EDSA Retreat; 05.17.09

This Weekend EDSA Orient had a retreat to a little village about an hour outside of Beijing. It all began at 5pm on Friday evening when they came around the office with a megaphone screaming for everyone to turn their computers off and head to the buses. At that point, we were off (still unsure exactly what we were doing and where we were going. Once we arrived, it was a very cool village with a Large Dam. Our Hotel was located right on the side of the dam (thankfully it held up). We were each broken up to room with someone from our studio, so it was a good experience to stay and be able to have some good discussions with people at the office.

Once settled in, we had a big bbq where we were loaded up on many meats, veggies, and sticks of garlic. They kept bringing the food, but we were so full by the time half of it arrived at the table. They had a large bonfire in the middle of the group that they began to burn once everyone finished eating. They were throwing plastic and such in it, so we weren’t inhaling the healthy stuff. We had Karaoke going and such. The ONE thing the 4 of us told each other is that we WOULD NOT break into any songs (like baby got back or the Lion King) like we did at our other trip.

But, never the less, they told the Americans to go up to sing some songs. Unfortunately, there are not many songs to choose from and we did not know half of them. So, we decided to start out with “Semi-Charmed Life” (Third Eye Blind). We got the crowd going a little. Next, we turned it to “Clocks” (Coldplay)… not so much a hit. It looked like we put everyone to sleep. Jianwei was saying do rap, so we decided to make the biggest mistake by trying to sing “My Humps” (Black Eyed Peas). Not only was it a little awkward singing the lyrics, but no one knew what was going on other than us shaking our humps… never again. (Greg went around apologizing shortly after)

The BBQ ended but a few of us stayed out and hung out before heading to bed. Saturday we woke up, had some breakfast and walked up to the top of the dam where they had a lot of adventure type things to do. We had heard that we would get the chance to zip line, bungee jump, or whatever with some free time. We started off with a boat ride around the river (very cool, a nice smoggy “mysterious” day). We then went and did the zip line. We were all a bit nervous b/c it was pretty high up there. It was a lot of fun though. Next on the list, was whether or not we were stupid enough to try bungee jumping. I have NEVER had the urge to bungee and since I’m deathly afraid of heights, I said I would not do it, but we were in China (which is no reason to risk your life). But after much consideration, Nicole, Greg, Yan, and myself decided to go bungee jumping. If we didn’t have Yan with us, I don’t think any of us would have done it. We have the shortest girl working at the office not being afraid of anything, so we figured if all of us were there for each other, we could do it. So… we did it. The guy had to pretty much pry my hands off the poles when I walked to the edge of the plank. I have never been so scared. The free fall was pretty scary. I have posted the video on my facebook page for those who haven't seen it (good thing you can’t hear the words we are screaming while falling!). I felt a little sick afterwards b/c the blood rushing to your head is pretty outrageous!

Afterwards we ate lunch and checked out the hotel before heading over to the bamboo boats. We were all floating around just trying to learn how to get our balance on the boats before the races began. All 4 studios raced against each other and it pretty much turned into a mess of people falling in the water and people spraying others with water trying to slow them down. It was definitely an experience, and it continued on for a long time. Once everyone calmed down, it was time to head on home. Once home, we opted for the traditional foot massage before heading out to The Tree to meet up with some friends and then head out for a few drinks.

Today (Sunday) I was supposed to play tennis with some studio mates, but I did not get a chance to buy a racquet, so I had to cancel. I went with Greg to pick up some guitars that were in the classifieds. We had to take the subway pretty far north to pick them up from a couple expats that are moving back to Wisconsin in a couple weeks. They are actually pretty decent guitars (3 of them) for about 30 bucks! Nicole and I were planning on heading out to some stores, but we were feeling a lazy Sunday day, so not much was accomplished. That’s about all for now. I am actually writing my blog entries on word right now b/c the Blogger has been blocked for the time being here in China, so there is no telling if it will come back or not.

Now it’s time to head on to bed and get ready for week 7. Hope all is well.