Every year, during the holy month of Ramadhan, Gapturions are treated to a nice dinner in conjunction with the 'buka puasa' (break fast) tradition of our Muslim colleagues. This year, we've decided to revisit Hotel Armada for their amazing traditional Malaysian cuisine.
Exclusively for Gapturions
Although we arrived at the restaurant around 7:00pm, out of respect for our Muslims friends, the rest of us only started eating after 7:27pm, which was the break fast time of the day. The air was filled with the exquisite aroma of warm spices. We filled our tables with plates full of food because everything looked so delicious. The dishes set in front of us were so tempting and we couldn't wait to dig in even though it was only 20 minutes to “buka puasa”. It’s hard to imagine what the Muslims go through during the fasting month. Their endurance and discipline deserve our respect and admiration.
Counting down to Buka Puasa (break fast)
There was a wide variety of delicacies served at the buffet – roasted whole lamb (ya, it’s legit!), Rendang Daging (spicy beef stew), fish curry, chicken Biryani (mixed rice), Roti Canai, Rojak, seafood, Satay, fried chicken and mutton etc. Sushi, spaghetti, fried rice and noodles were served too, especially for carb lovers!
At the dessert bar, there were various types of Malay traditional kuih (pastries), fried bananas, cakes, puddings, dates and fruits.
The camera eats first!
At 7:27pm, we finally started to stuff our faces with food after the Muslims were done with their break fast prayer.
Our mouths were busy multitasking during the dinner - chit chatting and chewing food all at once. We talked about our most liked and disliked food. There was a special (smelly?) delicacy - Roti Durian at the buffet, which spilt the Gapturions into “team yay” and “team nay”. Our many conversations ranged from food to Brexit. Isn't it a privilege to be in the company of those we can share casual and serious conversations with?
Who cares about calories? Diet can start tomorrow!
Other than good food and lots of laughter, we gained some fun facts too! Most of us didn’t know that A.B.C. stands for Air Batu Campur (mixed ice) until Amirul, our Head of Performance Team told us about it. A.B.C. is a Malaysian dessert, which is simply a heap of shaved ice in a bowl, topped with fruit cocktail and drizzled with syrup. We had a lot of fun making our own A.B.C. at the dessert bar.
It was wonderful to get a chance to try out all kinds of local food at once. Food plays an important role in building intercultural relationships, and through the simple act of sharing a meal, the bond between every Gapturion are strengthened.
Last but not least, a big thank you to our CEO, Mr. Stanley for the fantastic treat!
Fellow Gapturions:
Front (from left to right): Fairoz, Sook Yee, Nadine, Alix's boyfriend, Alix
Back (from left to right): Lisa, Josephine, Jilian, Bee Kim, Aji, Amirul, Stanley, Jackie, Lee Yee, Erra
Last month, Gapturions celebrated the success of hitting our agency's first quarter sales target by experiencing a challenging yet interesting outdoor activity. It was a great Saturday for Gapturions to feel the excitement of riding ATVs at ATV Adventure Park. Located in Kampung Kemensah, Ulu Klang, it is an interesting place with natural attraction for anyone who wants to enjoy the nature on ATVs. It was a weekend and there were a lot of people, both locals and tourists, who were eager to ride the ATVs.
We were being briefed by a crew member on how to ride and handle the ATV before we are allowed to handle the ATV. We managed to take a group photo in front of a giant hill rock with graffiti art on it before we began the ride.
Listening to brief on handling ATV by the crew
Gapturions and ex-interns - Johnney and Bryan
Ready for ATV Ride!
Then it was time for us to start our adventurous ATV journey up and down the hill. It felt like riding a motorbike, but on four wheels. Going uphill was not very smooth for Gapturions as we often stopped when someone’s ATV got stuck in the mud or in a big pothole! Yes, it was a very challenging route, which is narrow, muddy, bumpy and full of big rocks. But all these added to the excitement of an ATV adventure!
Can't wait to start the adventure!
Time to get going!
The forest and surrounding nature made this activity unique and different from other sports activities. We get to enjoy and appreciate the nature in this ride. The mini waterfall in the heart of the forest perfectly refreshed us from the tiredness of the ride and the journey. We stopped and appreciated the beautiful scenery, before continuing our ride.
There were many challenges ahead! It got harder as we approached where we started off, as the road got steeper and filled with full of obstacles. But that was exactly what made it adventurous and fun! We arrived at the start-off point safely and we all felt the satisfaction of completing the route. I, for sure, wouldn't mind doing it again!
One of the difficult and challenging sections
The ride ended where we begun
After all the hard work, we are ready to fill ourselves up with mouth-watering dishes at Dapur Penyet Wangsa Maju. It is such a perfect place to enjoy delicious Indonesian cuisines like Ayam Penyet, Lele Penyet, Sambal Udang Belado, etc. Hungry stomaches and delicious food, what a combination!
The signature dish, 'Ayam Penyet', is definitely the best choice
Appetizingly grilled pomfret
Dapur Penyet chicken satay is a must-try for all satay lovers!
The main dish, Ayam Penyet, and other mouth-watering dishes are definitely worth trying! Luckily, we didn’t forget to capture the moment of the day with all Gapturions, interns and ex-interns.
Capture our moment together before heading back home
This fun weekend activity was a good opportunity for Gapturions to get together outside hectic agency work. I think appreciation towards the nature is something people lack of in this modern day. This ATV ride gave us a good opportunity to be together with old friend - the nature.
Thinking out of the box was what I was inspired to do on Monday, March 21, during Feruni Ceramiche Tour. At 9am, Gapturions entered Feruni showroom in Petaling Jaya, to join the tour to learn about Feruni's company culture. A gorgeous, classy and refined tiles showroom/office decorated with taste welcomed us.
Feruni's CEO, Mr. CC Ngei, welcomed all the attendees to the tour. Several other companies shared this moment with us in a very friendly and casual atmosphere. Happiness and community are Feruni's watchwords and they seem to only do things full-heartedly.
We had breakfast at Feruni's Happiness Cafe, a warm and cosy place for Ferunians to have meals, drinks and snacks. What caught me by surprise, was the use of a fictional money, Feruni Ringgits, to pay for the food. Each Ferunian can earn Feruni Ringgits by participating in Feruni's activities. At Feruni, they promote commitment to one another and unity. Everything at Feruni is designed to encourage Ferunians to be united. Charity, outdoor activities, celebrations, games, all of it, encourage Ferunians to form a community to not only be better employees but also better human beings. There is no personal office in Feruni, only open space. "There is no meeting room because ideas can be shared anywhere", said Feruni's CEO.
Then, we spent an hour in the auditorium for a fun and inspiring presentation of Feruni's values and purposes by the CEO himself. Feruni has four purposes that eventually lead to delivering happiness - Cultivate talent, community, transformation and always based its business on values. This presentation has deeply changed my idea of business management. It was clearly shown to me that running a successful business does not prevent anyone from being good and doing good deeds. A successful business can still help the people around to achieve fulfilment and success, and to make them key contributors to the economy and society. This is something common that I think Feruni and Gapture share.
After the presentation, Gapturions were invited to the group tour lead by CC Ngei himself. He explained to us passionately about Feruni unique corporate culture and how it transcends the whole facility, from the gym that Ferunians can work out anytime, to the talent room in which each interview, regardless of job position, starts with a talent audition similar to "America's Got Talent" show. We also toured the game room, that comes with a pool table, a table football and a play station for the Ferunians to relax. I was completely amazed.
I was really thrilled to be given this opportunity by Gapture to experience this tour, even though I am just an AdWords Marketing Intern, who will stay with the agency for only three months. This tour enriched my knowledge on management and business. At Feruni, everything is designed to make employees happy, so that the employees can deliver customers' satisfaction. It is well known that happy employees create happy clients, Feruni got it right here!
However, Feruni didn't just stop here. CC Ngei showed us their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program, a training center at the back of the showroom, that is about to open soon to anyone who wants to learn to be a professional tiler and make a living out of this profession. Feruni will be sponsoring all the training cost, while waiting for the approval of government's grant, which may or may not come true. Feruni wants to revolutionize the tile industry, by raising the bar. Yet again, helping community appears to be one of Feruni's priorities.
At the end of the inspiring tour, during lunch, Gapturions discussed ideas that we can adopt and adapt to make Gapture a better company for Gapturions and a better digital agency for our clients.
This tour opened my mind to see new things. It has enriched and transformed my perception of the corporate world. Workplace does not need to be boring and only about work. Beyond working, employees are also human beings, searching for happiness and fulfilment. There isn't a need to choose among work, happiness and fun anymore, it is possible to have it all as Feruni has shown the way!
Last Saturday, all Gapturions, interns and part-time consultants, gathered together at Blastacars to celebrate the achievement of hitting our January sales target!
It's easy to become disconnected with the people and environment surrounding you and get caught up with everyday tasks. Once in a while it's good to step out of your zone and the all the stress for some bonding time with the people you spend a great amount of time with on the daily. No, I don't mean your family. I mean your work colleagues.
And that's what this post is about. I'm here to talk about how Gapturions stayed over one roof and connected as well as working together as a unit in January for our company retreat.
The retreat was held at Cameron Highlands. We departed from our office at Petaling Jaya at around 8.30am, Thursday. Even though it was only 9 of us, we booked a 13-seater van as to let everyone be comfortable for the long journeys and have spaces for purchases that we had planned for the last day.
I would tell you how the journey went on but I was asleep the whole time (sleep is crucial, people). Anyways, we arrived at around 12:15pm and checked into this beautiful bungalow that was located atop of the hill.
This British-style bungalow (or so I've been told)
The backyard
After freshening up, we went on with our programs which started with lunch, proceeded with an 'Ice Breaker' exercise, setting retreat goals, and reviewing the year 2015 by our CEO and head of respective departments. As a 5-year-old digital agency, we have achieved quite a fair bit!
'Ice Breaker' played with limited time
Performance marketing presentation by our CEO - Stanley Chee
Digital agency sales deck presentation by Ashley Ong
Evening comes and that's when the fun starts. Simply because we had an awesome BBQ session. There were Norwegian salmon, lambs, chicken wings, mushrooms, veggies and fried rice. The BBQ was prepared by Mr. Chong, as with all of our meals.
Scrumptious dinner
Unfortunately Mr. Chong didn't get no love from our designated photographer
Later that night we were thinking about what games to play, one of the ideas was to play a drinking game proposed by one of the Gapturions. But the idea was dropped instantly, because we are a bunch of working professionals. Just kidding. We didn't have any drinks other than water. Who'd want to play a game where the loser would be the one who goes to pee first?
We ended up watching a movie on the projector. It started off good but eventually everyone decided to do their on thing.
The following day started with breakfast, followed by activities including brainstorming on different subjects and matters; ideas, priorities and KPIs for 2016. Basically all the heavy lifting stuff. After strategizing on how to stand out among all other digital marketing agencies in town, it was lunch time. After lunch break we did two exercises back-to-back, 'Minefield' & 'Drop the Ball'.
Participants of 'Minefield' in action
The winning team for 'Drop the Ball'
Srumptious scones for tea break!
We were rather free during the evening. We did one last 'exercise' towards the end day which was played with playing cards called 'This Is My Life'; everyone had to pick a card and tell a story of a certain point of their lives. Each card had been designated to either; 'childhood', 'teenager', 'current', or 'future life'. The night went long as everyone had interesting stories to tell and was prepared to listen. Each story was different from the other. There were emotional, funny, sweet, and even traumatizing stories.
Cards of fate
Gapturion's sharing
More life sharing from Gapturions
On the third and final day we focused on the goals and strategies for 2016. In addition to that, our CEO also introduced a few special incentives that got everyone worked up.
We checked out of the house in the afternoon. But we managed to stop by at a few spots such as The Big Red Strawberry Farm, Boh Tea Plantation, and Kea Farm Vegetable Market before heading back to KL.
Strawberry-madness!
Boh Tea cafe
Long-armed wefie
All in all it was a very productive and fun retreat. It was certainly interesting to me as it was my first time. We managed to learn about the company's past performance and views for the future. I personally think it is important to have this 'getaway' trip with our company as it gives a chance for us to voice out our opinions on important matters, share our life stories and most importantly, spend time together.
Spot the one who is faking the jump
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