21/05/07
Presentation day!
Well, today is a happy day after my final-research-result presentation in the lab was sucessfully performed. All professors seemed so impressed with my presentation. Anyway, i am back in business again with this block. I have no idea, if i will continue writing this memory block after getting home by October this year since the internet connection in Cambodia is much slower than here. Before heading home, of course, a final presentation on 28th/July and thesis writing will be conducted. So it is not the end yet for my academic life in Japan. After that, i will extraodinarily enjoy an easy and happy life down there! Looking forward to it ne!
A 10-day tour in Australia! Photo album
On Sunday 11/Feb/07 i departed for Australia without letting my professor and JICE monitor know that i was going abroad. I had a very good time there but a little bit worried about my absense without permission from my research work in Japan. I spent 2 days one night in Sydney with a full guide from my uncle, Houv, and his daughters Chhorlida and Sarina. We had lunch in a Korean restaurant in Sydney right after my arrival at the first day. It was periodically raining which was troublesome for our tour. We spent the night in Cabamattra, a town where muti-national communities---Vietnamese, Khmer---live.
On Monday afternoon we headed Canberra, the capital city of Australia where uncle Houv and his family live and work, from Sydney by his car. Playing roles as a tour guide and a photographer for his own nephew, uncle Houv has taken me to most of popular locations in town with planty of photos taken in each spot. I could say that he was a good photographer but not really a good tour guide as he did not know much about the history of all sites we visited. Most of the answers responded to my questions were "ort derng daer!" meaning i don't know either. hehe...nevertheless, i really appreciate what he did to me especially a weak off from his work.
We had many parties with his in-law relatives. We went to see my cousins' swiming class and also tennis course in the next day. We had a very good time playing tennis after the formal lesson by pairs i with Sounling and uncle Houv with Sarina.
On the last day in Canberra before i left for Adelaide, we all attended the wedding ceremony of uncle Houv's niece in-law. It was an extremely good ending day i had in Australia. We enjoyed dancing so much and i even presented the bride and groom a khmer song on the stage called "phoap samnang". I remembered my legs were shaking cos' of being slightly nervious but luckily my voice was still nice. I was so excited when receiving many clabs from the guests a moment i finished the first sentense of the song. We danced until midnight!
I arrived in Adelaide airport at around 12:30 pm. My uncle Kimse came to pick me up at the airport. The very surprising thing was that while i was waiting for him outside the airport scanning if he passed by, a dark brown car came accross and the driver waved his hand signalling me to come to get on his car while he was trying to park it near by. I was so surprised and doubtful if he was my uncle or not but how he knew me since we have not met for more than 20 years. I reluctantly approached his car slowly and checked if he would call me or another guy behind me. While i was walking toward him, he opened the window and asked "Ix roeur min men Ix?" meaning Are you Ix or not?. Amazaing! how could he recognize me or maybe he called uncle Houv and asked about my appearance i thought. He said my skin made him realize it was me because he used to stay with me when i was 3. Wow, what an incredibly excellent sense he had!
We went to the beach in the afternoon and took some photos. The next day, i met with Chyty, a friend of mine made during my study in Vietnam who is now undertaking his master's degree of e-business in Adelaide. He showed me around Adelaide and even to a Casino in town where we met a khmer dealer girl working there. The next day on 20th/Feb, one day before i returned to Japan, i took a tour bus to zoological park alone because Chyty had work that day. In the afternoon i entered the casino again and decided to try something i've never ever done before in my life. I gambled! wow how did i dare to do such a thing! I played porker with a 10 dollars basis. In the end i won 76 australian dollars and returned to my uncle's work place to go home. Upon arriving home, i checked my 6 dollars coins won from the Casino, 5 and 1, but could not see them. I lost them!
On the way back, i stopped over in Hochiminh city airport for 9-and-a-half-hour transit. Too long to wait; i went for a 20-mn massage, wandering around, and unexpectedly i picked up a wallet when entering the toilet to answer a big nature's call. Based on my experience, if i see money on the street or anywere else whithout knowing who dropped it i have to take it otherwise i will receive a bad luck just like it happened to me once in Japan last year. So i decided to take all Vietname dong including coins but left behind a 20-thai-bat copy in the wallet. I left the wallet and all ID cards and stuff in the toilet and came out. The owner of the wallet was one of the security guards there. Nothing to bother with this youn guy. The total of the money was 480,000 dong with other 3 coins of 1000, 2000, and 5000 dong. Then i spent 45,000 dong to buy a pack of dried jackfruit and kept the rest. I reached home in early morning the following day!
05/Feb/07
Good news!
HIS travel agent called me yesterday afternoon telling me that my visa to Australia has been approved. So i went to pick up my passport at the office today and was so surprised and happy that i have been grainted a one-year visa with multiple entries. The stay duration, however, is limited to 3 months only from each arrival date. At that night, we had a party again with a bottle of sra barang and kroch thlong support from Futsukaichi Okaasan which were left infront of my entrance door---they could not be delivered as i was still playing soccar in Kaikan.
03/Feb/07
Visiting host family in Fukuoka!
I have just returned back from visiting my host family in Fukuoka. We had a lot of fun there---playing with Take and Misaki chan. The most rediculous thing is that i made 2 kuma for the kids but Take chan was not satisfied with them---maybe she thought it was not complete---so he added a penis to the big one which looked so funny.
Today i cooked prohok for the family. They admired it was oishii but i am not sure if it is true so i packed some for them to try by themself after sending me back home.
02/Feb/07
The second and the last?
I did not desribe the first but only this second time. After dinner I and Huy san were heading home from Kaikan but suddenly I received a message from a friend so i told Huy san to go home first because a Laos friend needed to talk with me about his new phone. "A Laos or a girl?" Huy san asked promptly. It was the second time; the first time was on sunday the 8th/Jan. Lan dau khong duoc thank cong lam vi do la lan dau tien cua cuoc doi cua co ay va cung do toi som ket thuc qua. Co da to ra rat so ngai va co da noi la "Toi so...toi khong co kinh nghiem...". Lan hai cung nhu lan truoc co ta rat so, co so dau nhung toi da an uy co va noi dung so no khong dau dau lan truoc dau vi lan lan dau tien. Lan thu hai nay thi da thanh cong nhung lai khong duoc lau vi khong cho vao qua. Toi da kiem che duoc minh va khong cho mot giot nao vao ca. Co da noi la "the second and the last". Thuc ra toi muon noi la home nay la ngay mong 2 nhung co lai nham tuong toi da noi la lan thu hai nen co moi noi la khong muon nua vi so qua. Nam ngoai khi toi moi den truong thi mot co Laos da yeu toi va cung da den phong toi mot dem. Nhung thuc ra home do khong duoc thanh cong lam vi toi khong the cho vao duoc. Noi tom lai toi rat thanh cong ve chuyen an uy co gai dac biet la luc tinh duc. Khong duoc lau thi toi da chia tay voi co Laos do. Toi da ve den nha luc gan2 gio sang!
19/06/07 (1:06am)
Dinner with PM Hun Sen!
Perhaps i only have good news to share with you guys or at least up to today. On Friday, 15/06/07, i submitted the first draft of my second journal to my professor. So i felt very relieved after a rush job! Later that day i attended the dinner with Cambodian delegations led by PM Hun Sen. Well, what do you think? How do you feel if you were me? I used to give a short presentation to him during the mid term report of LMAP project in CDC in 2004 about GIS achievement of the project but i was so tense to stand and speak infront of him and even to answer some questions from him. I did not ask if he could still remember me. Well, definitely different! It was a friendly occation this time. As I wrote "Team work is better than descrimination" underneath the photos you may understand that. More unexpectedly we, 7 cambodian students, received an envelop with US200.00$ in cash for each after the dinner. But please do not ask me why and what for? No one could answer such a puzzling question! May be it is his habit or kindness...
On 16/06/07 I paid the APU guys a visit with other guys including Sakai san. We spent the night in Puthika's appartment. Ironically it was a bad time for me (Toi da thua bai hon hai man en). I was a little bit sleepy when watching the show in APU by international students. But luckily at least i got a free icescream from Korean food-selling team there.
28/Jan/07
One-day tour to Honshu Island!
I feel a little bit exhausted now after spending one-day tour to Honshu Island with Huy san and mom Kyoko who is our adopted host mother. We visited many temples and shrines including a carp living area where Japanese people come and enjoy seeing those fish and treat them as holy creatures. An unpredictable but ridiculous event happened when some Japanese tourists were gathering looking their lovely stand-still carps in the very cold-water canal; in that moment, Huy san picked up a handful ice ball on the ground and threw it to the surface of the water to check if the carps would make any movements responding to his force. The tourists were suddenly stunned with Huy san’s action. They said “abunai abunai! korudo dakara…”. Well, they would not have been amazingly surprised if they knew Huy san a bit clearly. They might doutbfully think "what the hell is that guy doing for!" or probably thought that Huy san was "jama", meaning "obstacle or trouble". The water flashed into the sides but fish were still motionless meaning Huy san was too week to make them move.
Anyway, it was a meaningful and interesting day! We really appreciate what Okaasan has given to us and look forward to seeing her again soon!
See all photos here!
27/Jan/07
Purchasing a new cell phone!
Today i bought a new samsung 907sc which was worth 19740yen, same number---080-5277-6969---but different email. I rushed back home immediately after reconnecting the new line in order to catch my khmer teaching session. My only khmer language student, Toyomi san, seemed to improve slightly a bit her writing and reading comprehension. We then organized an other party right away with participation from our Cambodian delegation namely Socheat, Kokoro chan, Ratanak, and Huy together with my student. Without drinking that day!
22/Jan/07
Soccar Game in Kaikan!
Today i feel my legs weighing hundreds kgs after playing a none-stop soccar in Kaikan for nearly 2 hours under chilly weather condition. Socheat was even worse; he almost could not even ride the bycicle back home last night after having dinner in Kaikan with Ratanak, Visal, Huy, Chenda, and me. A fucking Chinese guy in the opposite team was so big mouthed a mement after a ball challenge. It was a friendly march, however, chinese guys were too violent. The smallest finger of my right hand was slightly blooding as being stepped on by one of the chinese guys.
Soccar is my favorite sport. When i was in Hanoi i played for my class in all marches. I broke my angle a few times; luckily my girl friend, Duc, always took care of me very sincerely and carefully. This memory will never be forgotten.
Oh! i forget to mention that i scored the first goal yesterday. We were leading 2:0 in the first quarter, however, we later lost concentration and resulted in a serious loss in the middle of the play. By reorganizing the tearm, the situation got back to normal and our tearm picked up some goals to chase the opposition one. At the final quarter of the game, i played as a goal keeper. Unexpectedly, i instinctly responded quite well towards to ball except the first few minutes as i was not familiar with being a goal keeper yet.
20/Jan/07
2 birthday and a send-off parties!
Spending 4 nights with me in Fukuoka, Leanghy and his wife, Agai, were extremely exhausted but still needed a send-off party before they leave. One gigantic bottle of VO could last for 3 days consumming 3 bottles of coke.
Ropponmatsu Okaasan also jointed us and we celebrated a birthdy party for her and Socheat simultaneously with a little tiny birthday cake we ever saw before. The very small bonus cake for Chenda who was the buyer was then used for Socheat's celebration. What an economical and meaningful occation!
This picture was taken last year in Tokyo when i took part in a Countdown ceremony. Unluckily the security police dispersed the crowd before the countdown started as too many people were gethering in front of the Tokyo building.
The party last night ended quite early as some of us would have a 30-mn writing test to do in the next morning. Leanghy was still too sleepy to wake up at 8am to catch the train back to Tokyo this morning since some wine and beer was still dominating his body...
