The Office Summer Outing

We had our summer outing for the office last weekend at a resort in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. It was really initiated by the Social Committee in our office to be a team-building session. Most of us though saw it as a chance to have a break from the usual 9-6 routine.

I almost didn't make it in time because I woke up at 7 AM and that was our meeting time. I ended up getting dressed in 5 minutes and rushing to the Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal. I was just so lucky that my house is very near the exit points of Singapore, like the airport or the ferry terminal. The whole thing was understandable though considering I just got back from Kuala Lampur at 11 PM the night before.

The whole event was held at Sebana Cove in Desaru. It's a self-contained community so once you get in, your'e pretty much trapped for the rest of your stay. In fact, they even have their own Immigration Center to have your passport stamped. I guess the whole situation was there to force us to develop bonds with different people in the office especially since no family members were allowed.

Since it was a team-building session, we had some group activities like Treasure Hunt and Raft-Building. For the Treasure Hunt, I was lucky to have the Managing Director on our team because he could really run around the resort and get the clues. So for that game, we came in first. Then in the afternoon, we had another activity for Raft Building. Since I really can't swim, I was freaking out the first few minutes I was on the raft. It took me a few minutes to calm down. For that one, we came in last.

Overall, the event was quite fun. During the night, I got a little drunk again, but I remembered everything I did. It was pretty weird though, because back home, I would never be considered the life of the party. But here, I was the one who would pull people to the dance floor and teach them how to dance. At first the band was playing really sentimental love songs, but after their first set, I went up to them and requested for more upbeat songs. As expected, it was a Filipino band so we had no problems communicating with each other.

At around 1AM, most of the people were pretty spaced out. So we all decided to head out to the pool for a midnight swim. When we got there, some of my colleagues decided to strip down to their underwear. Even though I was tipsy, I was still very shy so I went into the pool with all my clothes on- in my jeans and t-shirt! I really just didn't want to give people any more reason to gossip about me. Strange though, considering that at this point, I really don't care anymore since I only have 29 days left before leaving.

The next day, we actually had some free time so I decided to go canoeing. I mean if I was able to survive the raft, why wouldn't I be able to survive the a properly built canoe? Besides, the whole time I was rowing, a rescue boat was always on standby. Then at lunch, we had a chance to get out of the resort and we ate at a seafood restaurant in Kota Tinggi. Lots of prawns, lobsters, fish, crabs and so many other things.We were all so full afterwards.

At 4 PM, it was time to check out. On our way back, the waters were pretty choppy because it was raining. But the view of the sea was wonderful though. Too bad I wasn't able to go mountain climbing this time around. Hmmm....maybe when I get back to the Philippines in September, I will try to climb another mountain again.