25 September 2010
For more than a week, mom has been coming home late because they have been practicing for their Family Day. She invited me to come with her so I could take pictures, and of course I was happy to oblige. :)
There are now a lot of SSS Branches nationwide, so this Family Day is for the NCR Central - covering the Diliman (East Ave.), San Francisco del Monte, Cubao, Commonwealth, and Novaliches branches. At first I thought "family day" meant employees bringing their family, but I realized it meant SSS family. Oh-kay. So I was the only outsider there, and if not for my mom who tried to talk to me every now and then, I'd really feel really bored. Hehehehe.
First competition of the day was the Cheerdance, and mom's team performed third. Overall, I am very amazed at all of the team's performances, especially how the "oldies" did. Well, my mom's 61 years old... and she could move well! I loved how all teams come together and perform as if they're competing for gold! :)
After lunch, the second competition started - the Singing competition. There was a very big difference about each of the teams... some had just select members performing, some used elaborate costumes, and at first mom's team was a bit worried because they never really had a major costume change - they were still wearing the same shirt they used in the cheerdance, they only changed the pants and put on a white vest. What made the big difference was that their team showed unity - 90% of the branch joined the performance, and that they were the only ones who sang a Filipino song.
The newly appointed SSS President Emil de Quiros was present during the Family Day, and he expressed his deep appreciation of seeing employees come together. Aside from watching the performances, he also graced the party by singing two songs (he has a great voice, by the way), and posed for pictures with each of the teams.
In between two main competitions, there were raffles (prizes were 200 and 300 pesos for 10 lucky employees, some took home products - dishwashing liquid, hand soap, etc - from a sponsor), and there were parlor games. In their best effort to make it a good family day, they converged two teams in the parlor games.
Even if it was all in the spirit of camaraderie, of course, every team wanted to win. It was a great, great day for the Novaliches team because they won in the Cheerdance and the Singing competitions. This blurry picture I took while they wait for the announcement... this was supposed to be a good picture, but when they announced that they won, they just went nuts! They shouted, they jumped, the ran all over the place - they were like kids!
The prize? 5000 pesos for each competition - which they used last Friday to eat at Tramway.
Even if there was a point in the day that I whispered to mom that I wanted to go home, I was happy that I went with my mom. She and I are really getting better and better with our relationship as mom-daughter and as friends.
*** Jenn ***
