Team Building in Chinese

Saturday, 28.04.2018

Buce Liu and his department invited us to a weekend trip to a 'vacation villa' at the 'Yangsheng Lake'. After a time with many orders and more to come, the colleagues should also meet outside the office and do something different together than just drawings, parts lists, and meetings. So on Saturday noon, we packed half of the household into a big suitcase and a few bags, also took a travel bed for Jule, and no one could move in the taxi anymore.

The 'vacation resort' is about 10 years old (I estimate), and accordingly, the houses and the facility look. Not so fresh anymore, partly 'renovated' (you can see it from the color that has run over another), but otherwise, it's okay. There were enough bedrooms for everyone, a room with a pool table and video game console, a room for Mahjong, a room with toys for Jule, and... of course, a large dining room with a karaoke system! Karaoke is a must here, is gladly done by everyone, and everyone was looking forward to it!

When we arrived at 3:00 a.m., the first meal was already prepared. There would be grilling and hot pot, well, that was good prospects. But first, everything had to be chopped and skewered, that is the ritual! There were chicken wings, chicken hearts, chicken feet (or were they from the duck?), pork, beef, various fish, greenery, and and and. We actively participated in skewering and were able to deepen conversations and relationships with the other 'team members'.

From four o'clock, the first of two grills started. As soon as something was cooked, it was eaten directly from the skewers. Philipp quickly made friends with one of the grill masters and got as many chicken wings as only he can handle :-) Everything was very delicious, even if it was a bit spicy for Katrin and Philipp.

The beer also flowed (not in German quantities) and so we played a little bit of table tennis, of course, we are in China, and then sing! Very funny but also pretty loud. At the same time, playing pool, console gaming, and... playing 'UNO'!

All of a sudden, the colleagues gathered at one of the tables and dealt out 'UNO' cards. We were quite surprised. When asked if I knew the game, I could confidently answer 'yes' :-). While Katrin let the Titanic sink while singing, it was 'UNO, UNO!' for us. Philipp also played his first rounds of 'UNO' that evening and even won! A natural talent.

On Sunday morning, we got up on time, cleaned up, and then had breakfast. There was either noodle or rice soup. We conjured up a scrambled egg because there were still plenty of eggs left :-) After a short table tennis break, we moved on to the hot pot session. For those who don't know, hot pot is like fondue. Broth is put in a pot that continues to simmer. Then everything that is available is simply thrown in and taken out after a certain cooking time to be eaten. And so, the chicken feet were floating next to the chicken hearts and the small fish parts.

Full, tired, satisfied, and with a few new friends in the office, we went home and ended the day with a little swimming.