To the ones who stayed at home!

Angelika After I was horrified to realize that it has already been three months since I wrote my last newsletter, I decided to sit down and start typing on the laptop to entertain you with a thousand and one adventures from here. Our life in recent weeks has been dominated by one central theme: Perl book, Perl book, Perl book... Michael was actually supposed to submit the second edition of his bestseller by mid-March (according to the publisher's announcement), but the whole thing keeps getting delayed because he is doing the typesetting himself and is encountering millions of problems. Today, he has threatened several times to throw the computer out the window, and I never thought he could curse like that (his Bavarian temperament is really coming through). Additionally, we had to put our Hawaii vacation plans on hold. We wanted to hop on a plane right after submitting the manuscript and really enjoy ourselves. Michael was already dreaming of sleeping through an entire day and letting the sun shine on his belly. However, he currently has a project running at AOL, and there is a vacation freeze until the end of July. The American work life is no bed of roses.

But we haven't let it spoil our good mood, and I quickly booked two weekend getaways. Next weekend, we are going to a dizzyingly expensive hotel in Napa Valley (wine region). Since Napa Valley is not only known for its good wines but also for its world-famous restaurants and spas (which are similar to beauty salons where you can get massages, manicures, facials, mud baths, etc.), we will be enjoying wine tastings, great dining, and pampering ourselves with a massage this weekend. Over the Memorial Day weekend (an American holiday at the end of May), we will take the so-called Coast Starlight to Oxnard (located in Southern California). The Coast Starlight is a train that runs along the coast, offering fantastic views of the ocean. In Oxnard, we will take a boat tour to the Channel Islands, a group of islands located right off the coast. I am really curious about how it will be since I have never traveled by train in America. Michael was initially quite skeptical because he remembered the many train kilometers he traveled between Munich and Münster, and that was certainly no relaxation. Well, I will definitely report back to you on how it was. And Hawaii is, of course, only postponed, not canceled. By the way, the fact that we're using every holiday to get away and sometimes spontaneously add a weekend trip with an overnight stay is very American. This is simply because with only ten days of vacation, you become inventive. American holidays are usually on a Monday, giving you a long weekend. The downside, of course, is that everyone hits the road, and it gets a bit crowded everywhere, but you have to deal with that.

The American Tax Return

Angelika Besides the tedious "Perl Book" story, a second not-so-thrilling topic has demanded quite a few night shifts: namely, filing our American tax return. First of all, I want to clear up some misconceptions by Germans that seem impossible to eradicate: Firstly, you do pay taxes in America, and they are not necessarily lower than in Germany. However, it is true that you pay less in social security contributions (retirement insurance, health insurance, unemployment insurance), but it should be considered what price Americans have to pay for this, namely that millions are uninsured and that unemployment and social security are rather a joke, not providing sufficient security in emergencies.

Secondly, filling out the American tax return is at least as complicated as the German one, contrary to the belief that everything here is simpler and less bureaucratic. With the forms, you get the feeling that the designer won the competition on "How to express a matter as complicated as possible so that no one understands it anymore" with flying colors. It's really maddening. In these situations, I was always on the verge of throwing all the tax books and documents out the window. This year, I had the honorable task of filling out the documents. Michael had a good excuse because of his book (Next year, I'll write a book too!). Moreover, he enticed me with the argument that the daughter of a tax advisor should be able to handle this with ease and that I am much more thorough than he is, etc., etc. I didn't even know what qualities I had.

So, I bit the bullet, read all the tax books, and spent nights brooding over the forms. You might now want to know why we, as Germans, are paying taxes in America at all. This is actually a matter that is quite fairly regulated. If you are in the country for more than 183 days, you have to tax your worldwide income in America (including Michael's German book earnings). The same goes for an American living in Germany for 183 days; they have to tax everything in Germany. This regulation seems to have been invented by someone with common sense. You might also wonder why we didn't just have an American tax advisor do our tax return. We would have loved to, and after all, they want to make some money too. But our German friends who also live here strongly advised against it because none of them can handle foreign income from Germany to be taxed in the U.S.

It's also funny that every American and Resident Alien (that's what we're called in bureaucratic English; it reminds me a lot of E.T., and often you do feel like an alien from another planet) has to submit their tax return by April 15th. Since most Americans have quite a horror of tax returns (I understand that well), many follow the strategy of postponing this unpleasant topic as long as possible. So, shortly before the 15th, you see people in the subway filling out their forms on their knees, many post offices are open until midnight on the 15th, as are the tax advisor offices, for last minute submissions. There are often parties where people celebrate successful submitting their tax return, and our American friend Anne told us that on the first weekend after the 15th, all the restaurants are full because people finally have time to go out again. What's also different here in the U.S. compared to Germany is that you don't have to send in receipts, and only 5% of tax returns are audited. 5% is, of course, vanishingly small, and so everyone hopes that their return won't be audited and that they won't end up in the grueling audit. The only problem is, if you do get audited, you're in for it, as everything is thoroughly checked, and the authorities can trace back previous submissions, up to three years. The more complicated your tax situation is, the more likely you are to be audited. So, we have pretty good chances, which only led Michael to remark: "You have to experience everything once." Well, I don't know, I can certainly do without that.

Regarding the receipts issue, I've heard some of the most adventurous stories here. Since it's relatively unlikely to be audited, many Americans claim deductions for things they don't actually have receipts for. However, during an audit, you have to present these receipts. So, people come up with stories that they lost their receipts in a house fire, or a popular excuse in California after the big earthquake in 1989 was that everything was lost due to this natural disaster. It's only embarrassing when people mix up the dates and claim they have no receipts for things that happened long after the earthquake, which allegedly happened in many cases.

After Michael and I were already firmly convinced that nothing could surpass the bureaucracy regarding American taxes, the publisher for whom Michael is writing the aforementioned book sent us a form with the melodious name "Application for the Issuance of a Certificate of Exemption for Royalties and Similar Payments under the Double Taxation Agreement between the Federal Republic of Germany and the United States of America." This means we have to fill out this form and send it to the Federal Office of Finance in Germany so that we don't have to pay taxes twice, in both Germany and America. The fact that there is already an agreement between the two countries that clearly regulates this situation (see the 183-day rule) seems not to have reached the relevant authorities, and so they produce unnecessary piles of paperwork, driving little Angelika and Michael to the brink of madness. The ultimate joke is that, of course, you also need a confirmation from the American tax office proving that we are taxable here. The friendly German text informs you of this (to understand which, you need a degree in public administration). After reading it several times, Michael and I finally understood that we needed to fill out U.S. tax form 6166, which you get from the American IRS. So Michael called there at seven in the evening and actually reached someone, which is a clear difference from the German authorities. The friendly lady on the other end of the line then informed him that this form has not existed for five years, but she could gladly send us the information sheet on this topic with the number 686. I probably don't need to mention that in such situations, one might sometimes feel like biting the telephone receiver out of frustration. It really makes you wonder whether buzzwords like "globalization" and "flexibility" can be taken seriously or if it's really about encouraging people to stay in their own country. Or as the clerk at the Techniker Krankenkasse (our German health insurance) so nicely put it before we moved to America and I had some questions on the implications: "You don't have to go abroad!"

If you've lost the thread during the whole description and can't see through it anymore, take comfort in the fact that we felt and feel the same way.

Social Services in California

Angelika Otherwise, this semester I have come a good deal closer to my goal of obtaining the continuing education certificate "Children and the Changing Family" at the University of Berkeley. I took four courses this semester, so I was and am quite busy with work. I particularly enjoyed and benefited from two of the courses. One was about so-called "stepfamilies" and the other about the social services available in California for families with children. The term "stepfamily" might sound somewhat negative to German ears, but it simply means that children from different marriages or relationships live under one roof because their biological parents have divorced or separated. Since, as is well known, every second marriage in the USA ends in divorce, this is a highly relevant topic. The woman who led the course is a family therapist and herself from a "stepfamily." Moreover, she has been married four times and has thus raised her own children and "stepchildren." The course was mainly about learning the normal phases this new family goes through and how to professionally support them to make living together easier. In the USA, there is already a lot of research on this topic, and the course teacher is considered an expert in this regard. What made it so enjoyable was that this woman was not only an excellent teacher but also conveyed the topic with a lot of enthusiasm and conviction. Despite the serious nature of the topic, we laughed a lot, and I retained a lot that I can take with me for my own work. By the way, I think this topic is still far too little considered in Germany, after all, the divorce rates in Germany are not necessarily lower than here.

The course on social services in California provided me with a good overview of the support available for families in California. What makes it so difficult to keep track here is that, although there are federal laws (valid throughout the USA) that regulate general social assistance programs, each state (e.g., California) and even each municipality (e.g., San Francisco County) implements its own programs. Part of the problem is that federal laws only set minimum requirements, which are not sufficient for many states. This is especially true for states considered to be more socially oriented. California is one of these more liberal states. Additionally, California is a wealthy state and is therefore willing to spend more on the socially disadvantaged. However, even in California, there are cuts and savings everywhere, so many effective and preventive programs are no longer funded.

For this course, we had to do very meaningful "assignments" ("homework"). Since the goal was to learn as much as possible about the various social institutions, we had to, for example, gather information about institutions in the neighborhood where we work or live. Another time, we were given a case study in which a mother with three children was homeless. We had to find out what assistance was available for this family in San Francisco. It was not enough to list various institutions; we had to call the individual providers and ask detailed questions, such as how long the waiting time is to get a place at a homeless shelter. Initially, I was skeptical that the relevant providers would even take the time to answer my questions. However, I had consistently positive experiences. People were always very enthusiastic that I, as a foreigner, was taking such a course and patiently answered all questions. A great learning experience. I then wrote my final paper on public special education in the USA, which is education for children who have special educational needs for various reasons (e.g., children with disabilities and behavioral issues). Since many of you in Germany work in this field, I want to quickly provide some information on this. "Special education" in the USA is regulated by a law from 1975, which is summarized by the principle: "No more special than necessary." There are various models to support these children. Some are taught full-time in regular classes and receive additional therapies (e.g., speech therapy), others are integrated into regular classes only part-time and receive special instruction in another classroom with a special education teacher for the rest of the time, and others receive instruction all day in a special class, which is still in the regular school building. Finally, there are private schools for these children, which correspond to our special schools. Although these schools are private, the law stipulates that the public sector must finance the costs of educating the respective children if admission to such an institution is necessary. In summary, one can say that the goal is integration. Whether a child receives special education is decided by a multidisciplinary team of the school authority. The law actually sounds quite promising. Unfortunately, no one thought about who would bear the enormous costs necessary to properly implement this law. Thus, in practice, the integration of these children does not look so rosy. There is a lack of well-trained teachers, and the quality of support again depends heavily on the individual state.

I am also determined to volunteer again in a special class or facility, just to gain a better insight. So, enough about my courses. Just this much: Next semester, I have enrolled in four courses again. However, this time there is also a photography course included. As you can see, there's no chance of me getting bored. After all, I continue to go to the childcare facility volunteering in the Tenderloin twice a week.

Election Campaign For the Governor's Office

Seinfeld Comes To an End

Angelika And yet another once-in-a-century event will take place next week in terms of media: The final episode of our favorite show "Seinfeld" will be broadcast after nine years of success. Anyone who has visited us knows what "Seinfeld" is all about, as we have practically forced all our visitors to watch at least one episode with us. For all the rest of you, I will now try to explain what makes this show so appealing:

First of all, the show is an American "sitcom." This is a program that is broadcast daily for half an hour, always set in the same environment, usually with the same actors. In other words, something similar to your "Lindenstraße" A hallmark of "sitcoms," which are considered funny, is that laughter is played from a tape, which is totally annoying, but that's another topic. "Seinfeld" is about the New York comedian Jerry Seinfeld, who plays himself, and his neurotic friends Elaine, George, and Kramer. The short, stocky, balding George is a coward and a first-class loser. Kramer always bursts in unannounced, immediately heads to the fridge, and hates being called by his first name "Cosmo." Elaine is Jerry's ex-girlfriend and actively participates in being corrupt. The show is essentially about nothing and yet about everything. It deals with things from daily life. There are episodes where the four can't find their parked car in a parking garage, George has his desk at work modified so he can sleep better, or they prove that "non-fat" ice cream can't exist. This all might not sound very exciting, but folks, I'm telling you, it's hilarious. The humor is so wicked and bitter, it brilliantly and entertainingly showcases the dark side of people. We particularly like that the show brutally mocks American society, which might also explain why Seinfeld wasn't successful in Germany. You only understand it if you live here. By the way, Seinfeld is so popular here that people tell the show's jokes at parties and at work. Usually, just a keyword is enough, and everyone around bursts into laughter. For example, if you don't know what "yada-yada-yada" means, you're out. "Yada-yada-yada" means something like "etc. etc." You even read it in newspapers here now. In any case, we'll be sitting in front of the TV on Thursday to watch the last episode. Sniff. You really don't know what you're missing.

So, enough chatting for now! Michael will write something next time as well, promise!

So long!

Angelika und Michael