I Moved to Little Portugal in New Jersey and Learned Portuguese in a Year
I lived off the corner of Jefferson St.
In October 2020, I got my first apartment!
My apartment was in the Ironbound section of Newark, New Jersey. Also known as Little Portugal.
Famous for its Portuguese and Spanish population, Ironbound has a few more cultural divisions.
There is the Spanish section of Ferry street, ending at the train station, featuring famous restaurants like Spanish Tavern and Fornos. This is where I learned Octopus tastes like bacon.
It neighbors the Portuguese section, where I lived.
Portuguese people party hard. At church. And you will find sports clubs, everywhere.
The Brazilian section.
The Galician section. The Galicians are Spaniards. They speak Galician, which is closer, and was originally the same language, to Portuguese.
There’s a growing population of Ecuardorians there as the Ecuardorian embassy is nearby. And, there’s Mexicans!
There's also a small and dwindling population of monolingual Italian speakers who came here from Italy many years ago. You can find hidden gems like Nasto’s for great homemade ice creams with unique flavors like corn.
You’ll find most of the people here either speak Portuguese or Spanish and either speak English as a second language, or not at all.
My first month there, my landlord had to send an electrician to help fix the breaker in my apartment. Unfortunately, he only spoke Portuguese and I could only speak Spanish at the time.
The locals here even have their own Lucophone newspapers.
In summer of 2021, I sold my car. Everything, including at least three gyms, were within walking distance.
The grocery stores here, like Seabras my favorite Portuguese grocer, we also have one in my hometown of Hillside, sell cultural novelties from Europe and South America.
You can find many unique people in this city. I briefly dated a local Portuguese-Italian Jew.
I even found a private Portuguese instructor and best friend in the form of my neighbor, Manny Vasquez. Manny, a Spanish immigrant, is the man who helped me become a polyglot! He was one himself and spoke five languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Galician and French.
Manny told me he changed is name from Manuel to Manny, to ensure that people understood he was European and not Latino or from Latin America.
I spent the last two weeks of my life in Ironbound at Manny’s house before I moved away to Austin, Texas in 2022 and then later to Puerto Rico.
Manny Vazquez passed away on June 13th 2023.
Bonito é ter um coração cheio de coisas boas. Beauty is to have a heart full of good things.
