In our village, most people seem to have large party for what they call a 'round year' birthday - one that ends in a zero, their 30th, 40th, 50th, etc. I grew up in America where we have a party whenever we feel like it and I'm not patient enough to wait ten years for each party. So, I asked Herbert if we could have one this year. The other concept surrounding birthdays in Oberwil is a Trachtengruppe tradition. Most of the people in our dancing group have an open house style of celebration for their birthday. They set a time in the afternoon, evening or both and we're all welcome to stop by, have a little dessert and coffee and wish the birthday 'child' a happy birthday. In the four years that I've been a part of the trachten group, I've only been in Switzerland for one of my birthdays. That was in 2003 and Herbert and I had a small party for our friends. I wanted to include the Trachtengruppe this year. All in all, there were 70 people we wanted to invite. We knew that it was vacation time in this part of Switzerland and many people were traveling, but we also guessed that there was a strong chance that many people would come. The easiest way to cook for so many would be to grill and we decided to have an 'American Barbeque'. We knew that in order to feed so many people in our backyard, we would need help and that's exactly what we got. The Bären restaurant lent us a large grill and a serving container that keeps food warm. Mädi lent us large serving bowls, wine glasses and ashtrays from her restaurant, the Sternen. Fredu let us borrow the silverware from the shooting association's house. Our neighbors, Kurt and Janine, had had their company's party the week before and kept the tables so that we could use them. Many people offered to bring a dish, but I wanted to share some of my 'American' dishes with everyone so I told them that it wouldn't be necessary. I did accept my friend Marianne's offer to bring tomatoes with mozzarella and basil because that's a dish that would also be served in the US. What we did accept was people's offers to help. Christianne and Ann-Marie, two sisters who are my friends and also come to me for English lessons arrived five hours before the party to do whatever needed to be done. They washed and chopped salad, peeled potatoes and washed dishes. Right before the party, Christianne thought of all the flowers I would get and prepared vases with water. When everyone was arriving at 7:00, Ann-Marie told me to simply great people and that she would take care of getting drinks for everyone. She didn't stop with their first glass of wine. She walked around filling glasses for hours after the party started and people commented on how nice that was. So many people told me throughout the evening to feel free to walk around and talk and enjoy myself. They took care of everything. I don't know how many times I glanced into the kitchen and saw different women in there cleaning. Our friend Bumsi, who usually helps cook for different functions in the village, offered to do the grilling for us. He arrived four hours before to do whatever needed to be done and then stood in front of the grill for hours during the party. He even came the next day and helped clean and then two days later, Herbert and I looked in the yard when we woke up and saw that he had come that morning to pick up the last two tables that needed to go to the bomb-shelter. By the end of the party, fifty-three friends had come to celebrate. It was a wonderful group of people and although everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, I don't think that there was anyone that enjoyed more than me. And the thing that I will remember the most is how thoughtful people were not only with their gifts, but with their time and their energy. |
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