geTAway 2016

by Monette Hamlin, TeamAsia President and Founder

It’s been a yearly tradition for our TeamAsia family to have a summer outing. It’s a time to stop and smell the roses, or better yet, to stop the frantic pace of work, get out in the sun and play, laugh and get to know each other better outside of work.

Last year, Bea and I could not join because we had to go to Bangladesh, so this year, we were determined not to miss the fun. Bea joined the group in the bus, and I followed with Niccolo as I had to give a talk on The Business of Meetings, Conventions and Conferences to the Philippine Council of Association Executives (PCAEE).

This time around, we went to Stilts in Calatagan, Batangas. This is a picturesque beach resort with houses built on stilts. Our family was assigned to Wishes, the stilt house closest to the beach. The house is comfortable and airconditioned with a wrap-around veranda. My favorite spot is the hammock. I love the sayings painted on wood scattered around the resort.

Last year, Bea and I could not join because we had to go to Bangladesh, so this year, we were determined not to miss the fun. Bea joined the group in the bus, and I followed with Niccolo as I had to give a talk on The Business of Meetings, Conventions and Conferences to the Philippine Council of Association Executives (PCAEE).

This time around, we went to Stilts in Calatagan, Batangas. This is a picturesque beach resort with houses built on stilts. Our family was assigned to Wishes, the stilt house closest to the beach. The house is comfortable and airconditioned with a wrap-around veranda. My favorite spot is the hammock. I love the sayings painted on wood scattered around the resort.

As we do monthly, we sang for the birthday celebrants as they held their individual cupcakes. Our April celebrants were Bea, Zyra, Francis and Junel.

And then came the initiation of the newbies, where they were given the choice of performing or butt spelling their name. Meynard gamely sang striking a pose. The rest of the newbies — Emerson from Accounting, Monica from Accounts, Mazee from Telemarketing and Dezza from Media Relations — opted for the butt spell. Dezza had everyone dazzled with her limber rendition of the butt spell, prompting Anna’s thought bubble of ‘hmm, cursive’ while Bea’s was ‘on point, with a squiggle.’

After dinner, everyone settled on just having fun, jamming, playing beer pong, swimming, chatting, and drinking. The mommies in the group put their children to bed. Since I hardly had any sleep the night before and wasn’t allowed to drink any alcohol, I went off to bed early.

The next day during breakfast, stories abounded on who passed out, who fell into the pool, who won the beer pong, who had a hangover, and so on. We transferred to the pool to spend the rest of the morning swimming and relaxing.

Soon it was time to leave and bid Stilts adieu, but not before having a TeamAsia family picture. Kudos to the organizing committee!