Yes, that was me, getting almost hysterical on 26 January at Harbourfront Ferry Terminal early in the morning at 9a.m. I might be a little more composed if there weren’t Gowri, Naren and Family, Carolyn, Linda, Amir, Lava and Pavithren, Max and everyone’s friend/boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse… Everyone was waiting to go to Batam, on our 2 days 1 night YEC retreat. And I CHOSE not to book the ferry tickets because I didn’t think the ferry will be packed! Talk about Murphy’s Law :(
Fortunately, I had good training as a teacher. Improvise, and be flexible! “Yes, you can put us on the next ferry at 12pm? Good, thank you VERY MUCH!”
“My dear friends, let’s go to the Food court downstairs and have our meeting there instead. I have ice-breakers planned and it will mean once you reach Batam, you will have all the time in the world for leisure activities! Yay! How cool is that?” [See the things I do to ra-ra everyone?]
Thankfully, no-one protested and there we were. See us intensely discussing our plans for this year’s activities and programmes? :P
Next comes one of the highlights for the retreat- ice-breaker! :) A simple game where there are 25 boxes filled with phrases such as “Whose childhood idol was Ultraman”, “Who used up a whole box of tissue when watching a sad movie” and “Who had been publicly embarrassed before”. Each person is to fill a name from the Committee members into each of the boxes, if they think the person fits the description, taking care to use everyone’s name at least one. The person who makes the most correct guesses will win a drink (not tap water, I promised).
It was a fun game! Now we know that almost everyone had hit/slapped/kicked someone before (if you have siblings, you probably would have :P), that Naren had won a baby competition before and that Carolyn, an SCDF officer, can do her job well despite a fear of heights! The winner was, of course, the one with most experience, and knew most of us…Gowri! (In the end, I got her keropok (crackers) instead…hee)
The fun times passed really quickly and before we knew it, we were already on the bus to Holiday Inn in Batam!
Checking in the hotel below…
Because we proceeded to a yummy delicious lunch at the hotel, then our leisure activities, enjoyed a massage in between and went for a swim in the pool, nobody took anymore pictures! Hee, someone remind me to take more pictures the next time we travel together yeah? All in all, a fabulous trip. Thank you, guys, for the great company :)
Love,
Jo
