Michael We are back! We had one week of vacation in Tahiti, and there's a lot to report, it's going to be great! We poor souls only have two weeks of vacation a year, so we really went all out: We stayed in a bungalow built on stilts over the turquoise waters of a lagoon (Figure 1). In the top left of the picture, you can see the edge of the lagoon, where the waves of the South Pacific are breaking. Tahiti is located just south of the equator and is two hours away from the International Date Line, where the mutiny on the Bounty broke out in 1789 (Figure 2).

Michael Back to the rough everyday life! Something I've always wanted to get off my chest: People pay taxes in America too, and not just a little! In Germany, everyone looks to the USA and complains: Oh my, oh my, how much tax do I have to pay! And how complicated is the annual tax return! Over there, everything is much better and a thousand times simpler! But I'll tell you: Anyone who has ever filled out a 1040 form for the American tax authority IRS (Internal Revenue Service) will never complain about German taxes again. Although the agency is up-to-date and provides the forms on the internet, where you can download and print them at home, when you take a closer look, you come to the conclusion that the IRS employs crazy people who come up with such monstrous bureaucracy.

Michael Oh yes, and there is no church tax in the US as there is in Germany, as state and religion are strictly separated here. When I tell my coworkers that in Germany the church tax is automatically deducted from your salary unless you explicitly leave the church, I am met with incredulous astonishment. By the way, America also treats all religions equally. One of my favorite TV shows is the broadcasts of a televangelist named Benny Hinn.

Michael What we are still having trouble with is finding suitable furniture for our apartment. Here in America, there are two styles: the rustic style with a 12 foot oak wall unit and leather couch, or things from some cheap junk brand. I tend to prefer the latter, whereas Angelika also likes to have nicer things around her. We are still living from day to day because we never know if we might suddenly have to leave in a hurry, and then we would have to ship all the stuff at great expense. Wait, I forgot one style: the $1000-cabinets-but-the-doors-don't-close-properly style, which is especially sold in trendy yuppie stores. So far, we haven't managed to buy a much-needed shelf -- but there is hope in sight: In the spring of 2000, a huge IKEA is supposed to open in Berkeley! Man, I can't wait.

Michael Our TV developed some serious issues after three years, as it decided to only display channels 7 to 50. However, since in America the upper channels mostly show junk and shopping shows, while the interesting things, including our favorite show "Seinfeld," are on the lower channels, we faced the dilemma of either getting it repaired, which is quite difficult here due to the scarcity of good craftsmen, or fully embracing the American throwaway culture and buying a new one.

Michael Since I'm not getting any younger, and supposedly—-according to Angelika, who keeps trying to convince me-—I'm putting on weight, I decided one Saturday to hop in the car and sign up at a fitness center. The place is called 24-Hour Fitness, a chain with locations in many U.S. cities, and, as the name suggests, it’s open 24 hours a day. So, if I wanted to lift weights at 3 a.m., I could-—which was important to me, haha.

Angelika So, now it's my turn. First, I want to announce the lucky winner of our last quiz. We warmly congratulate Martin Weishaupt, who was able to accurately and quickly name all the inhabited islands of Hawaii (Hawaii or Big Island, Maui, Kauai, Molokai, Oahu, Lanai, Niihau) and thus secured a real surfer T-shirt from Quiksilver. And this time, we want to test your worldliness again. Our quiz question is: How do you say "thank you" in Tahitian? Whoever solves the puzzle will receive a gift that will enhance your New Year's Eve, because after all, it's not long until the year 2000 - oh, dear. Until then, I still have to complete two final projects for my photography courses (10 photos for each course, perfectly enlarged, retouched, and mounted with a mat), as two of these "masterpieces" (hmm, yes) will be exhibited again from January to February in the halls of the University of California, Berkeley Extension in San Francisco.

Angelika In the meantime, I am referred to as the "Egglady" at the darkroom, since seven of my still life paintings with eggs have been exhibited (I mentioned this in the last newsletter). The only problem is that I have moved past my egg phase and have switched to self-portraits. We'll see what kind of nickname comes from that. I am still thriving in my monitor job in the darkroom. It's a lot of fun and ideal in that I can combine my passion for photography and teaching. Of course, I still go to the Tenderloin twice a week to see the children (some of you asked about this in your letters), after all, I was voted Volunteer Number One before the summer holidays, and that kind of thing comes with responsibilities.

Angelika Local news in San Francisco has been all about the mayoral election in recent weeks, and there are some interesting points to note about it. As you may know, Willie Brown was and is the mayor of San Francisco. He is a member of the American Democratic Party, which is the more liberal, "left-leaning" party in America. It is important to note that all the candidates running in San Francisco belong to the Democratic Party; a Republican (which is the conservative party in America, but please do not confuse it with our the German Republikaner Party) would have had no chance from the outset in the city's liberal climate. Many people in San Francisco were quite dissatisfied with Willie Brown because he failed to address the homeless problem and the issues of the public transportation system, known as "MUNI," and he is also considered to be corrupt. As a result, the city was very much in election fever.