TEAM ODEDA went to Salapasap (TBA 2016)

When we hear the phrase Team Building Activity, what comes to mind? 
Picnic? 
Excursion? 
Out-of-town Trip? 
RoadTrip? 
Swimming? 
Plenty of Food? 

Well, right after the stressful 2016 Elections, all of us in our office could only wish for one thing: a break! we needed a break and we wanted a 'getaway' !  

PREPARATIONS

     Just when does a TBA start? Does it start when you arrive at the venue?

      First of all, as the phrase 'team building activity' connotes, the undertaking implies that its intention is to “build the team”.  Gauging it from the current interpersonal relationships among the 16 personnel of the ODEDA, including this writer, I would say that indeed, we would be trying to build, or re-build a team, our team.  At the moment there are 16 personalities that could be described as 16 islands in an archipelago.

      So when did the TBA start? It started during the time when we decided to hold the TBA and when we initiated preparatory activities such as deciding on the venue and practicing for the contests.

DECIDING ON THE VENUE

The 3 Options:


After I researched on possible venues, my short-list led us into voting on the 3 following options: 

 Patar Beach, Bolinao, Pangasinan (photocredits to the owner of this picture)

 Alibijaban Island, San Andres, Quezon (Photocredits Albert The Backpacker)

 Salapasap Beach, Cabugao, Ilocos Sur

      Building a team entails cooperation and humility.  When we voted on the venue, we respected the choice of the majority.  So even if some of us did not like the venue with the most votes, we humbly obliged and respected the majority choice: Salapasap Beach, Cabugao, Ilocos Sur (Analyn's hometown).

PRACTICES

      During the practices, we had fun!! We had the chance to unleash our hidden talents, wackiness, sense of humor, and many emotions that we couldn’t display when doing serious office work.

ROAD TRIP UP NORTH

      Our road trip was a grueling 12-hour trip.  Well, we chose Cabugao so we had no choice.  We used 3 vehicles. 

At one point, my vehicle lost the other two vehicles because of different road map interpretations.  Funny!! But the good thing is, we got to eat in a superb restaurant at San Juan, Ilocos Sur, “Cube” …. The resto had rustic yet classy ambiance, very typical of Ilocos structures, and it served sumptuous bagnet-studded recipe.  The star of the show was its great-tasting house ice tea that had blended lychee bits!!

      One nice thing about out-of-town office activities is we get to eat ‘home-cooked' food that we don’t enjoy everyday.

THE SALAPASAP WELCOME

      We arrived past midnight as expected.  We were all exhausted, with tired bodies, stiff necks and sleepy souls.  But we felt instantaneously refreshed when we saw a grand welcome banquet waiting for us, patiently manned by the mother and sister (with a sleepless baby) of Analyn plus one of the Barangay Kagawads of Salapasap.  So we immediately had our midnight meal!!!! The midnight gastronomic feast recharged us.  It made Espie and the rest of the girls hyper!; chatting at the top of their voices unmindful of the fact that the rest of the community was in deep slumber.  I had to call their attention and reminded them that we needed to respect the community and we should sleep soonest; tomorrow would be the TBA and we had to wake up early for the Amazing Race.

      With much excitement and gratitude for the prepared beds, we occupied our respective makeshift beds in the Barangay Hall Guest Room and immediately fell asleep.  The roaring sound of the first summer rain was like a lullaby as we breathed in the therapeutic breeze that came from the nearby sea.

DAY 1

The Amazing Race

      Even without the usual 4:30AM alarm that sadistically wakes me up every working day, I woke up and saw that everyone was in his/her deepest sleep.  With regret, I had to wake everyone as we needed to start the Amazing Race before breakfast.  Everyone joyfully obliged with excitement!  After taking pictures of the beautiful sunrise, we started the Amazing Race.

the promise of a new day

warming-up and cheer shout-out showdown!

       Admittedly, my concept, written instructions and coordination with the race officials were not flawless.  So some of the instructions were unclear.  The seven (7) pairs went on with the amazing race with varying interpretations and emotions: confusion, sense of adventure, wackiness, embarrassment, awkwardness, some with monstrous drive and motivation to win, hesitation, anxiety, the joy of being a child again, the happiness of not having to work, but just do pure child’s play and fun fun fun!

The Forgets

Bridge Over Troubled Water

Si Tulala at Si Tawa vs The Snoring Duo

searching for the instructions....

(while lying down daw e!) oo nga naman...

the winning duo (homecourt advantage?)

seryoso si Precious, lagot ka William!

Discoveries:

Ø The girls looked great tho at times awkward during the Hawaiian-themed photo-shoot as part of the amazing race (pit stop number 5).

serious pose ang nasa instruction, Espie. hindi wacky.

Ø Instructions are subject to many many different interpretations that are actually correct in their own right;

hehehe, William, bakit ka nakaganyan??? yan ba ang instruction? :D

Ø Some of us are highly competitive on one extreme, and on the other extreme, some have conceded defeat even before the start. :D

Ø It’s good to include picture-taking as part of the requirement because along the way, we document memories..

Lessons learned:

Ø Read and understand instructions very well;

Ø Forget the negative things you feel about your partner and consider yourselves as a team and not as two separate individuals;

Ø We knew more of the personal side, traits, strengths and weaknesses, circumstances, life situations of our partner during out-of-town and out-of-office situations.  It is a humbling experience to set aside differences and spend time with one another not as officemates but as teammates;

Ø Haste makes waste.  Sometimes, speed is not the only important factor that determines victory.  We also need to consider safety, teamwork, planning and coordination.

Ø The caring side of each of us surfaces during dangerous situations.

Ø By nature, we have an instinct to win or at least to finish a race.

Regrets

    Not being able to prepare well for the rules and instructions.  The instructions should have been clearer and not subject to different interpretations; 
     There should have been a briefing among the facilitators...
     At least one participant was injured (Jonalyn).  The 7 pairs (teams) should have been thoroughly warned about the Safety First rule.  

THE BALL RACE

      One of the games that made us laugh the most is this ball race where we had to walk with a beach ball between our knees.

Discoveries and Lessons Learned:

Ø It’s fun to be funny and awkward!

Ø If we fail, we can start all over again, and if we fail again, we don’t stop trying until we succeed;

Ø Sometimes, winning a game is not all about following rules, but also strategizing. “diskarte”

Ø The team that wins is the one with members contributing to team effort.  If one member fails, no matter how fast and skilled the others are, the team suffers.

THE SPONGE RACE

      This game was the most enjoyable.  It was very near the sea, we had to get wet, and we had to run barefoot along the sandy shore… wet the sponge, pass it on and fill the pail with sea water squeezing the sponge.

Discoveries and Lessons learned:

Ø The girls were almost as fast as the boys!

Ø There’s fun in speed! (we rarely, rarely run this fast in our daily life...)

Ø It felt good to run on sandy shore!

Ø It felt great to laugh, to jump, to cheer, to play with water..

Ø We win if all of us are fast, if our sponge is heavy and if we squeeze enough.. Never mind the splash!

THE TRAIN

This was boys against girls game.  The team members, all blindfolded except the leader, walks towards particular goals with only the voice instructions and directions of the leader being followed. 

This game was about leadership and followership.

the two team leaders being given instructions

and the winners are!

Discoveries and lessons learned:

Ø Much of the success in this game depends on how clearly the instructions/directions are given by the leader;

Ø No matter how clear the instructions of the leader are, sometimes the team fails because of misinterpretations and wrong relay of the instructions by other members;

Ø We should listen well.  We will only understand if we listen well. 

Free Time

After the morning games, we were free to do what we wanted: go to the market, roam and explore the place, swim to sawa, eat, sing, chat, or sleep.

THE GROUPIES & JUMPSHOTS

       What was intended to be just a plain photo-shoot turned out to be a fun-filled frolicking and goofing-around the beach.  Because we intended to take amazing jump-shot pictures, I being the photographer most of the time had to sport all kinds of body positions just to achieve illusions of Jacky Chan and Bruce Lee flying kicks and jump shots.  The stronger ones among the team had to jump as high as they could; while the others (either they were injured [Jonalyn suffered injuries during the Amazing Race], or were lazy to jump, or not in a playful mood to jump) just stood up to balance the visuals.  We created nice pictures and amazing memories.

The Hawaiian Dance Contest 
(Males: dancers, Females: singers)

This fun game turned out to be the Main Event because we scheduled it at sunset.  When the sun was about to set, I summoned the contestants to the shore and started the “show”.

To the greatest surprise of my life, they proudly did a grand dramatic entrance in full Hawaiian costume, to the astonishment and entertainment of the audience. Yes, an audience was building up, and the crowd was getting bigger.  There was a basketball tournament nearby and unfortunately for the basketball organizers, the audience transferred to our Hawaiian dance venue and started cheering and applauding, thinking that they were seeing “artistas”.

     Pearly Shells versus Tiny Bubbles… the wackiest, funniest moments of the TBA.  The boys gamely swayed their torsos (they did not have the hips to do that so torso na lang), interpreted the song lyrics with their stiff hands and comically performed the nostalgic Pearly Shells and Tiny Bubbles with exotic but mediocre choreography that insulted the spirits of Hawaiian ancestors, sending the Salapasap audience, including our own selves, laughing to death.

THE AMAZING SUNSET

      As the laughters and wacky moods gradually subsided, and the community spectators one by one dispersed and left, along the horizon dramatically emerged a breathtaking sunset.  

It was so amazing, so unique, so different, … I have never seen a sunset like that before.  The cloud- covered indigo skies which were highlighted by a golden sun slowly setting.... mirrored and reflected thru the still waters that gathered along the rocky basins on the shore.  It was a wonderful work of art, a creation of God.  The sunset calmed our weary minds, it reminded us of how blessed we are, how beautiful life is, and how great God is.  What a way to cultimate Day 1 …

Day 2

Part of the TBA itinerary was a Stroll thru Crisologo Street and a Tour at The Baluarte in Vigan City.  So on the second day, we woke up early, packed our things and left Salapasap with refreshed spirit and joy in our hearts.  We thanked Analyn’s family from the bottom of our hearts for the very warm welcome and accommodation.

Our Utmost Gratitude to Analyn's Family for the Warm Accomodation

CALLE CRISOLOGO

      Although the time to stroll Crisologo Street was too short, most of us enjoyed.  It’s the first time of some of us to be in rustic Vigan.  Given only an hour to be at Crisologo Street, we hurriedly walked thru the famous street.  Jonalyn whose foot was still swollen due to the amazing race injury and some of the first timers rode a Calesa.  Some went to the Bagnet store and bought tons of bagnet.  It looked like they’d be hoarding bagnet for a one year supply.

       Others bought souvenirs.  I bought my favorite Vigan souvenir: the Ilocano woven blanket, the blanket that I grew up with.

      After one hour in Crisologo Street, our COMELEC colleague, the Vigan icon Mr. Nelson Pajaro joined in and ushered us to The Baluarte, passing thru a private access gate.  Wow VIP treatment!! Inside Baluarte, Meowchie and the rest of the animal lovers in the group feasted at the sight of real tigers!! Sir Nestor introduced to us our Guide, Ms. CJ.  To save on time and make the most of our limited stay there, Ms. CJ prescribed our itinerary.

THE ANIMAL SHOW

      We never expected that we would be watching an Animal Show!! Like small kids, we were all so excited!! Thankfully, we were ushered in to take the front seats.  Some of us were chosen to volunteer and be at a close encounter with the rare animals!!!

And for the finale, we had a group pic with…. The Tiger!!! It was actually scary!!!

After the Animal Show, we toured the rest of the Baluarte, the Glass Palace, and the camel area.

So this was not only team building.  The Vigan stroll and Baluarte tour gave us time to do things we’ve always wanted to do… shopping for souvenirs, buying food, taking pictures… watching animals… touching fierce animals…. Laughing, .. being amazed… forgetting about work, and just being our own private selves.

The Trip Back Home

      Because we were already exhausted, our trip back home was more of an agony.  We tried to squeeze out whatever little patience was left in our energy reservoir. Thanks God we reached our respective homes safely.

TBA MEMORIES

      Looking back, the following are the things we love to remember most:

      The simple yet happy life in Salapasap.  To be happy, one need not be rich.  Salapasap was the perfect picture of a contented existence and meaningful life:  a simple house near the sea;  a home where loving family members live;  a residence surrounded by caring neighbors; a place where we could eat fresh vegetables and organic food, breathe in fresh sea air, take care of animals … a place where we don’t need complications, sophistications and too much technology.

      Each of the co-workers that we see and mingle with everyday in the office is a person with his/her own journey.  It was good to realize that.  It was enlightening to know that each of us has his/her own sadness, trials, fears, weaknesses, anxieties, frustrations, longings…. What we used to see were the negativities:  the pride, the selfishness, the arrogance, the stubbornness, the ego, the dark side.

       After seeing one another from a different light, we lit a candle of hope; hope that we will be more open-minded to understand and bear with one another.  Afterall, our office-mates are our second family.  We spend more of our waking time with them.

spot the difference between violet pair and green pair ?

"Tuldukan ang Hapis"

ang saya saya !!

      Beyond the workers and employees that we are in the office, beneath the tough façade that we put up with, behind the formalities, decorum and courtesies, lie our real selves: down-to-earth, simple, child-like, forgiving, caring, loving, and above all human.  We reconnect with our original selves during TBA.  We see and feel ourselves from a different perspective.  We remember, realize and re-discover that afterall, we are persons with a good heart and a soul embraced by Our Creator.

ssssssssshhh 

just who is the photobomber???

sand castle, Precious, hindi Mayon Volcano.... :D

precious moments...

mother and daughter bonding

       Looking forward to our next TBA and hoping to rekindle friendships that turned cold, hoping to reconnect ties that had to be severed, and hoping to strengthen and tighten the bond that at times had loosened and grown weak.  It’s ok when those things happen.  It’s normal in organizations made of unique individuals.  What is important is we continue to keep rebuilding and re-strengthening ourselves, and our Team Odeda.

To God be the glory!!