I really love the month of December. Aside from this month is the release of our much-awaited 13th month pay (some receives 14th month pay and so on..), this is the time that there are a lot of events, activities, outings and gift-giving. It's also a time when you can just stay "petiks" at work and no one will scold you that's why I am always looking forward to this month!
Last December, our QA director planned to have our 4th quarter team building to be spent outside Metro Manila. Just for a backtrack, every quarter we have a team building and usually we spend it in a resto or in a videoke room but this time, we will be spending it in Batangas!
It was a sunny Saturday (Dec 3, 2011), when we left Manila going to Batangas. We filed a vacation leave for this day since we have work on Saturdays but the funny thing was, our meeting place was just below our office building. hehe. Anyways, we left Manila around 9:30AM. My officemate Ivy, together with her hubby and son, let us hitch a ride on their car since it can accommodate around 10 people.
Going to Batangas is really fast since you can take SLEX then the new expressway (i think it's the Cavitex) but we had a hard time finding Hacienda Darasa because we got confused of the map we brought. But finally when we saw the needed landmarks (based on the map), we decided to stop for a while because we were really hungry. We had our lunch at Jollibee located inside Waltermart Tanauan.
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| at the van. LOL at Roscoe..bwahaha |
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| super hungry! |
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| jaimie and me..haggardness alert! |
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| cute mat mat! |
After lunch, we continued our journey and for about 15 minutes, we reached Hacienda Darasa!
Hacienda Darasa is a 4-hectare plantation. I think it's a house converted into a Garden Hotel. It is a good place for conferences, team buildings (since it covers a wide area and they provide team building materials), reception for weddings and baptism and any group activities. It has two pools, one for kids and one for adult. It also has cottages and they have a restaurant with free wifi access.
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| veranda |
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| adult's pool |
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| Darasa by night |
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| kid's pool |
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| our dorm |
I'm looking forward for these two things: One is to unwind and bond with other fellow QAs and two: the RAFFLE!!!!
Raffle prizes were not yet announced to other QAs but the committee already knew what were some of the prizes. There will be a trip for two to Palawan, samsung galaxy y and IPAD 2. i was really excited when I found out about the raffle and I already assumed that I will win the IPAD2. hehehe.
Dinner time came, but my mind was set on the raffle. I did not much bother about the food. hahaha. But ofcourse I still ate a lot. hahaha.
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| high blood alert!!! |
When everybody were finished eating dinner, the raffle started. We were all hoping and nervous but excited! The fourth raffle winner (I didn't know that there will be a fourth winner!), is...Juan Carlos Mago! hahaha. He won 1000 worth of Robinsons GC. I think he was quite disappointed with his prize. hehehe. Then the third raffle winner was drawn and (drum roll please..) the winner is... ME! You heard it right, it was me who won the Samsung Galaxy Y! haha. Lucky me. Actually, I somehow expected it. hehehe. Nope I did not commit cheating, I just felt it :)
Second raffle winner is..Mc Auriel Gagan! He won a trip for two to Palawan then the grand prize was drawn. And the winner is...Jenny Bundang! She won an IPAD 2! wwoohhhh! This girl really has the luck when it comes to raffle draws. She always win :)
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| grand prize winner! |
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| 4th and 2nd prize winner |
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| my prize :) |
After dinner, expect to have drinking sessions! I think this is the usual tradition for all the people or group having their outing. Our director loves to sing that's why she rented a videoke. I did not let this opportunity pass so definitely I grab the mic (they gave it to me actually..hehe) and sang "Grenade" by Bruno Mars. I just like the rhythm of this song.
I had one bottle of Tanduay ice then around 9PM, we went back to our dorm. But all the boys and some girls stayed to drink and sing some more. As for me, I really don't want to drink and I want to enjoy my new phone and maximize using the hacienda's free wifi :)
Around 11PM, one by one, the boys went back to our dorm. And guess what, they are all wasted! hahaha. As in, they cannot walk properly and need to be helped. Actually, it was really a funny sight for some of us. They really acted very weird. And as usual, a lot of "scandalous" photos arose because of this. hehehe
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| cel singing her heart out..LOL |
We woke up around 6AM for breakfast. But actually breakfast was not yet served when we went to the restaurant. We waited for like 1 hour.
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| buffet style again |
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| the centerpiece |
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| QA girls in the morning..freshness :) |
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| the QA boys |
After breakfast, we had our team building session. It's more on reflection with physical activities that requires us to be united. The purpose of this session is for us to have a stronger bond and camaraderie.
The session was finished around 11:30AM. We went straight to the dorm again because we need to checkout at exactly 12nn. I took a bath really fast. Then we had our lunch at the restaurant again. I was not able to take pictures because we were all rushing. hehehe
While waiting, we took again some pictures. Here it is:
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| our tarpaulin |
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| qa boya |
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| qa girls |
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| group pic, boys only |
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| almost all QA |
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| group pic, girls only |
If you need some quiet place to relax. Hacienda Darasa is good for you. They can accommodate family or couple only. But I would not recommend this as a reception for your wedding or debut or any occassion because it can be too noisy when a team building is on-going that it can disturb the occassion. Also the restrooms are not that clean in the dorm room. I'm not sure with the others. The food is nice though. Hacienda Darasa is good for companies having their team building activity or schools for their retreat.
By the way, here's the picture of my phone. Nothing fancy, but I love it.
