texans on the autobahn

Partying the Bavarian Way at the Nacht der Tracht…warning to my parents: proceed with caution!

This weekend we attended a party with our friends Tom and Vera at the Unterschleissheim Rathaus where we were required to dress in traditional Bavarian clothes. Robin wore his Bavarian jacket that I gave him for Christmas along with his Bavarian shirt and shoes. I had bought a skirt and dress early in the summer but I was afraid with the temps being well below zero that it would be too cold and the dress too summery, so I went to a local store and bought a skirt and shirt that I thought would be appropriate, but then again, I found out that what is appropriate in my mind and what I could have gotten away with were two completely different things. Depending on how you look at the situation, I was either underdressed or overdressed. . .

The evening started with dinner. Around 8 pm a traditional, or so it seemed at the time, Bavarian band marched into the hall playing all their brass instruments and completed their march by walking into the bar/disco just outside the hall. Shortly after that, the band came back from the bar and walked onto the stage. This was to be the musical entertainment for the evening. I couldn’t imagine listening to oompah music all night long, but we were pleasantly surprised as the evening went on and the music began to change.

Robin and I admired the dancers who took to the floor dancing to the traditional music with what looked like waltzes and polkas. I admired the beautiful dirndls (Bavarian dresses) and realized that not only was my outfit a bit plain, but I also wasn’t baring nearly enough cleavage! And you know, I have plenty of cleavage! How could I have possibly made the mistake of covering up too much? There were so many women in beautiful dresses, lots of cleavage, and they weren’t embarrassed one bit about it. I couldn’t do that in the US. Too many people gawk and stare when you reveal too much. Here, it is not a big deal. . .so as long as I’m here, perhaps next time, I’ll have a more appropriate dress. . .the story continues. . .

Another tradition at Bavarian parties is drinking Feiling. This is a sweet alcoholic drink that comes in small bottles and hold about as much as a shot glass. On the occasions where we have witnessed this event you have the small bottle, and you bang the bottle on the table for about 15 seconds. Once everyone is finished banging the bottle (and I don’t know the purpose of the banging, but maybe one of my friends here will tell me) you then remove the screw cap (some people then put the cap on their nose) then put the opening of the bottle between your teeth, tilt your head back and hands free drink the shot. . .it is a very sweet drink and is also 20% alcohol. By the end of the night, on many tables, there are many empty bottles; sometimes so many, they reach the length of 3 banquet tables.

The band continued, the dancing continued, and the drinking continued. During short breaks from the band, many people would go into the bar/disco where more music was playing. Here is where I learned more about the importance of cleavage. The girls said they were going into the bar and grabbed me and I went along. I told Vera, “please, don’t leave me!” While in the bar/disco, Sam’s soccer trainer approached me and the group I was with. He was in charge of photos for the event which would be placed on a website. He began to whisper in my ear something about taking photos and cleavage and the website. As it was hard to hear, and his English is accented, I put together that he was taking pictures of women’s cleavage and their faces in a separate photo which would then be used to play a game of match the face to the cleavage. . .apparently another Bavarian activity. I responded with my American surprise (short of outrage as that would not have been appropriate) “You want to do what with my cleavage?” as I quickly moved my hands to cover anything that might be showing! Then my friends explained it to me and they all happily posed for their cleavage shots even though the photographer snuck the shot of me! I think my friend Vera loved the look of shock on my face. (Before any of my American friends and family becomes outraged, it was not an abusive situation at all, and is now quite funny).

As I mentioned earlier, the band was really great and quite funny too. On a number of occasions, one of the male members of the band would come out to do an impersonation of a famous singer, usually a female. The first impersonation was not one I knew, but Tom told me it was a famous Greek female singer from the 70’s, who always wore long white dresses and had jet black hair, and who many thought actually looked like a man. The unfortunate part of this impersonation for me was that when the impersonator was coming out in his bad black wig, white dress with slits on the side, high heeled white shoes, and panty hose, he was being carried (not gracefully) out on the stage by another man. . this is where everything that could possibly be wrong with a man dressed like this could be seen. . .the slits on his dress provided little coverage and the exposing of what one should never have to see. . what a man looks like in panty hose under his dress! There is nothing I can find right about that at all!

Later, Cher was also impersonated, again by a man in a costume that just isn’t right for a man! Freddy Mercury, Elvis and some others that I didn’t know where also impersonated through out the night providing great dance music and comedic entertainment! It was really a lot of fun, and so many of our friends we have made through the boys soccer teams were there and so friendly to us. We even saw, though didn’t get a formal introduction to, the mayor of Unterschleissheim who opened the evening with a welcome.

Before the evening had gotten too late, probably around 10 pm I told Robin that we should call Sam because if we don’t he will get worried and call us and even wait up for us. Since Robin wouldn’t call him, I took that to mean he didn’t believe that would happen, however, around midnight, Robin’s cell phone rang and Sam wanted to know when we were coming home and why could he hear the song Amarillo (a really silly song on the pop charts in Europe) in the background. Robin assured him we were fine and for him to go to bed. Around 1:30 we had had enough and Tom and Vera took us home.

You know, we hear a lot, that Germans aren’t friendly and don’t know how to have fun. I can assure you, that that is false. If you take the time to get to know people, and become part of their community, you will find that in spite of the language difference (at this point mostly mine as Robin’s German is excellent now), that there is plenty of friendship and fun to be had with Germans! Our headaches the next day can attest to that! (MY headache was caused by the cigarette and cigar smoke!)

posted by stuckinthemiddle @ 10:49 PM