Teambuilding

I'm in Hamburg this week for an internal functional event and meetings to do with my new job (more about that some other time - same employer, different responsibilites). At the Firm, such events usually include teambuilding activities of some sort, mostly of the sporty one. When we were told in the briefing that we should pack clothes that could get wet, most participants correctly guessed that we would go canoeing. And we did:

Luckily, the weather on Tuesday afternoon was much sunnier and drier than the days before and after and so all I had to worry about was the fact that I am NOT sporty in the least and my only rowing experience some 25 years ago was pretty disastrous and had us go in circles under the exasperated watch of the boat rental guy. Well, this time, it was not quite as bad, but I was rather tense for the first half hour when I shared the boat with an equally inexperienced girl. Two Polish colleagues took mercy and split up to swap partners with us. Much better! Even though I felt much more confident and less likely to fall into the river Elbe with A. sitting behind me, the fact that we rowed for almost 2 hours was rather too much expercise in one day for me.

We were all starving by the end and happy when we reached the fancy restaurant where we had dinner. Surprisingly, my muscles were hardly sore the day after and I was almost tempted to become a professional canoer. Not.