We Are Family

I must be crazy…really really crazy. Our wedding is really that near and I still have the guts to go out of town. Call me complacent but this is one outing that I couldn’t say NO to. Once a year, managers of the Asia Pacific Commercial team gather together to promote teamwork, discuss future plans and lay down work issues on the table. Last year the off-site meeting was held in Hong Kong but this year it is at Shangri-La Mactan Cebu. I’ve never been to Cebu so I’m really keen on going.

We left early morning of May 12. By 9 am we are at Shang Mactan. We went to Tides restaurant for breakfast. Yummy! The food was really great. I stuffed myself with sausages, fruits, wheat bread, croissant, bacon, ham and all sorts of pastries. Hindi naman ako matakaw, I just need a full breakfast. Hahaha! Our agenda states that we will have a working lunch at the conference room so that means that lunch will be light. Besides, I will be having presentation at that time so I wouldn’t have any appetite owing to nervousness.

After eating, we went back to our rooms and freshened up. I rehearsed my presentation, afraid that I would cause embarrassment. By 12 I took a shower and dressed up. 1pm is the start of the kick off lunch and sales presentation.

Just as we thought, the lunch served were just canapés. Not enough to fill your empty tummy. Buti na lang we had a heavy breakfast (hahaha still trying to justify myself). By 5 pm, we all got ready to present. Mine was a quick one but still my heart is thumping wildly. The 3-4 minutes seemed like forever. OA noh pero may stage fright talaga ako. The meeting ended at 6 pm.

We all met at the hotel looby around 7 pm for our group dinner. They hired a bus with tour guide and we went to the town proper. We went to a place called PORT. The place was okay but I think we were all disappointed on the food. One of our Korean colleagues said that the buko juice wasn’t that fresh. I wasn’t satisfied with the lechon either. Sayang excited pa naman ako kasi Cebu is famous for that pero yun nga hindi masarap yung lechon sa PORT. huhuhu. After that we headed back to the hotel. I just had a few drinks and went to bed. I was a bit tired. Being locked up in the conference room for long hours is really exhausting for me. I looked forward for the next day’s outdoor Team building activities.

May 13 : Team Building

Again, I’m crazy to join this. I know that it will be held outside under the scorching heat but I couldn’t say NO. Not that I’m afraid but I couldn’t resist joining. Never mind that the heat will damage my skin and I will be too dark come wedding day. How can you pass such a sunny day to play games on the sea shore. So to prepare my skin, I poured a lot of sunblock with SPF 75 to prevent darkening. I guess it worked for I just got a little bit tan. (bwaharharhar)

The activity started with stretches for warm ups then we were divided into 2 teams. The first game was Egg Drop. We were given5 minutes to strategize and a pot money that we will use to purchase the materials as discussed by the group. The task is to protect a raw egg when dropped from different distances. The egg must survive the fall on a certain distance and must not be cracked. It must be protected by the materials purchased from the suppliers. Sad to say that both eggs was cracked. hahaha!

We also played Walk the Plank, Aquaduct 1 and Blind Men’s Obstacle Relay. The last one was really funny. They have this bunot where you will ride throught the obstacle. What makes the obstacle difficult is because the player is blindfolded and must avoid smashing the eggs. On top of that the opposing team can mislead the player so that more eggs will be smashed and will make the player slow down. Btw, our team won this game. That concluded the first part of the day’s activities. We had lunch and had a short break.

At 2 pm we were all at the shore again for the next batch of activities. We did Blind Man’s Square, Kayak Race and Beach Volleyball. It all ended by 4:30. We all had fun but sad to say our team lost. hahahaha. I guess, try harded next time. We then had a dip in the pool and relaxed at the health club. We had a great time at the sauna and jacuzzi. It really invigorated us for the drinking session at the bar. hahaha!

At around 7 pm we are at Tides restaurant again. I stuffed myself with a lot of food. The whole day’s activities really made me a mean eating machine. hahaha. I know i have to control myself so that I won’t be a fat bride but I couldn’t help it. I’m only human. hahaha. While dipping strawberry on the choco fountain, we were side by side with Cindy Kurleto. She’s there with KC Montero for an MTV stint. Our male colleagues were gushing over Cindy. Men men, you know them. hehehe.

After dinner, we all went to the bar for a drink. I had 1 shot of Jack Daniels, 2 bottles of San Mig light and 1 glass of red wine. We all had a great time. A lot of colleagues were already drunk by 12 mn. We had fun looking at them and hearing their stories. I think the funniest stories are told when a person is drunk. I’m still pretty sane for I didn’t want to say something I would regret later. hehehe. Irene (my roomie) and I went back to our room at around 1 am.

May 14 Bye-Bye Time

We woke up at around 6 am and went to the Health Club. We spent an hour for sauna and jacuzzi. It was uber relaxing. =) After that we went to Tides restaurant again for breakfast. Nakakatawa for we’ve realized that too much of a nice thing is also not good. Although the food was yummy to the max, we begin longing for our good old lutong bahay. (hahaha! jologs)

By 9 am we were at the conference room for group discussion on support related issues. I had one issue ready to lay on the table. It was great to have a venue to voice out your valid concerns. I do hope the upper management will be able to push the product segment to come up with better launch pad process. The whole off-site meeting came to a close at around 11 pm. Each saying good-bye to one another. I hope the off-site will be held in Japan next year. That would be super fantastic. =)

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