Finance Away Day 2008 - Putrajaya

I always have mixed reactions whenever the company organizes an Away Day.

Wary cos' I such outings can be quite political... i.e. people trying to show tht they have teamwork / leadership qualities in front of their bosses. Activities / "games" ended being a competition to show who's best & some might end up making the experience horrifying when they turn into "mini-Hitler" on a misguided impression tht it is "Leadership" qualities...

Dread cos' the teambuilding sessions can be quite taxing & God knows I have not been exercising / not fit to endure an "Amazing Race" style teambuilding activity.

Fear in case we're paired with a "Room-mate from Hell". Some of us had tht horrible experience last year & the year before.

Fortunately, this year is rather pleasant...

First off, the Dinner. Rather than having difficult themes like "Tribal" / "Vegas" / "Oscars night", where ppl spend hundreds on a rental just to look good / fit the theme, this year it is "Traditional Costume tht is not of your own race". Great! I have a Philipino blouse called a "Saya" tht I've been dying to wear but have not found the occasion to. I bought it during my last trip to Manila when I was on business trip. It's made of Banana Fibre & is semi transparent - the more famous kin of this costume is the men's version called the "Barong". Am suppose to wear a white camisole underneath & pair the blouse with a long black skirt. Unfortunately I don't have a white camisole, so I had to settle with a black one, but looking at it, it still works. The really traditional version is actually made out of pineapple fibre, but was advised by my Philipino colleagues to avoid tht cos' it tends to be rough & irritates the skin. Bought a matching Barong for hubby dearest too on tht trip. Didn't expect to win "Best Dressed" / anything, but it's the first time tht I followed the theme.... :-p

Secondly, the activities were not as strenuous as before (or so I thought... had aching shoulders & aching tummy throughout the weekend from doing 20 x push-ups & 20 x sit-ups). It was scary at first cos' the facilitators were from a company called "The Jungle People" & as they said "Cos' it's a Jungle out there"... You Bet!!! It was rather fun in fact & more meaningful / insightful. I was nervous though when we were asked to make a "self-propelling vehicle" out of a limited number of stuff (the usual - straws / satay sticks / cardboards / balloons / rubberbands etc)... I was like "Hello! We're Finance ppl... not engineers... How would I know how to make a self propelling "vehicle" tht doesn't involve pushing / pulling / using a slingshot (unless the slingshot is in-built on the "vehicle)! The key word here is "Self-Propelled". Irregardless, it was all good fun & we did have a number of "vehicles" tht actually can move a foot or 2 (though, we do have many more tht did not move at all)... :-)

Lastly, I was paired with Storm! Which, although was a relieve, but maybe not a very good idea... We ended talking & talking till 3+am & we had to wake up at 6+am!

I chose to stay back & enjoy the hotel room cos' I juzz didn't like getting drunk when I know I have to attend many activities the following day - end up watching Norbit on telly. While Storm went out to "party". She came back rather drunk but we chatted as we usually do. Somehow, the conversation turned towards serious stuff like Lubs business / Product Costing / Pricing etc-etc... I was surprised wondering since when Storm talks about work after work? Then I thought, maybe she just wanted to tap on my past experience... ok... layan lar...

When she's sober the next day, she said - "Eh! Did I ask you about lubs stuff & work last night? I must be really drunk! I remembered asking you about work, but for the life of me I don't know why I did that!"... Well she better remember what I told her, cos' I sure won't repeat that "tutorial"!!