America, the land of FREEdom!

“What will make you stay in the United Stated after your graduation?” asked Chris whom I met at the Halloween party hosted by Gil on Oct 31, 2008. “Job,” I answered straight away without any hesitation. “What else?” Chris continued. That follow up question stuck my thought and has stayed in my head since then. It was hard for me to think of any other reasons that can convince me to stay in the U.S. Chris was puzzled and asked “What if you meet some one who you will be spending your life with here in the U.S.?” That is uncertain and seems unpredictable though it can be one of the convincing reasons that make me decide to stay. Just now that I have found the real answer to the question; it’s “FREEDOM”. I have just realized that America is where I can experience and enjoy my freedom, though I have not used it at fullest yet.

Cambodia, my home country is totally different from America in term of freedom. There, I do not dare to express my personal feeling or my own view especially if it is controversial to the social norm. Cambodia has a very strict tradition for girls so called “Chbab Srey” which means “Women Code of Conduct”. Chbab Srey describes very detail guidance ranging from what women should wear to how women should behave in society; for instant women should not speak loudly, women should walk quietly, etc.

In Cambodia from my generation backward, parents are very strict with their daughters. They over control their daughter’s live like what clothes their daughters should wear, how their daughters should behave, what kind of friends they make and particularly the type of person their daughters get married to. In my country, I never dare to wear short skirt above my knee or to wear a shirt that shows my shoulder because it considered very sexy and not good in the eyes of the society. Interestingly, the daughter is not allowed to have any boy friend or she is regarded as a not so good woman. At school, students dare not to argue with their teacher even though when they know that the teacher make mistake as it is considered impolite and embarrassed the teachers. I remembered one time when I argued with a Math teacher on an exam that he gave me wrong evaluation on my correct answer. I was almost expelled from that class. Looking back while I was at school, I was never allowed to hang out with friends especially male friends after school. Every time, I came home late from school, I have to find a good reason to explain to my grand mom who was always there waiting for me at the door step. I rarely had a chance to go to any party with friends though we did not have many. I remembered that there was one time that my parents allowed me to go to a party with friends at high school; it was because they knew people who also joined the party with and that party was organized by a teacher whom my uncle knew very well. Honestly, I sometimes did not let my parents knew that I went out with friends since I knew I would not be granted any permission from them. Sometimes, I found it more effective if I have my close friends asked permission from my parents rather than myself asked for it. My parents know all my best friends and their parents.

In contradiction to my life in Cambodia, I am having a so called “true freedom of life” in the United States. I could not believe that I could have this type of freedom which I should have had back at home. It is my freedom and it belongs to me. It should be granted to me since my birth, the freedom of speech, the freedom of behaving, the freedom of choosing my own destiny and my life time hero. I would claim that I do truly can enjoy my full freedom here in the U.S. I can wear whatever I like, I can behave the way I want to and hang out with any one I prefer without being fear how others think of me as long as it does not hurt other people. Importantly, I do not have to ask for any permission to do all of those any longer. Where else I can ask for more?

Never the less, I still give credit to the strict tradition of my society especially my family who took very great care of me and taught me to become an organized mature person as I am today.

Time is flying or not moving?

Have you ever had a feeling that weekend is slow to come but fast to go? It’s obvious that there are 5 days of weekday before weekends which consist only two days. As I’ve been waiting and counting from Monday, Tuesday,…, Friday; then Saturday and Sunday, I feel that weekend is fast to go. Oop tomorrow is Monday again. Wait,wait, time please wait for me and stop moving for a while, can you? No, time is not listening to my insistence, time might not hear me, or it ignores me:( I dont have the answer to this but what I know is that “time never stop and never return” thus I have to ensure that I do my best today and make it better than yesterday!

Yet, I sometimes feel that time does not move when I am in grief or failure. I want time to move faster as fast as it could when I just want to get out of the difficult situation. But it seems not listen to me again. It made me frustrating and wished there was a time machine that I can adjust the speed to time movement.

Cambodian Fulbrighters!

Once being a fulbrighter, will be a fulbrighter the rest of life time.

http://cambodia.usembassy.gov/fulbright_predeparture_08.html

I believe…

* I believe that it’s taking me a long time to become the person I want to be.

* I believe that we are responsible for what we do, no matter how we feel.

* I believe that either you control your attitude or it controls you.

* I believe that heroes are the people who do what has to be done when it needs to be done, regardless of the consequences.

* I believe that money is a lousy way of keeping score.

* I believe that my best friend and I can do anything or nothing and have the best time.

* I believe that sometimes when I’m angry I have the right to be angry, but that doesn’t give me the right to be cruel.

* I believe that just because someone doesn’t love you the way you want him or her to doesn’t mean they don’t love you with all he or she has.

* I believe that maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you’ve had and what you’ve learned from them and less to do with how many birthdays you’ve celebrated.

* I believe that it isn’t always enough to be forgiven by others. Sometimes you have to learn to forgive yourself.

* I believe that no matter how bad your heart is broken the world doesn’t stop for your grief.

* I believe that just because two people argue, it doesn’t mean they don’t love each other. And just because they don’t argue, it doesn’t mean they do.

* I believe that two people can look at the exact same thing and see something totally different.

* I believe that your life can be changed, in a matter of hours, by people who don’t even know you.

* I believe that even when you think you have no more to give, when a friend cries out to you, you will find the strength to help.

http://ruthshaven.com/poetry/believe.html

Tip for Today!

“We have a choice to use the gift of our lives to make the world a better place” by Dr. Jane Goodall

How to spend a perfect day in my hometown?

Battambang, my hometown, located at the western part of Cambodia, is the second most visited place in the country. Battambang (BB) is well-known for its French colonial architechures, historical ancient temples, marvelous natural landscape, diversified ethnic groups and variety of the most delicious food and fruit. Thus, there must be many places to visit, many activities to do, and many restaurants to go to. You might need several days to spend in BB town to experience all its beauty and specialties. However, if you have limited time, let’s say one day; you have to assure that you spend that time effectively. Here are some tips on how to spend a perfect day in BB town. Firstly, early in the morning, you can enjoy a beautiful sun rise along Sangke river, a river flow from a mountainous area used to be well-known for geme stones. In order to be able to view this, you probably have to scarify some of your sleep to get up before 6 am. There is a cute park along, Sangke river which serves as one of the most beautiful plot in town for exercise. Thus, besides enjoying seeing the sun rise, you can also enjoy seeing people exercise along the river; or you might want to exercise with them as well. Next, after having a cool bath, there are many restaurants serves variety of food for breakfast. You can choose from rice soup chicken, rice noodle with Khmer or curry source or French sandwhich, or Chinese noodle. It can take me a day to describe just half of what breakfast you can have in town. Nevertheless, I would recommend you to try rice noodle with Khmer sources, one of the typical breakfast of Khmer and what is more special is that in BB there is some more sweetie and spices sources adding on top of the dish. Oh, I cannot stop my mind of dreaming of having it again. Secondly, after the wonderful breakfast, you might be interested to walk in town for a while to view the French colonial architectures. Thirdly, when it is still not yet very hot, you can ride a moto dup (moto taxi) to Bannon, a temple on top of mountain built thousands years ago, which is 4km from the town. About 1km from Bannon there is another mountain named Sampov mountain which you cannot miss a chance to see it. People always think of Sampov mountain when they talk about BB. Sampov mountain is famous for its extraordinary caves and the origin of it has a strong association to our history. Further than Sampov, there is a damp named Kampingpouy built during Pol Pot regime (genocide regime 1975-1979). At Kampingpouy you can enjoy swimming in a very clear water coming from the mountain. Besides its water, Kampinpouy is a place where you can find typical local food like fish barbecue with salt and lemongrass. Those three places Bannon, Sampov and Kampingpouy can take you about one day already. Next is how and where to spend a happy night in town? The best to spend your evening is at a park along river side, you might find many boys and girls with a basket selling some snacke. Last, there is a little special restaurant serving special soup which can energized your strength and sooth your sense of taste after a long tired trip during the day. The name of the restaurant is “Soun Yuvan” (means Youth park in English). There is one thing that you have to do before leaving BB that is you have to buy orange. No one will leave this town without buying oranges (so called “Kroach Porsat”). I can guarantee that you cannot find more delicious orange any where else. I bet you will have a PERFECT day in my wonderful home town, “Battambang”.

***BB, I miss you!!!

Lonely but not alone!

“Lonely does not mean that you are alone but it means that there is no close people around me”!

Time flies faster than I could realize. I still keep asking my self whether I am in the US for my PhD which I always dream of. Nevertheless, I’ve been in the U.S for 7 weeks already since July 19, 3 weeks in Missispi and 4 weeks in Texas. It seems to me that I’ve just here a couple days.

Texas A&M is where I am studying. It’s a huge uni. with more than 40,000 students that make the uni. crowded during weekday. Even though the uni. is crowded,  It still make me have a feeling of loneliness…. It make me miss my previous acadmic life at AIT where I never feel alone though I most of time being in my room alone.

Tips of the day!

Maybe the most any of us can expect of ourselves isnt perfection but progress. “Michelle Buford”

A new life in the U.S!

“Only me who knows myself the best!” However, at this moment I dont think I know my self or how I am feeling. I am not sure if I feel sad, happy, worried, anxious, confuse or nervous.

Living in a completely new place is not so different from starting a new life. It is time when I have to get myself accustom to the environment surounding me. It’s also time to get to know people from different background. It’s time to adapt to new living style like food to eat, clothes to wear, how to act and interact with people.

I’ve been at College Station where Texas A&M is located since Monday evening. I was lucky enough to get my appartment arranged for me though it was not furnished. I need to buy a bed, matress, table, chair and some kitchen appliance, etc.

Farewell Parties;)

In complement to my regular job at BL that keep me busy during weekdays Party has kept me busy during weekends. Since mid June, besides working, I’ve got to reserve my self for partying with friends of different groups. At least each weekend, I’ve got two parties. Last weekend, I had two instead of three since the two small group on Sunday were merged.

Saturday 28 June was a farewell party with AIT alumni. About 24 came…;)We had BBQ at Loasis restaurant which situated near Phsar Kabko. We had fun with chatting, eating and a little bit of dancing until 9pm. After, we left Loasis, a small special group of 9 including Raksmey, Soklang, Bunrith, Leang Y, Ratana (Yang Kdan), B. Polen, B. Kakada, Pu Pal and me went to Chenda’s house to have a special overnight party and in order to recall the activity that we usually did while we were at AIT. It was so special, still can feel the joy! As we already ate at Loasis, we didnt need more food except more drinks. It’s alcohol drink that we need. B. Polen was so good at wine mixing. He added lemon and salt to soda & Jin which tasted so good. I cannot recognize I was drinking alcohol. We drank until mid night that we decided we would go to night club to dance as the dance we had at Loasis was not sufficient. We went to Spark Red. When we arrived there with a 15-seat van driven by B. Polen ait alumni president; it was nearly 1am so we had only one hour to dance before it close which could not make us sweat. After leaving Spark, B.Polen drove us around PP city along river side and return to Chenda’s. When we came back to Chenda house, we served our self with Borbor Krueng. The last thing we enjoyed was with our traditional game…playing cards:))) Only six of us play the game since some went to sleep and some had to complete a report to submit early in the morning. Though we were sleepy, we could stand by playing the game until 4am…

Sunday 29th I had a farewell dinner with friends from RUPP and friends from my high school (in BB town) at Tom Yam Kung restaurant at the west of silver pagoda. It was just a two-hour meeting since every one seem busy, some was hurry to go back to watch film…:)

“It was a very tired but happy weekend”, I would say.