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The Mario Brothers and Team building

 Since this was my first 'real' job, I had no idea what an annual 'team building' activity was. I assumed it had something to do with being in teams, perhaps a type of sports. The company, EF, decided to host the first team building event I attended in Suzhou, around the time of Halloween, with each 'centre' having its own 'theme'. Since Andy Oliboni was the manager of two centres we decided to have a combined theme of 'the Mario Brothers', though, I really have no idea as to how the theme came to fruition, and all I knew was that it was a Nintendo game involving two, if I may say, Italian-looking men with thick black hair and moustaches, overcoming obstacles to get to a beautiful girl with long blonde hair in a pink dress, with a similar look as Aurora in sleeping beauty. It was decided that there would be only one Princess Peach from each centre, with everyone else dressing as a Mario Brother. I really didn't care who I was, but I was told that the company had ordered me a dress to be Princess Peach, with Kat, a fellow colleague from Binjiang centre also wearing the same costume. 

The centre was excited to be spending the day in Suzhou at the Intercontinental hotel and it was my first time going to an event like this. We boarded the mini bus which was going to drive us from outside the centre to the hotel, and we were all excited. Chris Yu, my Chinese colleague called in 'sick', which was most likely an excuse, as it seemed that he did not feel 'comfortable' with attending a social event. But in any case, we decided to have fun and enjoy the spirit. 

Andy's groups were the first to arrive in Suzhou at the hotel and made our way into the conference hall. Andy prioritised taking bottles of red wine from other tables and putting it underneath ours, hoping that we would drink it all or take it home. With the underneath of our table loaded with enough wine to sink a ship, Andy started drinking and encouraged everyone else to follow suit. Apparently, our centre had gained the reputation of 'the drunk centre', rarely being sober, with the foreign staff also bucking the trend. Drinking seemed to be high on everyone's priority list, with the Vice President and regional managers toasting every table, being visibly completely drunk with bright smiles and red faces. 

I remember the food being of 'mediocre' quality since alcohol seemed to be the priority. The day consisted of mainly performances, such as singing, dancing, speeches and giving awards. I won the 'most dedicated' teacher of Yingtai centre. I heard my name, but I was so worried, because I hadn't eaten much food and had at least two glasses of red wine, I really wasn't sure whether I would be able to make the walk up on stage in a straight line-and NOT fall off. It was so obvious, with a red face that I was totally out of it, but I made it and I was just trying to look sober. 

The event ended with all the foreign staff from Andy's centre being very very drunk. Lewis, a British expat, who was working at Binjiang Centre who was into body building at the time, decided to re-create the 'real' Mario brothers, by running after me up and down the stairs in the hotel, lifting me up, carrying me up and down to the mini bus. 

While we were making our way to the bus, I actually took two glasses, while lewis took a whole bottle of red wine onto the bus with us. Before setting off, me and Lewis were pouring each other red wine, laughing, joking, trying to drink with arms interlinked like a couple and toasting before the driver boarded the bus to take us home. It made sense for Lewis to come onto the same bus as he lived closer to West Lake, which is where the bus stopped, close to West Lake subway station. 

We arrived in the evening, a little tired from the day, not remembering much of what happened-so assuming it was a good, fun-filled day, and another experience to document as one of fond heart-warming memories of China, colleagues, work and friends. 

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