Overcome Who I was

I used to ask myself “would it be great if I had chance to be on stage debating in front of many people?” But when thinking of how challenging it is to deliver my speech and to rebut my opponents’ ideas made my heart beat so fast. It’s ok to do it in my comfort zone, but out of it would be the misery. However, on May 11, 2013 I did something that I hadn’t expected myself to be able to do, which is debating publicly.

Actually, I was informed the debate motion about one week beforehand, but because I was so busy with loads of assignments, homework, and tests, I let it untouched until only two days before the debate came. I should also blame myself of poor time management, because if I hadn’t spent too much time on Facebook and TV, I would have had some time to do researches on the motion. Within two days, I was so much under pressure when reading so many articles, thinking of what arguments should I use to strengthen my stance, and rehearsing again and again. Finally, I got it done right on the day of debate around 1 am. Oh My Goodness!!! It was completely what we call procrastination. I was not yet prepared. How could I be on stage? I was super nervous. I could do nothing but pray to God to give me wisdom and courage to do such a big task in my life. I didn’t ask Him to help me win in the debate but overcome me myself who used to be shy and always got the cold feet whenever I spoke in public. When the hour of the debate came, I felt like I was in the most terrifying nightmare ever. After one of my team mate and my opponent had done their job as the first speaker, here came my turn to be on stage as the second speaker. Can you believe it? All of the nervousness and shyness didn’t show up on me. I felt so natural in debating although I had a few hiccups sometimes, but it’s because of my limited English knowledge and the understanding of the motion itself. Obviously, my opposition side did a better job than we, but I didn’t get hurt at all because I knew from the start that our group wouldn’t defeat them as they were all so great in terms of fluency in English and debating skills. But we were not that bad too. We did our best in this debate with the scene of responsibility and unity.

In short, our group didn’t win in this debate but I learned so many things from it. God’s will is to make me know more about myself that I’m not qualified to be a good debater or English speaker yet. So I need to pull my socks up if I don’t want to look foolish because of thousand grammar mistakes and wrong word choice in front of people. Thank God for this great experience J

Let me make some disturbing noises

I know I’m writing something which is inconvenient to some people, but I have to, or I may be suffocated to death of not being able to express it out. It’s about my school, Royal University of Law and Economics or RULE, as commonly known. It’s about three years that I’ve been studying here, but I feel like a hundred years living in hell. Admittedly, I’m not a hard working student, and I know it’s because of me myself. I take all the blames of being lazy doing assignments or homework, late coming to classes, sleeping during lecture, and stuffs. However, please let me make some disturbing noises toward this school. Although I know I’m not qualified to do so, but as a student, I have to in order to make a change more or less for the betterment of the next generation, I believe.

RULE is the law school, but it allows juveniles to work in the parking lot, which is believed to be the hard place for them as they have to move motor bikes from one block to another nonstop. What is more, I’m speechless when I see those under-eighteen staffs smoke without being fear of anybody. I have no idea why school boards don’t take any action on this, or they think it’s not the serious case. Of course, it is, as it the first place people step in when they come to the university. What will the new comers feel when they first see the picture of CHILDREN SMOKIN IN THE UNIVERSITY CAMPUS?

Another problem is about the environment. The university campus is too small for more than 10 thousand students, but it’s not about the size that I’m concerning but the hygiene itself. Most of the time I go to restroom, I almost vomit because of the bad smell and dirtiness. Not only bad smell and dirtiness, but also countless dirty words are on the walls in the toilets. This should be blamed on those brainless or animal-like students.

What is controversial point is that staffs (not all) who work in student affairs, administration, accounting offices and library are so arrogant. It’s true, and everybody knows that when students come to them to ask for favors, they treat us like we were baggers asking for alms by ignoring us or speaking harshly to us. One of my friends shared her experience that when she approached one lecturer to ask something in urgent related to her study, she had to wait until he finished his video game first, so that she could get the response. How can such a thing happen? They get paid from our study fees. They’re supposed to act as the service providers not the bosses. Moreover, library at the university is so noisy. It needs to be quiet so that students can do self-studies, but it’s not, for it’s the place for librarians to play video game and chit chat. I can never concentrate on reading there, and so do other students through my observation, so I choose not to spend time in it unless I need to find documents.

There are some other negative points happen in the university like the curriculum. Many students complain that they are tired of studying 5 hours a day starting from 12 pm to 5 pm most of the days. Even I myself, I’m so fed up with this too. From 11 am to 1 pm, it’s supposed to be lunch time that people can also take some rest, so how can they expect us to be concentrated in the class. Honestly, I always fall asleep during the lecture at that time. Another point that I want to make is that goods sold in the university’s cafeteria are too expensive. For example, a bottle of Coke which costs only $0.5 outside but $0.75 there, which is even more expensive than that in supermarket?

Frankly, I don’t have good memories studying in this university, but thank GOD that I have many good friends that can make up for this. Through this article, I hope university boards take these cases into consideration and try to make some changes.

Hope you are reading this, RULE people!

Hot-Blooded Generation

On 26 March, 2013, I got premiere ticket to see the movie (The Croods) at Legend Cinema. Oh my goodness!!! This movie is super awesome. It made me laugh like wild from the beginning till the end. But what made me remember the most about that day was not the movie but something happened in the underground parking lot.

It’s not special to people working in City Mall, but it’s to me. There’s a night club there, and it’s not about the night club that surprised me but the people who went in there. Guess what? Who are they? Unbelievable, they are just very young teenagers. Most of them seem to me under eighteen, but they acted as if they were old enough to legally go into such a place. Many questions came to my mind were that was there any legal action had been practiced there? Why local authorities seemed to overlook this place? What about those teenagers’ parents? Where were they? Did they know their young children came to night club? Didn't they worry about their children’s safety, as it was 9: 30 pm already?

I do feel pity toward those teens, for they don’t know what they’re doing right now. They've given upon themselves and enjoyed life full of excitement. They’re going to regret on what they've done and end up with depression and blaming themselves if they don’t have any intention to repent. What I can do is pray to GOD to make a change in them.

Letter to JESUS

Dear JESUS,

Thanks for your love You wholeheartedly give me. About 2000 years ago, You came to the earth not to ascend the throne but to save humankind. You had lived Your whole life for people, but at the end, You were crucified of no reason. On the cross, they put the throne of thorn on Your head, they struck You, they spat on You, they mocked You, and they blasphemed You until You died. I’m not worth enough to receive Your love, but because of Your grace, I’m able to.

Thanks for shedding Your blood for me, JESUS!!!

Obsession with Passion

When free time comes, I always enjoy myself by doing my hobbies. So what are they? They’re fashion sketches, music, movies, dance, and stuffs. Among all of these, I like fashion sketch the most. Even I like it so much, I don’t choose fashion as my profession, but I keep creating new fashion sketches. Someday, I hope my designs will come out as real.

Currently, I’m the junior at Institute of Foreign Languages majoring in Bachelor of Art in English. At the same academic year, I’m also the student of Public Administration at Royal University of Law and Economics. Deciding to study these two majors which are completely different from my passion doesn’t  mean that I stop loving it. As fashion design is too expensive to study, I have to keep me wait until I graduate and be able to earn money by myself to pay for the school fee.

I’m kinda obsessed with fashion so much that I always come up with the new concepts, and then I draft them on papers even on my textbooks or notebooks. That’s why I’m always scolded by my teachers and friends. They asked me, “you love fashion, so why don’t you study it?”, and I answered, “no money, no honey.” Of course, I regard FASHION DESIGN as my HONEY, as I think about it day and night. I wanna be a fashion designer, no need to be famous, but just the one who can make people feel unique, confident, and comfortable whenever they put my designs on.

Study Mission to Kompong Spue Province

On Jan 29, 2013 I together with my three classmates Lalin, Darith, and Thavy, went to Kompong Spue province under the mission to study about the provincial administration at the city council in order to do a report for my Public Administration Law Lecturer. At first, I did feel hesitated to go, but I was forced to, for if I hadn’t, I would have been deducted the scores. With no hope of fun, I reached there at around 9 am. Honestly, Kompong Spue isn’t the place I love to visit, because there’re not many tourist attractions. From home, I thought people working there would be unwelcome to young university students like us, but it’s 180^o different from my prediction. From the beginning till the end, they’d facilitated us with everything we wanted to search for namely administration structure, population statistics, development reports, and so forth. I couldn’t believe how strange it was, as I and other friends used to complain how arrogant the public servants mostly were when we turned to them for help. Without money as an exchange for public service, it’s hard for us to be treated warmly. But in Kompong Spue, we spent nothing on it even a 100 riel in. What is more, I was touched by two young adults whom we asked for a lift. You know what, without reluctant, they agreed to drive us from Po Pe Phnom, local resort to city council. We’re really grateful to them, as we would have had to walk on foot for about 3km without their help. By experiencing these two things, I felt so positive. I optimistically hope that Cambodia will change for the better in this near future. I wish you're reading this, Kompong Spue people.