Having just left the USA, it feels like I should loose a few words about the country. Stuff I simply didn´t get around to write about while I was there.

Entrepeneurs and Volunteers

People often say that Americans have entrepeneurship in their blood. I always discarded this as bullshit, ´cause - what is that supposed to mean after all? Now however I feel like I understand this a bit better and even agree with it. It means quite simply that everone seems to have something going on at the side. A (business)plan, an idea, a dream they pursue besides their dayjob to make it big. I met a guy who is currently in the process of launching his own line of designer-hats, Bonnie is using the booming real estate market in Madison to get higher morgages with which she buys more houses, Steve started a Wi-Fi company and so on and so on. I know, those were only three examples, but that´s just ´cause I simply can´t remember the others. The point is: Almost everyone in the States seems to have something on his mind that he would like to explore or do to make more money. In contrast, back home in Germany, most people can´t even imagine not having a regular job. We are so obsessed with security that most people never dare to dare something.

What I just wrote could be interpreted that way that like I consider Americans to be ruthless capitalists, who are always for the next boom or hipe. But I found another side as well: I have never been in a country where so many people volunteer so much as in the States. I found that Libraries, tourist informations and many other places are manned by volunteers, who invest their time for the good of the community they live in. In Germany, people would think you are crazy if you asked them to do anything for free. In fairness, though, I should add that in Germany, young man who don´t want to get drafted have the opportunity to do social service instead of military service. So these men fill a lot of the slots that are filled by volunteers in the States. Nevertheless, let me give you two examples from two friends of mine: Katie volunteers for the local police and amongst other things helps them at nights with alcohol-tests for drivers. Bonnie, helps EF to find families for exchange students. And these families, who take in kids for up to a year, do so without getting paid either (which makes me wonder where all the money goes that exhange students pay goes). I find this spirit of volunteering quite amazing. And now to something completely different.

Tips and Taxes

One of the things that dorve me positively nuts in the States was that you never ever know, how much you actually have to pay for something. Because all prices are always without salestax! So you get out 3.99 USD for a cappucino and all of sudden the cashier rinsg in 4.13 USD. And to make things worse, sales tax is differnt in each and every state! This is bad enough with ordinary goods. But it gets positively obscene when it comes to restaurants. Because here, you do not only have to add salestax, but in addition to this a tip (which should be around 20 % of the bill) or a service-charge if you are more than five people. The most extreme example I can think of was when there were six of us and we had ordered food, that according to the menue cost 46 USD. But when we got the bill (with two different taxes for food and I suppose alcoholic drinks), the total was over 65 USD! Holy cow! I once asked someone why they don´t add the tax and the explanation was that that would be a bad idea in case someone orders something from a different state. I have to admit that this makes kindof sense for things like TVs or tiles (even though I still think it´s stupid). But how many people have their pizza or a cup of coffee delivered accross state-lines? Grrr. That is soooo irritating!