Cerebra

Being told you are going on a family holiday when you’re not part of the family can be a pretty daunting thing.

I’ve been at Cerebra for just under three months now, long enough to be in on the jokes…most of them at least. Long enough to greet people by their nicknames, or even make new ones up. Long enough to feel comfortable enough to burst into song at any given moment, knowing that most people wouldn’t even raise an eyebrow or openly ridicule me.

But on my first day, all those months ago, before the singing, jokes and nicknames, I was told that we would be going away for the weekend to Clarens for our end of year party. While everyone celebrated and chose their roommates for the weekend, I found myself slipping a little lower into my chair, my mind racing. What on earth am I going to speak to these people about for three days?

Cut to a month later and a rather questionable game of ‘would you rather’, I was sandwiched between two people I had known for only a few weeks if not days prior, happily chatting away. This was #CerebraTakeover.

Every year Cerebra treats its employees to a weekend away and a few extremely big bottles of Jägermeister to thank them for their hard work during the year. In 2011 Cerebra invaded Cape Town, Sun City was the destination of choice in 2012 and 2013 saw Cerebra take over Clarens. This year, everyone got to choose between various activities to take part in over the weekend, including horseback riding, whitewater rafting, antiquing and an opportunity to relax by the pool. For the most part the team was split between whitewater rafting and horseback riding.

I chose horseback riding, which meant I was lucky enough to bear witness to Khanya’s (one of our Online Brand Analysts) first endeavour into horse riding. Our guide was a cross between an Afrikaans Indiana Jones and Bear Grylls, Indi could not grasp the concept that the majority of our group had never touched a horse let alone ridden one.

As he set off racing across a field I managed to look back for a second to see my colleagues being shaken around more than a polaroid picture in one of André 3000’s songs whilst Khanya shouted – no screamed -STOP! STOP! Needless to say Indi cared little for his pleas and continued to gallop for a good few minutes.

Those who chose whitewater rafting had to endure freezing temperatures, dodgy looking lifeguards and a surprise hail storm. Nicole our resident videographer and Craig, Cerebra’s MD took it upon themselves to document the excursion which included a mix of terrified and amused screams – sometimes both. Let us know what you think of the video in the comments below.

Beyond the horseback riding I got to witness my MD do the worm across the dance floor, find out first hand just how competitive people can get in a game of 30 Seconds, all the while exploring the beautiful town of Clarens. It was the best crash course in getting to know Cerebra anyone could have asked for.

#CerebraTakeover was the perfect ending to everyone’s year and the perfect start to mine.