Raffles International Institute Mongolia organized its annual staff summer retreat on the 27th August 2011. The camp chosen was Jonon Summer Camp, which is located 109 km from UB. All the staff were very excited and looked forward to the trip! The theme for the trip was Team Building, and our Business lecturer, Mr. Jimmy Esplanada and English lecturer, Mr. Ronaldo Lihayan Baya-On were the facilitators for the team building exercise.
We arrived at Jonon Summer Camp at 2pm. The day was windy and everyone felt refreshed from the breeze. Once everyone was settled into the Gers, we had our lunch. Freshly prepared mutton shop awaited us, and everyone enjoyed the Hogshoes that came with it. 

The Mummies of Raffles International Mongolia!!

 
The team building activity started after lunch. All staffs participated actively. Mr. Jimmy Esplanada and Mr. Ronaldo Lihayan Baya-On did a wonderful job in creating an interesting and fun filled workshop for the staff. We learnt about traits that help us in their our work. The most important lesson that everyone learnt was Teamwork. Without teamwork, we will have a difficult time fulfilling work given to us and sometimes, we will even face failure. However, we should not be upset just because of failure. We should learn from our mistakes and work harder. All this was taught to everyone through simple yet meaningful games!
After dinner, we were treated to evening entertainment. Games, quizzes and dances kept everyone going for the whole night. We even had members of the public joining us for the night!
On the following day, all staffs were given a surprise- a horse riding session!  It may be a custom for Mongolians, but for foreign staff, it was really an eye opener! The horse ridding experience was truly an experience that none of us will forget!
All good things have to come to an end. After having Khoghog (specially prepared by our IT hunks, Batbayar and Bazarra), the camp came to a close and we were on our way home. Everyone fully enjoyed this 2 days event and we look forward to having it again next summer!

(Prepared by Justin Seow on 29 Aug 2011)