Michael Even after ten years in the country, our map of America still has sporadic white spots: Los Angeles was one such location. L.A. is the quintessential American monster city: 3.8 million people live there, and 13 million people in the surrounding suburbs. Traffic is complete chaos, public transportation is practically non-existent, and without a car, you're stranded.

Michael In the afternoon, we drove to Beverly Hills to mingle with the stars and super-rich and to follow in the footsteps of Angelika's favorite show, "Beverly Hills 90210."

Michael Right next to the hilly villa district in Beverly Hills is Rodeo Drive, a well-known shopping street for the super-rich. And indeed, money was flaunted there in a way you can't imagine. One Ferrari after another, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Hermes, and endless galore of bling.

Michael On our last day there, after we had already checked out of our accommodation, we quickly rushed to the "Universal" movie studio, which offers a bus tour through the various filming locations. Universal understood that people not only want to see the studios and filming locations, but are also looking for a Disneyland-like experience with the whole family.

Michael According to experts, L.A. has better sushi restaurants than San Francisco. This is, of course, a bold claim, because in San Francisco there are not only a thousand sushi restaurants, but also some that serve at a very high level.

Angelika It's hard to believe, but one of its largest green oases, the Presidio, San Francisco owes to the military. Here's how it came about: When the Spanish settled the West Coast of the USA with missions in the 18th century to convert the Native Americans, they established not only churches but also military bases ( Rundbrief 05/2000 ). In 1776, Spanish soldiers founded the garrison "Presidio" (fortress) in what is now San Francisco. After Mexico's declaration of independence from Spain, it was under the Mexican flag until 1846, when Americans took control.

Angelika Michael had been nagging me for years to find a new job. He was probably tired of my complaining about one thing or another while working at the Tenderloin Childcare Center It took a while for me to get going. But when almost half of the familiar staff in the Tenderloin left in August, I gave myself a push last September and started looking at job advertisements on craigslist.org .

Angelika Before I could start my new job, in addition to the mandatory Tuberculosis test and proof that I can resuscitate someone if necessary, I also had to submit my fingerprints this time.

Angelika As I have already mentioned, the institution I currently work for supports preschool-aged autistic children. Smart minds have found that the earlier and more intensive a support program is implemented, the better the chances for the autistic child to improve. For those of you who are not educators, here is a quick summary of what autism is. The professional community understands autism as a severe early childhood developmental disorder that occurs before the age of three. Autistic children have difficulties with social interaction and both verbal and non-verbal communication.

Michael In Rundbrief 12/2005 , we have already reported that in some states in the USA, sex offenders are required by law to have their address listed on the internet. But even regular court records are publicly available, and "publicly" here in the USA truly means: accessible to anyone on the internet.

Michael Do you know Netflix? It's a new service that will drive video rental stores into ruin. Except for the mega-chain Blockbuster, of course, which is currently trying to drive Netflix into ruin. Welcome to America!

Michael In San Francisco, we have hummingbirds, cute creatures, about two inches long, with long pointed beaks, and they're beating their wings so incredibly fast that they can hover in the air! When such a hummingbird, in German they're called "Kolibri", approaches, it makes a buzzing sound as if an oversized bumblebee were flying by. And just like that, they are gone again; they seem to be living in an extremely hectic world.

Michael Angelika gave me a small digital video camera for Christmas, and naturally, I immediately started experimenting with it. A small sample for those who have never seen me live is shown in the video below.