ASCO Teambuilding Weekend
Trip Start
Jun 22, 2008
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188
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Trip End
Jul 04, 2013
Tagaytay, Luzon, Philippines
Saturday, March 19, 2011
At 7pm we all gathered on the outdoor patio for dinner and the start of our evening program. We had a contest for Mr, Ms and Mrs Luau based on who had the best Hawaiian theme attire. There was a video of photos taken during team events over the last year and there were team introductions. Then we played a surprise game the program committee put together for us. In this game, popular music videos were played and contestants were chosen and had to recreate the moves made in the videos. As an added entertainment feature, the program committee members also videoed themselves doing the moves and interspersed that with the orginal video footage. The committee’s footage was really funny, especially Roger who really played up to the camera. Some of the contestants in this game seemed to be shy performing in front of an audience but they made the effort and that’s all it took to win a prize. One of the videos was Shakira singing Waka Waka and the contestants were supposed to put on the grass skirt and dance (we did have a luau theme afterall). The contestants kept backing away from the skirt so I got up and had Khristine help me put it on. Somebody had to get this started! I saw video of it later and I looked like a complete dork shaking my butt. Did I already mention my lack of smooth dance moves?
After all the games and presentations, we had a fire on the beach. I brought marshmallows for roasting and long metal shish kebab skewers my father bought in Turkey so we’d have something to roast them on. In the states, we would have just gone into the woods and found some sticks but when I mentioned this in the planning stages I got the look that says "Jane, you’re not in Kansas anymore". Apparantly finding sticks wasn’t going to be that simple. When I brought out the marshmallows and skewers it looked like nobody had a lot of experience with roasting marshmallows on campfires so I gave some lessons. But people seemed reluctant to get close enough to the fire to actually toast the marshmallows. When I mentioned they should get closer they questioned, “isn’t that dangerous?” Well, yeah. “and with all that smoke, isn’t it unhealthy?” Well, yeah. Don’t try to make sense of it. This is what you do when there’s a fire, right? Well, it is if you're a 10 year old girl scout in New Jersey. Maybe not if your an adult in the Philippines. But they gave it a try anyway. A quick plunge toward the fire and then a quick back and away. It was funny to watch. Once they got the hang of it they liked the results but they still weren’t comfortable with the whole idea. Mostly everybody sat at a distance and watched while sitting on the boardwalk where the smoke wouldn't get in their eyes. Maybe they had a point.
After the fire some went to sleep, some went to continue the party in one of their rooms, some went for a midnight swim. It was a “super moon” – a full moon when it is closest to the earth. Big and bright. Normally a full moon would mean things would get totally crazy and potentially out-of-control. But in the morning everyone was still accounted for, no one needed use of the first aid kit, and no one was too hungover to eat breakfast. I consider that the sign of a successful teambuilding. After some morning free time and something to eat we boarded the bus back to Manila. You’d think that would be the end of the story but the teambuilding weekend lived on for 2 more weeks thanks to our team photographers who put together slide show videos so we could relive the event. Its amazing the creativity and time that went into putting this weekend together. Everyone did a great job and I was totally impressed.
Comments
Wow! Looks like you really had fun. Good thing you had your teambuilding a little earlier. The Taal volcano is now showing some rage and might erupt or spill some sulfur dioxide anytime. A few volcanic earthquakes have already been felt in the area and PHILVOLCS is now closely monitoring the situation.