The Amazing Race: Ohana All Stars- Team 1 Refelction

The Race begins...

As many of you may or may not know, Ohana hosted its first ever "The Amazing Race: Ohana All-Star" race. This was part of our team building and development for the teachers and was organized by Shelley.

Saying that this race was a fun and amazing task, would leave the experience meritless. What we all learned as teachers and co-workers was an experience to contemplate and amaze over. The aim was to work together as a team and to get to know each other more. And I am happy to say, we all did and went beyond what was expected!

I was part of Team 1(*cough* cough* The Winning Team *wink*wink*), which initialed of Gaelle from the office, Lizeal from Flowers Class and Pernille from Petals Class. I am glad to say by the end of it, I felt closer with them all, as we learned about each other on our train rides and while we weren't running around Tokyo like we had the end of the world coming!

5 envelopes were given with 5 different destinations and tasks to do. From the get-go, we all felt pressure and stress that was self-inflicted. No one in our group had initiated or driven us to do so, but we all felt a deep pressure to finish this fast and properly. As we completed each task, I felt we got closer. 

During our train ride "breaks" we were able to talk to each other and find out more about what brought us all to Tokyo. We also were able to bounce off each other, to help one another. In more places than one, we all found our selves either running or allocating jobs to do. For example, photo taker, google maps searcher, clue reader and so on. Needless to say, we all worked very well together. 

It is quite amazing to see how compromising, supportive and motivated a group can be together in a short period of time. I guess this is part of human nature, the fight-or-flight response. As much as I was exhausted and out of breath, I kept going for my team, which is a feeling that was shared among all of us.

At the end the key points I learned was:

1. Never give up, to push yourself! Not because you want to win, but for the effort. At least you can say at the end, I tried my best! 

2. Rely on your team and the people around you. They are a great support group!

3. Enjoy the quiet times! After running around so much, I cherished the train rides and getting to know my fellow teammates. 

4. Ohana means family and family sticks together! After the race was done, all I could see were smiles all around and pride that we all "survived" and completed the game. We all had nothing but admiration and love for each other. Not to sound cheesy, but in the end, we all were winners in one way or another!

A big thank you to my awesome teammates, for making me feel all the above. You all are amazing and wonderful educators and human beings, that I have had the pleasure to get to know. 

And finally, an even bigger thank you to Shelley, for organizing an amazing team building game!

Love,

Kiki

Before we close off, here are a few words from the other teammates:

The amazing race was a great experience in many ways. I learned some new things about myself, as well as getting to know my colleagues a little better.

Before the race began I was expecting to have time to chat about our personal lives and get a little closer, but I turned out to be quite mistaken. 

As it turns out, we all became quite competitive - something I wasn't really expecting from myself. We became very determined and only had time to chat a little bit between stations on the trains. However, that time was mostly spent discussing tactics for our next task. We wanted to win! 

I was surprised and happy to see that I wasn't the only one who wanted to be a bit creative in completing the tasks, for example convincing other people to buy the sweets for us. However, also a bit worried about being disqualified for cheating. How far can you bend the rules? 

It was a great team building experience. It is important to reflect on the way you communicate with your colleagues in stressful situations. I was happy to feel that we all respected each other's opinions and came up with solutions that suited everyone in the group. 

Love, 

Pernille

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Dedication, Passion, and Love in whatever we do, made us all the winner!!

Thank you for the encouragement, inspiration, and support from my teammates Gaelle, Kiki and Pernille.

It was amazing working with you as a team.

Love,

Liezel

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I enjoyed the Ohana race so much. I loved being with Liezel, Kiki, and Pernille as we never really have time to talk at school and this was a great opportunity to find out more about each other. Also, I felt like all members were very active and dedicated to the tasks ahead. We all got along very well and it was fun to try and find ways to complete our tasks quickly, like asking an unsuspecting Chinese couple to buy the Dorayaki for us! :)

While we were very goal oriented there was always a very nice and friendly atmosphere for us and it was very enjoyable.

Nope for next time: Everyone should wait for the shop to open or everyone should have another option please! :)

Love,

Gaelle

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Stop No. 1: The Shop wasn't open!

Stop No. 2: Hachiko

I say tomato, you say tomaato...I say crepes, you say pancakes. 

Waiting for the other teams to arrive...

The final destination: The last finale group photo(we were tiered, out of breath and exhausted)

We all are happy to be part of Ohana and this experience. It was wonderful, and we can’t wait for the next "Amazing Race: Ohana All-Star" race. We hope you enjoyed reading about our experiences and seeing the fun photos we took along the way. 

We also hope you are inspired to try the race out for yourself too! 

Thank you as always for all the support and love you give to Ohana.

Have a great evening and an AMAZING weekend!

Lots of Love,

Team 1