Saturday, October 30, 2010

CamFood Int' Exhibition 2010

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in cooperation with the U.S. Meat Export Federation, the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council, and E & J Gallo Winery exhibited their products and services at the USA Pavilion of the Camfood 2010 exhibition from October 21-23, 2010 at Diamond Island Exhibition Center, Phnom Penh. This year marks the first time that the USDA is organizing a USA Pavilion at a trade show in Cambodia.
I was there to work as a coordinator of U.S Department of Agriculture sector.
On the very first day, since the morning, there was an official grand opening ceremony by H.E Thong Khon, Minister of Tourism.


I was responsible for promoting and distributing the information of the U.S department of Agriculture in the exporting of Bean, Grapes and Pears seed. After the grand opening ceremony by H.E Thong Khon, there was a small opening ceremony in the booth that I was working which is the U.S Department of Agriculture. Mr. Michael Riedel at 10.45am on 21 Oct, officially inaugurate the USA Pavilion and welcomed to all the questions regarding to the trade between U.S and Cambodia.


U.S Department of Agriculture Booth (the Booth that I was working :) )





U.S E & J Gallo Winery Booth





U.S. Meat Export Federation Booth




USA Poultry and Egg Export Counci Booth



Besides, there were many others booth promoting businesses, products and stuffs. I saw the Malaysia sector booth which was designed very professional. I learnt and discovered new things during this job experience.
Malaysia Sector Booth

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Trip to Anlong Veng

(July,2010) Recently, I just went to a long trip to Anlong Veng district which locates near the border between Cambodia and Thailand. I have spent 3-4 days there exploring the historical and natural places. It took about 400KM from Phnom Penh to reach that destination. It was an awesome time and good for me to experience and discover the new place where is considered as the historical places. Along the journey, I could see the very nice scenery. Yet, when I arrived Anlong Veng, I found many interesting places and would like to share here.


On the top of Dorng Rek Moutain view



The next day, I went to see Ta Mok's house (One of the leaders during Khmer Rouge or Pol Pot Regime). I also went to see the place where POL POT was cremated with tires in the year 1998 as I remembered.

This is Ta Mok's House (on Top of the Mountain).



Ta Mok's House,
The underground room









































The place where Pol Pot was cremated.


Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Academic Symposium on the 60th Anniversary of US-Cambodia diplomatic relations 21-22 July 2010

The Symposium on the 60th Anniversary of United states and Cambodia diplomatic relations were held at Chaktomuk Conference Halls on 21-22 July 2010.
It was a great event and I am fortunate to have participated the symposium with more than 700 people on the first day. The events addressed many keynote speakers to give speeches and present the history as well as the political issues of the relation between Cambodia and United States. Remarkably, the Q and A sessions was very interesting as there were many important and good questions being posted. I would briefly describe the event of the symposium and what I have learnt from this..:)


21 July, 2010
Morning session
Begin the session by a professional Moderator, Mr Jeff Daigle, the public affairs Officer, he introduced the events and made a remark to welcome Ambassador Carol Rodley (U.S Ambassador to Cambodia), and H.E. Sok An (Deputy Prime Minister).





Continue to Session 1 in the morning session, it was almost entirely about the history of US-Cambodia diplomatic relation from 1950-2010.
It was presented by Dr. Kenton Clymer, who is presidential research professor in the Department of history at Norther Illinois. I did enjoy his informative speech mentioned the overview of US-Cambodia diplomatic relations and the history of the relations. I really admire Dr. Kenton Clymer who is a great teacher and author who has written many history books while three of them covers the history of American relations with Cambodia.



The next speaker who presented the historical and cultural relationship of US and Cambodia was Dr. David Chandler, a specialist in history and politics of Cambodia. He presented the issues and history of Cambodia, the Tragedy of Cambodia and Cambodian's pastime.



After the speeches have been addressed by the two American historians, Dr. Clymer and Dr. Chandler, H.E. Ek Sereywath (Advisor to the Royal Government of Cambodia and former Cambodian Ambassador to the United States) continued to present the overview of the current U.S-Cambodia relationship.



Q and A Sessions



Afternoon Session
The Session 2 was about the U.S-Cambodia diplomatic relation, Post Civil War from 1992 till the present. It was addressed by the Ambassador Kent Weiedemann, the former U.S Ambassador to Cambodia. He presented the early years of Cambodia's democracy.



Next, H.R.H. Samdech Norodom Sirivudh, supreme privacy councilor to His Majesty the king of Cambodia and founder chairman of the Cambodian institute for cooperation and peace, made his speech regarding the US-Cambodia relations in the 1990's.



The third speaker of the afternoon session, was Ambassador Charles Ray and Ambassador Joseph Mussumeli, both are the former Ambassadors to Cambodia. They presented the role of the U.S in the democratic development and reconstruction of Cambodia.



22 July 2010
The next day of the academic symposium was moderated by the moderator Mr. Aaron Sorenson.
The session is about the Present and Future cooperation of the United States and Cambodia.
Dr. Chheng Vannarith, the executive director, Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace, presented on the vision ahead that HOW the United States and Cambodia can move forward in the next 60 years.

Dr. Franklin Huffman also presented on the topic of Educational and Cultural exchanges between the United States and Cambodia. In addition, the topic of Cultural Exchanges between the US and Cambodia, was presented by H.E. Chuch Phoeurn, secretary of State, Ministry of Culture and Fine arts.

Lastly, Ambassador Carol A. Rodley made a close remake and summary of the overall symposium.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Celebration of the 60th Anniversary of Diplomatic relations UNITED STATES-CAMBODIA

The celebrations of the 60th Anniversary of Diplomatic relation between Cambodia and United States were very remarkable and unforgettable which include cultural and academic events. The celebrations of those events were held in Phnom Penh and Battambang province. It has been 60 years that Cambodia and United States have had diplomatic relations (1950-2010). This year, the royal government and the U.S embassy base in Phnom Penh, commemorated the anniversary and celebrated 6 days during these.

- The first day (18 July 2010 which is also the opening of the celebration), was about THE CONCERT by Marine Forces Pacific. In that event the 46-member Pacific Fleet U.S. Navy Band were joined by several chapei performers and members of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces band. The concert was held at the Chaktomuk hall. I absolutely enjoyed this event much.


- The second event (19 July 2010), there was the screening of a movie called "NEW YEAR BABY" at Chenla Theatre which describes about a real life of the filmmaker, Ms. Socheata Poeuv, a Cambodian woman who has been spending almost entirely of her life in United States. This film won the award and by Ms. Socheata Poeuv herself mentions all the real life and experience that she has come across in life after migrated to United States living almost her entire life there. In the film, she began her journey to Cambodia to learn the fate of her family during the Khmer Rouge. She tried to find out all the truth and seek for the reality about her family and thing that happened during the Civil War (Pol Pot Regime). Additionally, we can learnt that she tried to promote the idea of revealing all the truth that happened and encourage people not to feel shame to open our Cambodia history (the civil war) to the publics. There is no such shame to know and to let everybody know about our tragic stories that happened in the past time, that is what she said. I was touched with this film and it did illustrate the unforgettable and tragic event occurred during Khmer Rouge.


- 20 July 2010, the concert was held in Battambang province joint by The Marine Forces Pacific again and together with the famous singer Meas Soksophea. Thinking about this, this event would be joyful for those who were attending in Battambang province..

- 21-22 July 2010, there were Academic Symposium held at Chaktomuk Hall. (Details during these two days are posted in the above post) :)


- 24 July 2010: It is about the Dance recital of “Seasons of Migration” at Chaktomuk Hall. I don't have very much information about this since I won't join this event..:) But I feel that this is also one of the best events for this celebrations.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

About another month to go back home

Today is 15th June 2010 while I could say that my exchanging program in Limkokwing Cyberjaya is going to finish real soon. I've done 1 final exam so far and will be ready for the next 5 modules for this week and next week. Many life experiences and feelings have occurred within just these few months. I have learnt a lot of experiences and lessons while I am here. Not only about the classroom and studies, the lessons I have learnt are so much more particularly life without parents and life with friends.
I found that living far apart from home can contribute myself to be more independent than before. This really applies, we all learn to make our own decisions and obtain strong determination with our studies although our parents are not around. I suddenly have a strong feeling of loves and cares for home which I have never had before. For this feeling, it does give me valuable ideas and conceptions to act in the future. I determine to obtain the best grade for my studies in order not to make my parents disappointed. Undeniably, I used to be a lazy family member at home without caring much about the issue or helps. So, my resolution when I go back will be very a bit surprising and I hope I could do it after all. :) I will always remember that my family is the best of all, and I must strive my best to make them happy.

Looking at another life experiences I have encountered is with my friends here. I learnt many lessons from living under the same roof, become so closed together, study together and so many things more. People used to think that you will not feel lonely when you have all friends around and especially freedom. This could be true but somehow, the life with family is also better with the control from the parents. I noticed the problems that everybody seems to have about life. There are so many things that happened within just about a semester I am with all my friends. We did have a lot of most happiest time and together with sadness. Well, this is called Life. Life is just so unexpected and nothing is really stable, I couldn't agree more to this.
TO conclude, we shall start to care and love for everyone around us while we've got time and when it is not too late.. :)
Anyway, I've got to concentrate on my revision for the upcoming finals. Just wanna share all these feelings... ^^

Saturday, March 27, 2010

First day at the Buddhist Youth in Malaysia

On Friday evening, 26th March,2010, My Malaysian friends took me to join the buddhist youth association which aimed on gathering the youths who believe in Buddhist. Very much thanks and appreciation to my both dear friend PEI SONG and STELLA who brought me out and join with the other youths. It's been the nicest day ever for me in Malaysia.:-)
I was told that they have the program every week while on Wednesday,Thursday, Friday, they gather to sing, play sport, and do some activity respectively. At the beginning, we prayed buddhist prayer. It is very similar to buddhist prayer in Cambodia as we all follow buddhist Theravada. But the point is that, in Cambodia, there is no youth association to gather for buddhist purpose as here in Subang, Malaysia. I found this very interesting. After that, we introduced our friends to each other and play a game by recycling the newspaper,bottle.etc. Additionally, they raised up the EARTH HOUR for 27th March that people should try to save electricity and stuffs.
By the way those buddhist youths are so nice and very friendly. I'm happy to join with them and look forward to join a few more times before I return back to my home country..:)

My friend, Pei Song and I
































Stella&My Cambodian friend, Narath;)


















The Buddhist Youths..;)

Friday, March 5, 2010

My first two weeks " Exchange experience in Malaysia "

It's been months that I haven't updated any information to my blog. I was just too busy to get used to life outside my home country.
Anyway, I just left to Malaysia for an exchange global classroom at Limkokwing Cyberjaya campus on 22nd Feb, 2010.

It is part of the school program at Limkokwing Cambodia to send students to Limkokwing Campus in Malaysia in order to share experience, and make new foreign friends.
My class just started at the beginning of March. Experiencing to new campus life, I thought it would be so tough. Fortunately, I am here with my other 13 Cambodian friends (6 people are in Architecture faculty while 7 others and I are in Business Faculty). The school campus is large which divide the building according to its faculty. Meanwhile, this campus has food stores, hairdressers, gymnastics, Laps.etc.
In the first week, I just found the trouble finding classes as there are too many and we didn't know any location clearly.

Talking about the environment in class, it seems to be a mixture of culture and people. I have variety of classmates come from different country such as Nigeria, Brunei, China,Germany, Malaysia.etc. I feel that they are friendly and nice to be classmates. The classes are good, yet still many more I need to learn.

Here are some shots at Limkokwing Cyberjaya.

Doing the registration















Was looking for classes and timetable

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Happy Chinese New Year& Valentine's day



I'd like to say Happy Chinese New Year and Valentine's to everyone.




Amazingly, Valentine's day falls on the same day as Chinese New Year. It is quite good, people can spend their valentine's with their family as well as with their loves. :)
Wish everyone all the best and success. Feel the love and Happiness... :)

Cheers,

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Charity Trip

Briefly about the Trip
My university, Institute of Foreign Languages, under the Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP), has conducted a charity trip to Kompong Speu Orphanage located in Kompong Speu Province which is about 50KM from Phnom Penh.
It took place on February 7, 2010. It was the best trip ever that I have participated and involved in community work, I can say. There were about 600 children from the orphanages and from the local primary schools. They gathered at the main orphanage center to receive aids and facilities.
It should be noted that my university had done a fund raising activity a month before, to get the contribution from the generosity which was estimated to be around 4000USD within 1 day. It was miraculous and I can't say anything beside expressing my reverence to my prospective lecturers who started this activity in particular.

The trip was not the RUPP's task alone. Indeed, it was organized with the Cambodian Red Cross and got sponsored by some companies such as ANZ Royal, Colgate and other more. They contributed materials as well as financial aids to support this event.
According to my lecturer (the trip organizer), Mr. CHAN Sophal, he expressed his gratitude to many people. First, he thanked to the entire participants who were participating in this trip as they actively involved in social community service, by willingness. Next, he showed much appreciation for the lecturers at IFL under RUPP who were also very helpful and contributed indeed in the fund raising events so that we could have a big budget to help those orphans. He also went on to say thank to the sponsorship and last, to the bus driver who drove very well and brought us back with safety.


Events during the charity trip


We left IFL at about 7A.M, got on the buses then arrived at over 8A.M. Later, the organizers at the orphanage and the MC from Red Cross made a welcome remark and addressed the speech to the prospective important people.
After that, we were welcomed by the role play performed under the topic of "Behaving good and save your life". It was performed by those primary school students and the Red cross team. The story of the role play was briefly about the school girl and school boy who did not study hard but liked going out and not wearing helmet while driving. It showed the disadvantage of not wearing helmet that they both got accidents.



The girl is trying to explain the two friends to wear helmet.



The girl is told that both of her friends got an accident just the moment they left.



After that, she called for assistance to help the injuries.




Finally, they all understand that wearing helmet is compulsory. Love your life, Wear Helmet.



After the role play finished, the donating event followed. Students from IFL, RUPP helped with distributing the school kits (book, pencil, eraser, toothbrush, toothpaste, stationary bag.etc), 1000Riels, Breakfast(A sandwich, a bottle of water, and an apple) to each orphan and student.


When the donating event ended, the orphans and students gathered and formed in circle to various activity such as answering question to get a prize.


Some of them gathered to listen to a guitar playing by students from IFL.


While some of the RED CROSS team played a circle game enthusiastically.





We then went on to have lunch at Ampe Phnom Resort and returned back at around 3PM with joy and good feeling that we have done good things to our community..:)

Monday, January 18, 2010

My TOEFL iBT Test

I have just done my TOEFL iBT test last Saturday (16th), January 2010. I would say, it was a hard time and I found it difficult to archive a good score. One who is smart and a good student cannot guarantee that he/she will obtain a satisfactory result on iBT. The most important part is to get familiarize with the test. I learned that if you want to take the TOEFL iBT and wish to get a good score, you will need to PRACTICE A LOT and know the techniques in the test. A saying says, "Practice makes Perfect". I do hope my iBT result will be a good one for me, yet, I still have to wait and see my English proficiency result. Anyway, Just wanna share.. ;)

Saturday, January 9, 2010

ASEAN Logics 2010

Hello everyone especially to my prospective readers, the young youths.:)

Here is another great news after YES2009 to the youths to involve in the engaging activity. ASEAN Logics 2010 will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The programs is about the Asean Students engaging actions. It will be held from 13th-24th April, 2010. I was told that this program will choose 4 (four) delegates from one country among the ASEAN Countries. Since there are only 4 delegates to be chosen and covered all the expense during the trips, there are some requirement and criteria for the applicants to fulfill. The date for submission of the application will be on 19th March 2010.



For more information, please go to http://www.iiu.edu.my/aseanlogics (however, this site is under the construction)or visit this updated one @ aseanlogics2010.blogspot.com
I do hope to see our Cambodian youths to participate in this program and I might be applying as well.:)