Michael Anyone who has been to America knows that the traffic lights work differently there than in Germany: Firstly, there is no yellow phase for drivers when the light changes from red to green. It just goes "bam!" and this is probably due to the many cars with automatic transmissions: No one needs to engage a gear to start driving.

Michael Contrary to the prevailing opinion in Germany, not all Americans walk around with a loaded revolver in their belt or shoot into the air from car windows after exciting sports events. No, gun ownership and use are strictly regulated. We have already touched on the theory of American gun laws ( Rundbrief 01/2001 ). Today, let's go over what that looks like in everyday life in California.

Angelika After California struggled with various power outages due to the energy crisis (as we've reported), the bursting of the internet bubble with company closures and rising unemployment, the state now faces a budget deficit of 38 billion dollars and discontent is spreading among the population. Just as the Germans complain about Schröder and company, many Californians are angered by Gray Davis, the Democratic governor of California, who was re-elected at the end of 2002.

Michael Surely, you've also stared at a label in a piece of clothing before: "Ooh, Giorgio Armani...," wondering what it might have cost. "Ah, Prada!" The sweater may look like it's from a thrift store, but hey, it was surely expensive! Recently, in a magic shop in Las Vegas, I discovered something to put an end to this nonsense: sew-in labels with fabricated nonsense on them. One says "100% Pure Shit," another "100% Cow Dung." And I immediately sewed it by hand into the faux fur sweater that I've been wearing every day for years. It's just difficult to show the label to someone, but hey, humor comes from within...

Michael Over the years, I've often talked about my obsession with shopping at my favorite supermarket, "Costco." However, only long-time regular readers with an elephant's memory would know that six and a half years ago, one of my first actions in San Francisco was buying a 500-pack of trash bags there ( Rundbrief 12/1996 ). Click the link and look at the photo: In front of the Sharp TV set, which was also newly purchased at the time and has long since stopped working, and to the left of the Corona beer crate, which lasted even shorter, you can see a pack of 500 garbage bags from the company Kirkland. Why am I writing this? A few days ago, we used the last one. However, this is not because we produced extremely little waste, but rather because in the USA, you always get inundated with plastic bags at the supermarket, which you then use for trash, so you hardly use any garbage bags you bought yourself. Now I'm faced with the question: Should I buy another 500-pack, will we stay another 6.5 years?

Michael In contrast to my fellow Germans, who to my considerable surprise still like dreaming of a state pension, Americans have already grasped the truth, and no one under the age of 35 today, who earns decent money and is reasonably sane, expects any significant retirement support from the state.

Angelika Summer break in Germany: How fitting to write something about the American school system. Everyone thinks they know it from American TV shows. But do you also believe that private schools dominate in America? Wrong, only 11% of American students attended a private school in 2002 - at least according to the statistics from the National Center for Education Statistics.

Angelika And here is local news from San Francisco again! After 30 years of debating and planning, the first subway, popularly known as BART (Bay Area Rapid Transportation System), finally ran on a newly constructed route to San Francisco's airport, SFO, at the end of June. This may seem a bit backward to you Europeans. However, those who have traveled extensively in the USA know that even major airports often lack a subway connection to the city center, let alone cities having a reasonable public transportation system. Thus, the San Francisco model is considered groundbreaking. As in most American cities, the only options to reach the airport until now were by taxi, private car, or the so-called "Door-to-Door Shuttle."