Friday, May 11, 2012

Team outings - more fun in the Philippines!

In the Philippines, it's common for company team events to be held at a beach resort on an overnight.  So when my team said "lets go to the beach!" I couldn't say no :)  After much research and calling around to find a suitable resort, we settled on the Vistamar Beach Resort in Anilao, in the province of Batangas.
 It took us about 2 hours to get to the resort, thanks to our trusty driver, Dion, who procured a van large enough for all of us.

We were able to bring our own food to the resort, and we arrived hungry so we decided to get cooking.  My team would not let me lift a finger to help prepare it.  They had to improvise a bit since it was a bit like camping with regards to cooking the food - on an open flame - even the rice, which was cooked in a pot over the fire.  There was hot dogs, fish, veggies, mango and plenty of snacks.
Men working over the fire.  Classic.

The spread.

After we ate, it was time for the real fun to begin.  Ralph generously paid for a boat to take us island hopping.  This just means that a man with a boat will take you to various spots around the bay.  We strapped on our life jackets, took some pictures (haha, of course!) and were on our way.
L to R: Dion, Charm, me, RC, Wella, Joanna, Tina and Meneth.  Ralph took this photo.

We're on a boat!
Our first stop was to a spot where we could feed the fish.  The fish crackers came out and the water came alive with these little striped fish.  It was so cool, but it freaked me out a bit at first because I was in the water and they were swimming all around me.
See them??
After feeding the fish, we moved on to try to find an actual beach to hang out at.  This proved more difficult than we thought, as the beach the boat driver took us to looked lovely from a distance, but as we pulled in, our excitement faded into disappointment.  No one wanted to get out of the boat because the water was full of trash.  The hubbub of chatter quieted as we all pondered how the beauty of the place was ruined by the garbage in the water.  We all made a mental note to clean up after ourselves to keep our earth beautiful.
Looks pretty from a distance, doesn't it?  :-(
We ended up back at the place where we fed the fish, and we spent a couple of hours there just swimming around, goofing off and taking turns with snorkeling masks.   A couple of my team members had never snorkeled before and it was so great to hear them exclaim "THIS IS SO COOL!!" after viewing what's under the water clearly for the first time.  I wished that I had an underwater camera - I spotted a blue starfish!  We had so much fun - fears were overcome and first time experiences were had for some!

It's ok Meneth, you'll float!

Snorkeling thumbs up!
Upon returning to land, we all got cleaned up and it was time for some tequila, dancing and goofing off!  Since the majority of the group had worked the night before and were going on being awake for 24 hours, it wasn't a very late night, but it sure was fun!


Shots and dancing!  Woot!



 I think we were all in bed by midnight or so?  The girls had one room and the guys had another.  The next morning we enjoyed a breakfast of a small fish, sausage, an egg, rice, cucumber and tomato, which was included in our resort rate.




This was an experience that I will never forget.  I feel very bonded to my team and they to me and to each other.  I look forward to my homecoming, but it will be hard to leave them.  <3