Michael Well, nobody saw that coming: in October 2022 I decided to quit my job at Apple. Admittedly, the salary was astronomical, but the work was no longer fun for me, and I had hardly any time left for my always numerous bubbling ideas and private projects. So it was time for a reorientation.

Michael Alas, people who are leaving their jobs do enjoy protection under the so-called COBRA law ("Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act", Rundbrief 11/2004 ) at the federal level, regardless of whether the employee or the employer terminated the employment. Cobra grants every employee the right to continue their health insurance, which they had through the company, for up to 18 months after leaving the job. The advantage: you get the same benefits and don't have to worry about being accepted into a private health insurance. The catch: you pay about 5 times as much as when you were still employed, since the company typically covers about 80% of the costs and only demands a contribution of 20% from the employee. In concrete numbers: an Apple employee pays about 380 dollars a month for health, dental and eye insurance (all separate in America), while a former employee pays a total of 1,600 dollars. Straight from your savings, without the possibility of deducting it later from taxes.

How do you now actually terminate your employment? You can quit with immediate effect at Apple, like many other American companies, and simply not show up to work anymore. For an orderly departure, however, you should give two weeks of notice before leaving. You can do this by email to the boss, who will then forward it to the HR department, but I'm old-fashioned and called my manager by videocall and then sent the email stamped with the date. A paper letter is not necessary. You can also give notice longer than two weeks in advance, but in my opinion that is unwise, because then you hang around like a zombie for weeks. In two weeks you can take care of everything, hand over projects, train successors, and because of the short deadline, no one wastes time senselessly. Everyone was quite shocked, but I was persistent, once you have chosen the way of leaving your job, there is no turning back, otherwise you just make yourself look ridiculous. Finally our team went together a few more times to the cafeteria for an extended lunch on the private terrace of the "Results Way" campus and then the day of farewell was already there. We are still in contact, in fact I'm now texting with some former colleagues more than during my active time at Apple.

Angelika If you are an American citizen, you are allowed to participate in elections at the local, state, and federal levels. But how does it work exactly? The organization and execution of elections is in the hands of the individual states, with individual regulations. In almost all states, the eligible voter can only participate in the election if they have registered as a voter. Once our citizenship was finalized, we immediately registered to vote. In California, you can do this online, and Michael registered himself in the voter registry. He had to provide his name, date and place of birth, driver's license number, the last four digits of his social security number, and his address. A few weeks later, a card arrived in the mailbox with his voter number. At the time, I happened to have to renew my driver's license and I took care of the voter registration at the same time at the California DMV.

Michael At the end of November, we took a week of vacation and drove down to Cayucos near San Luis Obispo. We stayed in an AirBnb, and I got to go surfing. We also did a lot of hiking and one day stumbled upon a path that presented some surprisingly high bureaucratic hurdles: First, we tried to get to the coastal landscape from the south side via Avila Beach, but were informed that the path went through private property of the California energy producer PG&E, so we couldn't just park at the entrance and then hike, but would have had to take a tour bus onto the property and then follow a company-owned tour guide. Instead, we tried it from the north side. There we encountered a locked gate with a sign that said that PG&E allows up to 250 hikers on the trail on all days except Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Since it was Wednesday, and Thursday was a holiday, we came back on Friday morning and were allowed in and proceed to a hut.

Michael You in Germany have been taken pretty much to task lately when it comes to household costs for electricity and gas. Let's compare: How much do citizens in America pay for energy supply for their private households? To make a long story short, we paid 108 dollars for 400 kilowatt hours in September, that's about 27 cents per kilowatt hour. But, as you can imagine, electricity prices vary greatly by state, our informant in Florida recently told us that he paid only 133 dollars for 811 kWh there, almost half, 14 cents per kWh.

Michael It is well known that I do not shy away from any dish in the world, so it was only a matter of time before I had to try durian, the famous and infamous stinky fruit from Malaysia. My colleagues had been raving for years about the complex flavor journey that this fruit takes through the palate, and that American and European wimps could never get past the unappetizing smell. Of course, this was ridiculous - I try everything.

Angelika The American postal service often has to endure harsh criticism. The company's deficit is huge and customer service, as expected from a bureaucracy, is often slow and hasn't gone with the times. But before Christmas we were pleasantly surprised, because several post offices in San Francisco opened their counters on Sunday mornings before Christmas, so that customers could send their Christmas packages. I used this service twice and was amazed at how many people knew about it, even though it was hardly publicized. Customers were enthusiastic and full of praise.

Angelika I have been part of a photography collective in San Francisco for decades. A highlight is always when we organize a group exhibition. This year in October it was time again. I showed two of my collages. The theme of the exhibition was "The New World". Sandra Phillips, who had worked for years as a curator in the photography department of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, chose the theme and put together a show from our works . The theme was how the world has changed through Covid. The show was on display from October 22 to November 19 at a gallery of the "Minnesota Street Projects" , a conglomerate of various galleries under one roof, located in the so-called "Dogpatch" district in San Francisco. I designed my collages by cutting apart old photos I had taken previously and putting them back together.