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.

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.

Angelika Since I touched on the topic of "media" in my last newsletter, I want to entertain you today with some stories related to it. First of all, not only is there an election campaign going on in Germany, but a new governor (something like a prime minister) is also being elected in the state of California. There are three Democratic candidates in the race and one Republican (a Republican is from the conservative party; please do not confuse them with the right-wing Republicans in Germany). Now, one might think that the Democrats would unite against the Republican candidate. Wrong. The three Democratic candidates are engaging in real mudslinging battles on television. The election commercials are no longer about what political program each candidate has, but only about the insults one has hurled at the other. All of this is done with name-calling, which is not prohibited in America due to freedom of speech. It's a real circus. It's also alarming that each of the candidates boasts being in favor of the death penalty and wanting to take a tougher stance against criminals. Mind you, I'm talking about the Democrats, who are generally considered liberal. Very strange. It's roughly like the Greens suddenly advocating for lowering gasoline prices.

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: