Yesterday we went to the Mennonite Heritage Villiage Museum in Steinbach where we learned about Mennonite persecutions and migrations and saw how the pioneers had lived when they first moved to Canada. There's a wind-mill on the property that grinds freshly harvested grain into flour (That happened earlier this fall), fun old tractors and even a sod house. We decided it would not have been very nice to live in, despite the cool reprieve it gave us from the warm day. When a local man started talking about 'jantsied' (Low-German for the 'other side') Allen nodded his head knowledgeably since Mary Beth had just explained to him that 'ditsied' and 'jantsied' referred to Mennonites who had settled on different sides of the Red river (What a quick learner!- Mary Beth). After the museum tour we went to DQ for lunch where Mary Beth ordered a coke. "We don't say the 'C'-word around here! You're in the wrong town to buy a Coke," the man behind the counter told her. "Yeah," she said. "I should be ordering Papsi and Ravels." They shared a good laugh. The Low-German Mennonites who settled in the area speak English with a strong accent which they have passed on to their children. Pepsi or 'Papsi' is the most highly-desired pop, not Coke! and is often enjoyed with Revels, pronounced, 'Ravels' which is ice-cream on a stick and covered in chocolate.
