In Germany, being unmarried or unengaged in your 30th birthday will cost you. As if the uncomfortable prying from your great aunt isn't painful enough, you can also expect your friends to put you through the ringer. Though the specifics vary, uncommitted 30-year old German men will be expected to put their humility on display for all those who choose to watch. Last month our 30-year old friend Patrick was asked to entertain all of us party guests by cleaning the sawdust that his dear friends and fam so thoughtfully dumped all over the floor. Unfortunately, the more he cleaned, the more people ran through the pile, spreading it around and blowing it into the air until the air condition made my pictures look like this. Patrick shared his party with his girlfriend and our friend, Annika, as well as another friend of theirs. Lucky for Annika she's a girl and was excused from the humility parade.
Because 30+30+30=90 years old and 90 can't be considered young any way you look at it, guests were asked to dress as a 90-year old or as the caretaker of a 90-year old. Unfortunately, Reg and I missed this memo but our friends Carolin and Torben came out in full gear.
Though Patrick and Lieder's embarrassment was on display for all of us to marvel over, the two were luckier than some. My first exposure to this incredibly funny tradition was a month after our arrival when I was downtown to meet a couple of friends for dinner. A poor, poor 30-year old German was on the front steps of the Rathaus, Hamburg's City Hall building, dressed in fluorescents and picking up an endless amount of bottle caps and dropping them into a bucket--using tweezers. His dear pals would empty the bucket back onto the ground every fifteen minutes or so, just to keep things entertaining. Adult-bevie in hand, this brave soul stuck to his task like glue, much to our amazement.
I like to do birthdays in a big way. Sometimes this means renting a party bus and acting like celebrities for one glorious night and other times it means simply saying Happy Birthday each day for several days prior to a friend's big day. In Germany, however, my latter birthday tribute is frowned upon. Here wishing one Happy Birthday prior to the day is bad luck and Germans will not do it. I learned this when I wished a Happy Birthday-eve to a German friend. I'll never do that again. I could have ruined his birthday, after all.
I learned more about this birthday superstition all over again when Reggie planned my birthday gathering. I had zero intention of celebrating on a Monday night or waiting a week, so we chose the Saturday night before to party. As expected, my German pals were astonished, shocked, and blown away by my pre-birthday event. They still decided to come, thankfully, but I'm sure it made them mildly uncomfortable. Nevertheless, we still managed to enjoy ourselves. Because this is only the ninth anniversary of my 21st birthday and not the tenth, there was no requirement for a display of embarassment. Good food, folks, and drinks were all that was needed to keep the par-tay alive.
There are not many things in life as endearing as a group of preschoolers singing Happy Birthday, with a variety of accents, wearing birthday crowns.
A birthday away from home is completely different from a birthday at home. That's why I'm so grateful to my Hamburg pals for helping me to celebrate mein geburtstag in such a fun way.
Because 30+30+30=90 years old and 90 can't be considered young any way you look at it, guests were asked to dress as a 90-year old or as the caretaker of a 90-year old. Unfortunately, Reg and I missed this memo but our friends Carolin and Torben came out in full gear.
Though Patrick and Lieder's embarrassment was on display for all of us to marvel over, the two were luckier than some. My first exposure to this incredibly funny tradition was a month after our arrival when I was downtown to meet a couple of friends for dinner. A poor, poor 30-year old German was on the front steps of the Rathaus, Hamburg's City Hall building, dressed in fluorescents and picking up an endless amount of bottle caps and dropping them into a bucket--using tweezers. His dear pals would empty the bucket back onto the ground every fifteen minutes or so, just to keep things entertaining. Adult-bevie in hand, this brave soul stuck to his task like glue, much to our amazement.
I like to do birthdays in a big way. Sometimes this means renting a party bus and acting like celebrities for one glorious night and other times it means simply saying Happy Birthday each day for several days prior to a friend's big day. In Germany, however, my latter birthday tribute is frowned upon. Here wishing one Happy Birthday prior to the day is bad luck and Germans will not do it. I learned this when I wished a Happy Birthday-eve to a German friend. I'll never do that again. I could have ruined his birthday, after all.
I learned more about this birthday superstition all over again when Reggie planned my birthday gathering. I had zero intention of celebrating on a Monday night or waiting a week, so we chose the Saturday night before to party. As expected, my German pals were astonished, shocked, and blown away by my pre-birthday event. They still decided to come, thankfully, but I'm sure it made them mildly uncomfortable. Nevertheless, we still managed to enjoy ourselves. Because this is only the ninth anniversary of my 21st birthday and not the tenth, there was no requirement for a display of embarassment. Good food, folks, and drinks were all that was needed to keep the par-tay alive.
There are not many things in life as endearing as a group of preschoolers singing Happy Birthday, with a variety of accents, wearing birthday crowns.
A birthday away from home is completely different from a birthday at home. That's why I'm so grateful to my Hamburg pals for helping me to celebrate mein geburtstag in such a fun way.
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