Advent in Rif

Walking around Rif today I saw a heap of signs about Rif-Advent. From what I could gather they count the days of Advent with a party at a different family's home each night - what a cool idea! Tonight is number 13, and this house is the closest you could be to the Fachhochschule, so I took that as a sign and went along to see what the locals are upto.

The host read a poem and said some words...I couldn't follow much of it, as of course it was in German! I could make out a few words here and there and maybe got the gist of it...maybe not! Another one of those occasions when I really wish I could just speak and understand German! argh! In saying that, its hard not to chuckle when the gruff wife points to her husband and says "das ist mein Mann".
True to Austrian fashion the locals weren't overly friendly. Of course, ,the ones who were couldn't speak much English! There were about fifty people there, from tiny kids to barely standing oldies. The hosts had alot of Gluhwein prepared, along with chocolates, a range of sausages and bread. Everyone stood around the fires drinking Gluhwein and smoking, while the boys found sticks to play with the fires...

A really nice idea it seems...a different house each night in the lead up to Christmas :D