Michael Wow, we unfortunately let the newsletter production slide for three months -- but now we're catching up! Shortly before Christmas last year, on December 21st, the lights suddenly went out in San Francisco. And not just in a few streets, but citywide. The whole city? Not quite! In the neighborhoods of Mission, Bernal Heights, Bayshore, and Noe Valley, the power grid remained unaffected (see Figure 1), and we only heard about the incident from the news.

Angelika I must confess that before our time in San Francisco, I was not familiar with Cesar Chavez. However, the name quickly caught my attention. I still remember how confused I was when I first drove along Cesar Chavez Street. At that time, the street actually had two names. Under "Cesar Chavez," it said "Army Street" in parentheses. That seemed somewhat strange to me. Soon I learned that the street had been renamed from Army Street to Cesar Chavez in 1995, just a year before our arrival. However, this name change was preceded by intense debates, as not everyone wanted it. I also clearly remember the strictly Republican real estate office on 24th Street in our neighborhood, which no longer exists, and the owner, for years, had displayed an original 'Army Street' sign in the shop window.

Angelika We always enjoy going to museums. However, it increasingly annoys me that you often have to book a time slot online nowadays, especially for more well-known museums. This takes away some of the spontaneity, and I'm no longer a fan of having vacations planned out like this. Additionally, large museums quickly tire me out due to the sheer number of exhibits. That's why we are now specifically looking for smaller museums.

Angelika The news often spiral out of control in these times. One disaster follows another. The people affected by them remain stuck in their situations while the world has already turned to the next topic. As mentioned, we were traditionally back in Los Angeles after the Christmas holidays. The year before, we had just left when devastating fires razed entire neighborhoods to the ground.

Michael As newsletter readers, you are all incredibly well-educated and surely know that you cannot buy alcoholic beverages anywhere in the USA if you are under 21. And since even non-alcoholic beer usually contains traces of alcohol, it's not available for the young whippersnappers either. But how does this work at the now ubiquitous self-checkout lanes in supermarkets? For example, at our local Whole Foods, there's a sign next to the scanners (illustration 4) stating that if you have alcohol in your cart, you need to go to the regular staffed checkout. And I have personally tested that this also applies to non-alcoholic beer. The self-checkout machine locked up, and an employee came running to direct me to the staffed checkout.

Michael People often ask me what is wrong with me to keep circling back to the Costco supermarket like a dope fiend, and I have to say that part of my motivation is the new products they stock there, following the motto "let's see if anyone will actually buy this exotic product."

Michael My cooking skills have now reached quite impressive levels, but until now, I hadn't bought a pot for steaming due to lack of space in our kitchen. One time, Angelika even had to create an adventurous setup with a kitchen towel stretched over a pot and a glass lid just to make potato dumplings for the xmas roast duck.

Michael Those who buy food in larger quantities save more proportionally, that is well known. However, in a two-person household, the problem arises that in mega-supermarkets like Costco, there are always only six steaks or a pound of cheese available, and no one can consume such quantities before the expiration date.

Angelika What many Americans do not like are high gas prices and long lines at airports, although I always admire how patiently they endure it. Both are currently the case, albeit for different reasons. Gas prices have steadily increased due to the war with Iran. Nevertheless, prices here are still moderate compared to Germany.