Angelika On Monday, we experienced our first earthquake. Actually, there were even two of them with a rating of 3.6 on the scale. Anyways, Michael and I were comfortably sitting on our futon-couch at 10:30 pm, when I thought I noticed that our couch was moving. Since you consider any small vibration (often caused by trucks passing by) to be an earthquake if you live in San Francisco, Michael and I had to discuss first what it really was. Michael insisted it was the wind. He couldn’t explain to me though why it should move our couch because the windows were closed and it was a windless day in spring.

Angelika The second story that many of you surely will enjoy is one concerning my American driver’s license. Short and briefly, and not to tantalize you: I failed the first driving test, and not because I ran a stop sign or hit a pedestrian but only because I went to fast in the opinion of my tester. He claimed that I simply crossed an intersection on a green traffic light (I was assuming that’s just what green lights are for). Also I should’ve watched my right and left, just in case a drunk driver ran the red light. Sometimes Americans are nuts.

Angelika The American banking system is quite different from the German system in that recurring debits ("Lastschriftverfahren") are virtually unknown and wire transfers are complicated. That is most likely because Americans want to decide by themselves when to pay their rent, their electricity bill, telephone bill and so on.

Angelika Another curiosity is public transportation in San Francisco. The good news first: San Francisco has buses, street cars, and a subway. The underground is quite reliable meaning it runs on a schedule and is mostly on time. Buses and street cars only run on a rough schedule. Schedules on bus stops tell that buses come every ten minutes during the week but in reality you either wait for hours for a bus or a street car or there are two buses going the same route in short succession.

Angelika There is another funny story about everyday things: We planned to have a fondue dinner on the evening of my birthday, as it is kind of a tradition with us. We assumed that this would not lead to any problems, but it did. So, we wanted to buy some high heat fat. Most of the fats being sold here are either fat-reduced or even fat-free (I have no clue how Americans do this). You just can’t heat it enough. So what’s the plan? I finally asked my friend Sylvia who has been living in the U.S. for a while for some advice. She told me to get "Crisco", a vegetable fat that we would find in the baking department of stores.

Angelika We were on tour a lot. We spent a weekend in San Diego with Sylvia and Richard. Through Richard’s company we got to stay at a beautiful house in the fancy neighborhood La Jolla (comparable to Beverly Hills in Los Angeles). We didn’t have to pay for the house, even though it was extremely large and had all kinds of amenities, including a pool and a hot tub. A real mansion!

Angelika We spent my birthday in Las Vegas. We were given a trip to Las Vegas as our wedding gift. It was pretty exciting to be there again after 10 years because we met there for the first time. Many things have changed in Las Vegas but the car rental company where we met was still there. Plus we were both very touched when we stood in front of the door of 'Brooks rent a car’. We took a photo using the automatic release.

Angelika Last weekend, we went to Berkeley. There we finally got chairs to go with our new dining table. Later we went to the beach in San Francisco, the so-called Baker Beach. It is located within city limits and resembles a motive on a postcard. That’s because there is a white, sandy beach and at the end of the beach rises the majestic Golden Gate bridge. These moments are always very touching to me.

Angelika On a different note, I'm still busy going to my English lessons. I met a nice German lady there who comes from Hamburg. She worked there as a streetworker. She lives in our neighborhood and therefore we often stick together chatting or enjoy the sunshine on her balcony.