Raging Rapids Build Teams

Saturday I used money from my budget for a team building event.  Earlier in the year, one of the supervisors in my group asked if we could have a more elaborate team building event than the bowling event the prior year.  I told him to put something together and I would see what I could do.  The first proposal was a two-day event with an overnight stay.  I said the location looked good, but pare it down to one day and confirm that it was actual team building, not just a fun activity.  They revised the proposal, and yesterday we put it into action: a white water rafting adventure in Sukabumi.  My only question was "Does Indonesia have alligators?"

We met at the office at 5 AM for a 5:30 AM departure.  This meant we actually left at 6 AM.  We loaded just under 40 people into two buses filled with food for an army and equipped with karaoke that kept the group entertained for the duration of our trip.  Not wanting to sing in Indonesian (or at all, for that matter), I slept.  As with any company event, we started with a prayer asking for a safe journey and a fun day.
 
From the office to Sukabumi is about 180km.  In a country with a good highway system, this would take about 90 minutes to two hours.  In Indonesia, it's a four hour drive.  The first 90km or so is expressway, which, especially at 6 AM, moves pretty quickly.  The next 45km is a two-lane highway, often slowed with trucks.  The average speed is about 20kph (15mph).  The final 45km is a barely wide enough one-lane, bidirectional road winding up and down the mountains of western Java.  Construction to build drainage canals under the road made travel more precarious by cutting the already narrow road in half.  Hairpin turns, narrow roads, road construction - that makes for a harrowing drive.

After passing a semi-truck that had succumbed to the dangers of the road and was laying on its side in a ditch, we arrived at our destination on top of a mountain.  We had a welcome drink and made our way down a stony path to open ground at the base of the mountain.  After opening remarks (which, from now on, I'll need to remember they expect me to make before any event) we did several "icebreaker" and "team building" events.

The first event was "Burung Burung" (bird-bird).  Standing in a circle, we formed groups of threes by counting off 1-2-3.  Then, the 1's and 3's clasped hands to form a cage for the 2's, who were the "Burung".  The game started with the organizer shouting either "bird!", "cage!", or "all!".  If he shouted "bird!", then the bird had to leave its cage and find another empty one.  "Cage!" had the bird staying still and the cage finding a new bird.  "All!" had everyone running.  We did this until we got the hang of it.  Then we did elimination, where one of the guides would stand in as a bird or form a new cage so that either a bird or a cage was eliminated each round until we found a winner.

When that game completed, we did a new elimination style game.  The guide would shout out a word like "berdanse" (dance), and we would have to gather in groups of 2, 3, 4 or 5, depending on what word he shouted.  Lots of running around to find the appropriate number of people to do each activity (dance, bird with cage, rowing team).  We performed this activity until we found two winners.

For the next event, we gathered in predefined groups.  As the highest ranking person at the event, my group was always Group 1.  Our first activity in these groups was to come up with a group name and a group cheer.  I forget what my group's name was, other than it was "anti-" the name of another group, and our cheer was our group name sung to the Queen anthem "We Will Rock You".

After shouting our cheers to one another, we commenced with the team activities.  My group started with trying to throw a water balloon through a loop 10 meters away (30 feet) using a tarp.  The only other rule was that everyone on the team had to be holding the tarp.  Wanting my team to take on leadership roles the whole day, I remained silent when the group discussed how we would accomplish the task.  We were unable to successfully throw the balloon through the hoop.  I don't think any of the other teams did, either.  It was incredibly difficult.

Our next task was to link hands, and tighten ourselves into a spiral.  The guide then tied us tightly with a rope and, still in a spiral formation, we had to race through an obstacle course to pick up five balls in our designated color among fifteen balls on the course.  We incurred penalties if anyone other than the end of the spiral touched a ball of any color, if we fell, or if we touched the bench in the middle of the course.  We completed it without penalty, though we completed it very slowly.  I'm not sure my team understood it was a race.

The final activity was a staple of most corporate training events - the Trust Fall.  For those unfamiliar with the Trust Fall, one person stands on a five foot platform, turns their back to the group, and falls backwards with their hands clasped to their chest.  This is to demonstrate you trust your team to catch you (and in your company's medical plan).  My group had the only 200+ pound team member, but everyone did the event without issue.

After those three events we broke for lunch.  Traditional Indonesian fare with rice, fried meats, vegetables in spicy peanut sauce, and tofu.  My administrative assistant, who was part of the planning committee, is well aware of my food allergies and they had a special beef dish prepared for me.  After lunch, we had one final team building activity before we went rafting (though it isn't worth describing).

At 2 PM, we prepared ourselves to brave the rapids.  We donned crash helmets and life vests, grabbed our paddles, and loaded into the back of a flat-bed pickup truck.  We stood like livestock in the back of this truck as it drove, roller-coaster style, up and down the mountain's dirt backroads.  As we left the starting point, we encountered a bus that had shared the same fate as the semi-truck.  It was blocking our way home, so we hoped it was cleared by the time we were ready to leave.

Arriving at the river, we broke into eight groups of five employees and one guide and boarded our rafts.  There was a ninth raft with just extra guides.  After brief safety instructions, we were off.  The river run is 9 km and requires about 2 hours.  Simple math tells you the current is about 4kph (2.4 mph).  Because we were stopping for some activities, our trip would require three hours.

A river running at such a slow pace does not seem daunting, until you are traveling that speed directly at rocks the size of a couch.  We had many direct hits, became stuck on top of a few, but spent most of our time gripping our paddles while our guide steered the boat.  There were very few areas of calm water and we spent most of our time flailing about the boat as it crashed from one current to the next, soaking us all.  If anyone didn't get wet, other boats took care of the drenching by splashing as we coasted by (I was the worst offender of this behavior).

After an hour, we stopped for our first task which was both a team building and safety activity.  We had to simulate a capsize.  Our job was to flip our boat upside down dumping us all in the water, flip it , and get everyone back in the boat as quickly as possible.  The boat of extra guides demonstrated for us.  Then it was our turn.  We lined up our boats and began.  My boat was slated to go last.

The first team flipped their boat and flipped it back without issue.  Climbing back in proved to be a challenge and they completed in 32 seconds.  The next six teams gave their best and the time was consistently improving with the boat right before ours clocking the best time at 23 seconds.  I had noticed throughout, however, that none of them were able to pull themselves in the boat.  The fastest teams had helped two people lift themselves in, who then turned around and helped the others.  I knew I could lift myself, saving several seconds, so I was determined to win.

When our turn came, they blew the whistle and we capsized the boat and flipped it back without issue.  Less than a second later, I was in the boat.  I turned around, grabbed one of my teammates with my left hand, another with my right, and lifted them in the boat.  At the same time, one of the others had pulled himself in, and our guide, who had also pulled himself in, lifted our final member into the boat.  They blew the whistle and announced our time:  14 seconds.

From there we continued down the river.  We did not see any alligators, but there were several monitor lizards climbing through the rocks or swimming alongside us.  A drinking water buffalo did not seem pleased to see us.  Something easily overlooked when you are trying to avoid rocks is the beautiful scenery. We were rafting down a river in the middle of a jungle with a high canopy, lush greenery, and rolling mountain hills.  We passed by several beautiful waterfalls, and some spots where the Earth looked like it had sprung a leak with water pouring from the bottom of a cliff without an apparent source.  The scenery was as amazing as the rafting.

At the end of the second hour, we broke for some hot tea and did the next activity.  Two ropes hung over the river.  From these, they created a mini slalom course.  We started down river, had to paddle up river through the first slalom, cross the river, turn down river, and go through the second slalom.  Fastest team wins.  My team once again went last.  We were not very fast and I have no idea where we finished.

We rafted for one more hour and stopped just before the final event - a race.  When all groups were ready, the guide boat counted down and blew a whistle.  The eight boats started paddling furiously.  Everyone except me.  I waited until boats came close to us, then grabbed them and pulled our boat in front of them.  My boat's guide started laughing hysterically.  I was probably the first to ever attempt this approach.  This strategy worked well until I managed to pull my boat into a wall.  We ended up in fifth place.

Climbing out of the boats, we sat down and enjoyed fresh coconut water direct from the coconut.  Before coconuts are fully ripe and create the flavor you find in Almond Joy bars, they contain a mildly sweet water that eventually becomes the coconut meat.  To consume this traditional Indonesian treat, cut off the top of the coconut, and drink the water with a straw.  There is usually the beginning of the meat along the inner walls of the nut that you can eat with a spoon.  This was my first time having the treat and probably my last.  It wasn't bad, but it was, to me, flavorless.

Our day concluded with a ride back to the main office in the cattle trucks and dinner at a restaurant halfway to Jakarta.  The bus journey home was done in pitch blackness and rain, making the road that much more precarious.  My team slept the whole way.  I slept in the morning, so I was wide awake for the terror of passing vehicles by driving into oncoming traffic and flashing our lights to let them know we were a big bus and they would not win in a game of chicken.

We finally pulled in to Jakarta at 11:30 PM after spending 18 hours together.  In my closing remarks, I said that we arrived as coworkers but were leaving as friends.  Eighteen hours together in confined spaces will do that to you, if you don't kill anyone in the process.  For me, it was a great adventure and helped me get to know my team better.  All in all, a great experience.

On Monday, I'll have access to the photos of our adventure and will post some of them here at that time.