Team Outing

With one round of major training coming to a close and the end of the first quarter near, we decided to plan our first team outing of the year. Asking for some suggestions in the team meeting we settled on 3 feasible options. Innovative Film City – similar to a Universal studios it has an amusement park, dinosaur world and a miniature city. Club Cabana, a smaller version of Ocean’s Of Fun in Kansas City, and paintball. Free shots at my boss and co-workers, I choose paintball but apparently the rest of the team did not agree with my thoughts. With everything finalized, the price negotiated, the only hitch was arranging for a ride for those that ride the company bus to the office every day.

The morning of I headed off to the office as I had volunteered to pick up the bus riders as it allowed me to catch an extra hour of sleep. See how thoughtful I am offering my services like that. After the 2 girls arrived, we departed the office and began heading to Club Cabana. Due to the time of day, the would be 15 minutes drive took us about 40 minutes, but I cannot complain at least I am not in the office. Arriving in the area we were not positive where we were actually going. Following a sign for Club Cabana we turned into what appeared to be a giant garden and not a water park. Asking for directions we realized we were actually in a giant garden and the water park entrance was another gate that we had already past. Headed the wrong direction Uday began to turn the car around. Riding shotgun for the first time, which is weird due to it being on the wrong side of the car and being in a country where shotguns are illegal, I was able to see things in a new light. In the middle of the turn we ran out of road and now sat 1 foot away from a 2 by 2 foot cement pillar which arched over the road into and identical pillar on the opposite side. Stopping to gauge if he could make it, which in my new light I could clearly tell we weren’t going to, I expected Uday to put it in reverse and add an extra point to our turn. Apparently in our sixth month friendship I have learned nothing about Uday as he did not place it in reverse as I had predicted, instead we smashed head on to the ornate cement pillar lining the gate we were stopped at. Eventually we got turned around, across the road, and reached our destination.

Not knowing how pools worked in India, the country where no one shows any skin, or holds hands, I went as far as bringing a t-shirt to swim in if I had to. Finding the locker room I changed into my board shorts, upon exiting I noticed Matt was dressed in similar fashion but that was not the case for anyone else. You would have thought we were in a high school swimming pool during swim practice, or on a beach in Europe. The other swimsuits ranged from biking shorts to “Duke’s of Hazard” length shorts and was defiantly not what Matt and I were expecting. Accepting that we did not fit in, which is not all that uncommon anymore, we continued with the day.

Bypassing the wave pool Matt and I headed straight for the lazy river as we could not think of a better way to spend our time outside the office. Well maybe there are a few other ways but a back massage from a gaggle of Hawaiian Tropic girls was impossible as they were booked solid today. As one of the team members caught up to us he commented that if I worked out for another six months I would look like Daniel Craig, aka James Bond…Matt and I could not help but giggle at that comment. Please keep in mind that since moving to India I have lost nearly 20 pounds (muscle weight) and can probably count on 1 hand how many times I have been to the gym in the last 3 weeks. Needless to say we did not agree with his comment.

Having bounced around from the lazy river, to the wave pool, to the 3 water slides, it was time to sit in the shade and have a beer, ok maybe 2, and a few appetizers. Not waiting too long an Indian buffet consisting of veg and non-veg was setup and served for the Club’s guests, now roughly 100 people. While chowing down on my ice cream, before the 95 degree Fahrenheit temperatures melted it, I noticed a arcade style basketball hoop in the distance. Needing shade, and wanting to stay out of the pool I encouraged a group of people to a b-ball challenge. It only took one person shooting before I remembered that they play cricket and futball, not basketball. Now I am no Michael Jordan, but I know the basics, and that does not consist of a shot somewhere between a chest pass and a shot put toss. Showing them the proper way to shoot, I then lost the completion that followed, damn.

The last item on our agenda was a round of bowling. Taking a quick poll only 3 of the 18 team members had ever bowled before; boy was this going to be interesting. Being allowed to only play 5 frames the rest of the team had to learn quickly. Again we were still stuck somewhere between the chest pass and the shot put no matter how much teaching Matt and I offered. Trying our best not too it, it was still tough not to laugh at the situation. Finishing our 5 frames in lighting time I learned that there was a pool table upstairs. Leading the way I began to realize that they also did not know how to play pool either, what do these people do growing up? I don’t even remember being taught these activities as I learned them so young. The game that followed was one of the longest games I have ever seen in my life, it was painful.

After a much needed day at the pool I somehow escaped being Burger King flamed broiled (umm how I miss the) for a less painful rare pink. Not bad for a read head spending all day walking on sidewalks hot enough to boil water. All and all it was a weird, but grand afternoon.

"Club Cabana" Pictures

Blake