After driving through the countryside of Germany, we arrived in the small town of Haidensäg, which was the birth place of Sarah’s grandfather August Steininger and is the hometown to many of the members of her family that still live in Germany.  We stayed in Haidensäg from Friday night until Monday morning.  At first it was a bit stressful for me since my German is very poor.  Most of Sarah’s German family members speak only in German.  This is very frustrating at times, because there were so many things I would like to say or understand in the conversations that ensued, but mostly I was oblivious.  Things became easier for me, once I was introduced to Julian, a nine-year old cousin of Sarah’s.  Even though he didn’t speak English at all, he and I got along just fine!  Speaking the language of a nine-year old who had a Game Boy and a Nintendo 64 was right in line for me!!!  We had a great time playing Super Mario Kart, Super Mario Bros., etc. on both the Game Boy and Nintendo 64.  We met lots of different family members, learned about how Haidensäg was affected by WWII, and worked to map out the genealogy of the family that still remains in Germany.  Most importantly (at least to me) was the time spent getting to know the family.  They sure love to get together to talk, drink beer, eat meals and desserts, etc.  We had a great time spending the 3 days with Max, Theresa, Erick, Maria, Sebastian, Melanie, Martina, Jochen, Berta, Helmut, Edith, Julian, Marcus, and the other family members whose names I either did not know, or have since forgotten.  I really felt by Monday morning, that I had known all of Sarah’s family members in Germany for all of my life.  I know I would really like to go back there and stay longer.  They were so welcoming, warm, caring, fun-loving people.  I definitely want to learn more German before I go there, so I can actually follow more of the conversation!