Over The last weekend of July, the entire Foreigners.cz team met together in a small village called Pšovlky, close to Rakovnik. The purpose of this weekend was to bring together all of our team members from various locations within the Czech Republic, in an effort to strengthen the team spirit. Despite the extreme temperatures on Sunday (40°C), the teams enthusiasm persevered during work and activity times.
Infrastructure, program and team presentation
On Friday afternoon, we arrived at a big house belonging to an elderly couple. The house had two huge rooms used as a dormitory, and two regular bedrooms. The work room on the ground floor was equipped with a bar, a pool table, a sofa and a kitchen.
A couch and tables permitted us to eat outside for most meals.
A home-made barbecue for the lunchThe house was full of great amenities including: tennis courts, beach-volleyball, basket-ball, and a meadow with a swimming pool to relax after our work session.
Almost all the team in the swimming poolThe day program was organized in a way that there was alternation between work session and leisure time.
It was exciting to meet up with members of the team whom i’d met over previous meet ups, but I was also happy to meet some new team members.
Hradec Kralove team: Vojta (Owner), Marta and George
Brno team : Andrea (Owner), Oksana, Liduska, Sabina, Marek, Veronika and Agnes (intern)
Pilsen team: Martin, Lucia, and Dominika
Prague team: Gabriella, Ria, Hana, Katarina, Nikola and me (intern)
Olomouc office with Daniel
You can see the entire team here
Meeting and Working Sessions
During meetings and presentations, us (interns) took part in debate and conversation in English.
Vojta presenting the scheduleAndrea, our internship supervisor, began our session with a personality test which provided results about our personalities based on date and time of birth. Even if I don’t believe this kind of thing in general, results were consistent with me!
Other subjects studied: attitude in front of the client, procrastination, task organization and a quick presentation from each of us about a book we have read.
Nikola talking about a bookLeisure time
Some of the team members had prepared activities for the team building session to bring everyone together, which was great, as we often finished off with a laugh.
We also used free time to play tennis, table football, and with the warm weather, enjoyed the swimming pool!
Ria and Hana on the Tennis fieldOn Saturday afternoon, a party was organized in the village that had historical shows such as a medieval fight and gunner shots. I was probably the only foreigner among 200-300 people but with the team, I felt like a local. Free beer was another great part of the afternoon!
For me, the best activity was on Saturday night: a special orienteering in the village. The object of the game was to find different checkpoints at night with a torch, from which each of us had to read, remember and recite a difficult sentence. The sentences were recited to our referees, Vojta and Andrea. Teams were organized by each city’s office, and if just one member didn’t remember his/her quote, the team had to wait for them to get it right in order to proceed: talk about team spirit!
Of course, I was in charge of English quotes. Some examples:
– She sells sea shells on the sea shore […]
– How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
– Peter Piper picked a pack of pickled peppers
– Which witch wished which wicked wish?
– I can think of six thin things but I can think of six thick things too
– […]We surely shall see the sun shine soon
Another great activity was the mailbox exercise. Each of us had to write message to other members and put it on his/her mailbox. We had to wait to go back home to read messages which turned out to be very touching and gave me the impression that I’m part of a family with Foreigners.cz!
My impressions
In 3 words: Team spirit, friendship, memorable. (4 words actually)
This was an unforgettable weekend! I could not be happier to be part of a young, united and dynamic team. My departure from Czech Republic will be difficult and sad for me but I’ve made friendships that will last a lifetime. Thanks to Vojta, Andrea and all the Foreigners.cz team!
