Michael The German musician Herbert Grönemeyer, so popular in his home country that he's effortlessly filling sport stadiums over there, is completely unknown in the U.S. When I got wind of him touring the U.S. and performing in a small club in San Francisco, I immediately purchased two tickets at $50 a piece. We then took along our German expat friends Conny and Roland and went up to SF's Italian neighborhood "North Beach", to enter a club named "Bimbo's 365". We sat down at a set table (!), just like Humphrey Bogart und Lauren Bacall back in the olden days, and only about 60 feet from the stage, a waiter took our drink orders. We happily complied with the "two drink minimum" as required according to our event ticket.

Angelika When I was a teenager, I loved a German book with a title that roughly translates to "Here's a house being demolished, there's a construction crane and the bulldozer beckons, or: Changes in the city" and was written by Jörg Müller und Heinz Ledergerber. It's a picture book, illustrating the appalling construction changes happening over the course of time in a once beautiful city. It first shows almost unnoticable small changes, but towards the end, everything is covered with concrete. To get an impression of what I'm referring to, check out the Youtube video "Changes in the City" .

Michael When I was growing up, I usually chose one of two costumes for carnival: Either Cowboy or Indian. My circle of American friends has confirmed that there used to be similar customs in rural America as well, but that since roughly the 1960ies, it has been considered politically incorrect to dress children up as Indians, because the displacement of the native American population is considered to be one of the darkest chapters in the country's history.

Angelika After a decade of back-and-forth, our governor Jerry Brown recently rushed to sign a law without much publicity, that allows the California department of motor vehicles to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants . With this law in place, California is the 10th state to allow this practice, and with an estimated number of 3.5 million illegal immigrants, and although it might sound strange, this is actually a fairly pragmatic move. Before the legislative change, many of the illegal immigrants had been driving without a licence and usually also without insurance. In case they got into an accident, it wasn't uncommon for them to speed away from the scene, fearing deportation when authorities would bring their immigration status to light. With the opportunity to obtain legal driving documents, they now have to pass written and a driving tests to at least ensure that they're aware of minimum safety standards, and, equally importantly, they now can legally purchase liability insurance.

Michael You might be aware of the fact that the Pacific ocean waters near San Francisco are so cold, that on average a few people drown close to the shore every year. Beach walkers are either caught by surprise by so-called "sleeper waves" (random unexpectedly big waves) and swept in, or they foolishly go in to rescue their swept-in pets. They don't realize that at 50 degrees Fahrenheit water temperature, muscles go stiff quickly, and unable to perform the required forceful strokes to overcome currents, even experienced swimmers can't make it back to shore.

Angelika If you're like me, you are looking forward to the time off between Christmas and New Years, which in Germany is usually a quiet time where most companies send their employees on vacation. We've mentioned here several times that the vacation regulations in the U.S. are somewhat antiquated, as there's no legally enforcible required minimum on paid vacation for many employees, and it's usually up to the employer on how many vacation days they grant their workforce in a given year.

Michael While I'm talking about commercial glue products, I'd be remiss not to mention a miracle super glue called "Q-Bond". I stumbled across it one day while searching for Youtube videos to help me fix a particular mechanical problem with my car. In this day and age, you can find how-to videos on just about anything on Youtube, where tinkerers explain repair steps in detail, be it for replacing the spark plugs or the brake pads on your car or to pry open an iPhone to exchange the battery.

Angelika We've been following the discussions between representatives of the two major German political parties, CDU and SPD, who have been addressing the issue of dual citizenship in their coalition negotiations recently. They finally agreed in their coaltion contract, that descendants of foreign immigrants in Germany now have the right to dual citizenship. This obsoletes the so-called "option model", which defined that children born to foreign parents in Germany needed to decide on or before their 23rd birthday on which citizenship they wanted to obtain. Developing this idea further, many Germans living abroad in the U.S. were hoping to be able to obtain dual citizenship as well.

Michael If you've been reading this publication for a while, you probably already know that lining up in single file is a long standing American tradition, even if there's no barrier that demands it, for example at a bus stop ( Rundbrief 03/2011 ). What's more, since 2011, readers should be aware that it is normal for Bay Area citizens to wait for 20 minutes sitting in their cars with the engine idling for their turn at the cheap Costco gas station. Meanwhile, I've come to realize that often times people around here are lining up simply because there's already a line of people waiting for something. They seem to be reasoning that a store that has so many people waiting already, must be selling something so exquisite that it's well worth the wait, and people excitedly join the line.