Taking advantage of the train ticket system in Germany is the privilege of one with insider-information. Luckily Steve has the scoop. On the German website mitfahrgelegenheit.de you can find people who are offering either a ride in their private vehicle to a distant location or a group train ticket that ends up costing each traveler around 9 Euros rather than 28. You can buy a 5-person group ticket for 40-something Euros that is valid for any train travel in the country the day of purchase. If you find four other people with similar travel plans you simply set a time and location to meet at the station and bam!…each traveler pays the organizer and everybody gets a better deal.

So, for 8 Euros each, Steve and I took off from Berlin's main station, Hauptbahnhof (German for "main train station"…duh) with a group of young German travelers all headed south toward Magdeburg. With a warm welcome from Frau and Herr Ehlert (his dad surrendering with a waving white cloth) at the Magdeburg station, we set off to do some errands in the "city." After picking up a recently purchased car from the dealership, Steve's dad handed him the keys and we drove the scenic 50 kilometers to Steve's home village Rodersdorf.

village of Rodersdorf will be referred to as a willage.>

The countryside rolls and dips and yellow Canola fields blanket the hillsides all around. Large wind turbines slowly spin while solar panel fields harvest the sun's rays. Small cars zoomed past us as Steve pointed out landmarks during the drive. We took a route over a large hillside to the willage instead of through a neighboring town so that I could see the spectacle that was Rodersdorf. We pulled off the road atop the yellow and green hill to look down onto a tiny stone willage; a red-roofed wonder. Home for Steve is a tiny speck on the map that typically doesn't bother to label it. Even the sign in the neighboring village, which says toward which other villages you're headed, doesn't bother to include it. It's a fart in the wind, some might say.

But, however small, it's charming and has no shortage of fresh air and room to roam. On our first evening we sat down to abendbrot (evening bread, a.k.a dinner) with Steve's parents. The traditional German dinner is much like its breakfast: bread, cheese, meat.

A common addition to the table is a tomato salad. Fresh, self-chopped tomatoes in a small bowl with some feta cheese cubes. Simple. On our first night, I was really wanting to dive into the tradition. I watched closely as not to do something too strange like cutting my brötchen (rolls) the wrong way. I thought I was doing well until I put a piece of leberkäse (similar to bologne) on a roll and then topped it off with a piece of cheese. Steve looked at me sideways but Steffi (his mom) told him to shush. Haha. We had a few laughs because although she wasn't going to say anything…putting käse (cheese) on leberkäse (leberwurst with NO cheese in it but nevertheless called "käse") is a very strange thing to do. In the GDR days it would have been seen as wasteful and just plain odd. I thought of it as an open-faced sandwich. My bad.

After dinner I was sitting downstairs in Steve's "apartment" space on my computer when two small, masked creatures came bounding into the room screaming. I knew immediately it was Nele, Steve's niece. She (5 years-old) and her friend Eleni (6 years-old) were masked as a bunny and a cat and were equipped with flashlights for a late-night stroll through the woods. Nele's dad Andre was with them. So the five of us headed out the gate toward the river which is literally a stone's throw from Steve's house and crossed the bridge to the woodsy fields on the other side. We walked along the river talking and laughing. The girls were enamored with the foreigner who didn't fully understand their questions. But, the simple language and questions were easier to follow for me so we got along fine. Andre, who speaks a fair amount of English helped out too. It was one of the most adorable conversations I've ever had. The girls were told that I don't speak a lot of German but I understand some. So, they thought it a good plan to quiz me on vocabulary.

"Jessica, sag mal "mond." (Jessica, say "moon")

"Moon"

"Nein! Auf Deutsch!" (No, in German!)

"Haha…mond"

"Sehr gut!" (Very good!)

And that is how our conversation went with a long list of words like grass, bunny, cat, stars, etc. They thought I was doing well when I simply repeated the German word they wanted me to say, not understanding that they were giving away the answer. Adorable. But to be honest, it was great practice for me.

A long, dark walk and some nettle stings later, we were in Andre's house where Nele's friend was having a sleep over. Nele's mom, Anika was at a concert in Leipzig that night. So the 5-year-old gave me a tour of the house, which stood out among the others in Rodersdorf with its solar panel roof and modern design. It is a "straw ball" house, meaning the house is made of straw blocks situated in the frame and then finished like any other house. Of course these points were unimportant to Nele who found things like the rotating corner cabinet in the kitchen most intriguing.

The next few days passed slowly and quietly with family meals, beers with friends, soccer games against the neighboring village, playing with the dog (Debbie) in the river, visits with the kids and bike rides in the dark. I felt at ease. Steve's dad, Frank, is the president of the Rodersdorf soccer club and team coach. Steve played with old friends in a game on the second day while I tried to keep up with the conversations on the sidelines. Much of the youth in the villages are tattooed and pierced and almost everyone smokes. But…they are all friendly and encouraging. Luckily Anika, who speaks English, accompanied me at the game that day and introduced me to a few people. With only 200 people living in Steve's willage, it's not hard to recognize a face after being introduced. One girl, who was very nice but didn't speak English has a piercing I had never seen before. It was through the skin attaching the gums to the inside of the upper lip between the two front teeth. Two small silver balls hung just above her two front teeth when she smiled. I'm sure it's not uncommon in the pierced world but I have not ventured past my ears so it was especially interesting to me.

We spent one whole day with Steve's parents being tourists in Thale where an old tradition of sending off the witches of the winter to make way for spring takes on a Halloween feel. We took a scenic cable wagon up a mountainside to the park and activities above. Here you could see spectacular views of surrounding villages and the countryside. Little girls wandered around in witch costumes and people enjoyed the scenery with a beer or sausage. We wandered the park for half the day taking pictures and eating candy. We even took a toboggan ride down a rail track with Steve's dad in tow. Steffi took pictures. After Thale we drove to Wernigerode, a large town with old German architecture and quaint streets lined with vendors and ice cream shops. We toured Schloss Wernigerode, which is a very large castle on a hilltop above the town. Luckily for us there was a renaissance fair at the castle and although it cost more to enter, it provided a fun atmosphere to the tour. We did an audio tour through the castle's interior and learned about the generations of royals and generals who once resided there. The thing that stood out the most to me was the size of the beds. Tiny. It was said that a long time ago, people slept sitting up against a stack of pillows so the beds appeared to be made for little people but were, in fact, normal.

On April 30, the willage was buzzing with preparations for the night's traditional event. The night before May 1 a humongous bonfire is built and everyone ceremoniously marches through town with torches, effectively chasing away the ghosts/witches of winter so that spring could blossom. They are led by a small marching band and upon returning to the field -- where the pile of debris awaits -- the townspeople light it with the torches from the march. Everyone watches as the mountain catches and turns a brilliant orange. The kids watch in awe as the beer begins to flow. Sausages are grilled and served with brötchen and mini liquor bottles are consumed. The kids enjoyed organized games but eventually found it more fun to run around in the dark screaming. Steve and I joined in the march and watched the torchbearers start the fire. We drank mixed beers with his friends and I played with the kids. It was an amazing night. Later I found Nele lying in the field, ignoring the screams and scare attempts of the other kids, while she counted stars. I lay with her for a while and we counted together and compared sightings. At her request we kept repositioning our choice spot on the field, chasing the half-moon through the scattered clouds.

The next day we had to go back to Berlin, but first Steve participated in a fun soccer tournament that was the day's event for all. Beer and bratwurst abundant as always, five teams played short games throughout the morning and afternoon. I was able to take more pictures of the kids and talk a bit with Anika and Andre before we had to go. Steve's dad drove us to the train station in town and we said our goodbyes. It wasn't too hard to say goodbye because we already have a plan to return in a couple weeks before starting the rest of our European tour. You haven't seen the last of the willage.