Angelika People like us who live in an earthquake-prone area always find it particularly nerve-wracking when a strong earthquake occurs somewhere in the world. Everyone immediately wonders if the next one will hit us and what it would look like here after an earthquake with a magnitude of 8.9, like the recent one in Japan.

Angelika Tourists in San Francisco often notice that there are a lot of homeless people in this city. There are various reasons for this. First of all, rents are very high and housing is scarce. The relatively mild climate and a reasonable range of social programs for the homeless also attract many. Most homeless people are completely harmless. Of course, they ask for money, but if you kindly say "sorry," the matter is usually settled.

Angelika Golden Gate Park in San Francisco is surely familiar to many of you. This green oasis in the heart of the city stretches almost from the city center to the ocean and rivals Central Park in New York in terms of fame. Although there are plenty of homeless people and teenage runaways loitering on the side paths, the park also offers a botanical garden with native plants, a large greenhouse with rare plants ("Conservatory of Flowers"), and a Japanese tea garden. Additionally, there are two relatively newly renovated and modernized museums: the "De Young" art museum and the natural history museum "California Academy of Sciences," which includes an aquarium and a planetarium.

Michael American news broadcasts often report only on local events, and there is plenty of that in San Francisco and the surrounding area. A shooting in front of the nightclub on 16th Street, a roadblock because someone found a box of World War II hand grenades while cleaning out the basement, an exploded gas line that set half a neighborhood on fire -- such reports are commonplace for us. People are only marginally interested in whether a civil war breaks out in Libya or a reactor explodes in Japan, and local news stations report on these events at most briefly.

Angelika Certain things seem unstoppable; like the vinyl record, CDs will eventually disappear. Traditional bookstores are also increasingly vanishing in the USA. This is partly because there is no fixed book price agreement in the USA, leading to ruthless competition. Additionally, many people now order their books online from Amazon, which often sells books up to 40% cheaper.

Michael Due to the Libya crisis, fuel prices recently skyrocketed here. The premium gasoline that our rocket eagerly guzzles now costs almost four dollars per gallon ($0.77 per liter)! However, this affects us only peripherally at most, as we hardly drive and spend maybe $50 per month on gasoline. But SUV-driving suburbanites are desperately tearing their hair out.

Michael The great American quiz show "Jeopardy!", in which three contestants are confronted with all sorts of trivia questions, have to press big red buttons, and then quickly give the correct answer, is now entering its 47th year. It was created in 1964 by media mogul Merv Griffin and has been running in practically the same format ever since.

Michael "Who needs something like that!" was my first thought when the online clearance site woot.com ( Rundbrief 03/2005 ), as part of their weekly "Two for Tuesday" promotion, recently offered the coffee maker slider "Handy Caddy" in a convenient two-pack.

Michael At the grocery store, when a new checkout lane opens in Germany, people at the back of the line start running to be the first to reach the newly opened conveyor belt. In the USA, the new cashier doesn't start working immediately but instead invites the customer who is furthest ahead in the next line to come to the new empty checkout, and those behind can follow if they wish. This way, the person who has waited the longest is served first, rather than the one who fought their way to the best position by running and elbowing others aside.

Michael In a discussion, if there are funny mix-ups, it might happen that an American exclaims "Who's on first?" and everyone laughs. This refers to a classic sketch by the comedy team "Abbott and Costello" from 1936, in which Abbott plays the coach of a baseball team whose players have confusing names like "Who," "What," and "I don't know."

Angelika After being surrounded by nothing but alarming news lately and anxiously waiting all week for the radioactive cloud from Japan, we were looking forward to a bit of a change of pace to celebrate our friend Conny's birthday. We were going to the bowling alley. I had never bowled or played skittles in my life, even though bowling, the American version of skittles, is very popular here as well as in Germany. There are huge bowling centers in many places, and the sport is an integral part of American culture. Birthdays are celebrated at the bowling alley, and bowling is a harmless leisure activity for a first date when both would-be lovebirds are not quite sure where things are headed.

Michael Our old car "Perly Perlman" is celebrating its 20th birthday this year, and although it doesn't look like much anymore due to sun damage to the paint, it still runs reliably like an old racehorse. We park it on the street because our other car, the Rocket, occupies our only garage space.

Michael If something is prohibited in America, Americans tend to handle it pragmatically if the prohibition seems pointless to them. This has deep roots, as they are not a nation of order-takers, often using German history as a cautionary example. Double parking? Fine if there's no parking space available. Pedestrian traffic light is red, but no car is coming? People routinely cross anyway. Dogs must be on a leash at the beach? Oh, let the cute little Fifi run free. And smoking marijuana joints is so ubiquitous in San Francisco that one might think it's legal. The rule here is: If it doesn't bother anyone, you can do it.