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| Angelika/Mike Schilli |
NEW NEW NEW: San Francisco Urban Hikes Collection
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Hi there, friends!
Angelika A few weeks have gone by and I'm finally ready to start my third newsletter. Michael has been in San Francisco for a good six months now and I've been living here for almost five months. Despite this time, life is still new and exciting for us, and we still enjoy discovering the country and its people. We have also just overcome our first major crisis.
Now, you are probably wondering why we are still here. Don't worry, I'm getting to it, I just wanted to make it a bit exciting. So, we have just been incredibly lucky. Michael and his colleague Peter are the only ones still working for the American company. This is possible because the American headquarters still exists. The company in America now only has two employees instead of 30. The finances are secured until the beginning of 1998, but since there are some projects running in Germany, it is very likely to be even longer. So, if you were paying close attention, you are probably wondering where Michael is working now since there is no office in San Francisco anymore. The office is now, so to speak, in our apartment, i.e. Michael is working from home. You can imagine it like this: in our bedroom there is a huge desk with two computers and an additional laptop. I really hope that we don't get in each other's way in our small apartment, but as long as we can stay here and I don't have to play Michael's secretary, I'm fine with it.
Michael will now calmly wait out the situation. Everyone of course hopes that the company will make a big breakthrough. But if the situation continues to worsen, Michael will try to find a new job here in San Francisco. That is not easy though. There is plenty of work, but a new company would have to obtain a new work permit for Michael, which can take two months. An American company is usually used to the new employee being able to start immediately due to the lack of notice periods. It doesn't help that Michael has already worked here. The case would be treated completely new again. Long live bureaucracy!!!!
I hope you were able to follow my somewhat lengthy explanations and for those who found my explanations too long, I will quickly write Michael's brief summary of the situation: "Everything remains the same, except now I can even work from my bed!"
Despite having more luck than sense in hindsight, the situation was still quite stressful. The problem is that you can lose everything along with your job here, health insurance being the most critical part. As a foreigner, Michael wouldn't have been able to get unemployment benefits anyway, and even for Americans it's barely enough to get by. We really wouldn't have had any other choice than to go back to Germany, and we didn't want to do that because we had just settled in. A sure sign that we had become real Californians is, for example, that we had already slept through the last minor earthquake of magnitude 3.4 and only heard about it because my friend Sylvi called in a state of excitement to ask if we had noticed anything and if we were all right.
After these uncertain and exciting times, we spontaneously decided to fly to Hawaii for a week. We had chosen the island of Kauai, as it is not so touristy. And it was really paradise: long white sand beaches, great weather, an ocean with warm water and good waves, lush green vegetation, a fantastic landscape, a nice hotel and friendly islanders. Michael of course tried surfing, but failed at the waves, which frustrated him especially since the twelve-year-old boys took the waves with ease. I, on the other hand, was glad that I didn't have to call David Hasselhof from Baywatch to rescue him. And I tell you, it sometimes looked pretty dangerous when Michael was thrown around by the waves.
My Dream -- by Maria B.
A 15 year-old dating a U.S. citizien in Nicaragua? Oh, yes! How we dream when we are 15! I had a yellow moon, shining stars and red hearts. I had a marriage, a white picket fence, a pink and blue pastel-colored home, some children, all the necessities of life. It didn't matter where -- here in the US or in Nicaragua. I had the perfect, loving, hard-working husband, the perfect, well-cared-for house, the perfect income, the perfect children -- and the perfect me: the wife, mother, housekeeper. Yes, everything! ... A dream ... Well! I got married to that old windbag, had two children. After a lot of trouble, I found out my mother-in-law did not like the idea of what had already happened with her son (a 48 year-old by this time). Well, no step back! He brought us to San Francisco -- two baby girls and me. By this time I was nearly 18. My first address was his mother's house. It was pure hell: a possessive mother who did not have one millimeter of desire to share her son with anyone and the man who enjoyed every bit of this relationship and the situation that brought such disastrous consequences to my children and me, because this man cared more about his egocentrism than the family he had created. My children and I almost drowned in the rage of jealousy and selfishness of these two people. Well, today -- 20 years later -- my children are alive, married, each one with two children. My daughter and I are still dealing with the painful consequences of the past. It seperates us; and, as a result I cannot see my grandchildren. Today my pain has been eased by the death of the mother-in-law and the adulthood of my children and the relief of having done the best I could. Well, as for me, I will grow. Now I have come into a new era of life. I'm taking classes in Introduction to Computers and English as a second language, and I'm finishing my General Education Degree, which I'm about to get.
And here's my text:
My Dream -- by Angelika Schilli
Thinking about a very special dream of mine, a lot of different things come to my mind; for example, to live in an old Victorian house at the beach, to study medicine, to write a famous book or to be a popular photographer. Although some of these dreams are very unrealistic, it is good to have them, because perhaps some day a dream will come true. You never know. So I like to play with my imagination; for example, if I go to the beach, I'll look for a niece place for my dream house. If I read a book, I'll think about my own book. But most of all, I want to be a photographer. I love to take pictures, so you often see me with a camera wandering around and looking for a good subject. It's the play of the light and the colors that are fascinating to me. In my opinion, a picture tells you a lot about the feelings of the person who took the picture. That means you can express your feelings with a photo. When I came to San Francisco, the first thing I did was to take pictures of my new neighborhood. I've learned a lot with the help of my camera about my new surroundings. For me, San Francisco is a very good place for photography. It's a colorful city with interesting people and dramatic views. So in a way my dream to be a photographer has come true. I'm not a famous one, but I can enjoy my hobby every day, and the pictures I've taken will always be a memory of my time in San Franciso.
With respect to speaking the language, many people keep asking me if my English is already perfect. I would say that many things are easier for me now (e.g. making phone calls), as I understand more complicated things and I don't have to think so long when I want to say something. Nevertheless, I still come across my language limits, especially when it comes to having a conversation at a higher level. It is also quite difficult to be funny in another language. However, I think this is normal; after all, I have been speaking German for much longer than English. What I have noticed is that many things I learned in school come back to me (e.g. grammar). I can also write short texts quite well again. Speaking, however, is still the hardest part for me, but it was like that in school already. Another big problem is that I often don't dare or want to express things too complicated. Well, I still have a lot of time to practice. Starting Monday, I will attend a four-week English summer course at my City College and then everything will be closed here due to the summer break. Starting June 26th I will be visiting in Germany. I will first land in Munich and stay there until July 5th. From July 5th to 22nd I will be in Oldenburg. So if anyone wants to see me, remember these dates.
Of course, this newsletter wouldn't be complete without a few comments on everyday life in America:
First off, there's the always puzzling topic of tipping. If you travel to the United States, you should always be carrying a bundle of one-dollar bills with you, as the bellhop at the hotel, the housekeeper, etc. will make sure that this bundle keeps shrinking as quickly as possible. But it is also an absolute sin not to give a tip. This is because, for example, the waiter or hairdresser earn such a low base salaries that they cannot survive without the additional tip. So, if the service is good, which is usually the case in America, you give at least a 15% tip, if the service is great, even 20%.
I tell you, in America they rely on the good old mental arithmetic when it comes to tipping. In California, there is a very simple trick, since the sales tax (i.e. what is called value-added tax in Germany) is 7.5%, you just have to double the sales tax and you have already calculated your 15% tip. But beware; since the tax in each US state is different (e.g. in Hawaii it is only 3%), you cannot blindly apply this trick everywhere. The sales tax gets always added to the purchase price when you're paying for something, which leads to the situation that you struggle to calculate the exact amount required and thus never have the right change ready, which means you walk around with a lot of small change that you can't get rid of for the reasons mentioned above.Speaking English and Comprehension Skills
Tipping
Another inexhaustible topic here is still the topic of "smoking", which has now developed into a real war between smokers and non-smokers. Smoking has long been prohibited in public buildings such as airports, as well as in offices. That, I think, is still comparable to German conditions. But now there are no longer any smoking areas in restaurants, which means that smoking is no longer allowed anywhere food is served. Smokers can only escape to bars or the street, but in San Francisco, attempts have already been made to prohibit smoking in bars as well, which has caused smokers and some more liberal non-smokers to protest, so that the ban has not yet been enforced. Some politicians are even seriously discussing banning smoking on the street. Meanwhile, there are even various counter ads to tobacco advertising, such as a poster with the Marlboro cowboys, where one tells the other about his lung edema. Smokers in San Francisco are usually nowadays only seen standing in hidden corners. This often reminds me of teenagers smoking secretly. Although I am a non-smoker myself and enjoy the clean air in restaurants very much, I am amused by the vehemence with which the topic is being discussed.
Lawsuits for damages have been brought against cigarette manufacturers because smokers have become ill. I think this is a bit exaggerated, since no one is forced to smoke. In general, I cannot understand how in a country where there are huge protests when the freedom to bear arms is to be restricted, on the other hand, smokers are almost treated like second-class citizens, who will bring us certain death. I would even say that here more people become victims of a weapon than victims of passive smoking. With regard to weapons, the old cowboy mentality seems to prevail again. And to conclude this topic, here is a quote from the pilot during our landing in San Francisco after our trip to Las Vegas. He informed us that smoking is not allowed in San Francisco. Of course, he meant only the airport, although his statement hit the nail on the head. So, these were today's everyday stories. Before I end the letter, I would like to entertain you with two more things:
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