We’ve got a school group here from Portugal. It is comprised of about 14 students and five teachers. They are actually from the Azores.
The Azores are a group of nine major islands and eight smaller Formigas Islands in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean fully 1,500 kms from Lisbon.
Teresa, our superwoman and head of housekeeping, is also from the Azores, although she has made Canada her home for close to three decades.
She recognized the regional accent that is distinctive to the Islanders and struck up a conversation with our guests in er native Portuguese.
But one young student’s accent proved very distinctive! “You’re not from the city,” she said. “Where do you come from?”
The boy admitted that he was from the countryside and told her the name of his village. When she asked him what his address was, the address he gave was the same house where Teresa had lived as a child and where two of her siblings had been born!
It turns out that Teresa’s father and the boy’s grandmother were brother and sister. This makes the boy Teresa’s Second Cousin, once removed (different generation).
Who said it’s not a small, small world?