Stumbling Around Long-Lost-Relatives

This post is the long-awaited sequel to "Stumbling Around my Family Tree", written in January 2020.  Brent and I were supposed to go to Germany in June 2020 to meet my long-lost relatives, but the COVID-19 pandemic had other ideas, and our plans to meet were put on hold... indefinitely.  Finally, this August (2022), we made it happen.

When Brent and I stepped off the plane in Berlin, we were greeted by my cousin Dietmar, and his wife, Brigitte, holding a Canadian flag with our names on it!  I guess I was worried for nothing about being able to recognize them. Although they speak little English, and we speak little German, we had an amazing and wonderful visit with them.  They seem as excited to have Canadian relatives than I am to have German ones!  They even had special t-shirts made for us with a pairing of the Canadian and German flags, and "Family Meeting" the caption.

Greeting at the Airport.  Airport Stranger, Dietmar, Brigitte, Airport Stranger 2

We spent a couple of days with them in the area of their town in Brandenburg.  They took us to meet Dietmar's sister, also named Brigitte (Cousin Brigitte, to reduce confusion), her husband Georg, daughter Kerstin and son Derk.  Georg has a canal boat and he took us out for a cruise around Spreewald.  Dietmar and Brigitte also took us to Görlitz, Rakotzbrücke and Bad Muskau.  

Back: Dietmar, Brent, Kerstin.  Front: Cousin Brigitte, Georg, Rhonda

Touring Spreewald on Georg's Canal Boat
Brigitte, Cousin Brigitte, Dietmar, Rhonda, Brent, Georg

Brent, Brigitte, Dietmar and Rhonda at Rakotzbrücke (note the Family Meeting shirts) 

Then, the four of us drove together to the Rottweil area to meet the Catholic branch of the family.   When we got to Guido's home, the family members started gathering - every one wearing a "Family Meeting" t-shirt. We met Guido, his wife Gertrudis, his sister Claudia, and his daughter, Ira, and her husband, Mike, and son Erik. They hung the Canadian flag outside of Guido's house.

  

At Guido and Gertrudis' House (note the Family Meeting shirts, and Guido's Lederhosen)
Brent, Rhonda, Brigitte, Dietmar, Guido

Cousins Dietmar, Rhonda and Guido Contemplate the Mühlburger-Rolle (the Laggai Family Tree)

Guido had rented a large van so we could all travel together for the next few days, and we explored the Rottweil area together, plus the Black Forest and Lake Constance.  We also went off to the Biergartenfest in the area (Oktoberfest, but... early) two times.  One night, Guido, a chef, made Schwabishe Pizza in his back yard oven.

Ira, Brent, Rhonda, Claudia, Dietmar, Brigitte in Guido's Rented Van

Guido, Dietmar, Brigitte, Rhonda, Brent, Claudia on the Tower in Rottweil

Rhonda, Brent, Dietmar, Guido, Brigitte, Claudia at Biergartenfest (so many Family Meeting shirts)

Guido making Swabisher Pizza

Last Morning Together at Guido's
Back: Brigitte, Dietmar, Gertrudis, Claudia. Front: Brent, Rhonda, Guido

To say that Brent and I were blown away by how enthusiastic and welcoming my long-lost cousins were would be an understatement.  I have reached out to other relatives discovered through genealogy, but no one has been particularly interested.  Meeting the Laggais has been a very meaningful and special experience.  I think that their interest comes from our shared, unique last name.  My other family names, for example, Scheurer, Schneider, Mittelstadt, Müller, and so on, are much more common.  I think those folks have ample relatives to keep them entertained, but hey... discovering another Laggai, on the other side of the world, now THAT'S a big deal!

I'm amazed and grateful for the events that had to happen for us to even find each other.  As far as I know my great-grandma lost all contact with her family when she left Russia.  What I know, now, from Dietmar, is that many were killed, and his side of the family that escaped went to an area that ended up being in East Germany.  And, of course, the part of the family that remained Catholic did not leave Germany at all, but lost contact with those who, persecuted for being Protestant, migrated to the Crimea in the 1800s.

My mild obsession with looking for the origin of my great grandma led me to the Laggai name.  Claudia and Guido were open to responding to some internet rando from the other side of the world to explore whether we could be related.  Guido and Dietmar had found each other before, and Dietmar was also open to exploring the possibility that we could be related.  

Although I work in technology, I have never been a technophile, but for me this experience, and the enrichment of my life in finding these long-lost cousins, is, to me, an example of the power of what technology can do.  If it weren't for the internet, and for readily-accessible DNA testing, this simply would not have been possible.  I just wish I could tell my grandma, my great-grandma, and Dietmar's grandpa, what we've accomplished in finding one another over 100 years (150 years for the Catholic side) after the family was split.  

At the end of our trip, Brent and I spent a couple days in Berlin prior to our flight home.  Dietmar and Brigitte came in by train and joined us there for an afternoon.  We visited the Palace of Tears together, which was the border station between West and East Berlin when the city was divided.  Having lived in East Germany until the country was united, being in this place was particularly poignant for Dietmar and Brigitte, and we were so happy to have been there with them.  So happy that it was possible.  

Brigitte, Rhonda, Brent and Dietmar at the Brandenburger Tor in Berlin

Stumbling Around Germany (with Covid)

Brent and I have been very cautious since the pandemic started.  We've obeyed all of the guidelines, and gotten every poke we could get (fourth poke in early August 2022).  We also love to travel, so we've been waiting for the day that we could resume our addiction.  We went to Mexico for a month in early 2022 and had no issues.  We went to BC this summer for a month and had no issues.

Rhonda's Covid Design

I get colds and flus frequently.  If a butterfly flaps its wings in Brazil, I get a cold.  And every time I get any kind of a sniffle or a sore throat, I test.  I have tested... and tested... and tested since the pandemic began.  At first, that was done through official test facilities, but since the home rapid tests became available, it's been through rapid home tests.  I never tested positive.  It was always just Rhonda with a cold or flu (and potentially a touch of hypochondriasis, or hypervigilance).  In any case... no COVID.

In mid-August, we took a trip to Germany.  We had plans to meet some of my long-lost relatives at the start of the trip, and then our first-ever "Bike and Barge" tour at the end, with a gap in the middle.  While considering what to do with that gap in the middle, I found some lists of the most beautiful places to see in Germany.  I plotted us a route through a number of these beautiful places, northbound and then eastbound, that would take us from long-lost-relatives to bike-and-barge.  We would be traveling with backpacks and our tent so that we could move around, and find accommodation, easily.

I discovered that Germany was offering a €9/month transit pass for June, July and August of this year.  Our "beautiful places" tour commenced on August 22nd, so we thought we'd make good use of that sucker while we could.  We did make good use of it, however, the €9 pass, we believe, was also our downfall for catching COVID.  The trains were HIDEOUSLY busy.  One might even say "Superspreader busy".  EVERYONE was on the train.  Of course they were.  And some of them were coughing and sneezing.  And some of them were not wearing masks.  We're pretty sure that, if we were traveling by bicycle (our usual mode of transportation) we probably would not have gotten sick.

€9 Pass

Anyway, my "beautiful places" plan took us first to Marburg and then to Goslar.  By the third day after our train to Marburg, I was getting a bit of a scratchy throat, although it was so mild I thought it also could have just been some dehydration.  By the end of the day, it was clear that it was more than dehydration; probably a cold, but to be on the safe side, I used one of our rapid tests that we'd brought along on the trip.  I tested negative.  Of course I did.  I always test negative.  I just get colds and flus so darned easily.  

Positive

Our next stop was Lüneburg, and we traveled there by train on August 27th (5 days after our travel to Marburg).  I have read that sometimes it takes a few days for a person to test positive, so out of an abundance of caution, I tested myself again (this was my third day of symptoms).  I was stunned when the black "positive" line came through so quickly.  By the end of the day, Brent was also showing symptoms, but we didn't bother testing him.  If I have it, he likely has it as well, and even if he doesn't, we have to isolate as though we both have it.

This was a complication that we hadn't really planned for.  We had been sure to get extra insurance to ensure we'd have health care if one of us got really sick from it while traveling.  But... positive for COVID while feeling mostly OK... that was not something we'd considered.  We were booked into our AirBnB in Lüneburg for two nights, and thankfully, the place was all but deserted.  We think it's a boarding house for students but no students were in yet.  I checked AirBnB and was able to extend it to a third night.  

Then we'd have to move on.  But... move on to where?  And how long were we required to isolate for and what did that look like?  It's not like we could just "go home and stay there".  

I checked the internet for information about isolating in Germany.  The info I found indicated that you should isolate for five days after your first symptoms and then you were OK.  We decided to use Brent's first day of symptoms as "Day 1" because that would keep us isolated for as long as possible, but we could not stay in our AirBnB until "Brent is safe" day.  

We had to figure out what to do.  Guido offered to have us come back to Oberndorf and stay at his place, but that was way back in the south of Germany, plus I can't spend time in his house because of my dog allergy.  We could go to a hotel, but then how many people might we be exposing?  Since neither of us was particularly sick, we decided that the safest thing for us to do was to go to a campground where we could stay well away from other people.  That, of course, required another train ride someplace.  What campground to go to?  Well, we were due in Stralsund for our Bike and Barge on September 10th, so we decided to head to the campground directly across a small channel from Stralsund at a village called Altefähr.  

For our remaining time in Lüneburg we mostly stayed in our AirBnB, venturing out for about an hour in the early morning to have a look around when there were no other people around.  We found the city both beautiful and eerie when it was mostly deserted.

Beautiful deserted Lüneburg 

We wore our masks continuously - Brent an N95 and me an FFP2.  When it was time to move on to Altefähr, we did everything we could to protect others, but the country was still enjoying its €9 tickets and the trains were busy.  We settled in to the Altefähr campground and resumed isolating, but it wasn't a perfect system.  We still had to use the shared washrooms at the campground, and we still had to buy groceries, which we did at the small convenience store in Altefähr.  We did the best we could.

Camping at Altefähr

We completed Brent's required isolation period, and then, believing we were now safe, we moved on to Hamburg and then Wismar.  Enroute to Wismar, I found some conflicting information that said what we had done for isolation may not have been sufficient - we had to isolate until we tested negative, or, at least until two days after your fever broke (if you had one).  We weren't sure what information was correct, so we decided we had to err on the side of caution and isolate as best as we could until we both tested negative.  We stayed in our AirBnB almost all the time, with our early-morning excursions out to look at the deserted town.  

Beautiful deserted Wismar

Test in Wismar

Test in Stralsund

We were convinced that we would both test negative when we were in Wismar, but alas, Brent tested positive again.  Finally, on the day we left Wismar and headed to Stralsund, we both tested negative.  And not a moment too soon.  That was September 8th, and our Bike and Barge was set to start on the 10th.  We got tested at an official testing site on the morning of the 10th knowing that we were both, now, negative, and went on our tour.

Moving forward I'll be sure that we have a decent contingency plan in place for if we catch ill on a future trip.  It is very very tricky to figure out how and where to isolate when you're vagabonding around!