Trolak!

Last weekend was a team building event at the office, it was a pretty interesting experience. It gave me a chance to observe my colleagues and how they are outside the workplace.

According to the itenary, we were expected to be at the office lobby between 7.30 and 7.55 am. Yes, on a Saturday morning, sigh. But nonetheless I along with the rest of my colleagues made it to the pickup point by 7.55 am.

Unfortunately, due to the god damn Malaysian timing bull shit, the bus driver only came at 9 am!

Of course it pissed me off, cos I could have been sleeping given the late night I had ;)

Staff were against the event considering that the weekend was the only time they could recuperate, also majority were married, hence they had to factor in the welfare of their children and spouses.

Anyways, considering that this event was a chore to many as it was taking up their weekend, the delayed bus was added annoyance!

It fueled more side remarks from a number of staff. And it was sad that most of the comments led to the organizer of the event, when in actual fact it was due to the incompetence and irresponsibility of the bus driver.

Initially, when we were gathering at the office lobby, it was strange to notice that the staff had segregated themselves into two groups, separated based on one criterion, sex. This is one factor I don’t understand in my office. Perhaps it might be due to the fact that we’re in Islamic banking.

Nevertheless, me being a non-muslim female, I could have mingled with the men, but somehow I felt I would be out of place. Another problem I have with my workplace is language. Informal talk is done in Malay, and I just can’t bring my self to converse in Malay. Just not used to it! so I guess that would have added to the awkwardness had I gone to mingle with men. But some men did come and hang out with the women, so that wasn’t so bad.

During the wait for the bus, many groups had already been formed. Those from within the department had already grouped together and were gossiping amongst themselves, however there were one or two who took the initiative to welcome those from external departments, and that basically is the purpose of team building, to get to know your supporting departments!

By the time people were boarding the bus, groups had been formed, and people found their bus partners.

I went and sat by myself, and let who ever who wished to sit next to me.

Oh, another thing that irked me was that room partners were determined based on Race. Malays were put together, the two Indian women and 2 chinese women were put in room together. This I felt was unnecessary cos aren’t we supposed to be in the spirit of 1 Malaysia?

In the bus, everybody prepared themselves to sleep the 2 hour journey, but instead, we were interrupted for a treasure hunt at the Rawang rest stop. After the stop, we made another stop at a hot spring!

The hot spring was fun! We had to fight hot waters, trying to put our feet in, and attempting to relax at the same time. I somehow didn’t see the benefit of hot springs considering the fact that putting your feet into the water was terribly stressful! The water was hot for heavens sake!

People were even cooking eggs in them! And the whole time you’re sweating by the way! See what I mean by not relaxing!

When I got back into the bus, my colleagues thought I had showered! And even though I didn’t I told them I did, at least that way I’m not some kinda sweaty freak!

We finally reached our destination (Trolak) at about 1.30 pm, and by this time it was waaay past lunch time for most, and everybody got of the bus to have lunch first.

And of course, being the rare vegetarian, I tend to get forgotten. Lucky for me, one of the senior managers was also vegetarian for the month, so I knew vege food would be taken care of.

But due to the natural incompetence’s of some people, it didn’t occur to the resort to prepare our food in advance, instead, they waited for us to come, and make a request. Sigh…

After eating, we got our luggage, and prepared ourselves for the next item on the itenary.

Even when going to the rooms, there was whining along the way, about how there was no lift, and how come the organizer of the event got a room all by herself.

Malaysians just don’t stop complaining innit? Rather than coming up with a solution instead.

Lesson learnt from this: I am going to try very hard to not complain! Even if it’s about the weather. You might as well spend that time coming with a solution instead!

Next on the itenary was walking on a suspended rope. Suspended 20 feet high. And ure being supported by a belayer. Who weighs lighter than you do.

s.c.a.r.y

so walking across the first rope was fine for me, but the second one, you had to balance on suspended ropes, that were miles apart, this was farking hard okay!

And to make matters worse, we had to jump halfway through the rope, and trust the skinny belayer. It took me a good ten minutes just walking about 50 metres, and another ten minutes to jump!

Not easy okay!

I jumped mainly cos my ceo said I should jump, and considering that my confirmation depended on his decision, I did it!

Na, I’m just kidding, I actually felt confident of jumping because of his encouragement.

Here’s another thing, when people look at me, they immediately get the impression that it would be fun to bully me, so when I jumped, my lovely belayer suspended me in air for what seemed like forever! Then he dropped me inches above the ground ever so suddenly making me scream all over again *grr*.

Then we trekked back to our rooms, got some rest, went for dinner and prepared for the next item which was a blindfolded night walk

This I thought was an effective game as we were grouped in groups of ten, blindfolded and were led to some place. We were required to finish a trail blindfolded, having faith in the person at the front of the line.

The purpose of the game was mainly to improve your communication skills, as you are required to pass on info to the person behind you as well and makes sure it reaches the last person.

I was in put in the same group as my ceo (pee’s in pants), however, I did feel that I excelled at this game, as my colleagues got to know that I can understand and pass on messages if any. Also, I think my malay improved here, cos I ended up giving quite a bit (by my standards) of instructions in Malay! *pat on the head*

So this game definitely improved my communication skills! Yay!

Oh btw, my team won! Nyaahhahaha

After waiting for the rest of the teams to come, we headed back to our rooms for a much deserved shower and sleep!

Oh and I made so many new friends! Lynn's one of em, it's funny, she's from the legal department, and hehe, she has a lot of movies...

This piece has too many words :S

The whole team in out green shirts...