Be A Local
Terina, Cao Ting Ting
“I much prefer to be regarded as a local here,” said Daddy Ka. But “I am a Shanghainese deeply inside, since the root of my family and me is in Shanghai.”
Daddy Ka is one of the mainland China people holding Macao citizenship. He brought his wife and a seven-year-old daughter to Macao in 2001 and they have been living here for a decade. During this long period, his thoughts toward how to define “home” have changed a lot.
Their home is located at Iao Han District. It’s not quite a big house, but can be described as an exquisite space. Its dominant tone is green: the wall is painted in bright green and plenty of plants are the best decorations in the house.
“Green can make people feel peaceful and cool, and it is suitable for the hot and moist weather here,” said Daddy Ka. Besides the green wall, a big “mirror wall” is another creative and conspicuous interior housing design to create a sense of a larger space.
The space they see as a home now was formerly used by the Ka’s family as a means for the investment immigration. In the first two years, the house was just a “sleeping space” for them.
“It took us around two years to get used to the life here and the house we are staying now is not just a sleeping space. It’s our home,” Daddy Ka said.
“Lots of difficulties came to us almost every day when we just came here. Not only the language barriers, but also how to deal with the neighbors,” said Daddy Ka. In fact, it is still not easy for Daddy Ka and his wife to speak fluent Cantonese.
“Buying food in the market also becomes a tough job,” said he. He feels helpless every time dealing with an old salesman who does not understand Mandarin.
Daddy Ka’s daughter Angela is a senior student in high school. Unlike her father, she totally regards herself as a local, although she was born in Shanghai and is good at both Cantonese and Shanghainese.
“We hope this can help Angela get to know the local culture and integrate into the local society as soon as possible because Macao is the home we plan to spend the rest of our life,” said Danny Ka who always encouraged his daughter to make friends with the local kids when she was young.
Daddy Ka said that the social welfare in Macao and the leisurely living pace are the vital reasons attracting him to choose it as his permanent home. In his eyes, the Macao citizens are contented to remain where they are - they are more patient than the mainland China people.
“It’s the most obvious difference in the characteristics between the mainland and Macao people in my view,” he said.
Daddy Ka also simply used two words to conclude the difference between his home in Shanghai and Macao ??“mental” for Shanghai while “life” for Macao. He said that no matter how wonderful his life is or how successful his career is in Macao, Shanghai, after all, has left him too many precious moments that can never be taken away from his heart.
“Even though I’m trying so hard to be a local like learning Cantonese and hanging out with my peers in the company, I am still a Shanghainese from the deep down of my heart,” Daddy Ka said.