My Memoirs - Citizen of the World

get into the office. In addition to the women, there was another
man who worked there who was born in the U.S. but had returned
to Portugal with his parents during the Great Depression hit. His
name was Sylvester and, since he was born in America, he thought
he was an expert on the English language. Well, when one of the
women told him to get this filthy dog out of here, he immediately
approached the dog and said, “Get out of here! Go take a douche!”
Naturally, all the women started laughing hysterically and started
making fun of him. He got very upset and asked, “What are you
laughing about?” So I explained to him that the word “douche” in
English means to bathe in a bidet, a kind of sink, where the water
goes up instead of down. He got mad at me and said, “Hey, I was
born in Tiverton, Rhode Island and I know what I’m talking
about!” So I explained to him that while the word “douche” could
be used to mean “shower,” in Portuguese it has a completely
different meaning from the English word. I find this an interesting
story because many times people will use words that can signify
different things depending on the language, and it can easily lead
to misinterpretation. The word ‘douche’ is actually French. Well,
Sylvester finally learned the proper usage of ‘bath,’ ‘douche,’ and
‘shower.’
My new job required that I travel to the city several days a week in
a pickup truck with a driver. I started to meet many wonderful
merchants and friends. It was interesting to me that people on the
island of Terceira were so different from the people of my own
island of Sāo Miguel (with the exception of my close friends that I
mentioned before). Perhaps it’s because of the Holy Ghost
Festivities and the street bullfights that the people are much
friendlier and receptive to strangers. There was always a feast,
every week, somewhere on the island. An amazing place to live!
At that time, my income was fair and I found myself helping to
support my entire family. My mother had never worked before in
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