Sleepless in Singapore: Steamboat Party

Jan 23, 2008

The other day, I got an SMS about and it read as follows: "Are you free tmr? Wanna come steamboat party?". I was pretty confused by this message, so I chose to ignore it. I assumed this has to do with some sort of clubbing party or a drinking party. Apparently the life of an exchange students involved partying it up and getting drunk atleast once a week. They have these "ladies nights" on wednesdays where the ladies get in for free and get complimentary drinks. So, wednesday night is the night to go out here in Exchange land. This "steamboat" party was also on wednesday night, so I assumed it was something similar.

The next day, Yosuke calls and asks me if I'm coming.. Still confused, I said I would come next time.. He seemed fairly offended and Yosuke is not the party type. So after a few minutes, I called back and told him I would come. I met up and it was about 10 exchange students there. Apparently steamboat parties are an Asian tradition where you have a huge pot or "steamboat" and you would constantly add things to it such as noodles, various types of meat, vegetables, spices, etc. We went to a local Singaporean's house and she was very nice. She invited all of us strangers and foreigners to her home and cooked us a grand feast. She had everything ready. When we went there, the girls started preparing or whatever and the guys (there were only 3 of us at this point) went to receive some more people who were waiting somewhere. When we came back, the table looked really grand. There were foods I had never seen in my life.. This was a korean themed party so they had Kemchi, which is a common korean dish and one of the people had brought korean alcohol.. there was only like half a bottle.. and it kind of tasted like ethanol or rubbing alcohol.

The food was amazing.. I think this was my first experience with chopsticks and really took to it. We each had rice in a bowl and we constantly add stuff to the steamboat and take stuff from it. Each time you reach into the steamboat, you get something different, something exotic, something I've never had before! It was an amazing social activity because essentially we are all eating from the same pot. There was this sense of personal bonding because it was like we were cooking together, sitting in a circle, and eating together. There was no separate ladle or a spoon to take the food. We simply take it with our chopsticks. The food was delicious and quite spicy. Most of the people were asian so they knew what this was all about. There was one other french guy who also seemed to know what was going on, since he is used to fondues and he's been here for a semester already. I was completely clueless, and this was something I chose to do extremely randomly. I got a call from Yosuke and I blindly accepted it looking for an adventure. I am glad I did because this was an unforgettable experience.

The house was also really good. Most of the people in Singapore live in government housing called HDB (Housing and Development Board) and they are mostly apartments. She is a Chinese Singaporean and her house was quite traditional. They had some Buddhist articles on top of a fridge to which they pray. It reminded me of my apartment in Toronto, where I used to live during the first couple of years after moving there. It was at this point that I realized the similarities within the Asian culture. There is a certain culture and some restrictions/obligations that Asians are faced with. I personally think it is a good thing because it gives you a sense of belonging. Also, certain things in the culture are there for a reason, such as having respect for elders, the expectation for a child to study and do their best in studies, etc. They have evolved over time and they have stuck around for a reason. The lack of culture in North America may be a good thing if you look at it in an individual perspective, but for the society, I think it is harmful. Anyway, I may be biased because I too am Asian and I have been brought up with the Asian culture. I had not realized these similarities in Toronto even though there are many Asian people there and I interact with them on a day to day basis. Anyway, one thing is for sure, Indians really need to pick up the culture of Steamboat parties! They are phenomenal!