Unbelievable Polterabend

"Polterabend", I translate as "Party of pre-marriage". Which simply means "Let's have fun and gone crazy before getting married!". Engaged girl go out only with her girl friends, boy, of course only with boy friends. It is known as "Bridal shower" in US but here in Switzerland, it is even more extreme..



A girl, who plays main role this time is "Caro". She will get married on October.

One of the features of Polterabend is a costume. Most of the case, girls (or boys) dress same.

Caro, who is super sporty girl, she has been specially organized a NIKE liked T shirts, which says "Caro" in stead of "NIKE". This is a great idea.

The party started from a cafe name "bistro&wellness".

As you notice from it's name, it is a place where you can have apero (cocktails) and in the same time, can pamper yourself with massage. Hmmm tempting. Caro had neck massage. Well, she has to be fully charged in order to prepare for her upcoming assignment...



While I was being massage, Caro's first assigment has started!　Caro has been suddenly blindfolded!

And there is a tiny piece of many different foods were prepared and she had to guess (even eat!) just by smelling them. Once, there was a hand cream which smells like a caramel and caro has eaten it without knowing that it's actually a hand cream. Poor her..:) But she did great job! She guessed almost all of them. Her 1st assignment has completed.



12 girls dressed same in a town!! This is awesome! Swiss people usually know that this is a group of Polterabend.

So, her next assignment is...



An Iron.

What a hell she wants to do with the iron?? Well, it's not SHE wants to do it. She has been ordered from us:)

2nd assignment. Go and get shirts from men and iron it. Plus, ask for a tip!!



Caro, without hesitating anything, she started asking to a man in cafe for his shirts.



Successful!! She ripped off his shirts and went into a bar...



A classic nice cafe. The end of the bar counter is..



Caro ironing!! She even secured a electric power in the cafe!! Unbelievable!!

Her first ironing is completed. She even got a tip as a reward.

Since her first attack was such a success, she became full power.



She ran and found a next target from even from another restaurant!



Caro helps him wearing a t-shirts on which has been ironed. I really amazed how supportive the people are for Polterabend.. Caro got a tip again. Her "mission of iron" is completed but here comes the next one without break.

3rd Assignment: Find out how to say "I love you" in 12 different languages.

Danish, Dutch, Finnish,Croatian,,, there is a list of languages that she has to conquer.



Chinese???



Finnish?? Damm, he's not!!



Caro even broke into the kitchen in one restaurant! Yes, we got Croatian!!

While we continued looking for another language, we bumped into to the another party of Polterabend..



Which is men!!

The man in rabbit is a polterabend boy. Caro asked him, "you, I have this huge mission to find out how to say I love you in these languages, you have to help me!". "Damm, what a hell huge mission.. You have such a cool T-shirts, look at me, man"



Yes, he IS a poor man. Here even has cans tightened to his feet, which makes perfect noise whenever he walks.

Anyway, Caro finally found how to say "I love you" in all the languages on the list. 3rd assignment is also finish.

4th Assignment: Sell roses to cute boys in high price

Ohh, there are quite a many good looking men in this terrace.



When Caro finds target.. all the girls go around him and surround. Gee, nobody can't say no in such a situation.　Girls are such a threat:)



Caro even ran and stop a man riding bicycle when she finds target!


Poor man, being stopped his comfortable ride on the bicycle and has to pay:) This is really fun to observe.

Well, not only a threat but her personality and sweatness don't allowed them to say no. She managed to sell all the roses!!

Caro, even voluntary went into bar in order to get a free drink.



A bartender called the boss. As soon as boss saw Caro and her smile, he said,
"Ok!! Two Caipirinha!!"



... it seems like everything is possible when you are having a polterabend.. Caro is now in bar side, making her own drinks.


But this last assignment is quite tough one.

5th Assignment: Grill Chipolata and sell them.

"Chipolata"="Small sausages". Grill and Sell?? Where and how?? Oh, even for Caro, this is too difficult.



Look at her serious face.. Will she give up her last assignment??

NO!!!

There is a no word like "impossible" in Caro's dictionary!! She went into this popular sausage restaurant in Zurich where everybody grab sausages quickly.



and she negotiated with a manager and got a permission! She is now behind the counter and grilling sausages!!



She sells now not only her Chipolata but also sausages of this restaurant. Look at her, she wear hat, just like her colleagues:)



"What would you like to have today~?". Caro, you really like a real sausage seller:) She successfully start grilling her Chipolata but she also has to sell them all. She ask if the guests also want to purchase Chipolata but up to this point, nobody wants such a small sausages.

So, it time for girls to help her out. They went to look for a fun, generous man who willing to pay for Chipolata. And we found one.

One guy, he pays CHF5 for one Chipolata and bought all of them! Whichmeans, he paid CHF30 for us!! UNBELIEVABLE!!!

As we leave this restaurant, Caro got a free sausage as salary of selling sausages:)



SO, now she is fully completed her all assignments! Now we can go for a dinner!

Due to Caro's good work, our girls need to pay only CHF15 for Mexican dinner with Margharita!



After dinner, the party continued and we went clubbing. There was a small surprise there. While we are dancing or talking, men come one by one and give Caro roses. I wondered why.
This was a small surprise organized by girl. They posted Caro's huge picture on men's bathroom with a message saying "this girl is having her Polterabend tonight. If you see her on the hall, please give her a rose", and there is a vase of roses next to it. What a sweet surprise.

and we stayed there until 4 o'clock.


After all, this polterabend was more than a huge success and I was surprised by these 3 points.

1. that Swiss people have such a unique a fun idea to enjoy party.

2. that Swiss people accepting Polterabend and supporting all these crazy things.
3. that Caro such a talented entertainer is. Everything she has done went beyond my expectation.


Again, I got to know a new aspect and new culture of Switzerland. You know, Swiss people is not necessarily conservative. They can be so fun and crazy which you never see in any other countries in the world! (who will iron in cafe!?)



TODAY's MUST

Weleda Birch Cellulite Oil



Absolutely necessary to refresh tired feet and legs after running around and party around whole day!

You can get it here.

Swelled legs get tight and thin!

Polterabend!!

It's the word known in only German speaking countries. If I use a word "Bridal Shower", then more people might recognize what it means. It is a girls only (boys only for groom) party and concept is simple. "let's get crazy and enjoy last day as being a single!" So officially, Polterabend must taken place on the day before marriage but that is often the case logically impossible. One cannot have wedding totally drunk:) There's no such a culture in Japan but here in Switzerland, whenever I see a group of crazy people, it's always Polterabend. For example, there was an all-men big group, riding all on a small kick-board and look completely ridiculous. They were all wearing yellow T-shirt saying "Michi's Polterabend".

So, my sister-in-law, Ariuscha will marry in October and we had a big girl's party!! Here is my first Polterabend experience!

The party started from 2 o'clock in the afternoon. This is another key of Polterabend. Those who participate Polterabend are normally very good friend or family of bride (groom) so they are willing to enjoy from the middle of day and spend whole day. Core friends plan whole schedule and it will not be informed to the bride. For Ariuscha, who is super sporty woman, the party started from Wake-boarding!



Ariuscha boarding on the motor boat with hand-made bale from her friends! The motor ran full speed to the middle of the lake. All the girls are screaming and enjoying hopping in the boat. Here begins the party!!



Top runner is of course the heroin, Ariuscha. She dived into the water with a bale on.



Bride on the water!!

She didn't turn down the expectation of the others on the boat. She showed us so many performance on the water, turning and jumping. Soooooo cool!

Some girls also tried and had fun on the water.



The girls return on the land.

After a session, we had cocktails at the park beside the lake. In German it is called "Apéro" when people enjoy some drinks and snacks. First toast for Ariuscha's happiness!



Party goes further. All the girls once go home, take shower and charge energy for the evening since it will continue until late.

Next event is roof-top barbecue party! A friend of Ariuscha has very nice roof-top balcony which accommodate 12 people. With a beautiful city overview, each grills meat brought by own.

Salads, drinks and desserts were also brought and shared.



This is one of the most beautiful and practical way to enjoy summer in Switzerland. Normally, when barbecue party is organized, people bring foods which they want to eat.



Second toast and girl's talk continue...



until late. Sun has set and the day is already heading toward the next day but party is still only in the middle.



Here comes another "key" of Polterabend. The heroine, (hero) has act something crazy, let's say, the one normally never does. For example, men walks on the street wearing woman's underwear, sticking stupid flags on their back,, etc. Sometimes I think it's at the edge of being caught by police! Police in Switzerland is understandable to Polterabend.

Ariuscha was given a princess-like tierra!!



So she has to wear it rest of the day.



The tierra was together with super fancy ear rings!! Ariuscha and one of the party organizer, Ceri.



Dessert is finished and once all have full tommy, of course the last stage of party is "girl's night out"! The club "Mascotte" was already full of people at 11pm but since we had a table reserved, we were able to enjoy with plenty of space. Third toast!



Unique part of this club is full window from floor to ceiling. Often the case, clubs are locating in underground and no window. This time of the year, there is a illumination of ferrice-wheel outside.

Ariuscha has of course still the Tierra on.



It was beautiful club with nice decoration but one thing cracked me up is this fan. This unmodern fan was blowing from 3 parts from the ceiling. For me, it's funny to see this old fashioned fan blowing over the people acting cool and dancing. It doesn't match with trendy club.



Since it's a girl's party to celebrate Ariuscha, we all stayed at the table and enjoy internally. (no flirting!) Sometime took a rest, talk and when good music plays, all stand up again and dance.

It seems that participating Polterabend of good friend is as important as attending to their wedding ceremony. The level of craziness is depends on the group but in any case, there is a heart-warming story in behind. A good friends, thinking of bride (groom) and organize the party. Since I moved to Switzerland, I've never had a real girl's party so I personally enjoyed it a lot. Same time, I thought of my friends in Japan who were also really excited for my marriage.

It is common in all over the world how people feel happy for the marriage of good friends. Here in Switzerland, they want to celebrate it in original way. It is also smart that they invite all the people who will attend the wedding. Some people meet for first time on the Polterabend day but like this, everybody get to know each others before wedding. Then, on the wedding day, power of the celebration and happiness will become bigger, since it is a group already had a party together.