May I Offer You a Juice Box?

A couple weeks ago we hosted a party at our apartment and invited a group of the people that I work with. It was a potluck so we didn't have to worry too much about food but we did have to take care of the drinks. The majority of the party attendees were single Singaporeans in their twenties so we would have assumed we needed to load up on beer and wine. Before we went shopping I asked everyone what they liked to drink and the response was "juice boxes". Juice boxes? A little confused, I made them promise that was all they wanted so I didn't go out and buy cases of beer that they wouldn't drink. So, we went to the store and loaded up on juice and tea boxes. Later that day, about twenty adults sat around my living room happily sipping juice boxes.

We found out that most of our guests rarely or never drink alcohol. The main reason is that many of them suffer from the Asian glow when they drink. Their faces and sometimes whole body will become flush which can be very uncomfortable. Couple this with the extremely high price of alcohol and they choose not to drink at all.

So why juice boxes and not soda? I'm not really sure. It seems to be a tea and juice type of culture. I recall one of my first days in Singapore when I went to a lunch meeting and juice boxes were the only drink option. I sat there watching adults sipping on juice boxes and wondering the last time I myself had had one. I think it would have been after a youth soccer game when someone's mom brought a post game snack of Hawaiian-C and Little Debbie Cakes, so about 15 years ago. It's such a contrast from the lunch meetings in the US where you need about two Diet Cokes per person. Just one of those funny quirks of Singapore.

I apologize for the slow blogging these past few weeks. My MacBook crashed and Derek had to take it to the US on his trip. My computer is fixed so when I get it back next week I will share our trip to the Singapore Zoo and some shocking photos from Thaipusam. Hopefully I will have time before we head to New Zealand at the end of the week!