Ulrike and Theo Frey from Aitrang have been guest parents since 2005, both at the Marktoberdorf International Chamber Choir Competition and at Musica Sacra International. They have already hosted guests from Sweden, Ukraine, Argentina, the USA, Jordan, Cuba, France and Switzerland ten times. Ulrike Frey studied music and works as a primary school teacher specialising in music. The family loves to travel, but when her five daughters were younger, travel had to take a break. "If I can't travel the world, then the world has to come to me," says Ulrike Frey. That's how the idea of hosting international guests at home came about.

When she talks about the many encounters, she quickly gets enthusiastic. How wonderful the exchange with Elisabeth and Samuel Erikson from Sweden was the first time in 2005 and how emotional it was at the last International Chamber Choir Competition when Andreas and Benjamin from Switzerland stood on the train platform in Marktoberdorf and sang a last farewell song. A very special experience, however, connects the Frey family with a singer from Jordan. Zayd was a guest in Aitrang in 2010. "He immediately took us all to his heart. He loved to spend his time with us in the garden with the children on the trampoline," Ulrike Frey says with a laugh. "We also played house music on the piano in the living room. We had the feeling he had adopted us as a host family."

The contact continued, they sent each other occasional e-mails and Christmas cards and remained on friendly terms. Nevertheless, it came as a surprise that Zayd invited the Frey family to his wedding in Amman five years later. The fact that Ulrike and Theo Frey with their daughters Klara and Merle quickly accepted the invitation was an honour for the extended Arab family in Amman. Although the Frey family only met the bride on site, the extended Arab family welcomed Zayd's host parents as if they had always been part of the family. While a kind of mattress camp was set up in the living room of the parents' house for all the other guests, a hotel had been booked for the host family from Germany. The wedding was celebrated in a Russian Christian Orthodox church, but the celebration was traditionally Arabic. "I will never forget," Ulrike Frey enthuses, "that there was always a lot of loud music with drums and a kind of bagpipe everywhere. The bride was enthroned on a sofa and next to her - in our country we would say as one of the bridesmaids - my youngest daughter Merle (11 years old at the time). For her it was like a fairytale wedding from "1000 and one nights".

After the wedding, the Frey family was taken on a three-day sightseeing tour with the extended Arab family to the ancient rock city of Petra. "We knew then, at the latest, that it was not such a good idea to travel to Jordan in August, because it was almost 50 degrees Celsius at that time and we were just melting away," says Ulrike Frey. However, they still stayed another eight days to have a local holiday and to marvel at other sights - "when you are already there". But despite the heat and the exhausting journey, the wonderful experience of the Arab wedding of "their" Zayd will remain in their best memories forever. Even today, seven years after the wedding and 12 years after the host parents' stay in Aitrang, the family is still in contact with the singer. He also took part in "Arabia is looking for the Superstar", which became the most successful TV event in the Arab world. Unfortunately, he did not win. Zayd now lives in the USA with his wife and their little daughter.

It is obvious that Ulrike Frey and her family would love to be a host family again this year. She can't yet say for sure whether it will work out. She will probably become a grandmother shortly before Whitsun. A very musical grandma.

Caption: The Frey host family from Aitrang at the wedding of their guest in Jordan: Theo (from left to right), Merle and Ulrike Frey, the bridal couple with Zayd and Klara Frey.
Photo: private