Team Building

                                                           Team Building

 

What started out as a raw and robust plan to thresh out our angst, either from the pandemic or from our almost robotic domestic life or from the workloads we endure day-in and day-out, the TB that will be reminded us of for the rest of our natural life.

TB? Years ago, TB would have meant Throw Back-culled from our social passes in Face Book-or aptly called Throw Back Thursday, TB has a new meaning for the Millennials and Baby Boomers alike: TEAM BUILDING. Although, we already knew that, Team Building is just another word for Summer Outing or R & R (Rest & Recuperate), we nonetheless wound up with the idea that this Team Building would actually add value to our life. And literally, it did!

 

THE PLAN

Initially, the idea was to merge the two teams of our beloved Team Managers Helen Lopez and Dianne Austria at the time of the inception. The two teams, with a mix array of personalities and what-not’s, would be a blast. Thirteen agents from the other team, and twelve agents from ours. The plan was simple; get in touch with the resort-somewhere in Binangonan, Rizal- make a reservation, plan the event, distribute the food assignments, collect the contributions from the participating agents, and voila, a happy event! The chosen date was May 17, 2022 a Tuesday. The date chosen was based on both the team’s rest day which is a Tuesday & Wednesday.

It was a perfect plan; after our shift on May 17 at 10am we would go straight to my humble abode which is within 15 kilometers away from the resort, while away time, have lunch plan the games TL Helen is so much anticipated and wait there until 6:00pm and travel to the resort via public transport, and get there by 7:00pm, which was our pre-determined schedule. TL Helen was kind enough to shoulder the advance payment being asked by the resort owners to reserve the place with our designated date. The only problem was, there’s this “reshuffle” of agents and team managers to a new cluster, which in turn affected our schedules; our day offs  from Tuesday & Wednesday will be transferred to Thursday & Friday. This meant, our initial plan to merge the two groups would not materialize.

Long story short, the original date passed us by and we are back to square one. We inquired anew with the resort  owners what dates are available this May. And voila! May 26-a Thursday- is available. So Jackie and I coordinated the idea to our Team Manager Dianne, and things escalated from that. And after a few huddle, we settled the date and went with idea. Initially, everybody wanted to go, and a number would have plus ones in their tow.

 

KILLING TIME

Since the reserved schedule is from May 26 at 7pm to May 27 at 6am, we have to kill time from the time we would actually leave from the work place and going to the resort. The good thing is my house is about 15 minutes away from the venue. We arrived at our house in Barangay San Carlos past 12 noon. Riding in convoy, Jackie and I each rode our separate motorbikes with TL Dianne and Rafael as our back rides, respectively, bought some food to cook. Of course, we have to be frugal with our finances and carefully sort out the most meager food we could afford without sacrificing our love for food.  Rafael wowed us with his cooking skills when he prepared Tinolang Manok for the gang for lunch. He also prepared Pancit Canton to be brought to the venue and TL Dianne prepared a Pork Steak perfectly marinated with calamansi, pepper, salt and some more condiments to boot to hasten up the flavor. Raf also prepped a set of  veggie salad with his signature dressing. I in turn, cooked the rice we bought earlier.

After a hearty lunch, we rested for a few minutes and tinker with whatever we could to kill time. TL Dianne’s daughter Lucille is as restless as a bunny hopping all around the house, which we find adorable. Sky was her companion. My mom received us all well and hosted some stories on her own. My wife quizzically asked me who were the two kids that tagged along with us. Perplexed and confused, I told my wife, that our Team Manager Dianne brought along her daughter Lucille and no one else. Afraid that she might be seeing an entity that we can't see, she added 'the other kid' is about 14 years old and looks like a high school student. After an exchange of discourse, and trying to decipher her idea, it dawned into me; she was referring to Shairah. With her petite and child-like feature. I rolled on my belly laughing my ass off. I explained to my wife, that she is one of my colleague. Clark and Venus played some songs on the electric and acoustic guitar, while the rest nestled in our guest room. Everyone was all jumpy anticipating for the soiree later that day. Sky, Shairah, Lucy and Jackie & TL Dianne was with Lucille at their usual self, enjoying each others’ company. Some play darts. Clark was kind enough to correct some error my laptop was experiencing and updated it. Besides me, Clark, Sky and Raf, everyone took a nap. We exchanged stories atop our viewing deck on our 3rd floor edifice. By 6:00pm, we prepped ourselves and head on to our destination.

 

THE TRIP/TURMOIL

The original plan was to hire a private jeep/van to drive us to the resort. But since the salary was ‘delayed’ that day, we have to contend to ride a tricycle going there. After haggling with a few local tricycle drivers - and a few rejections to boot- we were able to find our ride to transport us to our destination, we settled with 'Oneng', a genuine local home-grown Rizaleño who has been 'plying his ware' for a number of years. We tried to be as frugal as possible with this deal, considering our salary was delayed from the usual day as before (but in reality, it was on time-we just feel privileged, that's all-snickers), and thought we made a good deal with a per head pay of fifty pesos going there. And keeping with the 7:00pm arrival at the resort, the 15-20mins travel time would be a breeze. Or so we thought! Oneng arranged for another tricycle for us and divided us into 5 persons per ride. Jackie and I took the back ride, while Faith and Rafael was at the other trike. On our ride was Sky, TL Dianne and her little  daughter Lucille. While on the other one was Clark, Shairah and Lucy. All good to go!

Two minutes into the ride, all hell broke loose, turmoil. It was raining cats and dogs! Well, it was more like Tigers and Lions. Rain poured like it was Noah's Ark's first day of voyage. It doesn't matter if one is inside or into the back ride of the trike, the onslaught was too much. The 15-min ride extended to a 30-min ride. Time is not of the essence to arrive at our destination, the common consensus was, could we arrive afloat? The torrential rain rages in as we progressed to our destination. Visibility was at 80%, Jackie and I was holding on to our lives, so to speak. If i were to speak my mind at that time, it would have been "This is adventure!"

After what seemed an hour into our trip, Waze was telling us we are 79 meters ahead. Then turmoil again, a steep climb ahead. The trike had a limit; the steep-angled road near the resort is just too much for the machine. The trike i was in tried to climb the hill and it the tricycle almost flipped backwards due to the crazy angle of the wet asphalt. Had not it been with the skill of “Oneng”, the trike driver, we would have flipped backwards! Venus and Rafael, on the other trike, had to alight from the foot of the hill, from the vehicle and push the same towards the hill, but to no avail. The plateau where the resort nestled was literally a few steps ahead, yet, we are voided of the fact that, the angle of the hill is too damned steep. Oneng had no recourse but to seek another way around the hill. After 10 minutes, Paradise abounds us!

 

THE RESORT/KNEE-DEEP IN THE HOOPLA

Carter’s Ville. The place has been there under my nose for quite some time. It was TL Helen who discovered yhe place when we had our Team Building sometime last 2021. The place is cozy. Sprawled in the hills of Mahabang Parang in Binangonan, Rizal. The multi functional resort has been host to a number of weddings,  birthdays, and just about any occasions. The ‘Bahay Kubo’ set upon entry looks perfect. The 3 interlocking pools with a Jacuzzi, a theme-colored pool and the adult pool diversified the choice for any age-bracket. The Karaoke System is right smack in front of the dining hall with two big dining tables, is beside the cooking area where Jackie cooked the Pork Steak and some more finger foods. The Japanese-themed lighting around the resort complements the mood of everyone who steps in.

The hoopla started with Venus singing party-themed songs. Clark and I alternately render rock n roll songs and some oldies. Shairah and Sky also did sang a few songs here and there. Lucy was a natural in entertaining people. She danced, sang and made those quirky and spastic moves that entertained everyone. And she can rap, maybe she made the wrong career move.   But when Stephanie arrived, she conquered the microphone. Stephanie did not travel with us from Makati. She ventured her own way going to the resort. And she had share of adventure traversing the highway of Rizal. Grace arrived with her husband and her son in tow. They arrived about an hour after we all did.

We had our dinner, but not before a number of us dipped in the lukewarm water of the pool. Of course, along with the food, alcoholic drink were also bought and all night, that 'spirit' was consumed. After dinner, everyone was already at the pool, except for Stephanie who have now monopolized the singing. TL Dianne cooked up some games and challenges, which made the Team Building fun and exciting. Pinoy Henyo is always a kicker in every event, and this is no exception. After the games, we continued to challenge ourselves with this game, Category Game, everyone will take turns in mentioning a word associated with the topic given. And the one that would duplicate an answer or don’t have an answer loses. The loser would have to drink a jigger of alcohol being served. Some categories were hilarious and some are hard to answer. Like when Shairah gave a topic “Korean actress”. What the efff..i told myself. I ended up losing that round. My favorite was when it was Clark’s turn. The topic he gave, which I coached him to say, is “Kalbong Artista”. When it was Clark’s turn, he could not think of one and blurted out ALDOUS CLARK AGRAVANTE! That did me in. We were all laughing our ass off. Rafael and Venus took the reigns in leading the pack. I vowed out early and Sky followed suit and Shairah too. Alcohol is not my thing. This continued until the wee hours in the morning. By 2am half of the group is already drunk. Venus was heard crying for whatever reason. Rafael was on top of his lungs explaining something. While I sit on the foyer area of the resort, munching on some leftover snacks, Clark approached me and said, “Pare si Sky naglalakad sa garden kanina, tapos nagpunta ng cr hanggang ngayon hindi pa lumalabas”. It turned out that Sky was asleep in the shower room. Venus also did the same, she nodded off while in the showers.

At 4.30 am almost everyone is up and about. Stephanie is doing some Tiktok. Jackie is taking pictures of everyone. It was Jackie’s cellphone which I thought had the most shots, both video and photos. Overall, t'was a well-documented affair with each team's cellular phone contributing well. Some were embarassing poses but most are post-worthy on our social media platform. Like the one taken by Stephanie of Clark's compromising position on the resort's foyer. "Sana walang mag post sa FB nung pic ko", commented Clark. Clark in turn took pictures of almost everyone while sleeping.

HOME FREE

By 6:00 am everyone is packed and ready to go. "Oneng", the tricycle driver who steered us to get at the resort, was at hand to transport everyone back home. By 7:00am we've arrived home and had some breakfast courtesy of my mom. We had coffee, kalamay and take-out spaghetti, palabok and bihon with pandesal. Then, on with our stories. Everyone has their own stories to brag about and ashamed to have experienced too.

It was a wonderful adventure and experience to everyone. The Team Building is a resounding success. With our limited budget at hand, we were able to maximize our frugal budget. And lastly, our appreciation to our Team Manager Dianne Austria for sponsoring half of the budget for the resort's rental. Thank you very much for keeping up with our nuances. Sadly, we have to part ways that day. But I wouldn't mind spending another day or night with these bunch of misfits. It was a pleasure spending that day with you all. Ciao!