Attended my company's team building yesterday. It was held in some remote, secluded resort far from civilization. The bus ride itself took more than an hour. It would have been faster had the bus driver took a shorter route.
Upon reaching the resort, we were served with a breakfast buffet. Then after, we were ushered into a ballroom for a talk. The talk was rather interesting with quite a number of dirty jokes thrown in here and there. Right after the talk were were told to enter the ballroom next door. There, we were given a warming up session. It was pretty much like playing Simon says.
After the warming up session, we were divided into groups and directed to smaller "discussion rooms". We were then divided into subgroups and were told to create our team flag, team name, war cry,and etc. Then it was followed by lunch.
After lunch our outdoor activities began. My group was assigned to repelling or abseiling. We were given a short briefing followed by a demonstration of what were had to do. In 2 leaps, the instructor had reached the ground from 5 storeys. Panic started to sink in after the demonstration. A girl stated crying when we were told to start. Our team was the last to go, so we sat there and watch as the other 2 teams leap off the wall. The longer we waited, the more we start to worry.
While waiting, our group instructor for the day told my team to gather for a group photo. We obliged and gathered nearby for the photo.Then we loitered around waiting for out turn to get up there. Our turn soon arrived.
When it was my turn to put on the rappelling gear,my team mates said "The equipment doesn't fit. You're too thin". Then several team mates started to tug the belting to tighten the harness to my butt. The instructor then placed the helmet on my head. We then climbed up 5-storeys through a dark and narrow stairway.
When it came my turn, the instructor on the top fasten the rope to the harness on my waist. He then told me to step out the window onto a thin and narrow metal platform. He told me to get into the sitting position and hold on to the rope. With one hand on the top of the rope and the other on the part near my waist, I was told to start. The instructor said to me before I stepped off the platform "Don't worry, the equipment is heavier than you". That made me laughed.
I then stepped off the platform. Then I kicked the wall and let go of the rope. Trust me, it is not as easy as it looks. The instructor on the ground instructed me to kick the wall. And so I did as I was told. The first kick wasn't too bad. When I returned to the wall, it started to get harder as I only had the rope as support. Not being trained for abseiling and this being my maiden attempt, it was seriously tough. The subsequent wall kicks got harder. I did a light kick and got lower. But the instructor wasn't satisfied and told me to kick harder with both legs.
When I kicked the wall with both legs, I spun around in mid air. That was quite scary as I couldn't get back to the wall. Apart from that I wasn't told whether to let go of the rope when I kick, or to let go of it after I kick. I was just simply kicking and releasing the rope from my grip. After heaven knows how many kicks, I heard the instructor on the ground say " Let go of the rope now. I have control". So I did as instructed. And was lowered to the ground.
After the rappelling, we were to do a treasure hunt. Our team grabbed our bags and was heading to the other side when our team leader asked "Where's our flag?" All of us looked at each other as we had no clue who was the last person to hold the flag. We were too engrossed in the rappelling that we forgot about our team flag. We then searched for our flag but it was no where to be found. Our team lead then said that it's ok. So we proceeded with the treasure hunt.
Before we could even start, it started to pour. It rained so heavily that we had no other choice but to seek shelter in the resort. Since it was raining so heavily, we were told to proceed with tea and the treasure hunt will proceed after the rain stops. But the rain did not stop. In fact it rained harder. We waited and waited for the rain to stop and finally the treasure hunt was called off. We were then told to proceed to the porch.
At the porch, the winners for the best of each of the four groups were announced. Our team emerged as the winner for the red team. We were ecstatic but at the same time perplexed as how we won given that we lost out team flag. When our team lead came back, he said we most probably won for our co-operation during the rappelling session.
After that, we were given certificates for our participation. However, we were not given our own certificates. We were given other people's certificate and we were told to search for our own cert from the other party that has our cert. When we find the person holding our cert, we are to shake their hand and give them a hug. We were then told to return the flag poles (the broom stick). Our team started to worry as we lost our flag. Then one of the instructors took out our flag from his pouch. We suspected it was him but he pretended not to know when we asked about our flag earlier when we discovered it went missing.
Our team building session ended after a photo session. We adjourned and boarded our respective coaches. By then it started to rain again. Our hour long journey became over 2 hours long due to the heavy downpour and bad traffic congestion.
I was aching all over when I reached the office concourse. The ache got worse today. It only ached near my butt area yesterday. But today my torso area hurt too.
