By Carolyn
CFA 9 started on the 4th of November for the participants, but as the host, it started on the last week of September for me. I had a long and endearing month of people playing with my mind, telling me that they would be coming for CFA 9. The strength was 28 people at one point of time, and then it became 12, and 20, until the very morning of 4th November that I finally confirmed the strength of the people to be 19. Perhaps it was the job scope of being a host that I felt the pressure right from the very night before that I might not be able to do a good enough job for Cheers Connect International. I remember an unfathomable feeling whilst we waited at the chalet lobby as Khai, Inez, Dionna and Shi Han had their breakfast. It was a feeling of uncertainty and a feeling of angst especially when I found out one participant dropped out at the very last minute.
Ice-breaker came and went quickly as the participants of CFA 9 created their cheer. To me, it was child's play to them as they came up with their cheer in less than 5 minutes. "C-F-A N-I-N-E 9 9 9 9 YAY!" It might sound funny when you try to pronounce it but if you were there dear reader, I swear to you you would love the fact that it had a perky and pleasant ring to it in your ears. What's more, it is especially captivating and in no less than 10 minutes, you would want to hear the cheer yet again. A crucial few other lessons came as Justin shared with them the Knowing-Yourself module and Hong Ting took charge of the personality test. With no luck with lunch as the ladies have not arrived with it, I decided to teach them the cheer, "Hungry! Hungry! Thirsty! Thirsty! Hungry Thirsty! Thirsty Hungry!" which I never managed to teach any other CFAs the last 9 times.
A considerable amount of camaraderie was seen when even at lunch, they sat in their teams and ate. I knew right from then that this CFA would be like no other, as the people bonded not only physically, but heart to heart. It could be the strength in numbers that stood out because this is the first CFA with the greatest number of people but we, (the trainers) could see that no amount of setback could bring down their determination to excel and persevere. Art of Facilitation & Role of Facilitator came and went with Unique Jumping Jack which they resolved in a breakneck pace. Moving in to the chalet resort left the participants segregating themselves to male in one room, and female in the other. Conflict Resolution was next when they were introduced to a new trainer, Wan Sin. This was followed by roleplaying with the different scenarios given. I believe this must have demoralized some, and boosted some other people's morale when they were taken down down down by the different and atrocious attitudes by the participants involved. Nevertheless, everybody had an equal amount of fun especially when Jialin had to act as though she had broken her limb, and all of us (Letitia, the girls and me) went "She fall down! She fall down! She fall down!" and clapping our hands in the most annoying sound ever. This came with the men going "Orh Bi Quek! Orh Bi Quek! Orh Bi Quek!" also to the same tune as ours.
Of course, CFA 9 was not spared of my acting and with that acting, it left me a big scar on my leg because I scratched myself on the floor accidentally. Dinner was sumptuous, Hokkien Mee or Char Kuay Teow and it was down to the Cheering-cum-Singalong Session where I was taking charge. As of every CFA's Cheering session, it was a well and memorable one. With cheers like, "We are Cheerios We're the best.. x2 We are Cheerios beat the rest..." and creating actions for "C is for Champions, H is for having fun. E is for Energy, E is for excellence.." and "Huh, Huh what? You think I care I don't care.." and having different translations for "I've got a fever, I'm hot, I can't be stop.." (this being our dear Junting's favourite cheer). We also found out then, that Cheng Long can actually cheer, and Louis could shake his body in an extremely entertaining way.
Many slapstick jokes were poured along on the way, and after Martin's session, it was OTOT for everybody. We had twister games, and gossips through the night, not forgetting all the nitty gritty and the for grins joke the participants shared sitting around playing cards. Our dear Letitia had a big fall and all the king's horses, and all the king's men could not put her sprained leg together again. She had to walk with a limp foot the next 2 days.
The morning physical training (PT) was extremely fun, but it left us with our second casualty of the day - Soon Kheng (a.k.a SK) and beach captain ball was being played where Shi Min was being carried by Ben, and Michael carried Yolanda. Breakfast, Presentation Skills and First Aid came soon after in chronological order, and lunch was being served. Game creation was the last activity of the day, followed by KukuLong's song where it was so bad it became funny. A best camper was chosen, our very own Jun Ting was chosen, followed by dinner at Parkway with everybody else. To tell you the truth CFA 9 participants, Dionna was the one who initiated the idea to go to Parkway for dinner and because of her, Letitia with her sprained foot had to travel down to Parkway with all of us just to eat there when East Coast actually had good food as well.
It was nothing short of a hilarious 2 days and an extremely backbreaking one. Overall, it was the participants and the trainers who made this 2 days how it was, and I thank each and every one of you who was a part of it. Dionna, Shi Han, Chenglong, Inez, Michael, Shi Min, Yolanda, Jialin, Ben, Chris, Cherlynn, Junting, Ji-Shen, Hoe Han, Melissa, Sheng Jie, Matthew, Soon Kheng and Louis, Welcome abroad to the Cheerios group! I hope to work with you guys in a program soon. I now suffer from a bout of muscle fatigue, but nevertheless, thank you, if not enough, Hong Ting, Justin, Evelyn, Angie, Khai, Andrew, Jun He, Vincent, Martin, Pei Yan, Wan Sin, Kah Chun, Aaron and Letitia.
All of you made it a level more special than it already was. C F A N-I-N-E 9 9 9 9 YAY!
Love,
Carolyn
The 9th running of the CCI Competent Facilitator Award Course, CFA IX, was held from 4th to 5th November 2006. Carolyn, a long serving facilitator at CCI, gives her account of the course from her point of view as the host & coordinator for the course.