Michael During our stay in the USA, which has now lasted more than 10 years, none of us has ever received a traffic ticket. Well, okay, parking tickets don't count, as they are as much a part of everyday life in San Francisco as brushing your teeth. And we don't drive particularly slowly either, but the speed traps on the side of the highway are so obvious that only the absent-minded would fail to notice them.

Angelika For quite some time, Michael has been predicting that the American housing market would eventually collapse. He regularly sent newspaper articles to the homeowners among his colleagues that supported his hypothesis. We are considered a bit of an anomaly since we still rent. In overpriced cities like San Francisco and New York, where real estate prices, along with the property taxes to be paid, have long taken on surreal proportions, renting is indeed the more financially sensible solution.

Angelika In Rundbrief 08/2007 I previously reported on the somewhat unusual windows here in America, but American showers also have their quirks. There have been several amusing scenes in our apartment when German overnight guests were baffled by our shower because they didn't know how to turn on the water.

Michael Recently, we had lunch at the restaurant "MoMo's" in San Francisco's Soma District and, to our surprise, found a note in small print at the bottom of the menu: It read that the place simply adds 3.5% to every bill without asking, a so-called "San Francisco Health Care Security Ordinance Service Charge" (Figure 1).

Michael We have often described the catastrophic parking conditions in our neighborhood, but recently the situation has worsened. To make matters worse, there is now also the residential parking zone "Z," which is marked by appropriate traffic signs. Within this zone, you are only allowed to park for 2 hours on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. if you do not have the corresponding permit on your car.

Angelika Currently, the Republican presidential candidate has been determined, while Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are still in a neck-and-neck race for the Democrats. John McCain can be confident of his official nomination at the Republican National Convention in the summer. For the Democrats, this time the superdelegates will play the decisive role, as I already predicted in the last newsletter( Rundbrief 02/2008 ).

Michael Just like in Germany, heirs must pay inheritance tax, the so-called "Estate Tax," on an inheritance. However, there is an exemption limit set at 2 million dollars.

Angelika In America, aside from December 25th for Christmas, there are no religious public holidays where employees have a day off work. Good Friday and Easter Monday are just regular workdays. However, many Americans do celebrate Easter. Children hunt for Easter eggs, and the churches are full. San Francisco celebrates a very special event every year at Easter, which falls into the "Only In San Francisco" category. The "Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence" celebrate Easter Sunday in Dolores Park, just around the corner from us, in a very unique way.