Michael When it comes to traditional German food, we haven't suffered any shortage so far, as there are two German stores just two streets away from our apartment. One of them offers German beer mugs, beauty products (Fa shower gel, unfortunately no Cliff), and during Christmas time, nutcrackers and Santa Clauses. The other store, which is connected to the restaurant "Speckmann's," carries all sorts of German beers, potato salad, frozen pretzels, sauerkraut, white sausages, Händlmaier mustard (by the way, the package says "Händelmaier's," is it the same in Germany, can someone verify that?) and Vienna sausages, which are called "German Franks" there.

Anyone who has been to the USA knows that such places only appear every 2000 kilometers! About every two months, a magical force draws me into the store, and the Austrian grandma there has to give me "German Franks," mustard, and pretzels. Recently, I gave her a 20-dollar bill, and she gave me change: "Zwööfe, droizähne, vierzähne, funfzähne, zwonsgte!" The bread problem, traditionally a tricky topic in the USA because Americans tend to prefer it soft and sweet rather than crusty and sour, doesn't arise in our neighborhood, as there is a rich selection of Italian, French, and yes, even German bread available. However, when we recently visited a place that had long been on our wish list, the "Suppenküche" at the corner of Laguna/Hayes Street, I was finally able to enjoy a beef roulade with two mugs of Franziskaner wheat beer after more than two years, it was incredible! With homemade spaetzle and red cabbage - it was amazing, oh homeland, oh homeland! The place quickly filled up, was packed by eight, and people clearly enjoyed drinking beer from liter mugs and even larger "boots." And this in San Francisco! Besides Spaten/Franziskaner, there were also Paulaner and Hacker-Pschorr beers available. Spaten had to find other distribution channels because no one drinks it in Munich due to its reputation for causing headaches, and it has actually established a foothold here -- every third pub serves it. And I've actually been living for over two years without Augustiner Edelstoff! Who will bring me someee ... :) ?

(Michael) The thing with the German accent is something I constantly work on, but there's no end in sight: Someone who has spoken German their whole life probably can never sound 100% like an American or English person. It's like when an American speaks fluent German, but you can still tell from the "r"s and "w"s that the Anglo-American world pronounces letters slightly differently than the German-speaking world. To avoid any misunderstandings: I don't speak like Helmut Kohl or use grammatically incorrect English, and I choose the words to express what I mean according to the local context as much as I can. For example, in America, people often say things you wouldn't learn in any English course in the world, like "I'm gonna do this" for "I'll do that" or in California "What's up, dude?" for "How's it going, buddy?" -- so it's not about the slang, that's easy to copy.

What really trips me up is that the sounds are different. Since the differences are minimal and hardly noticeable to non-Americans, I wasn't aware of it for a long time. I always thought that eventually, no one would be able to tell the difference, but I was way off: The longer I listen to my English, the clearer it becomes where the differences lie. But of course, I won't give up. Currently, I play pool every day on AOL with a guy who grew up in a rough neighborhood in San Francisco, and he teaches me the exact pronunciation of slang terms from the "hoods" like "Whyya sweaten me?" for "Hey, don't hassle me!", "Whaddup gee?" for "Hey, buddy!" and "Audi 5000" for "Goodbye". When I also do the hand gesture that black youths in street gangs use to symbolize a gun, the guys on AOL completely crack up with laughter. My old English teacher Haueisen must be turning in his grave.

Back to the East Coast: The area where AOL's headquarters is located consists only of highways and giant supermarkets and is really boring. You can really see what an exception San Francisco is among American cities with its international, colorful mix. Who would want to live anywhere else!

Michael Back in San Francisco, we watched the latest movie: "You've Got Mail," starring Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. The funny thing about it is that the whole film revolves around how the two meet and like each other on the internet, and since everything is anonymous there, they don't realize that they also know each other in real life--and can't stand each other there. And they use AOL, as you can see repeatedly in the scenes! AOL is, for those of you who are a bit slow, the company I work for, and accordingly, I'm familiar with the "You've got mail!" phrase from daily work, as that's what the computer says when you turn it on and have new emails. Since I receive about 50 emails a day, I hear it quite often. Anyway, the movie is quite funny, and if you're technology-averse yetis who still use pens, typewriters, and other antique devices, you absolutely must watch it to learn how things work nowadays and all that.

Michael This brings something interesting to mind: When you buy something in a store in America, it's well-known that the sales tax is added to the listed price, which is 8.5% in San Francisco. If you buy a chocolate bar for $0.99, you pay $1.08 at the register. This is always confusing for tourists and especially leads to problems when you've painstakingly added up the amounts of all the items in your head before paying, intending to dump the kilo of loose change you've been carrying around for weeks onto the counter--only for the cashier to suddenly ask for a completely different amount! However, you get used to it after a while.

Recently, though, a second confusing factor has come into play: the so-called mail-in rebate. It might happen that a computer superstore advertises a new modem for $49.95, but when you go there, grab the item, and take it to the register, it suddenly costs $69.95 plus tax! The realization comes when you take a closer look at the price tag: in the fine print, it states that the listed price is only applicable after the so-called mail-in rebate, meaning you pay more in the store, then send a coupon to the company, and after a few weeks, you receive a check refunding the difference. The advantage for the company: they know who bought the item and can bombard the customer with targeted advertising.

This system sometimes leads to absurd situations, such as when the mail-in rebate is as high as the product price, which does happen. For example, the listed price for 10 diskettes is often $0.00--absolutely nothing! In the store, you pay $9.95 and simultaneously receive a coupon for the same amount--if you send this in along with the receipt, you receive a check for $9.95 after a few weeks, and the diskettes were practically free: you just have to account for tax and postage.

Angelika So, now it's my turn. Michael keeps writing and writing, I can't get a word in! First of all, I want to inform you that I have actually managed to book a flight to Germany. I will be flying out on January 15th and will stay until February 12th. A four-week visit to Germany sounds incredibly long, but experience shows that four weeks are just flying by. As it stands now, I will be doing a little tour around Germany to see as many of you as possible. Since this is a major organizational effort for me, I would be very grateful if you could help me organize meet-ups. I fear that time will be too short to visit each of you individually. Therefore, it would be great if we could arrange group gatherings, if possible.

The problem is also that I need to go to Frankfurt to the American consulate to get a new visa stamp in my passport. I have to deal with this annoying bureaucratic matter because Michael switched to AOL some time ago, but we still have the Blacksun stamp from the old company in our passports. The guidelines of the American immigration authorities stipulate that you can only get this stamp if you leave America (please don't ask me why that is). However, I need the stamp to be able to re-enter. I will spare you the nerve-wracking process of reaching the consulate in Frankfurt. Long story short, I managed to make an appointment in Frankfurt, and since our friend Britta decided to move to Frankfurt and will grant me asylum (thanks, Britta!), the whole thing has a silver lining. I can visit Britta and take care of the visa stuff at the same time. What I actually wanted to say is that I have to plan my Germany tour around this appointment. So far, my plans are as follows:

I will land in Bremen on January 16th and then stay with my parents in Oldenburg. On January 20th, I will head to Münster in the evening, where I will stay with my friend Christa. I will stay there until January 23rd. On Saturday, January 23rd, I will leave early for Frankfurt. I have an appointment at the consulate on January 25th. On January 26th, I will set off for Augsburg/Munich. I plan to visit Bavaria for 8 days, then return to Oldenburg, where I will stay until February 12th. Hope this makes sense! Changes are, of course, possible. If anyone wants to reach me in Germany, it's best to call my parents. My parents usually know where I am, so they can help you if you don't remember where I am at any given time.

Angelika By the way, two astounding events occurred in San Francisco shortly before Christmas. One of them was even reported on German television: There was a power outage in San Francisco for several hours because an employee from the energy supply company, called PG&E, flipped the wrong switch at a power substation near San Francisco. Nothing worked for hours: no computers, no buses or streetcars, as they run on overhead lines, no subway, no traffic lights, no ATMs, etc. However, there was no doomsday atmosphere, as was often claimed on television; people took it rather calmly. It's important to know that in America, power outages for short periods are relatively common, but several hours is extremely unusual even by local standards.

I found it interesting that there was no emergency power system at all; not even at the airport, and this in a city prone to earthquakes, where everyone knows that the power easily goes out when the earth shakes heavily. We were lucky that our room heater still worked, as it runs on gas, and the hot water functioned perfectly. Michael didn't notice any of the excitement anyway, as he was on the East Coast at the time. I was a bit worried about my refrigerator (but it held up bravely and didn't defrost) and suffered greatly from not being able to make coffee all day, but otherwise, it wasn't too bad. I somehow found the story that a wrongly flipped switch was to blame for everything quite endearing, following the motto "Small cause, big effect!" You could really make a movie out of it.

The second sensation was that it snowed in San Francisco. You might not find that exciting, as you are used to German winters, but here it was the first snowfall in 20 years. Of course, the snow didn't settle, but the children still found it amazing because many of them had never experienced real snow before.

Angelika Michael already mentioned our Christmas decorations. Of course, we also celebrated New Year's Eve in style, as you never know how long we'll be in San Francisco, and we have to celebrate the occasions as they come. Our first New Year's Eve in the city two years ago was spent cruising on the Bay (that's the water around San Francisco) on a ship, and since we enjoyed it so much, we thought we'd do it again this year.

After all, two years ago, I was struggling with the phenomenon of "jet lag" (fatigue due to the long flight and the nine-hour time difference) because I had just flown into San Francisco the day before (you might remember, I left for America on December 30th, and Michael had already set off into the wide world in mid-November) and therefore fell asleep at the table a few times. This time, however, I was wide awake: In our finest evening attire (Michael actually had to part with his beloved sneakers, jeans, and his favorite Adidas sweater, which is quite worn out, for one evening), we enjoyed the good food, danced (I only had to slightly force Michael), and kept gazing lovingly at our San Francisco.

For those of you who have never been to San Francisco, it's worth noting that one of the most beautiful views of the city is from the water. You can see the entire cityscape, which is especially enchanting in the dark because of the sea of lights. Naturally, you also get fantastic views of the Bay Bridge and Golden Gate Bridge. The highlight was when the captain announced that we would now be passing under the Golden Gate Bridge. You must know that everyone who lives in San Francisco develops a special relationship with this bridge. It's not only a landmark for many tourists but also something like a good friend for the "locals" (residents). And I swear, you can drive over this bridge a thousand times, and your heart still skips a beat when you see the first bridge pillar. In any case, the cruise was very successful. We only missed the band's rendition of "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," which they played the first year, but no worries, we just hummed it to ourselves!

Angelika The end of the year is always a time to take a moment and look back. For me, setting up a new calendar and clearing out the address book has a symbolic character. So, on December 31st, I sat down and transferred birthdays and addresses into the new calendar, not only to create order but also to quietly reflect on the year 1998. In doing so, I thought of all of you who visited us in 1998, or those who tirelessly wrote to us, called us, and maintained contact despite the distance.

I was also able to transfer many new email addresses, and more and more American addresses are filling up my calendar, a sign that we have been living here for quite some time and that casual acquaintances have turned into friendships. The sight of all those addresses that I still have in my address book, to which many newsletters or birthday greetings were sent, but from which no response came all year, made me sad. Nothing is forever, a fact that I find hard to accept, and so I couldn't bring myself to delete these addresses from my address book. The hardest part was not being able to transfer the address of Michael's friend Jani from his student days. Jani died in 1998 while gliding, and seeing his address brought up images of Jani dancing at our pre-wedding party and sitting blissfully with us at the table as one of the last guests. Always in a good mood, always ready with an endless story. Nothing is forever...

365 days are behind us and 365 are ahead of us. 1998 was a good, adventurous year for us. With excitement and curiosity, we plunge into the next one. We hope to see many familiar faces again in 1999.

I'll leave you with that for now, take care!

Angelika and Michael