Today in a brochure about kids' summer camps, I read a word even longer than Hochsicherheitsgefangene: Asylbewerberleistungsgesetz. A whopping 27 letters to say "asylum seekers' monetary aid." I don't expect to have many opportunities to incorporate that into conversation (compared to the ever-practical Hochsicherheitsgefangene), but it's nice to have another specimen for the Museum of Impressively Long German Words--a phrase, incidentally, that Stefan says you can't effectively translate as a single word. Also in the museum is German's answer to "antidisestablishmentarianism": "Donaudampfschifffahrtskapitaensgattin" ("Danube steamboat captain's wife").
We saw our future apartment for the first time today. Grungy from the outside, but quite nice from the inside. Special bonus: an upright piano! The apartment is furnished and, to our relief, fully equipped with towels, dishes, etc. There's enough room to accommodate visitors, so start booking those airplane tickets. We move in August 1.
Saying Elias' school is right around the corner makes the school sound farther away than it is. Elias will have to walk out the front door, head left a few meters, then turn left into the schoolyard behind our apartment building. In addition to the school, there are two bakeries, two pharmacies, a grocery store, a farmers' market, and a hardcore bicycle shop within two blocks of the apartment building, plus the Stadt Garten (I was corrected today for calling it the Stadt Park) less than a kilometer away. We've clearly lucked out.
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Alfonso Reyes, uno de nuestros grandes escritores, decía que a algunas palabras del alemán podías ponerles rueditas y echarlas a rodar. En español no ocurre lo mismo, tal vez por que tenemos;(¡oh contradiction!) -"hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliofobia",es decir,temor a las palabras largas.
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