Lufthansa celebrated its first flight of an Airbus 380 from Houston Intercontinental Airport with a German-style polka party and yodeling contest. The festivities were held on August 1 at the airport terminal with entertainment by Das Ist Lustig. Polkabeat fan Andi Meckna, much to her surprise, won the yodeling contest. Andi and her husband, Robbie, heard about the contest from Valina and Ross of Das Ist Lustig. The group has a standing gig most Thursday nights at King's Biergarten in Pearland where they offered patrons yodeling lessons to prepare for the contest. "We both tried yodeling about two weeks before the contest," says Andi. "I was awful but surprisingly Robbie turn out to be pretty good (even though he is not a great singer). Our plan was that he would yodel and I would do the costume contest."
When the couple arrived at the terminal, they were the only ones out of about 500 people who had bothered to dress in costume. "So I knew we had the costume contest in the bag and we won that," says Andi, noting the prize was a dinner for two at Rudi Lechner's Restaurant in Houston.
The yodeling was a different story. "They drew 10 names to compete in the yodeling contest and as fate would have it, my name was drawn and Robbie's wasn't," Andi says. "I was terrified because I have extreme stage fright. As I was on the stage, I looked at Robbie and knew that I had to win for the family so I belted out my best attempt at yodeling. Thank goodness there were no professionals competing."
Andi made it to the final three and ended up winning with an altered version of The Hills Are alive with the Sound of Music. She says it was like a dream and can't believe they now have two round-trip tickets to Germany on Lufthansa A380. "It was such an incredible gift because I've never been and it was high on my bucket list," Andi says. "I have to thank Ross and Valina for their support and I could never have done it without Robbie!"
The couple plan to take their trip in the spring of 2013. "Dreams really do come true," Andi says.