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I received a very nice visit from the young man who has Portugal written in his car and to whom I offered a basket of Portuguese goods on June 10. Amazingly, his family emigrated from the Azores and Madeira in the 1890s, yes, over 100 years ago, to Hawaii. His surname is Portuguese and a while back he became interested in learning more about his heritage. He has even learned a little bit of Portuguese, mostly Brazilian style, but he showed me that he found a tutor of European Portuguese and he is committed to learning it.

In my basket of goods, I included Fernando Pessoa's Mensagem, even though I did not know if the person would be able to read Portuguese. He is reading it, although he has trouble understanding some of the poems, but his favorite so far is Mostrengo, which reminds me that I should share with him a video of João Villaret reciting it. I shared with him the website for Arquivo Pessoa, since I showed him a page of Livro do Desassossego and he said that he really liked it. He is so committed to his Portuguese heritage, that he purchased a copy of Maria de Medeiros' film "Capitães de Abril" for $75, so that he could have the a DVD that is compatible with North America DVD players. I am impressed...

His wife was working, so she did not come, but I have invited them over to dinner some time, we just don't have a date yet. I don't know quite yet what to cook, but I could try to make something traditional with cod fish. I seldom cook traditional cod fish dishes; the only ones I have mastered are Bacalhau com Natas e Bacalhau cozido com batatas. I am not a very good cook, I am always making up dishes and fail to follow the traditional recipes.

Anyway, he probably thinks that I am crazy because I know how to find so many Portuguese things in the U.S. I even gave him a bag of Delta coffee, since he told me that he did have a coffee mill at home. But it's nice to have someone with whom to talk to about one's country.