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Old 01-10-2007, 09:07 AM
 
64 posts, read 276,103 times
Reputation: 26

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From what I'm reading, it sounds like folks in these areas are "good people" but not so outwardly friendly, that it takes a while for locals to trust an outsider. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Just curious, but since we've been living in Austria for 10 years (we're Americans, husband born in Germany) and we, with our 3 children, can all speak German (OK, with an Austrian twist), might that open doors just a tiny bit to making friends, or at least being an interest, or would that only be maybe with older folks or really the heart of Lancaster county? How much German influence is there around? We'd like the kids not to feel like they have to hide their history (yes, they even wear lederhosen and tracten on occasion!), and would find it sad if they "lost" their german. Might this area be an option for us at least in this respect? If so, where in particular?
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Old 01-10-2007, 10:01 AM
 
1,271 posts, read 2,592,830 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by meandb View Post
From what I'm reading, it sounds like folks in these areas are "good people" but not so outwardly friendly, that it takes a while for locals to trust an outsider. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Just curious, but since we've been living in Austria for 10 years (we're Americans, husband born in Germany) and we, with our 3 children, can all speak German (OK, with an Austrian twist), might that open doors just a tiny bit to making friends, or at least being an interest, or would that only be maybe with older folks or really the heart of Lancaster county? How much German influence is there around? We'd like the kids not to feel like they have to hide their history (yes, they even wear lederhosen and tracten on occasion!), and would find it sad if they "lost" their german. Might this area be an option for us at least in this respect? If so, where in particular?
If I had a choice, I'd stay in Austria. I lived in York a while ago and found myself driving to Baltimore or Philly to find culture. You may find a German restaurant in the greater area one comes to mind, but little in the way if nothing exists of German Heritage if that's even what the area was made of, it's long gone. Same goes for Lancaster, the Amish typically don't hang out with the "English" and though you may strike up a conversation with them, their form of German is different then what you can speak. Maybe with the Mennonites it may be different but the Amish in general are very private people.

Don't bother with downtown York or Lancaster, both cities are cesspools and dangerous, the crime rate exceeds some cities in the USA with larger populations. Some of the outlying areas are nicer but I found people there overall to be very unfriendly and somewhat xenophobic. Not saying everyone that lives there is such.
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Old 01-10-2007, 02:43 PM
 
20 posts, read 71,852 times
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Originally Posted by meandb View Post
How much German influence is there around? We'd like the kids not to feel like they have to hide their history (yes, they even wear lederhosen and tracten on occasion!), and would find it sad if they "lost" their german. Might this area be an option for us at least in this respect?
Remember, the Germans in Lancaster County are descended from those who were kicked out of Germany/Austria for their religious beliefs. So being from Germany may not win you any points. The German language has pretty much died out in the area except among the Amish who keep to themselves anyway.

As for German culture in general... depends what you mean by German. 1700s religious German, yeah, modern post-WWII German? Certainly not.
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Old 01-23-2007, 07:10 PM
 
Location: york county, pa
3 posts, read 24,850 times
Reputation: 14
I have lived in York County all my life and have met hundreds of wonderful people in this area. If you reach out to the people in the community I'm sure you could make many life long friends. My husband and I run a moving company and we meet people everyday, most of them warm and friendly. There are always exceptions of course. There are many things to do in Lancaster and York County and unless you are looking for trouble in the wrong sections of town, you have nothing to fear. Downtown York has become very active with many nightclubs, coffee bars, stores and more. There are several theater's in both York and Lancaster. I hope you give York and Lancaster County a try.
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