Party Review: Eli's Surprise Birthday Par-tey

Well Thursday June 1st was Eli's birthday (mark it in your birthday calendars) and Peter hosted a surprise birthday party. She unsuspecting arrived at Peter's house sometime around 13.30, not taking note of how many shoes were at Peter's entrance, not to mention coats and bags. We were waiting upstairs in the living room to spring our surprise, which was successful as she was A) unsuspecting and B) no one told her. For future planners of surprise birthday events, these two points are essential: being unsuspecting of a surprise and not being told. Without them there is no surprise. So we jumped out and yelled something, I can't remember what it was, but I remember what it wasn't: Not the happy birthday song. It may have been "Surprise!!!" Anyway, this was soon followed by a braai*. It rained a bit but there was some sort of canopy thing, and we just moved the table about a meter to the right/left/forward/back (direction varied depending on which side of the table guests were seated. For me it was the right. We then had a homemade birthday cake that did not look homemade. You may be wondering who baked this cake. Peter? I doubt it. Me? If you know me, you know about my culinary skills, and they do not include making amazing cherry and cream chocolate cakes. No. It was Peter's mom, who got all the food together (with some help from his little sister and Peter). Of all the parties I have attended this year at high school level, the food at this one has been by far the best. People then went off to play pool, or chill in the lounge. In the early evening I went on an expedition with Jun, Eli and Helen into Peter's backyard. Peter's backyard has forest size trees (a lot of them), is very steeply inclining, huge and resembles a mini wald**. At the top we met a fence with a gate. The fence was locked, so we had to get over it, which was a bit tricky considering the barbed wire and how it was wet (Vienna has been having very British weather for the past three weeks), but most of us made it over. We then held a moment of silence for our companions we lost to the fence and proceeded to find what was on the other side of the fence. We ended up in a big field with tall grass which Jun started to run through, in the manner of movie sequences with arm waving and yelling through fields of flowers. I have never seen such tall grass in Austria. In South Africa I would be worried about stepping in a snake hole and twisting my ankle or being bitten by a snake if I carelessly ran through a field of grass. But we live in Austria. Anyway after finding vineyards and hopping more fences we made it back in time for sunset and dinner. I tried to start writing my grad dinner speech at this point as well. More great food followed, and an Austrian friend of Peter's had party mood music playing. This friend also tried to trick several people into stuffing whole peppers (of the hot variety) into their mouths. I however, was not fooled by Thomas's: "They're sweet". The same cannot be said for Zava. After this some people tried to dance, there was more lounge chilling, a fire outside to sit around while the smokers blowed smoke filled bubble and pool. If you have not seen smoke bubble, go buy some bubbles at Libro or something, and ask the first smoker you see to blow you a bubble. They are cooler than they sound. My evening ended with me hopping a wall and running like a maniac for the bus I saw leave the bus stop before my eyes, at least unlike last time this happened I wasn't being chased by a dog.
I've already said that the food was awesome. The venue was large enough for two different types of music to be played, and there were indoor and outdoor as well as active and vegetative activities. The music was very very varied. Hip hop, metal, Jun demanded to hear violins at some point, chill, rowdy, party, English, German, etc: you name it, it was played. Or at least something similar. Everyone smiled as a favorite song was played at some point that evening. The crowd kept coming and going, and its transient nature kept things fresh. Special appearances included two Austrian friend's of Peters, two people who still go to AIS, one being the birthday girl's sister and the other an IBVA soldier (Helen), and a couple of alumni. Overall Peter's party received my first five, a chill session was just what I need. *****

* braai: South African for barbecue or grill
** wald: German for wood, as in the woods.