Department Retreat

I went to my future employer department's retreat yesterday and it was quite an eye-opener.

It was at Swiss Club and thanks to me not checking actual distances ahead of time, I spent a good 30 minutes walking up Turf City and then retracing my steps to Swiss Club. GAWD!

My entrance to the room was slightly awkward but I think the people there are very friendly. I immediately jumped into this opener game which is more like passing the message. Quite silly but oh well fun nevertheless! We had to choose a 'feeling-good' word (which ended up being a colleague's name instead of an adjective which according to others seem to have its distinctive place in the dictionary..) and we had to pass that name quickly from one another. It was a lot of shouting which I thought got everyone to loosen and relax.

Then since I was late, everyone was supposed to get a reflection journal of sorts and I could only choose this since I was late:



It was then a series of presentations on what the department has achieved for the past year. Then it was lunch! Lunch was quite a sumptious spread (though the coffee breaks were quite paltry, sadly)

We played 2 other games and they were pretty fun. However I'm now sure if it's me that's having an oversensitive barrier but there seems to be undercurrents of office politics amidst the wonderful friendships pouring all over the place. Really not sure about that... but on the whole the vibes were positive.

We had this interesting moment when we end where all of us got our books to be scribbled by others who have been randomly selected and it really brought me back to the good old days of autograph books. Mine were nice, and really kind. It really brought me closer to affirming that my decision to want a place that values relations in a genuine sense is right for me, although in comparison with my present company, I have to admit that the conditions are not up to par. Quite far, really.

What to do! We can't have the best of everything!