I am starting to feel more at home in Macau. Not because Macau is anything like my home, but because I finally feel like I am part of the community.
At first, I had a hard time making friends. Maybe it was the fact that I literally didn’t know a single word of Chinese (as opposed to the 10 that I know now) or because I found the Macanese to be a bit more closed off than I am used to coming from America. Either way, I have made some really nice friendships, both in and out of the office. And I have found that the friends that I have in Macau are some of the nicest, warmest, and coolest people - you just have to make it past that initial phase. I think in America, and Europe, people are a little bit more open, at least right off the bat.
I feel like I always have something to do during my few hours away from work on the weekend days - whether it’s hanging out with friends, checking out different events going on around town, or playing with the kids in Taipa Central Park! In fact, playing soccer with the kids in Taipa Central Park is something that I love to do. This time when I went to Macau, the kids recognized me from the previous couple of trips and they were so excited to play with me that they actually called their friends and told them to come down so we could play a match all together.
On the topic of football - one of my friends who I met, Fredo, managed to even find me the holy grail of soccer jerseys: a Macau national soccer team jersey. I had been looking for it for something like 6 months without any luck. I went to all of the Nike, Adidas, New Balance, and Puma stores asking about it, and every single time they told me that they had no clue what I was talking about, for people weren’t even aware that they even had a national team! Anyway, when I asked Fredo about it, he managed to get me one in about 6 minutes - because his friend knew the guy that manufactures the jerseys for the national team. I ended up getting a custom jersey with my name and number on it, which is one of my most prized possessions. And every time I wear it around town people are always complimenting me on it.
Football really is the universal language.
I have also started to meet a lot of people outside of our clients, even outside of the casino industry. For example, I got to meet Ryan, who is a professor at one of the universities there. I read a lot of his papers when I first got into the gambling space. And then later I even got to meet one of my academic heroes, Davis Fong, who is the head of the prestigious gaming program at the University of Macau. More on that in my University of Macau blog.
Also, I have expanded my friend network beyond the analysts that I work with. I met some of the core locals that take me out to the local bars and karaoke joints, where probably not very many guai-lo’s have ever walked, let alone sung their hearts out to Bon Jovi.
