Folkways assignment - Personal Experiences

Essay by happy_bubblesUniversity, Bachelor'sA+, August 2005

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The summer of 2000, I work as a United States census employee. The job included going door to door, helping citizens fill out government census forms. The job was quite rewarding because I had the opportunity to meet different people from all walks of life and interviewed them about there private lives. I interviewed people from Bedford to Middlefield and all points in between.

One of the most memorable experiences I encountered was when I was working in the Middlefield area. The summer days were warm and I remember driving around with the top out of my car and the sun shining down on me. I have always been in favor of going without my shoes whenever possible, and working in the Amish community gave me the excuse to leave my shoes at home.

One morning as I came to still another Amish home, with the long form in hand, I knocked on the door.

Behind the heavy wooden door peeked the cutest little girl, with her little dress and bonnet to match. She was shy and closed the door just as quietly as she opened it. I knocked again and another little girl opened the door, a little older than the first, by shy just the same. And she too closed the door. I went back to the car and grabbed a couple of suckers and went to the door again. To my surprise, this time an older lady answered the door. I gave her my name and explained why I was there. She said I could come into the home and I followed her inside. There were several children and the two suckers I had grabbed would not be enough so I excused myself and went back to the car for the whole bag. With all the children...