When a friendship doesn't seem to be that good like before...!!!

Life is no longer that easy, people come and go. Human are growing and learning every single day. So does the relationship between parents, sibling, friends and relatives are no longer stable or unchange. There's no one could predict whether those changes are good or bad, it depends on the people whether they feel comfortable or happy for their changes. 

Every days, months and years, I have learnt and encountered a lot of problem and lesson learn. It's really the first time that I have problem with friendship. I have never known that it has come to be so complicated. 

I have been known this friend for more than six years, we are best friend since we learned at the university. We always stayed in the same group, help each other, and sharing a lot of things together. After graduated, we are still best friend that often meet and share each other of every little knowledge and how live treated us. 

I have never noticed since when this friendship start to be fragile and nearly broken by the not able to understand and accept the changes of another. I have never been this stressed to think what I had done wrong, what I have changed, why I meet this problem, and straightly asking people what they saw the change in me. But the answer was not different, there's nothing they see as a big change to me. One friend told me, "people change from age to age, can you see the different when you were in high school and university". 

That best friend told me, "you have changed the way you act and talk, you should not change your nice and beautiful personality". It's not about changing personality but I've changed the way I think about things and learn a better to solve problem or things I have encounter so far. 

I used to ask a lot of questions about myself: how does I look like? How many people like my personality? what can I do to be better in my study and life? why can't I be like some of my successful friends? When can I take the plane and fly in the sky? Why can't I be nicer to people? What should I do to help friends or people around me? What should or shouldn't I do everyday? How to spend this life time wisely? These are just some of the questions that keep haunting me all the time that I am sitting alone in the room. However, those don't bother me anymore now, as I am growing and involve more and more in job and society, I start finding one by one the answer to those questions. 

I am really lucky to be born as the youngest daughter in a warm family while my parents were starting to have a better business. I am raised to be strong, independent, and kind. I've never forget to help people who are having problem around as I understand how one feel when there's nobody around to talk. However, life is about keeping balance, which mean there's always a two-way communication and one can't help another throughout their lives time. People need to grow and learn to live and solve the problem by their own.

Having or maintaining friendship is really important to any single person in this world. You can't live alone in this world. A true and real friend will always there no matter what happens. Friend is at least having some common interest, understand each other, know how to communicate, accept the bad and good point of another, be a supporter when one or another got problem, encourage when life doesn't treat well, and many others more.

C’est Miam Miam

By Manika Kaka

When talking about shopping mall, I would always think of those stores of beautiful clothes, shining shoes, luxury bags and pricely cosmetics. But for AEON Mall, the first international standard shopping mall opened in the kingdom of Cambodia, all I could see people make a big fuss about it on Facebook is about foods and its variety stores of restaurants. Because of that, I and my friends decided to take a tour ourselves to the mall earlier last week. 

The first impression of me on the mall is under my expectation. To be honest, I expect something more extravagant to the mall in general, but it is just a typical shopping mall, nothing to make a big fuss about. However once we decided to step up the escalators to the second floor, I understood why people are so excited about posting their trips to the mall on Facebook; precisely about the restaurants they’ve been to. Maybe it’s just me and foods, but I found the restaurants there very appealing to me and their foods are so mouth-watering.

So here is the deal, we have limited budget, so we could only choose one restaurant. But the problem is there are dozens of restaurants there to choose. What we decided to do was as the other window-shoppers always do is to go around and see which one is the most attractive to us. 

Walking along the hallway, align on both left and right side of many different types of restaurants originated from all around the world, but then I noticed a unique restaurant which the name of “Miam Miam”. Since I used to take French course a couple of years back when I was very young, my memory seemed to only catch the catchy double-words; among those “miam miam” is one of them. Translated as “yummy yummy”, “Miam Miam” hooked my sensitive sense of foods immediately and take no second mind to barge into it. 

Before I could my proceed my adventure into the new found land of foods, a waitress in front of the shop stopped by politely asked us of the numbers of chairs we gonna take for our dine in. 

Once I stepped into it, the staff of the whole restaurant greeted me enthusiastically in French as “Bonjour!” It brought me back again my childhood memory during my French course which I really love to be reminded of. I felt like a little kid that is greeted by free foods all over again. 

Like the origin of its name, the restaurant interior design is decorated in French style and it gave off a relaxing and welcoming feeling to the costumers like me. The environment itself is comfortable and not annoying like most of the typical restaurant. It’s very suitable for friends gathering to reminisce the past and catching with one another.

This restaurant once again caught me by surprise, the name and the design is in French, but the menu contains variety of foods in Italy, Japanese, French, desserts in French, and drink in Japanese. Well, these are interesting and they are really worth to try for.

I noticed the dishes ordered by other tables and each of their portions is so big that is not possible for a normal person to finish by him/herself, but the price is not so high that is very affordable for group of people to share the dishes and the bill.

Then we decided to order and share two dishes, which are more than enough for three of us, but still we decided for the same “Iced Macha Latte with Macha Softee” drink, and two different flavored of “Soufflé Pancakes”. Since I am always a fan of Italian foods, I went for the “Miam Miam Spaghetti” once I set my eyes on its picture in the menu. 

This spaghetti is the recommendation by the restaurant. It consists of spaghetti with bacon, 80% cooked egg, tomato sauce, French butter and many kinds of mushroom. Its taste is not the same as typical pasta or spaghetti you found here in Cambodia.

Like I said I’m an Italian foods fan, so I have tried at many Italian restaurants already in the country and this one at Miam Miam is just beyond my expectation and more than what I have tasted before. Therefore, I really recommend this one; it’s a must-try in the menu. 

Once I tasted it, I could smell all the ingredients in my mouth and they are so rich yet so smooth at the same time. It is not oily or too strong in flavor. I could tell the spaghetti noodles are well-cooked by their stickiness when I chewed and when they mix with the egg York of the 80% cooked egg that goes so well with the tomato sauce, it’s a perfect combination that is so tasty and not too greasy.

For the drink of “Iced Macha Latte with Macha Softee”, it is a drink that you won’t normally find at any coffee or tea shop. It is the green tea latte, but with the green tea ice cream floating in the drink. This is recommended to the green tea fans out there, but do not want the greasy cream of those drinks out there because the green tea ice cream here is not too sweet for your liking. It’s a new drink I have ever tried and it doesn’t disappoint me one bit.

Last by not least, come the favorite part of any meal; the desserts. The two kind of soufflé pancake that we ordered or the soufflé pancakes at Miam Miam in general is for those who are dessert craving but do not have sweet tooth like me. 

The pancakes there are called “soufflé pancake” because they are baked to puff up with cream before serving unlike the narmal pancakes that I used to eat. However to taste them with their fullest flavors, you have to eat while they are warm or the cream will shrink and they won’t taste the same. 

Personally, I prefer the original “soufflé pancake” that goes with honey over the Caramel Banana pancake because it tastes less sweet, but for those who prefer something sweet, Caramel Banana pancake is five-star recommended to you. 

After this one fully meal we had, we left the restaurants with nothing but satisfaction and happiness. I will never forget the richness tastes and the comfortable feelings. I will for sure visit the restaurant again in the near future and I already crossed the dishes and desserts I want to taste next time already. I have to come again with a purpose. So until next time I come up with another foods review, why don’t you go and try at Miam Miam’s first?

How can we get young people interested in social work?

WEDNESDAY, 07 SEPTEMBER 2011 15:01, LY YOU Y AND TOUCH YIN VANNITH

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IN order to get a job, graduate students are required to have at least one year of work experience. Many of them devote most of that time to study. Instead of volunteering with non-government organisations (NGOs), however, one group of young people have got together to do social work.


Chhum Savorn, 24, a business analyst at the Business Development Company and a leader of Youth Experience Sharing (YES), says the group was formed in 2009 with 20 members, a mixture of students and employees from varied backgrounds. 


“The primary aim of the group was to provide a consultancy in studying, teaching English and sharing experiences with high-school students in rural areas,” she says, adding that, as more students in the provinces have expressed their interest in this program, her group has continued it. 

Chhum Savorn says that by working in rural areas, members of the group can learn the process of making proposals, leading the group and facilitating the activities. “I have learned a lot from this work. I know the places, the lives of people in the community and, by sharing my experiences with them, I have learned from them and from members of the group,” she says.


Another group of students at the University of Cambodia are raising funds to help the children at Pour un Sourire d’Enfant (PSE).

Ngoun Wathana, 21,who is  majoring in finance and banking and is one of six people in the group, says she joined the project so she could put her knowledge  of project management into practice and help the poor people in the city.


“Through this project, I can work to help the people of Cambodia while building  the network for my future job,” she says, adding that now she knows her weaknesses and strengths, she can build her confidence and improve herself in the next project.


Although her first project has not been entirely successful, Ngoun Wathana is very happy that she got it rolling. Her group is planning to do another project that relates
to ASEAN.


There are some challenges ahead, however.  “We don’t have any experience. It was the first time we had attemp-ted anything like that, and most of our members are students, so finding the
time to settle in the project was very difficult,” Ngoun Wathana says.


Kol Preap, a founder of YESWECAN and an ambassador for peace, understands the difficulties. “One of the chall-enges I can think of immediately is time,” he says, adding that most young people are busy with their studies.


But he believes that spending some time doing comm-unity service is a very good investment. ”Based on my experience, I’ve never regretted doing it,” he says.


According to Sun Chan Sen, director of the Khmer Youth Association (KYS), around 20 per cent of young Cambod-ians are engaged in volunteer activities,  but 12 per cent of them are thinking about their future jobs and only seven or eight per cent are willing to perform social work that helps the people.


“Although the number of young volunteers is increasing, their ability is limited,” Sun Chan Sen says, adding that it is a good opportunity for young people to have a public voice.


She is planning a project that will recruit more than 50  volunteers to raise awareness of next year’s commune council elections.


Chhum Savorn and Ngoun Wathana agree that they  prefer working in a group to volunteering with NGOs.


“Working with my own group has given them more freedom and independence in doing my project,” Chhum Savorn says, adding that community work is not only for smart people, but for any young people who want to help one another develop and help develop their country.

Consumption of online news in Cambodia

By Vorn Makara and Ly You Y

IN the past, people would get their news through so-called “traditional media” sources such as newspapers, magazines and radio stations, but the emerging digital medium of online news is beginning to compete with those sources.

In the past few years, the number of people using the internet has increased, spurring the creation of many online news websites. Reading the news online is conven-ient and more timely, as it is constantly updated.

“I read online news every day at work because I don’t want to buy a newspaper,” Van Bun Ang, 24, a deputy translation trainer at International Co-operation Cambodia, says. “Reading news online is fast and convenient, and I can get updated information.”

Ly Rath, a 23-year-old Master’s candidate at the Royal University of Law and Economics, says her father always buys the newspaper to read at home, but she rarely reads it, preferring to get her news online.

Ly Rath believes people like her father enjoy reading physical newspapers because it’s easier on their eyes: “Older people prefer reading newspapers because the type in a newspaper is bigger than the type on a website.”

Because of the march of technology, more and more people are using the internet for communicating, networking and searching for information. It’s even a source of entertainment for some of us.

News websites are a tool for spreading information and a way for emerging media companies to compete with tradit-ional media sources. There are many news websites that focus on Cambodia, such as The Phnom Penh Post, Cambodia Express News (CEN), Koh Santepheap, Radio Free Asia, DAP News and many others.

CEN website founder Pen Samitthy says he created his website because he wanted “to serve people who like reading news online, as most people who have access to the internet prefer getting their news this way”. He says his website has, on average, about 1,900 visitors each day.

The DAP news site is also popular in Cambodia. Soy Soph-eap, its director-general, told LIFT: “I worked at a newspaper in Kyoto, Japan, where I learned to disseminate news quickly to the public.

“Cambodia is enjoying a huge increase in internet capacity, which is why I decided to create the DAP website.”

Koh Santepheap editor-in-chief Yin Piseth has similar thoughts. He says the Koh Santepheap website “is for people who like reading news online”, adding that most of his website regulars are young or middle-aged people who are educated and have access to the internet.

Yin Piseth also says news agencies must continually innovate by harnessing technology. “We cannot neglect technology and keep doing things the old way. We have to keep our news agency fresh by putting news online,” he says.

One obstacle online news agencies face is the fact that internet use in Cambodia is not widespread. But Sor Kunthea, a 22-year-old student at the Royal University of Law and Economics, says that even though she doesn’t have internet access at home, she still enjoys reading news online when she can, because it’s cheaper than buying a newspaper.

“If I read news online, I spend only 1,500 riels and I can read a variety of articles on different websites, but if I buy a news-paper, I can only read that one newspaper,” she says.

According to the 2010 Cambodia Communication Review, there were 113,380 internet users in Cambodia as of June last year. Although this number is small, it is widely assumed that it is increasing rapidly.

“In the future, the number of people getting their news online will increase, becase online news is invading newspapers, radio stations and magazines around the world. People can get up-to-the-minute news by accessing the internet through their phone or computer, so it’s a very convenient method,” Pen Samitthy says.

According to a report by the Pew Research

Centre, Americans are more likely to get their news online than from a newspaper.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011081751101/LIFT/consumption-staying-in-touch-with-the-world.html

Experience sharing with AYLP

Today there was a workshop that the American Youth Leadership Program (AYLP) with Department of Media and Communication (DMC). There are around 30 high school students from different states in the United States came to Cambodia to learn about the life of people.

It's a great day for me to have chance sharing experience with them. They are mostly under 18 years old and is study in grade 11 or 12 at high school. I am really impress in what they are sharing to me about their experience with the homestay in the provinces in Cambodia. They said the people are very friendly and kind though they are poor, and they really appreciated the struggle of the youth in the community. People in the community just like one family, because one of them were surprise when they suppose that one little boy who is just a neigbour always come to his neighbor's house, eat food or even sleep there. it's quite nice for me to hear that, but maybe it's only happy in the province or villages, in the city, Phnom Penh, i also don't go to my neighbour's house, mostly i never talk to them, because i leave my house in the morning and come back at night. We just come back and get in the house, only the old people talk to each other, for me, I do nothing but smiling.

Sharing with those high school student, I learn more than what I learn from media and other people. They ask me when you hear about America, what do you think of and I told them taht freedom, and they asked why, I said because most of the parents and children over there just like friend, people are sharing their opinion. They asked whether I want to go to American, and I said who don't want to, and their express is a bit strange and I want to get a scholarship to study there, and they suggested that if Cambodian people have a chance to go there, they should learn or get the experience from there and come back to Cambodia to develop the country. I totally agree with them.

I asked them whether the kids in the USA have lap top and internet access, they said yes but this have blind the children, they mostly always care about the internet, the new technology such as Ipad, Iphone or Ipod, they never know how to survive without this, they said if they were sent to Cambodia with the situation like Cambodia children, they may not survive.


It's really interested to learn from them and i ask them whether you have a lot of freedom to hang out at night, he said it depends on each family, even next door house also have different rule, it's because of the diversity of people in the United States.

Most of them have raised the positivea and negative site of my country. To me, i think compare to other countries in the middle east, Cambodia is far better than them, we are peaceful and moving small step forward to reach the standard like the countries in the Southeast Asia. I feel more postitive than negative about the country. I do hope that I will get a chance to learn or visit the USA one day, and find out more what i want to know.

Like one sentence from my lecturer, he said that "a person who only know how to live on their own is not yet a human, a human should know how to help other, and make the people around them happy". I love this quote.

I will try my best to have a better life so that i can help the people around to be happy also. I am really appreciate what Bill Gate is doing now, he is always sharing or giving his money to charity to help people, I wish there will more people like him in the world. Thanks to anyone who have the willing to help other without asking for something back.

Global Politics Summer School Phnom Penh 2011

GP Summer School Cambodia

International Conflict Resolution in the Age of New Media

July 14 - 27, 2011 in Phnom Penh

Two weeks had ended, I, one of the participant at Global Politics Summer School 2011, am very happy in joining this program. The 31-participant from the four countries are very friendly and active. They are from Austria, Germany, Vietnam and Cambodia. Most of the Cambodia student are from the Department of International Study and Department of Media and Communication.

It is funded by DAAD and corporate with Royal University of Phnom Penh, University of Social Sciences and Humanities at Vietnam National University Hanoi and the center of Global Politic at Free University Berlin. New history have opened for Cambodia since it's the first time was held in Phnom Penh.

The courses:

1. New Approach to Global Politics (Prof. Dr. Klaus Segbers)

2. Media and Journalism in the European Context (Prof. Dr. Siegfried Weischenberg)

3. Media and Politics in the Cambodian Context (Vichea Tieng)

4. Reconciliation Processes in Comparative Perspective (Dr. Wolfgang Form)

5. Vietnam as a Regional (security) Player (Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pham Quang Minh)

6. EU External Action and Crisis Management (Dr. Marco Overhaus) and

Extra courses: Regional Conflicts and Regional Orgnizations: EU and ASEAN in Comparison (Cheunboran Chanborey), Regional Border Conflicts: the Case of the Cambodian-Thai Border (Cheunboran Chanborey), Peace and Conflict Resolution Cambodian Vicil Wars (Dr. Boraden Nhem)

It's a great chance for everyone to meet these great people, they are very potential and knowledgeable on the subject that they are lecturing. Also, the students from Cambodia and Vietnam are very friendly, and active. It seem like we all have something-oriented that make us feel so happy to see each other. Most of them are very great, intelligent and kind. I feel really good to involve in this course. Firstly, I know a lot of information about Vietnam that I have never known before. Vietnam is very develop and modern than Cambodia thought they are communist country, but the students are very smart and potential to get the scholarship in other country. They really enjoy their lives such as hanging out with friends at very late at night. For me, live in Phnom Penh, I never know where the night club and even don't dare to go there. I used to stay late night to 12pm but it was because of a festival not hanging out for fun. However, I think we should appreciate what we have and think of what could be done more. Second, they are very friendly in asking us to email or call them when we get to Vietnam, Hong Kong, or Berlin. The group that we create in Facebook is very active and we seem to miss each other a lot, though most of the time I don't speak to them. We do enjoy the last moment of farewell party. Thanks to the program coordinator, Franzika, and local cordinator, Vatey, and espcailly DAAD who giving the fund to make this great program happened. Last but not least, I learn more new knowledge about what Global Politic is, Transitional Justice, EU role, and the conflict between other country in the world. Though sometimes, I try very hard to understand what the course is about but I do appreciate that, because it have alert or give me more idea on what the world is about. Learning media, we should try to attend as many workshop as we can to get more understanding.

I would try my best to learn from the opportunity that I get and learning from the people around me. Many of my friends are moving very fast and so successful in their career and study, so as their friend, I can't go backward, I need to moving forward as well though it maybe just a small step compare to them. People is different and has each unique point, it's hard to compare people, so just do what we can do and be satisfy with what we do.

Another thing I learn from an interview on TV

Sorry that I haven't do any review on the films that listed in the previous post yet, but I promise I will do it.

Today I got some ideas for everyone to think. People always say losing is the mother of success, I do support it, without losing, you won't understand how important those things to you. You will learn when you lose and from that try to remember it as a lesson.

Successful people also set their own standard, they have leadership, they have their own value. Don't think too much about other people's thought, behave the way you like. Think of how you want other to look at you, not think of how people want you to be like. Then your life is just live for other not for yourself. One phrase on my T-shirt: Your life you decide.

However, setting a high standard for ourselves may need lots of motivation and efford to achieve it, it may also good even we don't achieve that because as we say it's high already. But if we set just a low one though we achieve it we won't feel it worth to do so.

In information-processing theory, it assumes that individual operate like complex biocomputers, with certain built in information-handling capacities and strategies (Baran & Davis, 2009). it's believe that people expose to a lot of information or we can call it noise, so they are firstly, get attention to a piece of information, then interpret it, and they are interested in it, they will store it in their memory for short term or long term.

So my blog may work in some kind of this thoery but i do hope it's store in people's memory for long term.

Thanks for reading it :) have a nice day