Spicy Boy

One time last month when I was riding the bike with my friends along the riverside in Phnom Penh I saw there was a crowd and very loud noise in front of Happy Herb Pizza. I was wondering what happened over there and then I came in just to see. I asked some guys who I knew in the crowd: “What’s happening?” And they told me there were customers who had made a competition with a newspaper seller boy. They want to see if he can eat all the hot chilies on the plate, and they will give him $20. I saw two foreign men and two Cambodian girls at the table watching the boy, who was about 13 years old, eating the chilies. I didn’t know that boy or where exactly he’s from. I’ve just seen him sometimes selling newspapers along the riverside where I do my motorbike driving.

At the same time I saw that boy tried and tried to eat all the chilies. There were about 40 to 50 chilies on the plate. He seemed like he was very hot, so he wanted to get the bottle of water on the table to drink. But those customers were very mean to him and they did not allow him to drink any water during the eating. They said he could drink only when he finished all the chilies first. That boy seemed to be very patient because he kept eating and even we knew it's very hard to eat that much of those chilies. The crowd around him made a loud noise to support him. Some of them shouted: “Come on boy!" Or some of them said: "Come on my friend.” So this really made him look stronger to me.

It was really interesting to see many people there, not only the customers in the Happy Herb pizza restaurant came out to see this and take photos, but also the customers from next-door like at Cantina or Pink Elephant restaurant came to take the photo of the boy.

Finally the boy was successful in the competition. He finished all the chilies and he just took the $20 out of the guy’s hand, and took the bottle of water, and then he ran out of the crowd to spit some chilies that he had leftover in his mouth. And everyone around there clapped hands for him.

I think, wow! $20 is a lot of money for some people, and especially the poor, but the problem is those guys used it like to hurt a boy, which is not right. Anyway, after the boy finished spitting, many people there asked him “Are you gonna be alright?” And he just answered “Yes! I’m fine, but I just feel a little bit spicy.”

01:52 PM ICT Permalink |

Ready For Khmer New Year

Last night I didn’t go to my home near Phnom Penh airport because one of my friends, Hok, wanted me and his other friends, Riya and Hay, to stay at his place for a drinking party. Also they had dancing and played traditional games for Khmer New Year.

At first I thought I would just have some drinks with them and then I’d go home with my brothers, but at 8:00 p.m. I saw some of Hok’s neighbors organize to play the music with two big speakers. I could feel it would be a nice time to stay because I hadn't seen it for a while too, so I changed my decision. I stayed at his house for the night. Also, I think it was a good idea for me not to drive when I drink.

During the party they organized the music and there were already many people sitting and watching, and some playing around with different traditional pop games. At about 8:50 pm they started on the music, and I saw that it made those people happier and braver to go out to the middle of the room to play and to dance.

When we were drinking Hay got up and joked to us, “Hey, I’ve just seen the girl that I dreamed about for long time.” So I said to him, “Come on man! Go on! Maybe she might be interested in you.” And then he just laughed very loudly and said, “You think so?” Then he stood up and got another friend, Riya, to go with him. The two of them are a bit fat, so Hok said to them, “Be careful! Make sure that girl is not scared.” Buy after that I didn’t see Hay or Riya talking to that girl.

We had a nice party and we did dance some too, but we could not hang around until the end because Hok’s parents haf to close the door, and we also we were a bit drunk and tired, so we just went to sleep at about 12:30.

It’s a different feeling for me to see something like this when it’s close to Khmer New Year. And especially every night on the way back to my home I see a lot of places that are doing like this, organizing music and dancing, but with a different style of the decorating to make it look nicer.

04:35 PM ICT Permalink |

My Recipe

On Sunday last week when I got up I didn't see my mom at home. The first person I saw was my youngest brother hanging around outside and I asked him: “Where is mom?” He said, “She's gone to Bueng Kok.” I knew where she had gone, it's by the lakeside, where my elder sister’s house is. And my mom just left us some vegetables and meat for us to cook for lunch.

Usually if my mom is busy, the cooking will be done by my younger sister. She's 15 and she works in a beauty shop, but the problem is, she is working so nobody at home knows how cook as good as my sister or my mom, so the cooking is going to be someone else in my family. That's a problem.

So, about 11 am I decided to find some recipes to cook lunch with that vegetable and meat. My recipes are always easy and tasty, that's what I like. Then the idea come into my mind to fry everything together. So I began to cut up the meat and vegetables and than I fried the meat first and I put the herbs and the soy sauce that my mom usually uses for cooking and some other things to make it taste good. And after the meat is a bit well cooked I put in the vegetables that I already cut up and left it for about 5 minutes and than tested it to see what the flavor was like and it was good, the way I like it. So I got that for my family lunch but I don't know what I should call it. Also my younger brother was there with me too and he helped me to cook the rice and about midday we had rice and some of my meat and vegetable fry for lunch.

That day there were only my two brothers, Sokun and Ratana. The two of them liked it very much, so I left some for my mom and the others too. Later my mom and dad came back and they had a late lunch and they seemed to be okay with that food and they finished it all. So I think that means my cooking is not so bad!

10:52 AM ICT Permalink |

Football Competition or Real Fight?

Yesterday I went to the stadium with my friends to see them play football. I really wanted to play too but I couldn’t because I’m not staying in Phnom Penh like before, so it really hard for me to have to shower and to change clothes. Also they played at around 3 pm, and it's really hot at that time and I will sweat a lot.

My friends started inviting the other groups around the stadium to have a competition, betting 500 riel each player for one goal (that’s just to buy water to drink). Each team has 6 players, so it’s 3,000 riel for the whole team for every goal.

I was really surprised to see my friends play because they are so good now and they seem to be very strong even when the sun is so hot. While they were playing each of them always looked at me and said: “Would you like to like to play?” But I always say no.

At about 5 pm there was a fight. Everyone stopped playing and just looked, so I went closer to see what was happening. I saw two guys; one was about 40 years old and the other one was a bit older. First those two guys’ friends tried to stop them from fighting but the younger one seemed very angry and just pushed everyone away and tried to hurt the other guy. The older one just ran backward and said, “You should go home if you're drunk” and “Don’t be stupid with me or you will cause trouble.” The other guy just got angrier and ran after him and was swearing with very bad words. And then they started to fight again but this time no one stopped them and they kept fighting for a while and everyone playing football stopped and watched.

It’s really strange to see something like this to happen and with everyone just watching. Also some people there made a joke; “Which one do you pick to make a bet on?” I hope the guy who said this was those two guy’s friend. That’s really bad to hear something like this for me but I still can’t do anything, so just waited until someone came to stop them.

Those two guys are coaches and they may be training for football in this stadium, I really would like to know some more details but I think it’s not good that they fought like that. My friends stopped playing and I just went back home with them.

03:57 PM ICT Permalink |

At Valentine's Day

On 14 February, when I was going with my brother to Phnom Penh, on the way back from our mother's house, I saw there were many little stalls selling flowers for Valentine's Day, especially along the street in front of Bak Touk high school. Some people had designed their stall very nice and played some romantic music, pretending to be a real shop.

I went to my friend Hay's house. He was selling flowers for Valentine's Day too. When I arrived I saw a very lovely small flower shop in front of his house and I saw him there too, and I joked to him: "Wow! You look like a shop man!" And he said: "That's what I try to be!"

I liked his shop very much, even though it was small and just set in front of his house. My friends and I didn’t want to go anywhere, we just wanted to hang around there listening and playing the music with his laptop, and help him to sell the flowers. Some of my friends also had time for flirting with the girls who came to buy flowers from us! That was good for me and my friends who did not have a girlfriend for Valentine's Day. We had a good time at Hay's shop, and also it was really nice that Hay's parents were so kind to us. Usually they are not.

At about 5 p.m. Hay let his brother and sister look after the shop and we went riding around on motorbikes to see what it was like in the neighborhood. One of my friends sitting behind me said: "Wow! I never thought it was getting to be such a big event this year." Valentine's Day is not part of our Cambodian culture; it's just another country's culture or event. But now almost everyone in Phnom Penh knows and likes to celebrate Valentine's Day.

For me, I do like Valentine’s Day, just like everyone does here, but the thing I wonder is: why do the boys have to care more about doing something for Valentine's Day than the girls?

10:45 AM ICT Permalink |

Exam Celebration

On Sunday I went to Sihanoukville with my friends to celebrate the end of the Grade 12 examination, which is the Final Examination for high school. If we pass this we can go to University. That is our dream.

There were 29 people, boys and girls. Not all of them were studying Grade 12, a lot of them were just friends, but we made a big party to go to Sihanoukville, and we rented a bus. At Sihanoukville we stayed at Sunday Guesthouse. There were eight people sharing in my room, all boys, and all the girls in their own room. After we put our stuff in the room, we went to have some lunch at Psar Leur market, and then came back to the guesthouse to get our clothes for swimming.

We went to Ochheuteal beach for swimming and playing football, and some of us playing cards at a table beside the sand. In the evening we came back there again and we had some drinks and food like crab and fish and baby squid, and playing with fireworks and making a bonfire out of driftwood on the sand and sitting talking and relaxing --- but no playing music, because no one in our group can play guitar. I have a guitar but I don’t know how to play it.

And we were sitting and talking about how we feel after the exam and what subject we’re going to study at University. Some of my friends said they won’t study any more, but they’ll stop and find a job because University is very expensive. My friend Riya said he’s not sure yet what he’ll do, maybe he’ll keep working for his boss at the computer shop. It was very nice to talk on the beach, under the stars, and listening to the waves.

In the morning we went to Kbal Chay, which is a waterfall. We went swimming there, taking photos, buying souvenirs, and then we went to have lunch at Ream National Park. There is a very nice view there, with the mountains and the beach close to each other. It’s very beautiful, but the food is expensive. Then we went back to the guesthouse to rest then in the evening we went back to Ocheuteal Beach to have some beer and some food again and we got very drunk that night. The boys all got very drunk anyway, but the girls they had their own circle, and the boys they had their own circle, so we are all friends together.

Next morning got up extra early and drove to a different beach to see the sunrise, because this is the day we have to go back to Phnom Penh and we want to have as much time as possible at Sihanoukville. We didn’t go swimming, just taking photos and buying some souvenirs. On the bus on the way back to Phnom Penh my friends were all talking about how if we pass we’ll go back to Sihanoukville again, and next time we’ll make a really big party, stay longer, and have more fun.

The results of the exam will come out this week!.

06:02 PM ICT Permalink |

Raining Football

Last Sunday I went to my mom’s house close to Phnom Penh Airport . Most of the time I go there only with my friend Riya, but this time I went with a lot of friends, because we planned to go to the countryside together. First we were going to go to Oudong, but we couldn’t because of the money problem, and also I think it’s not good if we have to drive back far, so we decided to go and to play football with my other friends at my mom’s home in my village.

We paid 10,000 riel each, which is just $2.50, and from all of them I got 120,000 riel. So I got $30. I spent $15 for the beer and ice, and with the money left I tried to buy a duck for lunch, but it was too expensive and I’m not very good at bargaining, so I give the rest of the money and another $5 to mom to get the food.

She got a big fish and three 3kg of oysters, and some pork. We were really sorry because none of us know how to cook at all, so it took my mom about one hour to do the cooking. While she was doing the cooking my friends and I were sitting and talking. I looked at my mom I really felt pity for her because I just come to visit her one time per week but I let her do a lot of stuff for me and my friends.

After our party we all were going to play football, but we saw the volleyball court there so we started to play volleyball first and then the rain started to come down. We played under the rain for almost half an hour. Then some foreign teenagers came to ask us to play also. They looked the same age as us. But we hadn’t finished our game so we asked them to wait and they waited for us until we finished. I was really wondering where they come from, but in my mind I already thought that they were from the church near my village.

I talked to one guy who is those foreigners’ friend to find where they come from and to invite them for the football competition. He told me they all come from Australia and they come to my village with an organization from their school.

The football field was completely wet from the rain so it was a bit hard to play but it was really fun and also good to play with a foreign team like that. It was really an exiting and new experience for us. The score was 2-all and we hadn’t finished the game yet when one older guy in their team (maybe their teacher) told them to stop, because there was lightning. They seemed like they would still liked to play with us again and we feel like that too.

Finally we just made a new competition between my friends and some friends in my village who aren’t scared of the lightning. At about 5 o’clock we rode back home and we all talked. I think it was really a nice day today.

12:06 PM ICT Permalink |

Crazy Driver

On Wednesday at about 8 p.m., after my English class, three friends and I rode two motorbikes along Norodom Boulevard. There was Fou with Hok on one bike, and me with Pearom on the other one. We were on the way to Sovanna Super Market just to pick up Pearom’s older sister from her work.

There was a red light on the corner of Norodom Blvd. and Monivong Blvd., so we stopped for it. There was one guy there, he was riding a Honda Cup motorbike, but he was riding badly and acting strange. He tried to go even though the light was still red, and he hit an old lady’s bike in front of him. When the lady looked at him, he just made a loud noise and looked back to the lady, and he also looked at me and Pearom too. I was a bit angry because I think he is very rude. Pearom asked me, “What’s wrong with that guy?” I told him I don’t know! I think he just wanted to scare that lady and everyone around us. But we both thought by the way he did it, he is not like a drunken man. I think he looked like he was more stoned by drugs.

After the red light went off, he rode forward but kept looking back at us. It really made me and Pearom angry. Then he turned left, I turned left too, Hok and Fou were still in the traffic. The crazy guy was still looking at me and Pearom. Then I turned right to get close to the sidewalk, and then that guy rode straight to us then shouted, “Why you look at me?” I hadn’t said anything yet, but Pearom just jumped off the bike and punched him and tried to knock him down. I got off the bike too and going to help Pearom but that guy just dropped his bike and ran into a restaurant near there. Pearom shouted to me: “Sochiet get on the bike, hurry up!” We knew that guy was going to get some weapon.

Hok and Fou were there looking at us, Pearom jumped on their bike and we left. First we thought that the stranger was not going to come, but unbelievable, he was just about 2 or 3 meters behind us, and he shouted very loud “Don’t run! Thief! Thief” and pointing something at me. We all really felt scared because if the crowd helped him to catch us, it might be very dangerous. We weren’t scared of him but we were scared of the crowd. We knew that we weren’t thieves, but that situation is not the place to tell the truth. So the best idea for us is: Run! Run! Run!

I had nobody with me on my bike so was not hard for me to escape, but I was worried for my friends a lot, because I really don’t know exactly what this guy has in his hand. And I thought, if I hear a shot, some of my friends will be injured. But it’s really lucky, the guy’s bike was slower than our bikes and there was no shooting and we all get away. I feel so happy that all my friends are okay!

06:06 PM ICT Permalink |

Birthday at KFC

Two days ago my god-sister Parath called me and invited me to her younger brother’s birthday. His name is Dom, and it was his 12th birthday. We call him A-Dom, because in Cambodian language we call children names like that. I know him very well, like his sister too. I didn’t have money to buy a present for him, but his sister said I can buy the present later; she just needed me to go to the party.

The party was at KFC: Kentucky Fried Chicken. When I got there, there were about ten people already, and all of them I knew. The party wasn’t that happy, because it’s like we were going for lunch; there was no cake, and no presents for the little boy (except from his sister) because we all didn’t have money. Parath even paid for all our food.

This was my first time at KFC, so it was all new to me. We all had fried chicken, with Pepsi-Twist. I didn’t really like the fried chicken much because it was really dry, and I don’t like fast food anyway. After KFC, Parath took us to a karaoke place to try our voices. I sang one song, and then all my friends sang different songs. It was fun there. We stayed there almost two hours, and Parath paid for that also. Parath came to me and asked me; “Brother, why are you very quiet?” And I told her I was ok, it was a lot of fun. But actually I was embarrassed because I didn’t have anything for her younger brother for his birthday. And then she whispered; “Brother, I’m getting poor today, because I spent almost all my money.” And I just smiled at her, because I knew she understood. Then she just tapped my shoulder.

10:10 AM ICT Permalink |

Big Bikes … and chick magnets

Sometimes when me and my friends are driving around town we always imagine that we a big bike for each of us we will drive all around Cambodia . Especially we would go to Sihanoukville and Siem Reap, because these two provinces are our favorite places to have a holiday; even though to drive from Siem Reap to Sihanoukville would be very far. But if we have a BIG bike for each of us we might DO this!

Me and my friends are really envious of one group who has six people and they drive six big bikes every evening at Hun Sen Park. And their bikes are all different. One is a Honda SL, one is XR, one is AX, and the rest are maybe Baja, but I’m not sure. Every time they drive past it makes a loud powerful noise and we feel very envious.

To have the big bike like we need to have good salaries too, because it needs a lot of petrol, and to fix one is very expensive. It’s really hopeless for my wish to come true. Just imagination. But when we talk about this, we have fun.

So, my friend Pearom has a godfather who has a big bike he bought for $2,800. We always try to borrow his bike to drive around, and sometimes we have luck and he says yes, and sometimes we have no luck and he says no.

It’s very strange that most of the girls in Cambodia don’t like big bikes. They like automatic gear bikes, like the Honda Icon. That’s a real chick-magnet here in Phnom Penh, specially the 2008 model. And other ones are the Honda Air Black, Honda Click, and Suzuki Step. These are the automatic gears that the girls like.

These are pictures I took of Pearom’s godfather’s bike one time when we were lucky and he said yes. These are pictures of Sochiet, Fou, and Chiroth, on the bike, the one and same bike, in front of Chiroth’s house. And no chicks, because this bike is NOT a chick-magnet. Boys like it, we like it, but not chicks.

10:00 AM ICT Permalink |

Khmer New Year Memories

On the second day our Khmer New Year holiday, at about 7 a.m., we went to the beach again to see the view with the sunrise in Sihanoukville. Everything there looked really beautiful and fresh. After walking along for almost one hour we tried to get some vehicles for riding around. First, we thought we had to hire a tuk-tuk or a motorbike taxi to go around, but one of my friends has relatives there so he borrowed two bikes from them. Also we found out that one of our friends in Phnom Penh came to work in Sihanoukville. His name is Soy. So, we called Soy to find out if he would like to join our party. And the answer was; yes; he also missed us. Everything seemed going very well because Soy came with his bike too, then we had three motorbikes for seven people, so we were really happy.

We went to have breakfast at a place close to Psar Lue (High Market). They had many different types of food, so my friends and I had many choices too. Two of my friends don’t like to eat vegetables. And also we bought some stuff cheap like soap, shampoo, and toothpaste.

Soy took us around town and to his place, and then we went to Ream National Park. The beach in Ream National Park has a very beautiful view because the mountains and the sea are close to each other. Also, along the beach there are many huts where we can get some food and soft drinks. My friends Hok and Pea like to take photos with different styles and different views. My other friends and I had some food and drink, lying and resting.

In the evening we went to Ochertual Beach again because there was a concert there, called Randonal Party. It was made by a wine company, and to join that concert or party you had to pay money. But my friends and I did not have enough money so we just went to drink at the old place. That night we were very happy because there a lot of people.

11:26 AM ICT Permalink |

Kompong Cham

My friend Peah invited five of us to Kompong Cham for the birthday ceremony of his grandmother. She is about 74, and he wanted some company at the ceremony because otherwise everyone there is like 74 years old. So we went on our motorbikes.

On the first night I was drinking with Peah's relatives and I got very drunk and I wanted to sleep. But his brother said; “I have to show you what my homeland has.” So he took everybody to the bridge over the Mekong. This is a really big bridge and long, maybe one and a half kilometers long, I'm not sure. But it goes up up up, like a hill, and then down down down on the other side. We just drove over and came right back because this was nighttime and very dark, and most of my friends and I don't like the ghosts and the robbers. So we went back to where there were many people selling fruit-shakes and soft drinks and bread with pate, and we had fruit-shakes and rode around Kompong Cham and came back to drink again until I was very very drunk. And I don't know what time I went to sleep.

In the morning the Cambodian music for the birthday ceremony started. It was four o'clock in the morning and still dark, and me and my friends we still wanted to sleep, so we just tried to sleep. But the music kept going and at six o'clock we all went to the ceremony to see what they were doing. I saw three monks praying for Peah's grandmother and some old people sitting. I didn’t want to go in there because it's not like a teenager’s birthday and it looked very different to me and my friends. So we just took our motorbikes and drove around to find some place for breakfast.

We had breakfast and we sat by the river and watched the people and after a while Peah took us to see Phnom Pros and Phnom Srei, which are two hills that are famous throughout all Cambodia. We got lost because Peah hadn't been there for six years, but we found some pretty girls and asked them the way. When we got there we drank Red Bull and looked for monkeys and took some photos and fed the monkeys. There's a temple on top of Phnom Srei and you can see all over Kompong Cham almost. At about 2 o'clock we went back to Preah's house and had a shower and about 5 o'clock we went to the party, because the ceremony with the monks was finished by now. I drank again, and by this time I knew all Peah's relatives, and they all liked to drink with me and my friends. And there was a lot of food and we all had a good time. I like Kompong Cham but not as much as Phnom Penh.

11:38 AM ICT Permalink |

Khmer New Year in Sihanoukville

On Khmer New Year in mid-April, my friends and I took a bus to Sihanoukville. We stayed at the Sunday Guesthouse, very close to Ocheteul Beach. It's a good place to stay because we don't have our motorbikes with us and we could walk to the beach.

On the first day we walked to the beach and took photos. We walked along and watched all the people, especially all the girls, and bought BBQ prawns from the vendors. That evening we went looking for a place where we could relax and drink beer. But God, Cambodian places are more expensive than Western places now! So, we decided to go to a Western place on the beach. We were the only Cambodians there, I think other Cambodians think Western places are very expensive, but I could read the sign in English out the front and I could see that it was cheaper than the Cambodian place. At the Western place one glass of beer costs only 50 cents, and the table costs nothing (in the Cambodian place you have to pay for the table also), and the food is very cheap. The Western customers were very happy to see us there; some of them came to shake my hand and to wish us Happy New Year. They said they were very surprised that I could speak good English, and I was very surprised too because they were very friendly, so we all had a good time.

My friend and I had about four glasses of beer each and got a bit drunk, and then decided to buy some fireworks. The fireworks-seller is Chinese, so I took one of us who speaks Chinese (his name is Hay) to the fireworks place and then we saw a girl. I said so'sday (“hello”), and she said so'sday back to me, and we were very happy because she is very beautiful. Hay and I didn't want to leave that place. But we had to go back because our friends were waiting for the fireworks. We played fireworks until 11 o'clock and there were still a lot of people on the beach. We would have liked to stay longer but we were tired. So we decided to go back to the guesthouse. And we played cards with the manager and the cashier and the security guard. I lost 1,000 riel, which is 25 cents. We went to sleep after midnight. I'll tell more about our Sihanoukville New Year trip in my next post.

11:38 AM ICT Permalink |

Drunken Foreigner

Yesterday afternoon, at about 5 pm, I was riding around just like everyday, but that day I rode past one of my friend’s mother’s shop. She sells things like soft drinks, candy, cookies, different fruits, cards for cell phones, and many more things.

This time while I riding past, there were a lot of people around so I came in and asked “What’s happening?” My friend’s mother told me that a foreigner wanted to buy a cell phone card from her (a card that is prepaid credit for your mobile phone), but he didn’t have enough money to pay for it. So she wanted me to do the translating for her to get the rest of the money.

That guy looked really drunk. It seemed to be hard for me to do the translation, because I don’t speak drunk. Anyway, that guy just had to pay 5,000 riel more (which is $1.25), but he didn’t want to pa. He just wanted to take the card and go. I told him: “You can’t go if you not pay the rest of the money.”

It was really hard to talk with this guy, especially because he was really drunk. I’d been talking with him almost 20 minutes and I started to lose my patience, so I said some words to scare him (even though he was very big). I said: “If you do not give the rest of the money you might have trouble.” Also my friend, who is the seller’s son, was there too. His name is Frog (that’s his nickname). At the same time that guy asked me: “Why is everyone looking at me.” I said: “Because you want to buy this lady’s stuff, but you not give her enough money.”

About 1 or 2 minutes later this guy started to change his mind. He took out his $20 note and gave it to me and he went back out to a tuk-tuk. Then I told him: “Wait! You have to get back your change.” But he said: “NO! I WANT TO GO NOW!!!”

I said “Okay then!” and I told Frog’s mother to keep the change. So after the drunken guy left without his change, Frog’s mother was very happy. Because the money that she received from the drunken guy was about 8 day’s profit for her.

At the end I felt happy for Frog’s mother. But the same time I also felt so sorry for the drunken guy too, that he didn’t understand the situation.

09:29 PM ICT Permalink |

My Friend Por’s Love Story

Por is one of my friends in Phnom Penh. His house is close to Orrusey Market. He is 21 years old and studies English with me at ACE (Australian Centre of Education) but has a different class than me. He also studies at an university called CU (Cambodia University).

Almost every morning Por calls to wake me up just to have breakfast and coffee with him. Usually at the café we like to sit down and rest, talking, and listening to some good pop music there. But almost all the time when we are there with a couple of our friends, Por always talks about girls, especially about the beautiful ones.

Before, Por used to be in touch with one girl. Her name is Chak. He told me she is too rich, so he thinks it’s very hard for him to get her. But right now she is in Canada for studying. At the time after Chak left, Por always looked unhappy. He loved Chak but he thinks he has no luck. Also, he thinks this girl may not come back.

And just a few months later, after Chak left for Canada, Por told me that he just met another girl who is studying at ACE too, and is in the same class as him. Her name is Cheata (a girl with this name might seem very beautiful for Khmer people). I already felt that he might fall in love with that girl, because he always tells me about this girl all the time when I meet him.

I do want Por to have a girlfriend because he sometimes seems to be very lonely. So usually I tell him: “You should do something while you still have a chance.” But he told me, “I’m not sure what Cheata is thinking about me.” And he also says, “I’m always sending SMS to her all the time. Also sometimes she says some sweet words to me like ‘dear,’ or ‘my dear.’

So I think that’s really the best time, and the best chance, for him to confess about his love if he has the true love for that girl. I know my friend Por seems very embarrassed and shy a lot. Anyway, I always tell him, “If you still do like this and not say anything to her, one day you will lose her.” For example, she might fall in love with someone else.

09:56 AM ICT Permalink |