Michael Germans traveling abroad are known to avoid other German travelers. You often hear, "Don't look over there, there are Germans!" or "Oh my God, the accent of that simpleton is so embarrassing!" However, after a few years abroad, even the most hardened expatriate seeks contact with like-minded people.
Germans living in San Francisco have access to the so-called San Francisco Stammtisch" discussion group hosted at Yahoo that you can join via email. On the mailing list, the typical questions from newcomers trickle in, which the wise old-timers among the expatriates answer good-naturedly. However, the list owners regulate the communication with an iron hand and do not allow people to sell old junk or express extreme political views. A few years ago, it was quite bad, as the postings were filtered by an authoritarian censor who enjoyed playing the role of the infallible ruler. Fortunately, that person has now left the building.
Another curiosity is the brief introductions encouraged by the organizer for newcomers, which always read like, "Hello, well, I'm Martin from Buxtehude and now I live in Palo Alto. My hobbies are swimming, hiking, and enjoying a nice beer. I'd be happy to meet like-minded people sometime!" But, hey, I don't want to make fun of these people; the San Francisco Stammtisch mailing list is enormous in size, I once heard growth is about 100 subscribers per month! The operators must be doing something right. And it's certainly not the web design of the homepage, that must be said clearly, it feels like a time travel back to the year 1990!
Once a month, an email is sent out stating that on the first Monday of the month, people gather for a regular meet-up. Then, starting at 7 PM, the Germans living abroad in San Francisco and the surrounding area march into the "Wish" bar, located at 1539 Folsom Street (in SoMa), which is reserved for this purpose. During "Happy Hour," a pint of beer costs only $3 (until recently it was $2, but the crisis, the crisis!), and that's quite reasonable, as you usually pay around $5 for a pint (approximately 0.5 liters) in the city's other bars.
The crowd is enormous! We went there a few times, and there were an estimated 100 people each time! Most of them are Germans who take the opportunity to let off some steam about the catastrophic American health insurance system. Occasionally, a few Americans wander in who want to brush up on their German skills. Naturally, that's a hopeless endeavor, but you don't want to discourage these people. Okay, joking aside, the event is quite well organized, and we've actually met some really nice people there with whom we've become friends.