We had a Chinese New Year gathering at our Executive Chairman's house last night. I am still in awed over his mansion on a hill. As usual, we had the buffet dinner and karaoke singing on the lawn, like last year.
This year, the staff were broken into teams. Each team had to come out with an item for a group performance, and a representative had to sing on behalf of the team. Our team came out with the idea of dressing up like poker cards (the hearts suit), where the card is in front and a Chinese word is at the back.
Since there were thirteen of us, everyone has a Chinese word at the back. So when combined together, all the individual words make up a phrase, wishing the company more prosperity and growth in the year of the Golden Rat.
The "cards" were arranged according to height, starting from Ace, ending with King. I was the Three of Hearts. Not too bad, considering I was expecting to be the Ace of Hearts (since my height is always a problem in light of bigger things).
We played a piece of music called "Pennies From Heaven" (to signify wealth and prosperity), then started dancing out one by one, showing our front "card" before turning to the back to show the Chinese word.
My team seemed to be the only unique one, since most of the other teams dressed like rats, to signify the year of the Rat. Plus they put on a skit about Chinese New Year and what to do and what not to do during the festive period.
A pity we did not win though. But what was most important was that we managed to have fun as a team, and got to know people from other departments, colleagues which we would otherwise not have known or come across.
The cooperation everyone put in when making and printing out the "cards" on paper, the sticking and pasting of the cardboard to enable us to wear the "cards", the brainstorming of the Chinese words and phrase, those who participated cooperated one way or another.
Of course, our team had more than thirteen members. There were originally about twenty of us. But people, being people, once they knew there was a performance, either pulled out from the gathering, applied leave, or did not go for any of the meetings / rehearsals we had regarding the group performance.
There were some who joined us at the last minute, despite not being able to attend any of the practices, but still went along with the flow. There were some who attended the dinner gathering, but sat somewhere else and did not want to participate.
Of course, not everyone is willing to participate, or to perform. But such is human nature, is it not? People tend to only look out for themselves. It is not an issue of participating or performing like a star, but the most important thing is the teamwork and camaraderie that really count, not to mention the new friendships we make with one another as we all join in the fun.
But some just choose to be a loner. People are different and we cannot expect everyone to think the same way, but still, it will be a sad thing for those who rather remain alone than be involved with others.
This year, the staff were broken into teams. Each team had to come out with an item for a group performance, and a representative had to sing on behalf of the team. Our team came out with the idea of dressing up like poker cards (the hearts suit), where the card is in front and a Chinese word is at the back.
Since there were thirteen of us, everyone has a Chinese word at the back. So when combined together, all the individual words make up a phrase, wishing the company more prosperity and growth in the year of the Golden Rat.
The "cards" were arranged according to height, starting from Ace, ending with King. I was the Three of Hearts. Not too bad, considering I was expecting to be the Ace of Hearts (since my height is always a problem in light of bigger things).
We played a piece of music called "Pennies From Heaven" (to signify wealth and prosperity), then started dancing out one by one, showing our front "card" before turning to the back to show the Chinese word.
My team seemed to be the only unique one, since most of the other teams dressed like rats, to signify the year of the Rat. Plus they put on a skit about Chinese New Year and what to do and what not to do during the festive period.
A pity we did not win though. But what was most important was that we managed to have fun as a team, and got to know people from other departments, colleagues which we would otherwise not have known or come across.
The cooperation everyone put in when making and printing out the "cards" on paper, the sticking and pasting of the cardboard to enable us to wear the "cards", the brainstorming of the Chinese words and phrase, those who participated cooperated one way or another.
Of course, our team had more than thirteen members. There were originally about twenty of us. But people, being people, once they knew there was a performance, either pulled out from the gathering, applied leave, or did not go for any of the meetings / rehearsals we had regarding the group performance.
There were some who joined us at the last minute, despite not being able to attend any of the practices, but still went along with the flow. There were some who attended the dinner gathering, but sat somewhere else and did not want to participate.
Of course, not everyone is willing to participate, or to perform. But such is human nature, is it not? People tend to only look out for themselves. It is not an issue of participating or performing like a star, but the most important thing is the teamwork and camaraderie that really count, not to mention the new friendships we make with one another as we all join in the fun.
But some just choose to be a loner. People are different and we cannot expect everyone to think the same way, but still, it will be a sad thing for those who rather remain alone than be involved with others.
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