Life in Macau

In simple terms, life in Macau is not that different from Utah - we eat, we sleep, we travel, we work, and we play.  But it's the details that makes Macau so much different from Utah.  Here's a few of those differences.

EATING - There are tons and tons of restaurants, mostly Chinese and Asian, some Portuguese, lots of McDonalds, and we even found 2 Mexican and Italian restaurants.  

Some restaurants prepare their food in 2 different styles, Chinese or Western.  Restaurants usually give you hot water for teas and such and look at us strange when we ask for ice water.  We've also learned there are often twists when ordering what appears to be "westernized food".  For instance, a ham sandwich is simply one slice of ham on white bread while a hot dog is super extravagant with the meat sliced in half and topped with mayo, pickle, cucumber, tomato, and lettuce on a huge round roll.

Grocery shopping is also a unique experience.  Food stores are everywhere and typically located on the street level of high rise buildings.

Grocery shopping reveals much about the Chinese tastes and preferences.  The rice and noodle isles are extensive.  I never knew there were so many versions of Ramon noodles.  There's also a huge variety of fruits and vegetables, much of which I've never seen before but am anxious to try.

The meat and seafood departments, however, are harder for me to get used to.  Many of the displays look like aquariums with live fish, crabs, etc. while other displays of chickens, duck, and such still have the neck and head attached.

I DO NOT want to know that my food was once alive and it's really hard to do that when the eyes are still looking at me - YUCK!  Other things like breads, cereals, and milk products are limited and very difficult to find.  Also, some products look the same and may be made by familiar companies but a have a twist to the ingredients.  For instance: an ice cream drumstick with sesame seeds or neopolitan ice cream with coconut, mango, and pineapple flavors. 

I still haven't gotten used to the prices here.  It seems strange to spend hundreds on only a few grocery items that won't last us very long.  I have to remember that $1 (US dollar) equals MOP$8 (Macau pataca) so a quick trip to the store can easily come to a total of MOP$350.  For instance a loaf of bread (only has 10 slices which doesn't even make 1 sandwich for each of us) costs MOP$10 or a package of 4 medium apples (again, not enough for all of us) costs MOP$25.  Because packaged quantities are small and we don't have lots of space, we go to the grocery store daily, sometimes multiple times.  I can't imagine what Costco would be like here or how easy it'd to spend thousands in just one trip.

Store hours are also a little odd here too.  Grocery stores don't open until 9 or 10 am most days and not until 11 or noon on Saturdays.  And if you go out Saturday night after 10 to get something for Sunday dinner, you're out of luck, all the stores are closed (we learned that the hard way).  There's no such thing as extended hours or "open 24 hours" here.

SLEEPING - Kyle warned us that the Chinese people like firm beds but I was still unprepared and very surprised at how hard and stiff the beds really are.  The mattresses feel more like box springs to me.

We tried a few nights to sleep on the hard beds but I woke up with aching shoulders, hips, and back because I'm a side sleeper.  Kyle and the kids don't seem to mind as much.  We bought a mattress top that we were told would make the bed softer.  It's definitely an improvement but still very firm.  I might just need lots more pillows to soften my bed and get a good night's sleep.

TRAVEL - Macau consists of the Macau peninsula (connected to mainland China) and the island of Taipa and Coloane (connected to Macau by 3 bridges).  We live in Taipa and find it easy to get anywhere in Taipa on foot.  There are lots of stores, restaurants, parks, the school, other activities all within minutes of our apartment.  Kyle's work is also only about a 15-20 minute walk.  Lots of people ride scooters around and a few have cars but parking is limited and can be a challenge.

Walking in high humidity means lots of sweating but we're getting used to that.  We're also learning to look in the opposite direction when crossing the street because people drive on the opposite side of the road.  Getting to the Macau peninsula (where church and lots of sightseeing spots are located) or Coloane (where the 2 beaches are located) we take a bus.  The busses are often crowded.  I usually can get a seat so Leah can sit on my lap but Kyle and the kids are mastering the art of standing in a moving vehicle.  During bus rides, we also gets lots of stares and fascination looks.  Many brave ones even want to touch Ian and Leah's hair.

WORK - Our chores are a little different here.  There's no carpet in our apartment which means no vacuuming but we have to sweep and mop the tile much more often, especially because most of it is white.  We have a washing machine but no clothes dryer.  That means hanging clothes up to dry either outside (which seems to take FOREVER) or in our spare bedroom with the air conditioner on a dry setting (this method usually takes a full day to dry a load of clothes).  It's still a long process and with my big family there's always a need to do more laundry.

Washing dishes is also a little different.  There's not a dish washer or a garbage disposal.  The custom here is to use a disposable table cloth during meals, after eating scrape all the remaining food/garbage onto the table cloth and throw it away.  Then wash all the dishes by hand.  We have a very small dish dryer.  It doesn't hold very many dishes so we also have a plastic countertop dish holder to air dry our dishes.

Kyle's learning to balance work with the people he works for here in Macau as well as corresponding with his coworkers in Utah, who are 14 hours behind us.  This makes for a unique work schedule.  He often gets up early to communicate with people in Utah, spends the morning with the family, goes into work in the afternoon for a few hours, then comes home to be with the family, and may do a little more work before going to bed to communicate with Utah people again.  His flexible schedule has been extremely helpful as we get adjusted to life here in Macau.

PLAY - It's been hard not to have a backyard or bike friendly streets but we're adjusting to free time here in Macau.  There's a great park close to us that we've been escaping to almost daily.  The kids enjoy the playground, stone walkway, pond with fish and turtles, and the exercise equipment.

There is lots of red and yellow exercise equipment all around town.  We see adults using them anytime of day but they're especially popular in the mornings and evenings.  I've used them a few times and think they're a good little workout.

Although we live next to the Macau Olympic Stadium, the field is not for public use.  They use it for croquet tournaments in the day and organized soccer in the evenings.  We're still looking for a good patch of grass to play soccer on but that may be hard to find here.  For now, we're having fun with the more popular activities of table tennis and badminton.  There are numerous tables and courts for these activities and they fill up quickly.  We spent one afternoon playing table tennis and observed some very talented and intense players around us.  You can tell it's a much more serious game here.

 Badminton is fun and less intense.  We bought some badminton racquets and shuttlecocks so we could teach the kids how to play.  We hope to take advantage of the numerous courts and improve our skills so when we return to the States we can challenge our family and friends.