Michael Somehow, Angelika and I have a special talent for constantly getting the tires of our cars flat. At least once a year, it happens that some screw or, recently in Angelika's case, even a part of a rusty old pair of scissors gets stuck in the tire, causing it to quickly deflate. Even in Germany, this happened to us two years ago during a visit. The rental car tire went flat, and we had to drive back to the branch at Munich Airport on the autobahn with the spare tire on, going 80 km/h. A true highlight of our driving skills!

Angelika From our school days, everyone surely remembers the uplifting feeling of upcoming summer holidays. When all the exams were done and six long weeks of doing nothing and letting oneself drift lay ahead. As an adult, one rarely gets to enjoy this anymore. Semester breaks in college were not bad either, but for me, they were always filled with mandatory internships. But this summer, after decades, I finally had a long summer break again because I now work at a school, and even in the US, there are generous summer breaks or, more precisely, a stretch of time without classes. At our school, we had a whopping nine weeks off. It was wonderful. Just like in school days, there was nothing better for me than to read and immerse myself in the world of books. I had planned on reading a book every week during my time off, and I actually managed to do that. I read a colorful assortment of crime novels, non-fiction books, technical books, and, of course, novels.

Michael Recently, while visiting the grocery chain Trader Joe's, I remembered that I also wanted to get a duplicate of our apartment key made, and a sign in front of the adjacent store "Bed, Bath, and Beyond" indicated that this service was offered inside. I expected to find a cobbler in a small booth near the exit behind the registers who also offered key services, but instead, I saw -- a machine.

Michael As a German expatriate, I often find myself in the absurd situation of having to explain to Americans that I do not see German vehicles as the be-all and end-all of the international automotive industry. When a sports car enthusiast colleague buys a BMW or Porsche, I can't help but think to myself: You fool! Why do you spend so much money on unnecessarily complicated frills that are also so hopelessly unreliable that the car spends more time in the workshop than thundering down the highway? I also hear horror stories from colleagues about overburdened Californian mechanics having to call Sindelfingen or Munich because completely trivial things break down, which then can only be fixed with special tools ordered straight from Mars, and which broke in the first place because they were developed by completely incompetent German engineers who seem to have lost the skill of designing reliable components.

Angelika We love hiking, and one of our favorite nature reserves, which is just about an hour's drive north of San Francisco, is Point Reyes ( Rundbrief 04/2006 ). We drive up there regularly since we discovered it in 1994 during one of our West Coast trips. Since we now live in San Francisco, it is practically on our doorstep. Point Reyes has become increasingly popular and is unfortunately no longer a hidden gem. Even just 10 years ago, people would often ask in surprise where Point Reyes even was when we mentioned that we were going there. Nowadays, Point Reyes is especially popular with day-trippers from San Francisco and the Bay Area because it is easy to reach and offers beautiful hiking trails of varying difficulties and lengths.

Michael We have been living in San Francisco for the past 22 years, and during that time, we have always been on the lookout for secluded neighborhoods that no tourist has yet discovered. Apparently, there are more people like us, because a few months ago, the "Crosstown Trail Coalition," a committee of hiking enthusiasts, published the description of the San Francisco Crosstown Trails" , a 20 mile long footpath through the city that passes by little-known attractions, even by local standards.

Angelika We are in the middle of another election campaign. In 2015, when Trump appeared on the political stage, I still thought it was completely unthinkable that Donald Trump would ever become President of the United States. Four years later, I have to say that I fear we will probably have to brace ourselves for another term. I hope that I will be wrong again this time. Many Democratic voters are particularly frustrated with the American system of electors, because in two past elections (Bush vs. Gore and Trump vs. Clinton, see also Rundbrief 12/2000 ), in each case, a president made it to the White House even though the opposing candidate received more total votes from voters. Hillary Clinton received over 3 million more votes nationwide than Donald Trump, and yet Trump won. In America, it is not the direct votes of the population that count, but the electoral votes from the individual states.

Michael In our household, things somehow keep breaking, but instead of replacing them with new ones, I often repair them with the help of my extensive tool collection. Recently, the bathroom fan stopped working. A new one costs only 15 dollars at the hardware store, but it was a lot of fun to take apart the electric motor, find the dirty axle, clean and lubricate it, reassemble the fan, and see that it now runs smoothly again. The knowledge gained from such a repair, as well as the excitement of whether you can even put the device back together, is priceless.