feel that.
You can feel it, really feel your barn raise when you hear that, huh?
Oh, yeah.
But like that stuff we only do in the weekends.
That stuff is kind of like, nah.
That's secret.
Yeah.
Hell yeah.
So do the Amish listen to Morgan Wallen ever or no?
Yeah, dude.
I have a buddy, actually, my co-worker, Atley.
He lost Mark and Wallen, and he's in Rome Springer, too.
So he wants to go to his concert one time.
So that would be fun.
You know, I thought your concert was pretty cool too.
The music that they played in the beginning.
Yeah.
I've never really heard that music before, but I was chamming out to it and it was really, really fun.
Thank you, dude.
Yeah.
We play a lot of times at our shows.
There I am right there with your hat you brought to me.
That was in Seattle.
In the beginning of the shows, we play a band.
It's called New Orleans Jazz Vipers.
Oh.
And it's just like some good kind of jazz New Orleanian music.
I think it puts people in a mode of like they're going to see, you know, some type of artistic like brain space instead of just some like music you hear all the time, you know?
Yeah.
That's like, I was, I was kind of surprised, like, or not really surprised, but I never really, I never really heard that music before.
Yeah, it's great, man.
That's a great band.
I've, I've, uh, I happened upon them in New Orleans a while back, and ever since then, I've just enjoyed listening to them.
Yeah.
So that's their horns and stuff?
Yeah.
Wow.
And that's, that's what makes all the, like, the great sounds.
Yeah, they do a great job.
Do you guys have instruments in your Amish village?
Is it called a village?
So it'd be considered a district.
A district would be like different parts of church because there can be one big community, but there can be like four to 12 different districts of like the church where the rules are a little bit different here and there, but like mostly be called a community.
A community.
Yeah.
So the areas you live in kind of delineates where you go to church at?
Yeah, kind of.
Or yeah.
Can you go to any church or if you live in a certain area, you kind of go to a certain church because it's close.
So in the area, you always, if the Amish move somewhere, it's usually for a certain church in a certain area.
And we don't have church houses and stuff.
I seen like really big churches.
They were like, they went almost up to the sky and stuff.
Yeah, they got some churches that are trying to do a lot.
They're like, do you need all that?
Yeah, like those things are really high.
So all of our church happens at our homes.
Oh.
Yeah.
So like, so we take turns taking church.
So different weekends, different families will take church.
Yeah.
And another thing that Damish do is we have church every other weekend.
So how it works is church here, and then that gives them enough time to, you know, move church to the next place.
Then you have to pick up all the books, pick up all the benches, and then move it over to your place.
You also have to make all the food, and then people, people come and help you.
I see.
So it's part of the culture is like it's kind of exciting when you get to have church at your place because everybody's coming there.
Yeah, well, it can be, but also it's a bit of like, oh man, church is at our place.
You got to get ready.
Oh, we got to clean up.
Yeah, you got to clean up, get ready.
Be on our best behavior.
Yeah.
Trim the cat.
Trim the cat.
Well, our cats actually stay in the barn because damish don't really have cats in the house.
Dude, our cats, they're like self-sufficient.
They're kind of Amish too.
But like we put dog food there.
I think they might sneak a little bit of that.
I could see some of them sneaking a little.
But sometimes I see cats coming up the pasture.
They got like a chipmunk or a bird.
I don't think they're big enough or fast enough to catch a squirrel.
I am alarmed at how many regular people.
What do you call regular people non-Amish or do you think?
So if we're talking English, we call regular people English people.
But if you're talking in Pennsylvania Dutch, if you want a literal translation of it, we call them hojilat, which a literal translation is high people.
But what it means, hojilat, what that means is like...
People that are allowed to get high.
That are not Amish.
But we have like a neighbor.
That guy's from Australia.
I think it's called Land Down Under stuff.
It's basically where all the kangaroos live.
Oh, yeah.
There's kangaroos, sharks.
There's definitely just people that'll drink beer.
There's a couple of Down Centrum guys down there who drink beer out of the oven.
That's crazy.
And I even saw some guys, like they, they drink, they take off their shoe and they like pour like some stuff in their shoe and drink it right out of.
Yeah.
It must have special feed or something.
Yeah, I think they must have.
Look at these guys right here, and they're Australian.
Oh, whoa, what are they doing?
Look at this.
He pulls a hot beer right out of the oven.
Whoa, that's pretty cool.
He starts chugging it at one point.
He doesn't care.
Oh.
But these guys are Australian.
Oh, wow.
So they're a bit shorter, too.
Yeah, a lot of rugby, head-to-head.
That'll keep your spine down.
Yeah, especially if you're like, I thought if you'd be upside down, like on the bottom side of the world, your spine would let go.
Not these guys.
Wow.
I think they missed a column, dude.
L5S none, dude.
These guys missed something.
Something like that.
So non-Amish people, you call them.
Hohila.
Hohil.
Hohila.
There you go.
You're almost Amish now.
Oh, welcome.
You're welcome.
It's not offensive, though.
No, no, no, not at all.
It's not like Damish don't see it as offensive.
It's just a term to describe something.
Like our horses, you know, some are standard bred, you know, and then some are brown, some are black.
We even have some like white horses with like black spots on them.
Oh, yeah, we're getting a lot of that.
Outside of Atlanta, we get a lot of that.
Yeah.
Where's Atlanta?
Atlanta.
Have you heard of it?
Oh, Atlanta, like Georgia?
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah, I've heard of it.
I've never been there.
I heard they like, that's close to where like the Dukes of Hazard were made, I think.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think it is, actually.
I love the Dukes of Hazard.
I do, too.
Yeah.
I used to have the DVD play.
I don't have it anymore.
I used to have a little DVD player.
Really?
And then, yeah, I watched a little bit Dukes of Hazard.
But the only bad part was the DVD player, it was before I had a battery and stuff that I had to go charge it somewhere else.
And it's before I had a bat, like all prepared, you know, that way I don't run out of power.
I used to watch, I watch them a lot because us Amish, we have the ones that are in Roomspringer.
We have like we have DVDs and stuff.
My coerc Gradley, he's pretty, he's pretty stacked when it comes to DVDs because he's got like a drawer full of like all kinds of movies.
Is he allowed to have it or not?
Not really, but like his, like his parents, I think they kind of know, but they don't like they don't bother.
Got it.
But he had some different things.
He had Dukes of Hazard?
Yeah.
Well, I don't know if he had Dukes of Ash, but he had like lots of other different ones, like Smoking the Bandit, like Grumpy Old Man.
Oh, yeah, well, those are really funny.
I think he's like, he wants to get her, like, fast and furious, too.
Oh, he's trying to get wild, huh?
Yeah, like, he's pretty crazy.
It sounds like it if he's trying to do all that.
That's a lot.
What about Little House on the Prairie?
Did you guys ever watch that?
I've seen a little bit on that.
A couple hotties on there.
Yeah, like the ones they almost, you mean like the like Laura?
I mean, that's a child, but I mean, yeah, I don't even know.
The mom.
I'm talking about the mom.
Oh, the mom?
Yeah, Carolyn.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
She's cute.
Yeah, kind of.
But isn't she like really old now?
She's getting older, probably.
But who knows what could happen?
You know, they're doing a lot of like, there's a lot of biohacking and stuff now.
But I'm just saying a lot of beautiful ladies on here.
Yeah, definitely.
And now, with this, with this something in Amish culture, if you see these dames, these young ladies, is that something you're attracted to growing up?
Because they almost have a little bit of an Amish feel to them.
Yeah.
What do you mean, like a settler?
Like, would this be a girl?
Like, if you'd have seen this when you were 12 or something and you look at Mary Ingalls right here, the older sister, you'd be like, oh, she's cute.
Yeah, I would.
And that's okay.
Yeah, that's okay.
Okay.
Yeah, I'm just curious because we grew up watching this and it was great.
They're remaking this right now.
They're making a new season.
That's pretty cool.
I know.
So.
Dude, the one guy has white hair on his beard.
He must be getting old.
Yeah, that guy.
He's actually, I think that guy's deceased.
But you mentioned being on Rumspringer, right?
Yeah.
So you're on Rumspringer right now.
Right now, yep.
Okay.
How does Rum Springer start?
How long does it last?
Who gets to go on it?
Okay, so pretty much everyone goes on it.
Now, I've heard of where families didn't let their kids go on it.
But that has happened.
But sometimes when that happens, the kid just leaves and he becomes English.
Oh, because they feel they can't, they're not allowed to, that the family's not following the rules.
No, everyone can go on room, like Roam Springer.
Everyone does it.
Every single, now, every single, like, every single community that does Roomspringer, like, like, they usually go on because what happens is around 16, 16 and a half, you go, you join Roomspringer, which we call the Yua.
The Yua?
Yeah, which basically means the, what was it?
Like young people.
Kind of.
Youth?
The youth.
Yeah, youth.
There you go.
That'd be a better word for it.
So you're picking up.
The Yua.
Yep, the Yua.
Makes sense.
Yep.
So that's when you go to like singin's after church.
Now, I never, I never really went, rent, went to one because when I went on Roomspringer, the church was kind of already going down because our church kind of, it's kind of split up now.
Actually, our bishop kind of, he kind of booked out.
He kind of decked out.
So yeah.
So right now there's there's we still have church, but it's like only like an hour and like hour and a half and and so there's a lot of Amish around us.
They're still Amish and then but they're not a member of the church anymore anymore because when it opens in the Schwartz and Trooper Amish.
Wait, wait, wait, when what opens?
Like, so when the, when the church doesn't come to agreement for like a, for a while, and then it's kind of, it's kind of like a rule that they have to open the doors and then whoever wants to go can get out of the, no longer be a member of the church and doesn't require to have to follow the rules.
That's only that's only when you're like joined the church already.
Okay, so members of the church, if the church is, if for some reason there's diff, there's some problem within that church where they're not able to, like maybe obviously there was a problem with the bishop, you're saying?
Well, like the like the people in the community and the bishop and like the like there was there's an argument?
Yeah, they were not agreeing on the same things.
Okay, understood.
So there was a disagreement.
Yeah.
And so the bishop left.
Yeah.
Well, that's actually, this is a very rare thing to happen.
The bishop just like it was a month.
It was probably over a year of like this stuff happening, but it was usually like the like the smallest things.
And I think it like annoyed some of the like the people in the congregation?
Yeah, like some of the some of the members.
Because I know I know if a guy like they came to his house because his certain, because his the curtains on his window were like not the right shade of blue or or even the reflectors on the buckies because some our buckies don't have that many reflectors not compared to like buckies in Ohio, Indiana and Pennsylvania because they got like that big reflector plate?
Yeah, like that triangle thing.
It's flashy, huh?
Yeah, it is flashy.
And yeah, we don't have that reflection.
Actually, go to the left, that Bucky, that's white horse.
One more right there.
Yeah, right there.
That's yours.
That's how our Buckies look like.
There were there was what was their reflector on the front or the back of a bucky like that and they didn't like that so the bishop had too many reflectors on his buggy?
No, like the members had too many reflectors on their bucky and they got they got after him for that.
Oh, the bishop got after him for it.
Yeah, like the bishop though, the bishop doesn't even live in this community.
He lives down there because our bishop before he actually actually died in a house fire.
So no.
Yeah, like the whole house burnt down.
How?
What happened?
A candle?
I don't know.
I don't think it was a candle.
I think it was something with a stove in the wash house.
And this was a hot fire.
It was 20, it was 20 below.
And this hot fire, I was told it was hot.
And there was, and maybe it wasn't 20 below, but it was definitely 10 below or so.
And like, the fire just kept burning.
Fire just kept burning.
And when the people came out, the people in the red, the people like, what do you call it?
Like firemen?
Yeah.
But they had to like keep the water around us so their holes wouldn't freeze.
It was really cold.
And his wife actually survived.
And apparently when she came out, it was so hot.
She just laid on the snow and like she was fine for a little bit, but she had like, actually, a little bit of burns and stuff like that.
Do they think she started it or no?
No, I don't think so.
Because we don't have insurance.
Like, we don't have life insurance and stuff.
So I think it was an accident.
That wouldn't be too funny if she thought she had life insurance?
Yeah, that would be, wouldn't that be like illegal?
Between the Hohile, that happens all the time.
Yeah, Johile are always killing their spouses for insurance money.
That's not very nice.
That's like that.
Isn't that murder?
Yep.
That sure is.
That's not very nice.
And dude, not only is it murder.
What?
But it's murdering for money.
But I guess if you don't have life insurance, then you don't have to worry about it.
Yeah.
It's kind of nice.
Yeah.
And so go ahead, kill me, you won't get anything.
Yeah, that's kind of the idea of it.
Yeah.
So yeah, Damish, like Damish, like, like back in the wars, I think the government tried to force us to go to wars, but we're like pacifists and stuff.
Like, yeah, we'll, we'll, like, wrestle and stuff when we're younger.
And, and, and, and then also sometimes maybe IQ.
But other than that, like, we don't, like, kill each other.
The Amish are pretty peaceful.
Yeah.
And then, yeah, because back in, like, the wars and stuff, like, we, we just did like all the cooking and the cleaning and then like saving people too.
Is that true?
Let me read that right here.
World War.
The Amish were subject to the military draft in U.S. wars, but due to their religious beliefs as pacifists, they were usually classified as conscientious objectors and assigned to non-combatant or alternative service roles.
World War I and II, Amish men were drafted, but most received farm deferments or performed non-combatant services.
Some were sent to army camps and suffered abuse when refusing military service entirely.
And in rare cases, some were in prison for refusing all forms of service.
Yeah.
Like the Amish, and where the Amish came from, like, like they went through a lot of stuff.
It's like, there's a, there's a book, actually, where the Amish came from was like from the Anabaptists.
Like, those were all, like, those were like the, like, the OGs.
They came all the back all the way from the Catholic Church.
Really?
Like the OGs, you're saying?
Yeah.
Did the Amish have to fight to establish themselves in America?
That I'm not actually very sure, but I know like when like when back, I think it was back in the 70s, I think, that they had to fight like court and stuff.
I think they went through a lot of like court stuff.
But like for that stuff, I think they did.
But also, like the government also agreed, because this is like a free country and stuff.
While not armed struggles, the Amish sometimes face legal and social battles, especially regarding education and their right to practice their faith freely.
Notably, in the 20th century, they opposed laws that would force their children into public high schools, sometimes resulting in imprisonment or property loss for Amish parents.
Wow.
So they've had to fight to maintain their way of life.
Yeah.
So there must be a lot of pride.
Is there a lot of pride in being Amish?
It varies from community to community, but yeah, like there is pride in being Amish.
Like we don't believe in being prideful, but that's like something like you feel good about.
Right.
See, it's a little bit different than being like being egotistical about and just having some like confidence in your in your group.
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So do you, or do Amish people have to go to public school or do you go to your own school?
We go to our own school.
Do you have a schoolhouse?
Yeah, we have a schoolhouse.
I sent pictures of it at the schoolhouse to that white building.
So the building in the front there, that's where all the horse is kept.
Now, since I'm more kids, we had to build another little shelter for the horses.
So that was down there.
Oh, for the horses?
Yeah, for the horses.
Don't you meet the cheerleaders or something?
No, we don't have cheerleaders because that would be like they're like they barely wear clothes and stuff.
It looks like they're in their underwear.
That's too much.
Yeah, I've never loved a basketball game so much that I got in my underwear for it.
Yeah, that's right.
That's a bit odd.
And like even when they go, like when they go to the beach and stuff, like they're just in their underwear.
Some of them get dressed up more for the beach even.
Yeah.
That's crazy.
Yeah, like they get more dressed down.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But so you go to school there, you put your horses in the front building?
Yep.
Okay.
And does everybody have their own horse or sometimes people come in groups?
Yeah, like family, one family usually has one horse.
And then like we have building, like a building.
And then like one through eighth grade, it's like we all sit in there.
And then, so that's all in one room.
And then there's usually one teacher.
So one year we actually like 25 kids and like one building.
That was like the most we ever had.
And then, and it varied from year to year.
So like we started out with like 10 and then as it went up 14, 16, 20, and then 25.
And then it kind of slowed down, like came down from there.
But yeah, like first, that's where I went to school, first through eighth grade, and everyone's sitting in the same room.
And then we have classes too.
Is it pretty cool?
Ah, it can be if you make it.
But it was, I didn't really like school when I went to school.
So when does the school day start?
So that's usually, if I remember right, it was like 8:30, I think, 8:30.
School starts, and then we sing like three, four hymns, and then that usually lasts 15, 20 minutes.
And then we start reading, reading classes.
And then it depends on the teacher.
Some like to go from eighth grade down, and others like to go from first grade up.
So then after that, it's recess, like 15 minutes, and then usually arithmetic classes.
And then we do arithmetic until lunch, which is like around 11:30.
And school goes out, like only for a little bit, for like an hour.
Do you go home for lunch or no?
No, no.
We pack our lunch.
We eat at school.
We sit at our desk and eat.
And then usually that takes like around 20 minutes, 15, 20 minutes.
And then we go out and play different games.
And we play like, what was it?
Oh, yeah, we played, we played a game that we call rapid.
It's where like the like the animal rapid.
Rabbit?
Yeah, like rapid.
And then, so what you do is there's a person in the middle at the ball.
Like Easter, like that little, like an Easter.
Yeah, like a bunny.
Like, yeah, we call it Hawasa.
Hawasa?
Yep, Hawasa.
Hawasa.
That's the Amish word for rapids.
Rapids.
we used to throw the ball out and it was if someone threw it so it's kind of like that i gotta get better explain this but it's kind of good it's kind of like dodgeball you You have two bass or two bass on each side.
And then there's a person in the middle.
He's got like a ball.
Sometimes we use the basketball.
Sometimes we use the tennis ball.
Tennis ball was like my favorite because you could throw it better and it wouldn't hurt as much if it hit you.
Okay.
Because so you're supposed to throw it five up five times.
And if you throw it up five times and no one runs through to the other base, then you can go on one base and count to basically do a countdown.
And then if no one goes off of that base and goes through before you're done, you can just, even though they're on base, you can go touch them and get them out.
Oh, they can actually physically catch them?
Yeah, we catch them and take them down.
But would this be a game boys would play with boys?
Everyone would play the teacher would even help too.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
So, like, it depends on, like, it depends how rough.
Like, the harder you tried to get away, I guess you accepted the roughness and you run through and try not to get caught.
And then someone takes you down on the ground.
You crawl, you crawl for the base.
It's like, it's almost like Vietnam and stuff.
I've never been there, but.
No, but no, we've seen pictures.
We all understand exactly what it was like.
Yeah.
That's unbelievable, dude.
So that, so that was a popular game, Rappa?
Rap it.
Rap it.
Like the Easter Bunny.
Rap it.
Yeah.
And then what did girls do?
Do they play this game?
Or what did girls who were definitely girls?
Like some girls played this game, but what did like the real girls do?
The real girls always, like, we always were together.
Like, we always, we always helped each other play.
Oh, everybody played the same stuff.
Yeah.
But when it was like a rainy day or something, like sometimes we played board games.
And then not as much, but most times like we all played with each other because we didn't know stuff yet.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Because we don't get taught that stuff in school or anything.
Like, what do you mean?
Like the about girls, and we don't really know too much about each other, I guess.
Oh, so everybody's just kind of like just all the same.
Yeah, we're all kids.
Oh, you're all kids.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Are you allowed to flirt at school?
Like at some point, do people feel some attraction?
Like, do you think like maybe, maybe, but so the school I went to, I couldn't really do that because pretty much everyone I went to school with was either first or second cousin.
Oh, brother.
Yeah.
So yeah, it's like, it's a tough world.
It is, brother.
And, you know, that's why we got to do some of this redistricting and rezoning.
Yeah, we got to like read like rezone, like move out, move in.
That's what that's what a lot of Amish have been doing around us and moving out to different communities.
I guess it's a good thing then you can, you know, you know, spread the family tree because sometimes the tree becomes a bush.
Yeah.
They like intertwine with each other.
The Amish population experiences a strong founder effect, meaning that their gene pool originates from a small number of original settlers.
Most Amish people are distantly related because nearly all Amish in America descended from a small group of about 200 to 500 founders who immigrated from Germany and Switzerland in the 18th century.
The genetic closeness increases the likelihood of certain inherited conditions with some rare genetic disorders, much more common among Amish than in the general U.S. population.
Do you guys have oh, this says cousin marriage?
Marriages between cousins do occur.
Not first cousin, second cousin does.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
For sure, but that, like, it's not really, it's not really like forward.
Like, hey, you can marry a second cousin.
But, but it does happen.
But if it happens, it happens.
Yeah, it happens.
It happens.
You're already close.
You might as well be closer.
Yeah, that's right.
Yeah, I don't know how because we don't have like any family tree and stuff.
You don't?
No.
But we do have like a big book that tells us like all Amish communities, like in certain states, like who, like, basically a dictionary for like Amish people and who's related to who.
And you have that.
Yeah.
It's basically like Google for Amish when it comes to like finding like, oh yeah, this person's related to this.
Oh, how old is this person?
And it's kind of even got their like addresses and stuff.
So nice.
Yeah.
It's like a book where you can go look and see who's who and how old.
Yeah.
And how many kids they have and when the kids were born.
So that's pretty cool.
Oh yeah.
Right.
That's kind of how it is.
But it's a little bit different than that.
Okay.
Because they put like, they like, they put like two different, was it two different names on the front, like whoever like put it together and stuff.
Because some Amish, like, like they know like who's related to everyone.
It's like, it's almost like they're like they're happy, I guess, I guess you could say.
And they're happy?
No, they're happy.
Hoppy.
Like they're, it's their.
Oh, it's their hobby.
Like H-O-B-B-Y.
Like rap it.
No.
Hobby.
Yeah.
Like happy.
Like it's something they like to do in their spare time.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's what it is.
Genealogy.
Put it together.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
You got to, somebody's got to know who's related or you got to be able to ask somebody.
So could there be people in your school that are your cousin?
You don't even know it?
Ah, no, because everyone in the school, like, they drive there with a horse and bucky.
So it's fairly close because we have like, let me think.
I think it's like half, at least I have a dozen schools in our, in our like community.
Okay.
Yep.
And how do you decide which school you go to?
Whichever you live closest to.
That's it.
Yep.
Do they have like learn?
Like they were talking about like, obviously, when cousins get together, things can get crazy.
Yeah.
And you might get one of the Lord's remixes out there.
Or disabled, they call out here in America.
Yeah.
Mentally disabled.
Yeah.
Autism, Amishism.
I'm sure you guys are seeing it.
Well, somebody will just raise a barn with their eyes, you know, just put a nail through a four by four with their just with their sheer, just you know, with just a blink of an eye.
I don't know if we have autism, but like we have like some with Down syndrome.
Yeah, because my great uncle, he has Down syndrome and stuff.
He's like, Yeah, he's like, he's like 57 years old.
And he's awesome, huh?
Yeah, he's pretty awesome.
Because me and him, me and him, I don't, like, I just remember that I carry, like, carry wood with him.
Like, me and him carry wood into the wood box for a stove.
And I don't know why, but apparently I used to tease him a little bit too.
I kind of feel bad for him now.
I thought, like, I think it was like, like, six or seven years old.
I was really young.
Oh, it's okay.
You were just a kid, man.
Yeah.
You were just joking around.
Yeah, because I thought I was having fun.
But he could carry a lot of wood?
Oh, yeah.
He could carry a lot of wood.
Yeah.
He was pretty cool.
And he passed away?
No, he hasn't passed away yet, but I heard recently he's like, he's not doing too good anymore.
But he's still surviving and stuff.
But isn't that kind of old for a person with Down syndrome and stuff?
That's a great question, actually, Timothy.
Let me look at that up.
How old do the Down syndrome get if you don't mind pulling it up there?
Yeah.
It might be like because he's Amish that he's like that he's clocking more time.
Yeah.
Because it's probably harder, probably a Down syndrome being out under the bright lights of regular life than it is out there just slurping in the moonlight.
Yeah.
The average life expectancy for individuals with Down syndrome is now about 60 years with many living into their 60s and 70s thanks to advances in medical care and social inclusion.
That's all.
Awesome.
McDonald's supposed to not be getting to them anymore.
At McDonald's, huh?
Yeah.
It was really hampering them.
Well, there was a time when like McDonald's, a lot of their employees had Down syndrome.
Oh, really?
Bring that up.
And then, so it caused a lot of people to take people there with Down syndrome.
So then they were eating all this McDonald's and it was like not good for them.
No, it's like it was like backing them up.
Yeah.
But McDonald's was hiring a hella down.
Wow.
They had the whole.
I never knew like place like that hired.
Oh, yeah.
Especially now.
Now there's coffee shops in America and everybody that works there has Down syndrome.
Shane Gillis owns one.
He's a comedian.
Wow.
So yeah, I heard Shane Gillis was around Downish too when he was when he's younger.
Yep.
He grew up around the Amish.
He's famous.
Some people said he has Down syndrome.
Some people said he doesn't.
Yeah.
I don't know.
We had a guy on who completed the Iron Man, which was one of the biggest physical challenges in the world.
And he has Down syndrome.
Chris Nickich.
Oh.
Bring him up.
What's an Ironman?
It's like the toughest competition ever.
Oh.
There he is right there.
Wow.
What are the conditions of an Iron Man, just so we're clear on it?
It's one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation, consisting of a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bicycle ride, and 26-mile run completed in that order.
Wow.
Think you could do it?
No, I'd have to, I'd have to build three barns in a day and run up and down to the house a couple of times.
Oh, you'd have to jack and gel a million gallons of water, dude.
Yeah, even if I had Down syndrome, I don't think I could do it.
No.
It'd be really hard to do it.
Like, even though I think it even be hard for the Amish people, because first we need to learn how to bike.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Because we can swim because the rivers and stuff.
Are you allowed to have bikes or no?
We can sneak them.
Oh, you sneak them, huh?
Yeah.
But like the Amish over in Indiana and Ohio and even Pennsylvania, they got like scooters and stuff.
Yeah, they do it.
But they got like the low riders, like the ones that are really close to the ground.
Oh, yeah, the Amish.
Yeah, the Amish.
Yeah, that you like stand on and stuff.
Not the ones that you like sit on.
Oh, I see what you're saying.
Yeah.
So not the motorized ones.
No, not the motorized or the ones with pedals and stuff.
Yeah, they had one.
They have one Amish, dude, Oro Farming on one of these, I think.
Oh, like, was he doing it on the horse or like the scooter?
I think the scooter.
Oh.
And they have a lot of Mexican Amish too now.
The Amish, they call them.
Yeah, I saw like there were a couple like Mexican Amish.
I was like, because I read like a couple of years ago, there was this Mexican Amish guy.
He popped up.
Like he was, he looked fully Mexican.
He looked like he came from Mexico.
And I think someone must have adopted him.
It sounded like that.
And like he could speak like, like he could speak like the Mexican language.
And then he also speaks like Pennsylvania Dutch, too.
Hell yeah.
Yeah.
I love that, man.
Yeah, dude.
And that must be the craziest if you're Mexican because then you're like, holy shit, I still have to do all this construction myself, you know?
Like, if you're Amish Mexican, people expect you to build stuff faster than anybody.
Yeah, because Mexicans and Amish, we go back and forth.
Like, we look who can build the fastest.
If you have both?
Yeah.
Now, when it comes to sheet rocking, I have to say, Mexicans are definitely faster because they got them long, like those metal things that I think they're called stilts.
Oh, really?
So they're good at sheet rocking?
Yeah, I saw a video of them.
They like held their tape measure and then walked over.
And the one guy, real tall-looking guy, if he had like long legs, he was on stilts and stuff.
His head almost touched the ceiling.
Tell me about this.
When you go to Rumspringer, how do you go?
Is there a day that you go?
What happens?
You hit what age and how does it start?
It's kind of just, it's kind of spontaneous when it happens.
You're like roughly, roughly 16 and a half when it happens, and your parents are like, you can go.
And then you kind of just go like that.
So do they sit you down at dinner and tell you?
Is it like an announcement at school?
Is it at church?
How does it happen that they say, we're going to allow you to go to Rumspringer?
It's not really an announcement.
It's just kind of like, hey, you can go there.
And then you probably have a couple of rules.
Don't do this, don't do that, but you're probably going to do it anyway.
Really?
Yeah.
And so is there a moment that an actual day that you leave?
Like, do you say goodbye?
Oh, no, no.
So when Room Springer happens and you go to the YOUA, like, you still live at home and stuff.
You're still Amish.
And then you just do stuff on the weekends that you're not supposed to.
When do you go back to your Amish country?
Like, when do you go back to your district to your home?
So when you're in Roomspringer, you're always at home.
So don't like the like, so what happens if you go and you're in Roomspring for like, it's usually around four to five years.
It, it always depends.
And then when you get baptized, it's usually when you have a girlfriend and then you want to get married.
So that's the reason you get baptized is to get married.
And then at the same time, you're also becoming a member of the church.
Okay, so before, so you hit about 16 or something and your parents say that you can go now.
Yep.
And that means on the weekends, you can go do what you want.
Yeah, kinda.
And if they don't hear too much about it, you're fine.
Then you're doing fine.
Yeah, because sometimes you can be like, hey, you can't go this time.
Okay.
Yeah.
And now do some people choose to stay out in Rumspringer and not come back to the church?
Do you have that option or that's not?
Yeah, where like people like leave and become ex-Amish.
Yeah.
And that can happen.
Yeah.
And then when like Rome Spring ends, it's roughly around 20 to 21.
That's usually when people get married.
Or sometimes, you know, like all of a sudden they realize they have a kid.
And then so that's not really a good idea to have a kid before you're married.
So like they either get quickly married or like my cousin, like my cousin Frank, like he was Amish?
No, like he like his parents, like they realized they had him when they were still like on Room Spring and Amish.
So they just left.
Wow.
Yeah.
So your cousin, his parents were both on Rum Springer.
Yep.
Both Amish.
Yep.
One of them got pregnant, the woman.
The woman, yeah.
And then they realized at that point that they had to leave.
Would they have been welcomed back into the church or no?
Like, so what happens if that happens?
Either you leave or you like almost become married right away.
Because that has happened a couple of times.
Actually, it happened for my parents.
So they had to quickly get married.
Okay, so you have to make that quick choice.
Yeah.
Now, if you decide to leave, are you shunned?
Are you allowed to come back?
What is it like?
Like once you decide to leave?
So if you leave and you're already a member of the church, you get shunned from it.
And then if you're not a member, like on Room Spring, if you leave, it varies on the parents a lot.
Like on my dad's side, like they, they wouldn't really, for the longest time, they wouldn't really be happy or wouldn't really talk to their kids when they came and visited once that are ex-Amish.
On my mom's side, they were like that for a little bit too, like in the first, but on my mom's side now, when the ex-Amish kids come back, well, they're like now 40 and stuff, 30, 40, and maybe even older.
Like they come back, they're welcome, like all that stuff.
But on my dad's side, they're still a little bit iffy, but they're way better than they were.
I see.
So they're coming around a little bit more than they used to.
But probably in your grandfather's generation, if somebody was shunned, they might not talk to them.
Yep, that's how it is.
When you get shunned, you're not supposed to, well, you can talk to them, but you're not supposed to help them out in any way.
Like you can't accept money from them, and you're not supposed to get a ride from them to a ride.
Let's say they were driving the ones that left, they were driving and stuff.
You're not supposed to ride with them.
Oh, yeah.
If they can't even stay on the path to heaven, how are they going to keep you on a path when they're trying to take you somewhere?
Yeah.
They're going to take you off the road or something.
They sure are.
Yeah, literally, dude.
They're literally going to take you off the road.
You know, I never expected to be a business owner.
You know, at first we just were podcasting and then things just evolved.
You know, one of the toughest points for us was when we started offering merch.
You know, we had to get the shipping done.
And it just, you know, I'm up in the middle of the night printing shipping labels.
It became too much.
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That's shipstation.com slash Theo.
First, actually, you know what?
I'm going to tap a little.
I'm going to have a little sip of Celsius because I need to pick me up.
Have you ever had this before?
No, not this.
No.
Is it good?
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's great.
I saw it.
It's grape, so it's like really good.
I'm going to have to try this stuff.
Can you have a little bit?
Yeah.
No alcohol.
No, okay.
So what does it have?
It's like water.
Ooh, mine's cherry-cola flavored.
It's like spicy stuff.
It's like a little bit of ADD kind of.
Oh, dude.
This stuff actually tastes like the grapes that you squeeze out of the, like, not the grapes that you eat from the store, but like the Amish grapes that you can buy.
Like the ones that you squeeze out of the what do you call that?
The skin.
Have you ever had those grapes where you just squeeze them out and you swallow them?
Uh-uh.
Yeah, it tastes just like this.
Really?
Yeah.
Let's get a look at those Amish purple grapes.
Yeah, they're yeah, that's how they look.
And those, you know, how the stores, like, they have no seats in them.
Like, these have like a seat in them.
You just squeeze them out and then you swallow them because if you try to eat them, like chew on them, like, um, like you just bite into the seat and stuff.
Oh, you just squeeze them out.
Those actually tastes exactly like that.
So it must be very natural.
Yes, sir.
It's the best, man.
That'll taste very good.
That'll get you home, brother.
That'll get you home.
Yeah.
So if this, I saw that, does it have caffeine in it?
Yeah, it has a little bit of caffeine.
So I'll be like moving around.
Yeah, you'll be feeling something.
Yeah.
What has your Rum Springer experience been like?
It's been crazy.
I've done like the first year and a half, I didn't do too much because I wasn't 18 yet.
But like this summer, I've done so many crazy things.
Actually, last summer, I got to drive like a Corvette.
That was crazy.
Like these two girls, like they let me drive their Corvette.
A lot of fun.
Oh, yeah.
Where'd you meet them?
Through my uncle, my examish uncle Simon.
I met him through them.
Yeah.
And dude, I actually was at their wedding.
The like the one with the black hair.
I was at their like her and her husband's wedding.
It was pretty cool.
Yeah.
And yeah, so I got to drive a Corvette.
That thing was really fast too.
Like you stamp on the pedal a little bit.
It was like a horse with like some special oats or something.
Put some Celsius in their water.
Oh, yeah.
That thing has been eating diesel-dipped carrots right there.
How many horses got it?
Oh, that's it.
Yeah, they were like, they were like, well, I think it was overcrowded because there's only like two seats and then, and then she's like sitting in the middle and stuff.
Hey, that's fine though, dude.
You got to have at least one chick hanging out of a Corvette, dude.
Yeah.
That's Rum Springer.
Yeah, that is Rum Springer.
And then they wanted to get a couple videos because they thought this was pretty cool.
Oh, it's amazing, bro.
It's great to see you out there just trying some different things.
Yeah.
What other things did you try that you found that you liked and didn't like out there?
What was it?
Oh, yeah.
I also got the other weekend.
I got to went to like, it was Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
There was like an air show where they had like the Blue Angel airplanes at all kinds of airplanes.
Nice.
And then they also like you get to pay a little bit.
Well, it was actually quite a bit.
It was like $200 for like one helicopter ride.
And I was like, you know, this might be like a week or two of wages of me working, but like I want to go on a helicopter ride.
So I was kind of scared to like hold my phone out because like the helicopters open and stuff.
Like what happens if you drop it and stuff?
But it was really smooth too.
And when we took off and like we took off and stuff, it was like, it was really crazy.
It felt like we were like, I felt like I was on a like on a piece of plywood and I just started going up.
It was like, it was crazy.
And it felt really crazy.
That's actually Atley right there.
Oh, nice.
Yeah, he's still, he's still Amish at home.
He busts his like, bust his head, like cut his hair and stuff.
So.
Wow, that's exceptional, bro.
You got out there.
You just felt like a bird, huh?
I did feel like a bird.
And this guy, I think he, I think he gave a little bit of a longer ride because we're Amish and stuff.
And he, we like, went sideways on the, we went sideways on the, like on the above the lake and stuff.
Cause like if you hit water really far off, it's like, it's pretty much like concrete, I think.
Yeah.
So we went sideways and almost felt like I was falling off, but I had my trusty seatbelt on and stuff.
So we were pretty good.
So that was, that was a crazy ride.
But it was actually kind of smooth.
You know, I was actually more scared when I was like a couple weeks later.
It's like probably like a month later.
It was right after I went to your concert.
Your concert was like really crazy.
Oh, to get fun.
Could you understand a lot of the material?
I did.
Yeah.
Like some of it I didn't understand.
Like the ball guy was there.
The guy that his parents are like from the Middle East was there.
They were pretty cool.
And then you came out and then I thought it was really funny.
This was actually, you know, before the show, I was chamming out.
I was with my cousin Frank.
And he was like, we were, I was just chamming out to the music.
Yeah, because people don't understand.
This is where we met.
We met after a show.
Yeah.
And I was like, dude, we've been trying to have an Amish person on.
And then here, God just put us right together, bro.
Yeah, God is great.
He works in mysterious ways, it seems like.
He's the magician, man.
Yeah.
And I thought, you know, Theo Mine would probably, I wanted to give you like wear an Amish hat.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Did you give me that hat or not?
No, it was my hat.
It didn't really fit.
Actually, I have a little bit of surprise for you.
Hey, Frank, you want to bring that over?
Dude, I got, so what I did over last week, me and your me and some of your strong connections were talking.
And they didn't quite know what size your hat was.
So it's a bit of an odd thing to know and stuff.
Yeah, and it's just an odd thing to ask a man.
Yeah, it is.
But I wanted, we got an estimate size and I wanted to give you this hat.
So now you can be like, you can be like part of the Amish Mafia.
Oh, that's cool, dude.
Yeah.
Thank you so much.
And a hat size, that's just like the waist for your head, you know?
Yeah, it is.
You don't want to admit you're a little fat above the ears, you know?
Yeah, right.
This has a band in it.
Was this the front of the back?
That's the front, yeah.
All right.
So that way you always wear the hat right.
Does it fit?
Oh, it's a bit loose.
Is it a bit loose?
Perfect.
Dude, perfect.
I'm glad I got you the right size.
Donkey.
Dude, which welcome.
That means you're welcome.
Does donkey mean thank you?
No, dengue.
Dengue.
Yeah, it's the same thing in German.
Like, thank you in German and Pennsylvania Dutch is the same thing.
Dengue.
Yeah.
Heck yeah, dude.
Yeah, now you're now you're part of Amish.
You just need the rest of the clothes.
I feel great, man.
Do you think I would make a good Amish person or not?
And be honest with you.
Ah, well, do you do you like break a lot of rules and stuff?
I don't know, really.
I don't think so.
Yeah.
Like the, like, if you don't really break any of the rules, you make a pretty good Amish.
I could get my mom to get you some Amish clothes for you.
Maybe for Christmas, I'll exchange something with you and I could send you something that would be that your community would accept as well.
Yeah.
Are you allowed to accept gifts from people that are not Amish?
Yeah.
I accept gifts from people that are not Amish.
Do your parents allow you to?
Is that okay?
Yep.
They, because they sometimes like, we all, we had sometimes a guy from around Christmas time, sometimes a guy like brings some stuff.
And then we like, he's done it for a couple years and he like gifts all the younger kids some presents and stuff.
Oh, that's nice.
Yeah, it's very nice.
Oh, I know you had mentioned before that your parents said there's some stuff not to do during rum string.
Like, what was some of that?
They didn't, they didn't really say too much, but they tell me like when I do something that they think didn't think was, how do I say this, like probably not the best thing to do?
Like appropriate?
Yeah, like not probably like, because sometimes I do wild stuff, you know, like going to Walmart or riding a scooter.
Yeah.
Because that came around and but I mean, did they have advice against like sex, drugs, things like that?
Uh, no, not like any any like any sex stuff that that doesn't get talked about.
You just kind of, you kind of have to do like door to explore.
You just kind of have to, you know, go out on the jungle and see what bites.
Damn.
So yeah.
We went to Walmart.
Oh, something will bite at Walmart, dude.
Yeah.
I was looking at the TVs.
They're like $1,000.
Like crazy.
That's like a third of a bucky.
And a TV doesn't even go anywhere.
It just like sits somewhere.
I'd rather just play charades with my buddy like you guys probably do a lot.
Y'all play charades a lot?
I'm not even quite sure what that is.
Oh, it's where someone, like, you write down some movies or TV.
Oh, shoot.
You don't know a lot of movies and TV shows.
Charades, it's like somebody acts something out and you have to guess what they're acting out.
Like they impersonate something.
Oh, you like pretend.
So like, let's say I was pretending to be the bishop.
I'd be like, like, like, my, like, go down here and then big angry look.
Maybe scratching your beard, maybe going like this or something.
Something like this.
Yeah.
Like, something like that.
No, I've never, I've never played that, but I, I kind of know what you mean.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, but you guys don't talk about sex within the Amish community much, like at school and stuff.
There's not a class that teaches you about it.
Not in school, no.
So, like, will a dad kind of take his son and have like a birds in the bees talk?
Like in hohila.
It's kind of the birds and the bees.
Like the dad will take you and talk to you about how things work, you know?
Yeah, no, no.
Like all of that stuff, you, you actually have to like figure out and stuff.
Okay.
But like since you got phones and stuff, you can kind of, you know, you can kind of, you can figure it out.
Like.
But there's some stuff you, I mean, you, but you, you're not allowed to look at pornography on your phone and stuff.
No, you're not supposed to, no.
Yeah.
No, I stay away from that stuff.
Yeah, it's bad.
It is very bad.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, since you got into Rumstream, can you get a girlfriend and stuff like that?
Or like, what are you allowed to do?
Yeah, I can get a, like, a girlfriend, like all that stuff.
But does she need to be Amish?
Preferably, yeah.
But like, if I were to get a like a girlfriend that was not Amish, she would either have to become Amish or I would have to like leave like the Amish.
Do you think that there are a lot of women out there who are willing to become Amish?
Does that happen a lot?
I know of one case where that is happening.
And I don't know how often it happens, but it's rare where it actually goes through.
I know a lot of people want to become Amish, but they're not ready to make the final, like the final step towards it.
So, but yeah.
What's the thing that keeps them away from that?
Makes people afraid to take that final step, do you think?
I think it's like, I think it's a loss of like your phone, the lights on the ceiling, the fans on the ceiling, like the vents and holes in the ceiling, like all that stuff, I think.
And then like the couch, the TV, and then whatever else, you know, like whatever else Hohile use.
If you have an Amish wife, does a wife have to provide like food and sexuals and stuff for the husband?
Or is it just, is it always negotiable?
Or does the wife have like a responsibility for kind of food and sexuals and stuff?
Yeah.
So the way like it's everyone kind of accepts like their like it's just how do I say this?
It's like normal and you like it's where it's kind of like it's where it's everyone has a mutual understanding of like what they have to do.
Right.
Because like the woman, you know, cooks, cleans, you know, takes care of things around the house.
And then like if she needs help, she'll ask like the husband for like help.
And then usually the husband's, you know, gone most of the day working, like either building houses, plowing the fields, or cutting like lumber or making cabinets or even polishing cabinets, stuff like that.
Like they help each other when they're when they're like at like at home, like if it needs, but yeah, like the like the wife does cooking, cleaning, taking care of the kids.
Got it.
And then stuff in the garden too.
Right here it says Amish women mainly focus on housekeeping, child rearing, gardening, and food preparation.
Many manage home finances, have their names on property deeds, and control the family checkbook.
Women nurture the spiritual life of the children and are active in maintaining Amish cultural practices.
Yeah.
So women have a pretty strong voice in the Amish community.
Yeah.
Well, I'd say so, yeah.
Yeah.
Are Amish women good cooks?
Like, do they make some cool stuff?
Or what are some good Amish meals?
Oh, yeah, like the Amish.
Damish make, I'd say make some of the best food, like especially grandma.
She had a lot of experience in the, like in the field stuff.
Or it's how you mean like, she has a lot of experience in like the field of cooking and stuff.
Like her breadsticks, they're like out of this world.
Are they?
They're really good.
And then my mom's.
What do you put on them?
Ah, I'm not even quite sure.
Can you put butter on them or not?
Yeah, butter.
Yeah, it looks exactly like that.
And can you put a little bit of salt on them?
Do you have salt?
Ah, no, we don't put salt on them.
They're like, they're garlic breadsticks.
Oh, they already have garlic on them.
Yeah, and they're, and they're just, they're really good.
And my favorite meal, like, let's say we're doing a lot of stuff, like building something or like a frolic where like the whole community comes together and a frolic, it's called?
Yeah, that's like when the whole community comes together and builds something like a barn.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, and then like they'll make, they'll make some, either some chicken or some burgers with mashed potatoes, corn, and like, I think you would call like, like, it's like, like, mac and cheese.
Oh, yeah.
And then you put some, so what we do with our foods, like hot, we put some applesauce on it, mix it up.
Really?
Yeah.
And then it's nice and cool.
And then pork and beans.
So if the food's hot, you'll put applesauce on it.
Yeah, to like cool it down and stuff.
So, like, that's like one of my favorite meals.
And then, even better, like, if you have steak and stuff, like, if you have steak, that's really good.
Yeah.
And do you have dessert too?
Oh, we have pretty good dessert too, like, like, pies.
Uh, oh, I bet Amish pie is good.
Yeah, they have sugar or don't you?
Yeah, they put sugar in them.
I'm not sure what they all put in because I know how to make scrambled eggs, and that's about it.
Same, yeah.
And like, yeah, they put what is it?
Like, uh, what's a popular pie that you have or a popular dessert?
A popular pie is uh true fly pie is one of them, and then peanut butter pie.
Shoo fly pie.
What is it?
Yeah, that I've not had it.
I've not really we don't have it very often, but another pie that's really good is mince pie, like uh pumpkin pie.
That's really good.
Like apple pie, that's really good.
God, that's a good one.
Like, I want that.
Like, that stuff is pretty good.
Yeah, that's my cousin right there.
Oh, really?
I've seen this woman before.
She's Amish.
Yeah, no, she's ex-Amish.
Oh, she's ex-Amish.
She used to be Amish, yeah.
So she's my, she's my cousin, actually.
Oh, wow.
Yeah.
So I got, I guess, famous cousins too.
Um, what are the fears of having a girlfriend that's not Amish?
Just that they won't understand the religion and the culture?
Like, like, the biggest fear would be that, like, the church or like the parents would find out.
That's definitely the biggest fear.
But is it okay if she decides to join the church?
It's okay.
Yeah, it is okay.
But, like, for that to have, that rarely ever happens.
It's like, it's almost as rare as the bishop leaving the community.
Got it.
Would she be welcome if that happened?
Yeah, if she was, if she was fully Amish, yeah, she would be welcome.
Now, she might get a little bit of looks in the beginning, but yeah, as long as she's fully Amish, that would be good.
Dude, she deserves the looks, probably.
Yeah.
You know what I'm saying?
You can handle a little bit of looks out of the game.
Yeah.
Can Amish people tickle each other or not?
Is that allowed or not?
Yeah, like when we were little kids, we used to tickle each other.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But like, I don't really tickle anyone.
Yeah.
I don't think people should keep doing it, but I'm just making sure it's allowed when you're a kid.
Yeah.
And do they play hide and go seek?
Like, what kind of stuff do people do to pass the time?
Like either ride horses, the ponies, like pony cards, and then also hide and seek.
That's pretty fun.
And then, oh, yeah, we play board games or just play with cars, play with blocks.
I used to play like underneath the porch or in the garden.
I used to, we used to have a lot of like cars and stuff.
And I used to like pretend there was like a whole world there in the garden.
So mom didn't really like when I played in the garden when it was like all the corn was up, the potatoes.
Like I actually like playing when it was corn, corn was up and then the potatoes because it was like it was way more possibilities for imagination.
You could have a place here, a place there.
Yeah, just more creativity going on.
Yeah.
And but if the if it was the garden didn't work out or either that or just play under the porch.
Like the porch was like oh, yeah.
Like three feet high.
So the older I got, the more the more I hit my head on up on the up on the porch.
That's when it's time to get out.
Yeah.
That's when I decided, you know, if I do play in, like when I do play with cars and stuff and out in the dirt, like the garden's the place to be.
Yeah, for sure.
Yeah.
And do people start dating within the Amish culture at a certain age?
Or is it kind of taboo?
Or how does it work?
Like, is there a dance like at school where you can invite a girl to a dance?
Like, how does dating and that sort of like adolescent attraction kind of stuff like that?
Where you trying to get, you know, you trying to, you know, meet a girl or if you have a first kiss.
What's that?
How's that whole universe in the Amish culture?
So like our school only goes until eighth grade.
So we're out of school in like 13 or 14.
You're done with school completely?
Yeah, completely done.
And then you go to work.
Dang.
Yeah.
So we didn't, I don't even know what high school is or public school or like I've never been there.
Never ever.
I want to go one day.
High school is just doing drugs and trying not to die of driving while intoxicated.
Yeah.
Like if that happened never happens for us, like our horse will just take us home.
Right.
Yeah.
That's a Tesla.
You basically have an original, you kind of have like one of the self-driving cars.
Yeah, because if you fall asleep on your horse, you know, it might not be the safest way, you know, because you might, you know, go a little bit over on the road.
But as long as the people with like steering wheels and stuff, they'll be if as long as they're like okay and stuff, the horse will like go home.
And like, so the way it works for like dating, if you're like, what is it?
So like 16 and a half, like some, it depends on the parents.
Like my mom and dad, like they weren't really allowed to like become like date, like official girl boyfriend and girlfriend until like until they were 18.
Yeah.
But like in our community, like right now, like it basically happens whenever now.
Oh, heck.
As soon as you join the Room Springer, you can.
And usually the way you meet and hang out is through singing after church or at like weekend parties.
That's usually how it is.
So weekend parties, do those happen in your district or those happen off of property?
It varies where the Amish party is.
Sometimes it happens when the, like, sometimes when the parents aren't home, we go to, like, their place and party there.
So at Amish parties, will people just like, are people drinking and stuff like that?
It's a little bit more like freewheeling.
Yeah, like drinking and then like even like the vapes things popped up too.
Do Amish like to vape or not?
Some do, yeah.
Yeah, I knew.
Yeah.
Some do.
I knew it.
But also like cigarettes and then sometimes we go like a pipe too.
A lot of Amish look like they would smoke a pipe.
Older, the older ones too, but like the ones that are the younger ones usually don't.
They usually stick to cigarettes and stuff like that.
But sometimes like we'll we'll go to like an ex-Amish person's house and party up there.
And it's it's a lot of fun.
It is.
And when do you, if you, if you're doing Rum Springer, when do you have to be back at home?
Like do you leave on Friday?
Do you have to be back on Sunday night?
Or what is the rules kind of?
No, it depends.
It varies from family to family.
Let's say you have church tomorrow, you probably want to be home before the morning so you get a little bit of sleep.
Or if there's not church, you can come home or you can't.
It just like depends.
But usually when I do it, I usually don't come home until like later Sunday.
Okay.
Yeah.
And do they drug test you or whatever if you're Amish?
Do you have to get drug tests?
No, no, we don't have to do any like drug tests.
Really?
Yeah, like no tests and stuff.
Damn.
Because y'all got y'all's own year-long Halloween going on out there in the fields.
I'm like.
Yeah, like sometimes, like sometimes in the woods, the fields, like just depends where the spot is.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But now like all the Amish that like party and stuff, like our number one way of like talking to each other is through like Snapchat.
They've really taken over Snapchat?
Yeah, like if you, yeah, if an Amish, like a young Amish person that is roughly my age, if they have a phone, like a smartphone, they have Snapchat.
Yeah.
So.
When was the first time you saw a phone or a screen?
Do you remember?
I think it was one time.
It was not the first time, but I remember this one time when one of my ex-Amish uncles was at our place with his girlfriend and she let me look on her phone and I was like sitting right beside her and she grabbed out her phone.
She started texting someone and she was flying through the keyboard and stuff.
You were like swiping little lines and all of a sudden words popped up.
It was like bop bop bop bop the words like almost as fast as you can like talk and stuff.
I was like really surprised.
So that's like that's like the like I'd say like the first some of the first memories I've seen a phone.
What things are forbidden in you guys' culture kind of?
a lot of things are like electricity um like having a smartphone we're allowed to have like phones for like our businesses like phone shacks and stuff and then tvs what else like pretty much anything that like doesn't have like that that requires like electricity and stuff and also like certain certain color of like shirts dresses if it's too bright it can also be like like like you can the
bishop or deacon will talk to you about it oh yeah about like it being the wrong color too flashy too flashy yeah and also if your haircut's like way short so my my haircut's like like okay because my mom gives me a haircut every time oh yeah yeah so i've never actually had a different kind of haircut oh yeah beautiful yeah so i almost have a mullet you you're gonna probably have an amish haircut too oh yeah i think i have a little bit yeah amish haircut too oh yeah amish haircut too oh yeah amish haircut too oh yeah amish haircut too oh yeah amish haircut too oh yeah You just let that just like the hair in front of the ear girl.
No.
I could have been an Amish.
Block a little bit off the sound to the ears.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I would have enjoyed being Amish, I think, man.
Yeah.
How are regular people and Amish people different from each other?
Have you gathered?
How do they seem different from each other?
So like the main thing I've noticed is like a lot of Amish are when they're in public, it seems like they're like a bit more respectful, I guess.
Another thing that's big, I guess, like, so if we, like, if we did something that was big and wrong, like some long time, my little brother, he stumped lots of corn down in our cornfield and he got a spanking from that.
Like, that's, I guess that's the difference because I see a lot of kids don't, like, I guess they don't get spankings anymore.
Yeah, they don't do it anymore.
Yeah.
They should.
I mean, I don't think kids should get abused, but sometimes spanking is okay, I think.
Yeah, because this is like getting beat up and because like because we never got like beat up or anything, but like if we did something bad, we got like three cracks with like a like a bell or something.
But we never got abused and stuff.
So like just, I guess, discipline.
So discipline is something that seems stronger in the Amish community.
Yeah.
What are some crimes that they have?
Are there any crimes that are popular in Amish land?
I'm not quite sure.
Maybe, maybe like taxes sometimes, because I know some people don't like file taxes and stuff.
Like, cause the only tax that we get, like, that are we free from that damish don't get taxed is like social security tax.
So when we get old, the government doesn't like pay us and stuff.
Oh, they don't, so you don't have to pay into that.
No.
Wow, I wonder why not.
When you join the church, you, you get, like, the bishop and the government, I guess, work together to where you're like exempt from the social security tax.
But that's like the only tax that I know of that you're like exempt from.
Other than that, like if, but if you don't file taxes, because I know some don't, but other than that, we have to pay all the other taxes.
The Amish are exempt from Social Security and Medicare taxes, FICA, if they formally reject benefits and file for exemption due to their belief in mutual community support.
Wow.
So you guys feel like you don't need that.
You support each other, huh?
Yes.
A lot of Amish don't have insurance for stuff too.
And so when.
Hell no, I don't think you could insure them, you know?
But for business, I don't, I think for businesses, they somehow do it, I think.
But for like, let's say you like, let's say you fall off a roof or something, you hurt yourself.
And then let's say you go to a hospital, because I know the hospital, like they, they charge quite a bit.
Oh, yeah.
I don't know where they come up with the crazy numbers, but they'll take you through the rum springer.
They will.
They'll drag.
They're like dragging you.
They'll drag you, dude.
Yeah, it's like dragging behind the buggy.
Or like horse runs away and you're trying to hang on.
You're like scraping across the gravel and stuff.
But yeah, but like all the community helps pay for that.
Like if that would help.
I got it.
So there's a lot of community support at any point in somebody's life.
So you guys might have a day where you're like, Mr. So-and-so needs help or Miss So-and-so needs help.
Let's go help them.
Yep.
That's how it works.
That's a big part of your life.
Yeah.
Like, for example, what are things you would go help a neighbor do?
Like, really with anything, like putting away hay, we've done that lots of times or like building a barn.
Like we've done that too.
Or like even a house too.
Like if they need help like a day or so, we'll come together and help each other.
And I know back in the day, we used to help each other like someone does hay and then everyone helps this person do hay, then that person also, like, it's just a group effort.
This person, this person, this person, like all around the community.
But that doesn't really happen anymore.
Like, you know, like most, most, what is it?
Oh, yeah, most Amish, they don't, they still farm a little bit, but most of them do like construction or like building cabinets.
Oh, it's changed.
Yeah.
So the Amish are farming less than they used to?
Yeah, because it's not as sustainable anymore.
When my dad was growing up, all they do is farm and milk cows.
Like they milk a lot of cows.
So what are some popular products?
Like you said, like cabinets and stuff.
You see a lot of those.
You see cabinets.
You see furnaces sometimes.
Yeah.
I don't know if that's a real thing or that's just something that is made up and they claim that Amish do it.
Like you mean like wild furnaces?
Now, I'm not sure quite where those come from.
But like the furnaces, because there's wilding to it.
Now they might get it from like a from like a person that's not Amish to get them from there.
The biggest shift in Amish economic life in the last century has been from agriculture to non-farm businesses.
In the early 1900s, nearly all Amish families depended on farming for their livelihood.
Today, only about 10% do, with the majority now involved in various trades, crafts, retail.
And then forward, yeah, what are some of those?
Construction and woodworking, carpentry, cabinet making, and now famous Amish furniture shops.
That is a big thing now, huh?
Yeah.
Quilt making, sewing-related trades.
Yeah, like selling Amish food too, and quilts and a lot of stuff like that.
It's a big part of the culture up there.
Yeah, it is.
And how will you guys have like places on your property where people come and buy them, or do you take them off property and people buy them there?
Usually, like, if you have a greenhouse or like a like a place where like the like where you can buy like food and stuff, that's usually like a little building on the property.
So like a market, yep, like kind of like a market, or like there's a farmer's market where uh where Amish go to like a town for a day and they they bring all the baked goods and you know stuff like that.
And there's also a lot of Amish places, like a lot of places where Amish are where it's like tours, they offer tours and then they bring them around.
And then it's kind of like the Amish Mall, but it's like the stores are like really far apart from each other, like a couple miles.
But yeah, they bring them around and they get to see an Amish, you know, Amish farm.
I think they're called like Amish tourists and like tourists, stuff like that.
Okay.
And then you can like stop at the Amish place and like buy something from like the store and stuff.
Got it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We've been up there before and stopped at some places that I think were having cheese and ice cream maybe even.
Yeah.
I'm not sure.
But like usually we only like make ice cream through the winter because you just scrap the snow out of the ground and put it in a bucket and could you make ice cream if you needed to?
Yeah.
Like if it was if we had ice or something cold that you put around the around the thing where you make ice cream because you got a cranked ice cream.
You crank and then the thing in the middle spins around the ice.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
So like Amish ice cream is pretty good.
What music do you guys listen to?
I know you said in the beginning there's some different sentences people sneak in some Def Leopard, but it's not you guys just sing a lot.
Is there a lot of Amish songs and dancing as well or no?
No.
In our community, there's not really any dancing.
There's the like the only like the only music or songs that are really louder would be like German hymns.
But then like on the uh then sometimes we like sneak out on the weekends and stuff and and uh listen to some soldier boy or something?
Yeah, like like uh like what is it like Def Leopard or Bon Chovi, you know, a lot of Amish like rock and roll and then I guess Howell's EDM music and then also like a lot of country like Garth Brooks, Mark and Wallen.
Yeah, people like that.
But I also listen to like a little bit of rap stuff.
Like Amish Paradise is that's a pretty good song.
Amish Paradise?
Yeah.
Who sang that?
Weird El Yankovic I did.
Oh, the idea.
That makes perfect sense.
That's great.
Yeah.
Amish Paradise.
That's a pretty, I love that song.
That's a banger, huh?
It is a banger.
Yeah.
He looks a little bit mad there, but it was a pretty good song.
He's probably pissed.
His horse ran off or whatever.
Yeah.
Something like that.
Because like his horse is pretty good at backing all the way at the end.
Yeah.
And then also like, I like to listen a little bit of like rap stuff too.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, like Ghana, a little bit of Ghana.
Oh, you listen to some Ghana?
Yeah.
Like, I don't really listen to what he says.
I looked at the lyrics a couple times and like they're there's the lyrics aren't aren't the best, but like I like the way it sounds like like the like the like the sounds like like wind chimes and then it just it sounds very melodic.
He's a vibe, yeah.
He's got it.
Yeah.
Um what else was I thinking about?
Where else can we go from here?
We're almost done.
Let me think about what else we can talk about.
You know what I'm gonna do, Timmy?
I'm gonna take that down and keep this up here.
That's pretty cool.
I'm just gonna make sure that you're always here in spirit, dude.
I appreciate that.
You bet, man.
What I want to ask you something.
With the risk of people leaving the community and stuff, are families still very close or do they only get closer after people join the church?
Does that make any sense to you?
I think it does.
So most of the time, the family's very close, unless when the kids and the parents, they don't agree on stuff and then they leave.
That's like the time when they're not as close anymore.
It depends on the person, I guess, and the parents too.
Is it pretty heartbreaking when that happens in the community?
Yeah, it's like when I was younger, I was like, when someone left, it's almost like almost like someone died.
Not quite, but it almost felt like that.
But since I got older, I understand it a bit more, and it's not as bad as it used to be.
Yeah.
Wow, that's you right there?
Yeah, I was like really skinny when I was when I was younger.
I'm still kind of skinny, you know.
You look like that guy in Kingpin a little.
You seen Kingpin?
No idea what that is.
It's like an Amish movie.
It's like a historical Amish film or whatever.
Oh, I almost look like that dude.
Yeah.
When he's younger.
Yeah.
Not now.
Oh.
When he's younger, but he's a classy guy.
He's a great guy.
Yeah, he looks like a great guy, too.
Oh, yeah, Randy Quaid.
He's got like a big beard now.
Yeah, yeah.
He's doing okay.
Yeah.
I'm a fan of his.
What have you decided about Rum Springer and what you're going to do with your family and the church and stuff?
Have you made any decisions yet?
Like not yet.
Like the final decision will probably be in like probably within like two years or so.
Okay.
And then it depends if I leave or join the church.
Well, right now you actually can't really join the church because there's no bishop.
You can join other churches that are like a little bit of ways in a different district.
But like, yeah, it'd probably be like two years until I make my final decision because it's kind of a big decision.
Yeah.
Yeah.
What would be the thing you think that would draw you out of the faith that would draw you out of the church and out of the district?
I would think like if I wanted to do something like something that would like something like something I'm doing right now, like this podcast, like something worldly and like they'd probably come down on me for like doing something like that, I guess would drive me away a little bit.
Cause I don't know, it feels a little bit like a little bit restrictive, but like I guess that's the only thing I would think.
But you don't feel like doing this podcast will mess up your opportunity to go back or leave, huh?
No, I don't think it.
I don't think it will.
Okay, good.
I don't want that to happen, man.
I want you to be able to make the best choice for yourself, no matter what.
It sounds like a really beautiful community, is it?
Yeah, it's very beautiful, I'd say.
It sounds like you have a lot of community, a lot of sense of togetherness, you know?
Yeah.
A lot of like, you feel, do you feel a strong sense of purpose being Amish?
Yeah, like you like the kind of uphold the honor, you know, work hard.
You know, the harder you work, the better, because you get, you stay in shape and then the more you can help out is always better.
Because I love helping out people and making people stay.
That's like one of my favorite things to do.
I like doing that.
So it's a lot of fun.
Yeah, I think it's important, you know?
I think that's one way we really fill ourselves up is like doing something for somebody else.
you know it feels good yeah it's like and you seem like you get to do a lot of that in your community So there's probably a strong sense of feeling of like doing good.
Yeah, there is.
If you guys are helping each other out a lot.
Yeah.
Are siblings really close in your community or is that kind of not?
You mean the siblings?
Yeah.
Yeah, usually like the siblings are usually close, you know, not like weird close, you know, just like, just like brother and brother.
Yeah, legally closer.
Yeah.
Yeah, like legally close.
So usually the brothers and the sisters, they're usually keep like the sisters are closer to themselves and the brothers are like closer to themselves.
For sure.
Yeah.
For sure.
Here's my little brother.
Oh, that's him right there, eh?
Yeah.
He doesn't really like, he probably wouldn't care if I put his face up on like social media and stuff.
But yeah, I blurted out.
I put like a thing over his eyes.
Out of respect.
Yeah.
That's fun, though, you guys.
So a lot of times when you're Amish, you're just driving around, hanging out, telling stories and stuff.
Yeah.
Making each other laugh a lot.
Are you allowed to laugh?
Yeah, you're allowed to laugh.
We drink coffee and laugh.
And at work, we're laughing a lot of time.
We talk.
I don't know if non-Amish people, I don't know what they do.
Like when they work, do they talk to each other and laugh and stuff?
Yeah, they do, I think, a decent amount at a lot of jobs.
Probably jobs that are more like if you're doing construction, things like that, contracting, things where you're building stuff, working together, where there's team opportunity.
There's a lot of laughter, dude.
Yeah.
And if you're just sitting at a desk by yourself, you're probably just losing your mind.
Yeah, that would be kind of sad, like being inside all day and under the lights and stuff.
Oh, yeah.
I think there's something that's kind of like, it doesn't feel very human about it.
No.
Are there a lot of people on antidepressants and stuff that are Amish or no?
Not that I know of.
There might be like maybe here, here, and maybe way over there, but not that I know of.
No.
Do people seem depressed a lot or not really?
Most of them don't.
Most of them don't.
But then you have, then you also have sometimes like people that are like, what do you call those people that are like super depressed?
Like sometimes they're like super depressed.
Oh, they're almost like, they're almost like the water when it gets rough.
They're like up and down a lot.
Oh, bipolar kind of?
Yeah, bipolar.
Like we sometimes, like, I know of a person that has that and like it's kind of crazy.
Some studies have found Amish depression rates to be one-fifth to one-tenth of mainstream society with strong family ties and community support side as protective factors.
That's unbelievable.
Yeah.
One-fifth to one-tenth is insane, brother.
That's like, I mean, that's a huge difference.
Yeah.
Strong family ties, robust social networks, work ethic, and especially religious faith are seen as major mental health protective factors.
Will you guys pray together a lot just with friends?
Like if you see them somewhere, is that a common practice?
No, like we only do it like at the table.
Got it.
But I know some families do like pray more than we do.
We should probably do it more.
I think that's how we all feel.
Do you have Valentine's Day?
Oh, yeah.
We have Valentine's Day at school.
So what happens in Valentine's Day is at school.
So when that happens, we basically put things on a paper and we put it into a hat and then we mix it all up.
And someone walks around with like, and then you reach in and you pick out a name.
And if you got that name, then that's your valentine, like your Valentine, you got to like switch lunch pails and then you also have like send a Valentine in with them.
And can it be a boy or a girl?
Yeah, it can be like either way.
Got it.
Yeah.
So it's like nothing.
It's probably way different from like from non-Amish in public schools.
Because I'm guessing non-Amish in public schools, it would have to be like a boy and a girl, right?
Yeah.
But in y'all's culture, it's just whatever.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's crazy.
And the way we do it is like just the main, the reason we do it is mainly your friends.
You give your friends a Valentine and then you also switch like lunch pails and then the moms will usually put something special in there like NX or candy bar or my mom used to buy like those things from Walmart, those like big red hearts and then send that with to oh yeah, that's nice.
Moms do that.
Yeah.
That's a nice thing.
Yeah.
What other holidays?
Do you have Halloween?
No, we don't have Halloween, but I've had the, before I went to Room Spring, the neighbors, our non-Amish neighbors, they picked me up and then they put me like in a prison costume thing, like I'll add black and white stripes all over me and like we went out and gathering candy.
Like you just walk up to these people's houses and they have candy for you.
I know.
Yeah, it's crazy.
Halloween's like really crazy, but a lot of them, a lot of Amish don't celebrate because like apparently that's like the occasion of like Halloween is like something to do with like the devil.
I'm not quite sure.
Yeah, I know what you're talking about.
It's a pagan holiday.
Yeah.
Because some people like real scary stuff in the yard.
They got like snakes and then these dead people with like skulls and stuff.
Yeah, stuff hanging from trees.
Yeah.
Deceased adults and children.
Yeah.
They're like bone stuff.
I don't know where they get the bones.
So like dig them up or something.
It's probably something.
They probably have an insider trading with some dog or something.
Yeah.
What is something that you want people to know about Amish people that are a view of them or you think that's something that's incorrect before we get out of it?
Like a misconception.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So like the one of the biggest misconceptions I see all the time with like me being online and stuff, it's like crazy.
Like all the stuff.
Like people, people say I'm not Amish.
I don't do, I don't do this way.
there's actually two misconceptions i can say like number one is like a lot of amish kids my age have like phones like they hide it from their parents and stuff and where it's like they have like they have like like they have some electronics and stuff where they but they have to like keep it on the low and stuff and what will they do bury it in a field somewhere where they hide it behind a hog or something like yeah like hide it in the barn like the back of the bucky sometimes in a and hope it doesn't rain yeah so that's one thing like a lot of amish have
phones and every pretty much every amish that has a phone that's like my age that's not for business and stuff is like they have snapchat we'd like that's how we yeah like communicate that's like our new new like messenger pitch and it's your underground railroad kind of yeah it's underground railroad i was thinking about you know starting underground bucky races but i first got to dig the tunnel and stuff yeah But like another misconception, you know, about the Amish is like, what was it?
Oh, yeah, about me not being Amish because I have a phone.
Because like another thing that's like huge, like really big, because like there's Amish in movies and they're always always turned on the butter.
Yeah.
And basically living without electricity.
Now, there's so many, there's so many different like Amish.
Because like what you hear from me, like from where I came from, is will not be the same from an Amish in Indiana, Ohio, or like Pennsylvania.
It's, it's, there's so many different ones, like little different ones.
There are branches of it.
Yeah, lots of different branches.
And I, I would, I would say like there's not a single community that's like exactly the same.
There's always a little bit of rules and there's so many different branches of it where they wear bit different clothes, bit different hats, do things a bit differently.
Because I've had people say like, this is not Amish, and then they like write a detailed description.
But I guess they probably don't know better that there's like lots of different ones because there's like lots.
There's speechy, Schwartz and Trooper, New Order, Old Order.
There's so many different brands.
Unconscious sounds like a bunch of people on the warp tour.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's like, so, so when the Anabaptists became a thing, they basically like, they were like a minority for a little bit.
Have you ever seen Back to the Future?
No.
Dang, boy.
What?
Is that what?
What's that?
I think you would like it.
And I think it's a, I think it's something that is Amish appropriate.
I don't think it's too crazy.
Okay.
I think you could handle it.
So have you ever seen Family Man with Nicholas Cage?
No.
Do you know who Nicholas Cage is?
I'm not even quite sure.
Wow.
Wow.
So these are like movies and stuff.
Yeah.
Oh, wow.
Family Man's one of my favorites, dude.
So what's that about?
It's about this guy, and he's very like rich and fancy and stuff.
Yeah.
And then one day he kind of something happens where he goes back into his life like 20 years earlier.
Yeah.
And he makes a different decision to stay with a girl that he was in love with instead of leaving.
He goes like back in time.
Yeah, he goes back in time.
Like he doesn't realize he falls asleep.
It's on Christmas.
He falls asleep on Christmas Eve and he wakes up and he's back in a different life he would have had if he had made a different choice to stay in love instead of to go for like the big job and the fancy apartment.
Oh, he went for the money over people.
He went for the money over people and he had a choice and he goes back in time and now suddenly he wakes up and he's in a house with this lady that he was in love with.
And, but now they have like two kids and they like, they don't live in like, he was living in like this fancy downtown place with like a butler and somebody that would like chew your gum for you and just tell you what it would taste like.
You don't even have to chew it.
Wow.
That rich.
That, that's like super rich.
It's too much.
Yeah.
I'll chew my own gum.
You know what I'm saying?
I want to chew my own gum, you know, drink my own water.
Yeah.
Stuff like that.
Yeah, for sure.
I want to at least do that.
Let me do at least the low, low hanging fruit.
Yeah.
But anyway, um, so then he gets that experience and then one day he wakes back up and he's back in his original life and he hates it.
And so he, he drives off from his original life to go find the girl and see what's going on.
And, um, and then you figure out what happens from there.
Wow.
That's, that's crazy.
It almost sounds like that almost when he went back in time and stuff or like twizzle, like what happened, what would have happened if he would have like stayed with that girl.
That's almost like, uh, that's almost like me, like deciding if I want to, you know, stay Amish or, you know, leave the Amish.
It's, um, yeah, it's like a rumspringer.
Yeah.
It's like really hard decision.
Yeah.
What factors do you think will go into you choosing?
What do you think are good factors to help you decide?
Or do you think about that?
Uh, I think it's, uh, what, what all, what I'll, what I will all see from like the outside world and like, I'll probably compare the two and see, you know, which one I like, you know, I, I, I like the Amish lifestyle of food and all that stuff is good.
But.
Like, the only things right now that I don't like too much are the rules a little bit.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, but that's what Room Shring is for you to break them.
Get out there and break them.
But do you have any plans to go to any special events coming up while you're on Rum Springer?
Any football games, anything like that?
The only special event I've coming up is actually this weekend.
I'm going to go on a plane for the first time.
Wow.
Yeah.
And jump out of it.
No, really?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm going to like, because like let's say something goes wrong when you're landing.
So I want to be off the plane, you know, when it's up in the air.
Yeah, for sure.
And go skydiving.
Dude, that's going to be sick.
You get, I'm like really excited.
So this week is, I think this is a week I'll never forget.
Wow.
Really, really crazy.
So yeah, no one, no one knows this.
I haven't told anyone.
And so.
I won't say anything.
Yeah.
It's crazy.
Let's go skydiving for the first time.
But I think, don't they like put like they like strap a person on the back of it?
Put a guy on you.
Yeah.
I just tell them you're not interested before you guys jump.
Yeah.
Just say, look.
I'm not interested.
Yeah.
I'm here for the jump.
I'm here for the jump only.
Yeah.
Just as you, I don't want him getting any ideas.
Yeah, no ideas at all.
Yeah.
Like when we land, it's over.
Yeah, right.
That's what that's what the plan is.
And because I was thinking, I was talking to my co-leigh.
I was thinking, you know, that would be a really crazy story.
You know, the first airplane ride you ever go into, you just decided, you know, I don't want to, I'm just going to chum out.
You know, I'm out of here.
I'm out of here.
Yeah.
So it'll be the first plane you've ever been in, and then you're out of it.
I'm out of it.
Yeah.
Wow.
And like, like, same way with a podcast.
I decided, you know, the first podcast I'll ever be on with be Theo Von's because you're a pretty cool dude.
Well, thank you, dude.
I think you are too, man.
I'm really intrigued by you guys's lifestyle.
I think I learned a decent amount about it today.
Yeah.
You know, there probably could have been some other avenues about it that I could have asked about.
Yeah.
But I appreciate you coming, bro.
I really do.
I appreciate you inviting me.
And I admire you guys having a unique culture.
I think there's a lot of people in the world where they're trying to get back to the roots of their culture and things that matter and mean something.
So I almost feel like you guys are already there in some ways.
Yeah, some ways, yeah.
And like it, it like some people it feels like it's like not grounded anymore to family and stuff.
You know, like they're just doing like really crazy stuff.
But like if you're like if you touch grass every day, you know, like you're outside every day and like I'm outside all the time.
That's why I'm like so dark, almost look Mexican, but I'm not.
But yeah, like and it's really crazy.
Well, I appreciate it a lot for you inviting me.
This is a really crazy experience coming out here to town and then me sleeping 10 stories up 10 stories.
That's like the first time I've ever seen it.
Oh, you're in a hotel that's really high?
Yeah.
You never done that?
No, I haven't.
So, and it's like my first time ever like staying in a big city like this.
So it's, it's, it's like, I'll never forget it.
That's awesome.
Yeah.
Well, good, man.
Uh, Timothy, I appreciate it, man.
Thank you so much, dude, for your time.
Thanks for coming out to my show.
And, and yeah, thanks for being here with us and helping us learn, brother.
I appreciate it, dude.
All right, man, I think I had that too, dude.
Dude, I that's the least I could do.
It was nice.
And when I get close, you know, come by for some coffee soup, all right?
Yes, sir.
With me.
Yes.
You got it.
All right.
Now I'm just floating on the breeze.
And I feel I'm falling like these leaves.
I must be cornerstone.
Oh, but when I reach that ground, I'll share this peace of mind I found.
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