So as I mentioned in the last post, Friday's classes were held as usual and Saturday was an in-office day for Philip and myself, neither or us had any OPTs and my one demo class was cancelled for lack of attendance. Today however, was one of EF's team-building trips. Every couple of months, each school has it's individual team building activities, like the fish-fry dinner we had several weeks ago. But occasionally, all of the schools cooperate and organize an activity for the entire EF staff of Chengdu.
I woke up around 8:30 and woke up Lee in time to head over to the closest school Zijing, where we joined the rest of the teachers and PAs to board a bus heading East.
The bus deposited us at the gate of a local visitor center about 20 minutes from Tonzilin. I'm not entirely sure if the area we spent most of our time at was part of the center's complex or a separate business all together, but we descended partway down wide stairs to a small paved path heading off into the bushes.
After making our way along the path, we came to a small collection of restaurants and bars. Where we dropped off our belongings and got prepped to play a large scale game of outdoor laser-tag. We divided the entire staff in half and donned electronic vests and hats. One of the foreign teachers who was fluent in Chinese translated instructions shouted by the slightly flustered man put in charge of managing our 50 person group. One team wore black vests and hats and other other had camouflaged. We were then lead down and across a street to a nearby wooded area, pock-marked with ditches and holes for cover.
What followed were four, twenty-minute rounds. Each player had three lives before they had to sit out for the remainder of the round. Whether it was skill or our more aptly-colored vests and hats, the camo team came out on top for the first two rounds. (Even though my laser gun malfunctioned during the second round and I had to seek our the man with the controls to reset my backpack.) The other team was nice enough not to shoot me until I got my gun fixed.
During the third round, the man chose three members of each team to be spies for the other team, which lead to more confusion and team killing than the other two rounds. For the fourth and final round, the losing team was assigned to guard an objective, which gave them an advantage and allowed them to win the last round.
What followed were four, twenty-minute rounds. Each player had three lives before they had to sit out for the remainder of the round. Whether it was skill or our more aptly-colored vests and hats, the camo team came out on top for the first two rounds. (Even though my laser gun malfunctioned during the second round and I had to seek our the man with the controls to reset my backpack.) The other team was nice enough not to shoot me until I got my gun fixed.
During the third round, the man chose three members of each team to be spies for the other team, which lead to more confusion and team killing than the other two rounds. For the fourth and final round, the losing team was assigned to guard an objective, which gave them an advantage and allowed them to win the last round.
After our triumphant return we all made our way back to the restaurant for school-sponsored lunch and beer. We grabbed trays of raw food,while the restaurant staff went around lighting gas grills, spread out among the tables. We were allowed to cook our own food, eat and drink our fill, and chat with the teachers from the other schools. Both of our new couples, Dan and Stacy (from Canada) and Andrew and Molly (our newest arrivals from Britain) were there as well, and it gave everyone a chance to get to know them.
All in all it was a really fun day. As far as next week is concerned, I have classes tomorrow, and then school is cancelled from Tuesday to Thursday, meaning a three-day weekend. I'm really starting to like these Chinese holidays.