Day 1 - Knowing Yourself
On 16 July, 60 of us embarked on a 3D2N Teambuilding session at Bintan.
We assembled at Tanah Merah MRT at 0730h and almost everyone was punctual. Took a chartered bus to the ferry terminal, and it was a 45-minute ferry ride to Bintan. Some people stuck in their cliques, while some eagerly got to know the rest of the group. I didn't know that many people so well (mostly just by their names) but still managed to chit-chat with one or two people whom I got to know during the courses.
When we arrived at our resort, the teambuilding programme began. Had a couple of ice-breakers which were both fun and 'terrifying' (because of the forfeits). We got back our personality test report which we did during our first week of work. It was a DISC assessment profiling test.
- Drive: People who score high in the intensity of the "D"
styles factor are very active in dealing with problems and challenges,
while low "D" scores are people who want to do more research before
committing to a decision. High "D" people are described as demanding,
forceful, egocentric, strong willed, driving, determined, ambitious,
aggressive, and pioneering. Low D scores describe those who are
conservative, low keyed, cooperative, calculating, undemanding,
cautious, mild, agreeable, modest and peaceful.
- Influence: People with high "I" scores influence others
through talking and activity and tend to be emotional. They are
described as convincing, magnetic, political, enthusiastic, persuasive,
warm, demonstrative, trusting, and optimistic. Those with low "I" scores
influence more by data and facts, and not with feelings. They are
described as reflective, factual, calculating, skeptical, logical,
suspicious, matter of fact, pessimistic, and critical.
- Steadiness: People with high "S" styles scores want a steady
pace, security, and do not like sudden change. High "S" individuals are
calm, relaxed, patient, possessive, predictable, deliberate, stable,
consistent, and tend to be unemotional and poker faced. Low "S"
intensity scores are those who like change and variety. People with low
"S" scores are described as restless, demonstrative, impatient, eager,
or even impulsive.
- Compliance: People with high "C" styles adhere to rules, regulations, and
structure. They like to do quality work and do it right the first time.
High "C" people are careful, cautious, exacting, neat, systematic,
diplomatic, accurate, and tactful. Those with low "C" scores challenge
the rules and want independence and are described as self-willed,
stubborn, opinionated, unsystematic, arbitrary, and unconcerned with
details.
The instructors got us to gather into the groups which we think we would fall under, and when we got back our reports, it was pretty accurate. Less than 20% of the people were in the wrong group. Haha, guess which group I'm in? (I think it's very obvious. Answer will be revealed at the end of the entry.)
More activities in the afternoon, involving hula hoops and blindfolds, after which we checked into our rooms and prepared for the water activity in the evening. For our water activity, we were given 5 rubber tyres, 2 poles, ropes and paddles to build a raft. Then we had to take turns to paddle out in our self-made raft out to fetch clues, 3 times in all. Those who were on the shore will try to solve the clues. Sounds so much like Survivor right? Haha.
It was really fun being in water (I really love the waters), paddling and rushing like crazy. Our team dropped from 2nd to 4th (last) after the 2nd trip, but we finished 2nd in the end. Thorough enjoyed this activity and this should my highlight of the day.
After that, we went to wash up and had buffet dinner at the resort. As the night falls, the majority gathered to rehearse for our upcoming NDP performance. There were mainly the song, dance and skit groups, and unfortunately I was randomly assigned to the dance group. The dance moves were so fast but thankfully I wasn't the slowest among the 10 of us. We learnt the moves for 2 hours and called it a day. Was pretty tired and I watched the TV for a while before I turned in.
Day 2 - Knowing Others
Day 2 was a full-day of outdoor activity. The morning was spent overcoming obstacles to scale a 25-metre tower. As a group of 6, we have to climb the ladder, walk across the log, slide across ropes, leaping through a gap at a 15-metre height, rock-climb, and then upcoming reaching the top of the tower, do a 200-metre flying fox down.
The walk across the log was the toughest, even though it was the lowest in terms of the distance from the ground level. As the 6 of us were all linked, we held hands and moved steadily across. There were many times that I was shaking really badly, and there were even instances where I thought of releasing myself so that I wouldn't drag the whole team off the log. But thanks to AL and SL for holding to my hand so tightly and we successfully made it across.
The highlight of the day (and the whole trip) for me would definitely be the leap across the gap at a height of 15 metres. They didn't call it the 'leap of faith' for no reason. I leaped, and my right leg got across but my left leg didn't. Luckily, AL reacted quickly and grabbed my hand. For a millisecond, I thought I was 'gone' (inverted commas because we were all held by harnesses). My life was 'saved', though I suffered a minor cut at my left shin. Grr. Really thankful to AL.
The flying fox, which I was really looking forward to, was really fun. Not sure why some girls were so scared. I wouldn't mind doing it 100 times. :P
Then we broke for lunch, before doing individual obstacles in the afternoon with our team mates belaying us below. While some people conquered their fears, I surprised myself with my balancing power and my arm strength. It's probably an one-off. Haha. Then about 20 of us decided to balance ourselves on a giant see-saw. After a few minutes of trial and error, the 20 of us managed to balance ourselves and keep the see-saw off the ground for a WHOOPING 25 minutes!!!
Then we went back to the resort for a sumptuous dinner by the sea (but there was nothing to see at the sea because it was pitch dark), then it was followed by another 2 hours of dance practice. After that, I joined the rest for card games. Played 'Saboteur' and I thought I was very evil. Heehee. Went back to sleep at about 0100h.
Day 3 - Performing As A Team
Everyone slept late last night and we were all so tired. The activities in the morning were pretty light but some activities like 'Keypunch' were very fun! My (new) group came in first and we thrashed the rest with our extensive planning and excellent execution. I think it's because we had 2 valedictorians in our group of 10. Hahaha. Still, everyone knew their roles and acted swiftly.
The final activity was to scale a 4-metre wall. The difficult parts were the start and the end. Took quite some time to send people on top, after which it was easy because the people below could support and the people above could reach out their hands to pull the rest up. Got stuck towards the end because the last 2 guys had no one to offer their knees or shoulders to step onto. The final resort was to tie T-shirts to get them up and ALL 60 OF US made it across the wall.
Then we had lunch before returning to the hotel to wash up. There was still 1 hour left and a few of us decided to go for a swim at the resort pool. Reminded me of my Bintan trip last year. The swim this time was short but it was refreshing. Then we boarded the bus to the terminal and returned to Singapore.
Post-Trip Thoughts
Really enjoyed this trip very much because I think I have known myself much much better through these 3 days. Also, I have made quite a number of friends. Although we will once again return back to our respective departments at various floors, I still treasured the fun and hopefully we can meet up for lunch to maintain the contact. Thanks for everyone for the awesome teamwork, and for looking out and taking care of one another (including me), and to my roommate, whom I didn't talk much with because we didn't spend much time in the room.
This brings me to my next point, which was the downside of the trip. As you could probably tell, the trip was really packed - and the supposedly 'free time' given to us were taken up by the rehearsals. Thus, the room (no matter how comfortable) was mainly used for showering and sleeping. Haha.
Still, everything was sponsored so I have no complaints. Meanwhile, fun is over and it's back to work! :)
Answer: I'm a C person. Did you get it right?
