Vuthy's Sharing Mission: Review

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September 24, 2016

Phnom Penh to Bangkok by Bus

Vuthy 2:47:00 PM How To , Review 2 Comments

There are a lot of options for travelers to choose when it comes to traveling from Phnom Penh to Bangkok. I myself experienced in travelling both by air and road to Bangkok. When it comes to travelling on the road, I have to be aware because different means will lead to high or low range of comfort and time spent for travelling. Now let’s say bus is your option, and here I am going to tell you one of the best bus options that you should consider.

Nattakan is a Thai bus company that cooperates with Rith Muny transportation company in Cambodia. Thus, when you choose this bus, you will have to buy its ticket at Rith Muny office which is nearby Gloria Jeans riverside. It costs $25 per ticket if you buy in Phnom Penh; and it costs 750 Baht when you buy 1 ticket at Mo Chit bus station.

PP to BKK:

06:00 to 09:30 – Leave Phnom Penh and arrive Pursat.
09:30 to 10:00 – Have breakfast at Pursat Cambodia-Japan friendship restaurant.
10:00 to 14:00 – Arrive Poi Pet
14:00 to 14:40 – Take 40 minutes at the immigration office
14:40 to 16:00 – Travelling on the road to Bangkok
16:00 to 16:30 – Thai bus driver stopped for dinner (It won’t happen all the time)
16:30 to 19:30 – Arrive Bangkok at Mo Chit bus station

BKK to PP

05:00 – Leave Mo Chit bus station
07:00 PM – Arrive Phnom Penh

Pros:
- 1 stop only at Pursat for brunch
- Only 1 direct bus, no transit
- There is a toilet in the bus. Pee pee poo poo is not a problem.
- Short distance to walk from immigration office to find this bus
- Save time (about 1 to 2 hours) and energy (not cramped) as you will arrive at 7:30.
- Comfortable to sleep
- It’s more spacious, easy to sit, and better behaved people prefer it, so eventually the feeling is better too.
- There is no need to walk and find another van at the border and pay extra 250 Baht.
- It provides free evening meal and drink on the bus. So, we could save lots of time without stop from Aranyaprathet to Bangkok.
- Free snack and beverage in the morning, packed fried rice (EzyGo) to be delivered in the afternoon. It is included when you pay the $25 bus ticket.
- Thai drivers tend not to stop for picking up passengers. They are ready to go at 06:00 even with 3 passengers.
- No need to wait for bus to be filled to go on from the border because only those who bought in Phnom Penh could continue going from the border.

Cons:
- Bad point is the bus stop is at Mo Chit Bus Station. You will have to take taxi or BTS to the central. It cost my family 130 Baht to get from Mo Chit Bus Station to Asoke area. Probably, you can take Uber for cheaper transport.
- On your way back, the bus leaves Bangkok at 05:00 in the morning. Not at 06:00 in the morning like when you travel from Phnom Penh to Bangkok.
- Khmer drivers tend to stop quite often to pick up more passengers, but it is not too bad. I managed to arrive Phnom Penh at 07:00 PM.
- Spend about 150 Baht more on taxi from Mo Chit to your hotel.
- Not easy to travel for some Khmer as they need to be dropped at DD House.

Below is some photos:

This is a picture of the Nattakan bus from Phnom Penh to Bangkok.

Cambodia-Japan Friendship restaurant in Pursat

After purchasing the ticket, you have to find Platform 106 and wait there.

Inside Nattakan bus on my way from Bangkok to Phnom Penh

Bus ticket bought at Mo Chit bus station

September 21, 2016

เขียวหวาน Icecream Terrarium (Kiao Wan Ice cream Terrarium)

Vuthy 3:01:00 PM Food Review , Review 0 Comments

เขียวหวาน Icecream Terrarium (Kiao Wan Ice cream Terrarium) was founded in early 2016 by P House and Mamiao after the two fell in love and started the shop together. I do not recommend the shop only because they are my friends but the ice cream they serve is addicted!

Owner:

Kiao Wan was initially started by P House as Hthroughheart ice cream shop at Khao San Road. P House met Mamiao for the first time on their trip to Kanjanaburi on March 21-22, 2015; the two fell in love and started the shop Kiao Wan.

Inspiration:

Kiao Wan means Sweet Green. It's the shop that serve ice cream that is so natural and good for health. The ice cream shop's name also has the word Terrarium. So, it was also inspired by the self-sustaining plants which has its own eco-system. This shop uses terrarium as decoration.

Ice Cream Flavors:

There are flavors that are there everyday and there are Unknown ice cream types in which guests can give a try because the lovebird owners always mix ice cream in a mysterious way and call it Unknown. You will have to guess what you are eating. :D And when you first step in, don't be shocked. You will be given a little of all ice cream types to taste and order the one that you like best.

Probably, I do not have to describe much about flavors, I'll give you loads of flavor photos ...

Find the shop at:

Their Facebook page:

เขียวหวาน Icecream Terrarium

+66 92 949 9141

Shop design:

January 9, 2016

Hotels to stay nearby BTS and MRT in Bangkok

Vuthy 11:17:00 AM Recommendation , Review 0 Comments

There are hundreds of hotels in Bangkok in which you can find in a blink of an eye. However, only if you have stayed at those hotels that you realize how convenient it is. For this post, I am going to introduce you to two hotels which locate in a great location for a reasonable price.

1. Red Planet Hotel, Asoke Bangkok

Red Planet Hotel Asoke is a popular hotel among tourists as it's located just 100 meters from Asoke BTS station and it's also 100 meters from Terminal 21 shopping mall. This hotel room is generally booked. So, be well planned and book before others if you plan to travel in Bangkok.

It's hotel cost is around $30 to $33 per night for 2 people if you book via Red Planet Hotels homepage or via Agoda. Normally, you can get 10% discount if you are a Remembered customer which mean you are a returning customer. So, it's best to book via its homepage, rather than via Agoda. Children aged below 4 years old could stay for free if you don't request for anything extra.

I recommend this hotel because it's convenient to travel from one BTS Asoke to other tourist attractions. For example, if you want to go to Siam paragon, you can just take BTS Asoke to Siam BTS station at ease. BTS is specially popular among Thai people as the traffic is congested and it saves time too.

Read more details and book now!

Inside the hotel is not so spacious, but it guarantees its cleanliness and sleep comfort. The room is definitely for two people as the each of twin bed is enough for one person.

Its twin bed

There is an app of this Red Planet Hotel for you to book too and there are many branches of Red Planet Hotels. You may browse through for a Red Planet Hotel before you travel to a country. It is not only for you to book, but also to ask friendly staff about services and attractions in Bangkok.

2. D Varee Xpress Hotel Makkasan Bangkok

This hotel is a three-star hotel, it is located on new Petchaburi road and about 100 meters from Petchaburi MRT. You can use this MRT and connect with BTS at Asoke BTS Station (connected by Makkasan MRT).

This hotel is generally expensive. It could cost up to $151 per night, but if you book via Agoda, it you might get up to 75% discount at $28 per night.

There is a price for free breakfast also, but I did not choose this option since I wanted to walk around and try street food.

I used to stay at this hotel in January 2016 and found it convenient to travel via MRT too. The room is big and incredibly clean. This hotel is 600 meters away from Red Planet Asoke Hotel. It could take up to 20 minutes to walk to Red Planet Hotel.

Read more details and book now!

The look outside of D Varee Xpress

Inside D Varee Xpress Hotel

July 5, 2015

A cake for a good cause: the Bayon Pastry School Coffee Shop

Vuthy 6:34:00 AM Food Review , Guest Post 3 Comments

The Bayon School is a non-profit organization which headquarters are located in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Among other activities, the NGO has set up a professional training project: the pastry school. Their objective is to provide underprivileged girls a free vocational training leading to a stable job.

The selection of students is based on motivation, school results and familial environment. Following this step, around twenty girls are offered a free training lasting 11 months, including 4 months of internship. They are also sheltered at school and receive pocket money to support their family.

The project is implemented in partnership with Alain Cojean, French restaurateur, and Fabien Rouillard, Fauchon’s pastry chef.

In order to finance the project and allow the students to put their skills into practice, the NGO opened a coffee shop inside the garden of the pastry school, located in the heart of Siem Reap, where one can enjoy a peaceful atmosphere.

At the coffee shop, you can taste delicious French pastries such as financiers, madeleines or chocolate cake. These pastries will go well with one of the drinks proposed by the students, iced or old (Americano coffee, café latté, green tea, smoothie…).

The products can be taken away if you are in a hurry. You can also order a breakfast or break box that can be personalized depending on your needs.

By enjoying the products of the Bayon Pastry School Coffee Shop, you support the whole NGO and give the opportunity to young women to come out of poverty.

Apart from the coffee shop itself, the pastry school proposes another activity: pastry classes. You will be able to learn how to make French and Khmer pastries with Sokhoeum, the pastry chef.

Keep learning about the project on their websites:

http://ecoledubayon.org/

https://www.facebook.com/bayonpastryschool

Disclaimer: This article was written by a third party and falls into Guest Post category.

April 19, 2015

How Safe is Your Solex Lock?

Vuthy 6:16:00 PM Critics , Review 1 Comments

How safe is a Solex lock? I guess not only Solex, but other brands also. I lost keys of this lock and I had a chance to observe a lock repairer. It did not take him much time to make a new key for me. It took him about 2 minutes to observe what's specific inside the lock.

Then, he started numbering on side of the lock so that he knows what to do with a new key without any mark on it yet.

Later, he started highlighting on a brand new key and scraped it. He scraped as he looked at the numbers on the lock. Simply, without even further modification. After he finished scraping, the key simply worked well with the lock.

In total, it took him about 10 minutes to make a new key of the lock. Simple as that. Think Solex is safe? Think again.

He only looked and numbered on the lock and made a new key for me. This is pretty dangerous if later he decides to change his job :D

What is a safer way to protect our house? Please kindly suggest.

March 29, 2015

My healthy Bonsai tree

Vuthy 11:14:00 PM How To , Recommendation 1 Comments

I have always loved Bonsai tree since my first time to see it on the internet. Unluckily, it is not easy to find in Cambodia. On the internet, I learned that I could find Bonsai tree in Vietnam. However, I never had a chance to go to Vietnam since I have become fond of Bonsai.

How it looks on the internet. Don't you love it?

In March 2015, I went to Bangkok and did not mean to go to Jatujak plant market. It was when I and my friends Mamiao and Chanutr did not know where to go at night around 9:00 PM. Then, we agreed to go to plant market.

If you wish to shop at the market. You may do so as well. Jatujak market is a weekend market where people come to sell many different kinds of products, creative products. On Wednesday evenings, they open shops to sell plants.

There, Chanutr shopped many small plants. She loved them. So did I, but I did not have a clue on how to deliver it home.

After walking for a while in the market, I saw my lovely Bonsai trees! They were so lovely. It was so hard for me to choose because there were varieties! And the price varied a lot too. I tended to choose the small one so that I could carry home.

I bought my first Bonsai tree for 400 Baht ($13). It came with a vase.

My Bonsai tree at hotel in Bangkok

Since I traveled back to Phnom Penh by plane, I requested for help from my colleague who return from Bangkok by van to help deliver my Bonsai to the office. Because after talking with AirAsia staff, they told me that I cannot bring any kinds of plants on plane.

However, all was done and my Bonsai tree is now safe at home in Phnom Penh. I forgot to tell you, my Bonsai tree will have red fruit too :D

My Bonsai tree at home and is healthy

Make less noisy car, apart from machine maintenance

Vuthy 11:00:00 PM How To , Review 0 Comments

I have noticed that my car's tires had been producing lots of noise even there was nothing seemed to be wrong. When I got home, I noticed that many small stones got stuck with tires, even a small battery was attached there too.

I did try to get most of them out of the tires with a sharp key. It did make less noise, and I guess when we remove these stones, we also make the tires last longer and the stones won't go too deep, and the stones won't at the same time with tires and there of course will be less noisy.

I'll probably start looking at this once in 1 or 2 months because Cambodia has a lot of roads under construction.

March 7, 2015

The power of boycott

Vuthy 10:54:00 PM Review , 0 Comments

Boycott is the power to negotiate for what we want and that is positive change. Abroad where people follow democracy, boycott is quite popular as it will help citizen to bargain for what they really want. For example, when a brand is taking advantage of cheap labour, or forced labour, and citizen realizes that, they simply tell one another to help boycott the brand so that they will change. That is why more and more brands tend to create Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) department. If you open a company, what you care is profit, not any CSR, that is the nature of business. However, since companies are afraid of people boycotting their products, they tend to care more about their workers' welfare and working conditions so that it is fair.

In Cambodia, however, boycott is not popular. People do not normally join hand to bargain for what they want, and simply lose the power to the authority or someone who have more money. Yet, in Cambodia, we are more familiar with citizen-justice where when people witness injustice, they do not send the accused to the court, instead they want to take justice by beating in public, which is totally different from boycotting because boycott is resilient and perseverance.

Politically speaking, in 2013 after an election, one political party did use this strategy to bargain with the winning party. It did work!

I would like to raise an awareness that we all should join hand to fight injustice and noncompliance. We are the people have this power to boycott, and boycott will kill our opponent economically. That is why in a company, they need a union, because a union represents collective employees. The more members a union has, the better it is.

From this post, I hope that people understand more about their own power to drive change and to cooperate more as a collective force. It can be shown via stopping from buying certain products or using a service if they have bad impacts for the other people' livelihoods. We have to understand that we alone don't have any power to fight against authority, but we collectively can make authority think twice.

June 1, 2014

Love History?

Vuthy 8:56:00 PM Review , 1 Comments

When it comes to loving someone, what do you normally expect? To be the first one? To be the last one? Or be ready to discover more about your loved one? To me, I am ready to hear all of the surprises. It should be damn good to know about girlfriend's past.

In this post, I am not going to focus on the girl's side, but the boy's side only. I would like to ask you readers a couple of questions:

Does it matter if a man used to flirt many girls before? Would you bother to seek for more information? I have seen many girls got jealous and even want to dump their boyfriends for that. Well, it's fair enough to dump him if he betrays while having you, but when you have a look back at his past. Probably, you should only use it as a sign to alert, but you can not judge that quickly. It depends whether the flirtation was for fun. Is it him just like that, flirting every pretty girls? Or he has been interested in one girl at a time, but faced many rejections already? Because facing rejections could lead to depression. Should you pity him for that because now he is yours?

If he faced rejections, now that you are his girlfriend. What would be your reactions when you read his old messages and found out that he used to chase a lot of girls. Let's say you found out his messages to many girls before you knew him. The messages could be "I love you til the end of my life". "Oh dear, I miss you so much". I know you may feel stupid to be his girlfriend, right?

Would you pity him? Or would you simply think he's a jerk chasing girls since he was a kid? Please share your opinions.

February 13, 2013

Networking to Employment

Vuthy 11:47:00 AM Critics , Professional 5 Comments

I used to think that getting a job through network is not rewarding. It always made me feel like I have no ability to find a job on my own.

But then, I think about the use of having a Recommendation Letter. If you could get a Recommendation Letter from a supervisor at workplace, then you are more likely to find a job. It is actually from the higher, the better. The thing is that people could know that employee better through the letter or the network before they decide to employ. They do not want to risk employing someone they have never heard of before.

The problems could be both on the task fulfillment and also on the behaviors at workplace. Some might just come to work and is not that sociable so it might be hard to communicate; and some might be sociable, but is not very proactive. To avoid such problems, employment through network takes place.

However, I still think it is not very rewarding and discouraging for employees to seek for a new job. It took me about four months to find a new job. It made me feel so discouraging that I would not be qualified for any workplaces; and moreover, I could see lots of fresh graduate looking so fine and found a new job in just a few weeks.

Also, from here I also want to raise a problem arising nowadays; and that is good positions are often filled. For example, one workplace wishes to employ a new employee, then announce the recruitment to public. Hundreds have applied, but at the end of the day, it's the internal employees who also applied got the position.

Why? Because the internal people know better about the organization and its needs; and also the organization knows about that person better than the other candidates. Also, that individual is of course better qualified than others where he could answer most of the questions during the interview.

Here is another answer to that why, a NGOs posted a job announcement on Cambodia Daily, again hundreds have applied, but those people might have very slight chance for an interview because normally NGOs work on project and when the project ends their staff contract will be ended as well. Some of those people might be lucky and find a new job, but some would wait for the same NGOs to start a new project. So, who else should they employ beside their previous staff? and those people know about the NGOs better than the others.

Personally, I have been employed through network twice. Once was at HML Law Firm & Consultants, at that time, my friend Chenda told me to apply for the Translator position at HML. I applied just like the other candidates. However, I had a network which was Chenda. I guess not just through the network that could get me the job, but it was the network which could facilitate the recommendation and the job announcement to me. I did not know much about the internal issue. However, after I was recruited, Chenda said the boss did ask her about my characteristics and some of my personal background.

Later, in late 2012, after I resigned from ITC, my friend Sokha was on Maternity Leave and told me to apply for a short-term contract at her workplace - ILO. Again, that's what's so called network. There were 5 candidates as I was told. However, I was recruited for the position and later was favored by the supervisor and he recommended me to apply for another higher position at the same workplace. So far, I have not been informed about the higher position whether I will get it or not. However, the intention of this post is to illustrate the bad and the good of networking to employment.

Only til that day that it completely changed my mind regarding having a network to employment because now I believe that not everyone could reach us. It does not matter how good we are. It is better to have a network in addition to our qualifications. It is cool if you could get a job on your own hunt. However, many times jobs are filled by the network; and I am not saying those who are recruited through network are not great people. They are of course great people with great opportunities. If they are not qualified, those workplaces would not risk employing them, no matter how good behavior one has.

As above illustrations, I still have the negative ideas regarding networking to employment since it is a burden to people to find a job. The recruitment process could never be based on merit of the individual.

Here, try not to confuse with Nepotism. Nepotism is completely a different thing. :) Anyway, what do you think about recruitment at workplace?

February 2, 2013

Network Marketing and What I Hate About It

Vuthy 4:52:00 PM Critics , Recommendation 47 Comments

According to Wikipedia,

Multi-level marketing (MLM) is a marketing strategy in which the sales force is compensated not only for sales they personally generate, but also for the sales of the other salespeople that they recruit. This recruited sales force is referred to as the participant's "downline", and can provide multiple levels of compensation.Other terms for MLM include pyramid selling,network marketing, and referral marketing.
Most commonly, the salespeople are expected to sell products directly to consumers by means of relationship referrals and word of mouth marketing.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-level_marketing

In Cambodia, MLM is often called Network Marketing. Some people do not know what it means by the term Network Marketing as they are not familiar with the term and do not even know that they are being in the game, what they know is that they could make a lot of money without much effort.

Are we clear with the definition? :) Let's go to the next part. I am going to share what I have experienced, not what you might have heard of in any books or elsewhere. Thus, please excuse me and bear with my personal idea regarding MLM.

Network Marketing Process in Cambodia:

The top level tries to gather people through holding a workshop to explain about the benefits of MLM with very little focus on the quality of the product they sell, and will tell you a lot of successful stories; for example, some people could make 50,000 USD per month, some starters could earn 2,000 USD per week and stuff. Some people might be inspired and register to be a member immediately through paying a hundred dollars or so. However, some who are smart enough to doubt about the quality and understand that it is not easy to get the money as others expected; and what is even smarter, they do not spend a hundred of dollar on the product they have heard for the very first time - and do not know about the origin of the company, never heard even a bit of it. Blah! I treat them as smart people.

How are you going to get more members in order to boost your sales? You may approach your friends, family, and relatives so that they can become your distributors. You are not sure of the quality, but since you are so much absorbed into it. You go advertise so that you could grow more network; all you need is distributors, a lot of them. After your friends realize that the product should not be that expensive and is not as good as they were told - they hate you.

MLM of medicine, for example, the top level might brings a few types of medicine and explain the benefits of them; after the presentation, he would ask you to try buy some; and those are not cheap. They would dare you to try it. Only if it works well with you that you should distribute. That's what you might be told. Sound nice, eh? All you could hear is easy-incoming money.

What I really hate about the idea of MLM is that in Cambodia. Friends who are so much absorbed into it do not want to tell you what they are doing. They suddenly drag you to hear what you do not want to spend a single minute on it.

For example, a classmate who took a Master degree in Public Administration with me gave me a call and told me there was an opportunity to make a lot of money in a month. I did seek for the reason, but he could not help but told me to attend a workshop. Later, I asked another classmate who attended the workshop which was informed by the same guy. He said the speakers advertised about a type of medicine which would work with many types of diseases. He was promoting more distributors. Distributors would get a lot of benefits as he could make a lot of commission without having to do anything. Just sit still and the money will grow.

After knowing what it is about, I immediately gave the guy a call and told him I am not interested.

Lately, another friend told me that there would be a translation business and I might get a loyal client. First, she posted a comment on my Translation Ad that she might introduce me to her CEO and stuff. We agreed that we would meet at some points. One day, I went to meet her at her shop as she said she would be available to talk at that time. What I do not understand is why we can't talk on the phone when she has nothing for me to translate at the time being, I went there anyway. We spent a couple of seconds to talk about translation and lots more to drag me into MLM.

Later, I got back home, we chatted and I told her it is beyond my business scope. I want to focus on my 8 hours work and translation. Then, I also told her if her CEO is going to introduce me to MLM, not straight to Translation; then, we do not have to meet. The answer is there! She responded if I think so, then there is no need to meet. All in all, her CEO is about to spread the sermons as well.

Moreover, the price of the products that you purchase are double or triple higher than the regular price after three or four layers distributors. :D

I would call that kind of activities deceitful.

^Victims:

^{The possible victims are provincial people, older generation, uneducated people, and greedy people.}

I do not suggest any of my readers try that Network Marketing. Money never comes easy. Even if it does, it will spoil you. You are supposed to earn it tough. Never do the gold digging!

All I hope now is that those who are involved in MLM bring a lot of quality products, not just to cheat through network down the line.

January 23, 2013

UN Salary Scale

Vuthy 3:18:00 PM Professional , Review 8 Comments

If you happen to work for a private company in Cambodia, they only bother with your employment period and step which means your salary will be raised when you stay at a company longer. They never count the never ending inflation; and you need to bear in mind that as a Least Developed Country, inflation in Cambodia will never stop. The more growth we want, the more inflation we have. It’s so natural.

However, for United Nations staff, their salaries will be raised based on Steps and Inflation. They calculate carefully the inflation rate of each year and inform their staff about the salary the following year.

Doing Internship and Its Meaning

Vuthy 3:17:00 PM Critics , Professional 0 Comments

When you reach year 4, it’s time to think about gathering experiences or else you are going to end up graduating without a thing to write about in your Curriculum Vitae. You probably think you really have no experience as no workplace has ever given you a credit for what you have done? You are wrong with that! You may include blogging, tutoring English to your younger sister. Your experiences do not have to be at a company. It can be anywhere.

Anyway, that is not what I want to mention today. I would like to grab your attention to think a bit about doing an Internship. Doing an internship could be a great option for fresh graduate or about-to-graduate person. However, you ought to choose where you should do your internship. You are encouraged to apply and try hard for internship opportunity at UNDP, UNV, DFDL, Care International, World Vision – ANYWHERE well-known.

It is a great stepping stone if you could not apply for any place with little salary. You know what? I strongly suggest you start with such UN like UNDP, because when you go to somewhere else, they acknowledge the experience and your ability. Your salary may rise up even faster than those who find a job with 200$ salary. However, after your graduation, you may consider hunting for a paid job and an internship. Do not ruin any bridge.

Many NGOs, International NGOs, and UN Agencies – all look for staff having experience in an international organization and project cycle management; and those staff never get less than a thousand USD. If you have a chance to do an internship with UNDP, why not take the chance?

You may refer to my early post on Zig-Zag Educational Background and Experiences as if you don’t want to experience the same things that I did. However, I found my way now. I am planning to grow in the field as many other former trainer at ILO could earn more than 3000 USD per month.

However, some internships could be a scam. They simply want to eat up your energy and yet an internship certificate from them mean nothing. If you see an announcement from a company recruiting Sales Intern, hell no. Do not apply. What they will get is a lot of money, and you are going spend your sweat for that single certificate?

Consider these tips.

The Importance of Phonics and Phonetic Symbols

Vuthy 3:13:00 PM Academic , Recommendation 0 Comments

When I was a kid, my English teacher started with teaching Phonetic Symbols, I did not really notice or even knew the reason why I had to study such things; plus it was hard for an eight year old kid to start with such things.

So, I could not remember them well and ended up noting the pronunciation of English word in Khmer. It worked! However, I had to struggle remembering Khmer pronunciation; and the sound was not as accurate as a native speaker and might result in being unable to deliver the meaning to our partner.

I did learn about the Sh Ch part. It was pretty easy to produce such sound, but I did not learn about that there are two types of sound of EA, AU, OW, etc. You know what I’m saying? Probably not!

Because shamefully, I have just learned more of Phonics when I first started my first job as an English teacher of a Young Learner Program at New World Institute. I never thought that knowing Phonics could be that wonderful.

I am not going to tell you all that in details. However, I could illustrate some which will brighten your eyes a bit.

Let say, BOW. That is the hard sound of OW, while COW, TOWEL, we use the soft sound of OW. See the difference? Or it could be seen through THREAT and EAT. Could you notice the difference between the soft sound and the hard one?

More examples, people might not notice that with a magic E, words could be pronounced interestingly as it will follow the original sound of the vowel. You will know what I mean after reading below.

For example, letter A. The sound is supposed to be A just like the letter, however, it is not. You need to add an E to get the original sound of the A.

If not, the sound will become AE. For example, CAT. If you add an E, the sound will be an original sound like KATE. So much A that you could hear.

It also applies to other vowels as well; for example, COPE, KITE, PETE, CUBE. As you can see, without an E, the sound of this word would not be so original. You can find all of these information in Phonics book.

In summary, it is important for us to learn the concept so that we could pronounce each word correctly. You may find that Phonics book at New World Institute and do some self-learning, or probably just download some from the internet.

January 22, 2013

Public Goods and Its Traffic Issue

Vuthy 11:48:00 AM Critics , Review 0 Comments

Public Goods refer to the goods provided by a government to its people and it is impossible to exclude anyone from using public goods while another one is using it; and it is non-rivalry too. From this meaning, if you are at a park playing with your kids, I can go enjoy playing at the park with my family at the same time too. More examples could be street, street light, and fresh air, etc.

It is a complete opposite to Private Goods because private goods is owned by an individual. No one has no right on such property.

However, many people in Phnom Penh enjoy using public goods without having to care about others. As we all know as a result of Khmer Rouge Regime, with trauma people tend to be more self-centered, but what's even worse, it's the easy money, the nepotism, and the belief that "money talks people do" that make people even more self-centered now a day.

Problems with Public Goods:

- People might be careless that it is public goods

In some cases, people are not aware that one is using public goods and block others from using it. For example, planting trees on a sidewalk right outside of the front yard which may block pedestrians from walking. Pedestrians most of the time need to walk on the street which again invade motorist's and might result in injury and might be cursed from the motorists.

- Selfishness

Some might be aware that it is a sidewalk but since it is a good location for business, the owner of a house start invading public goods by establishing stall in the front yard leaving very little space for people to walk. Some might park their car in the front yard too.

Trend:

- Very little action has been made.

- Motorist has become even more aggressive and furious when it comes to using the street in rush hour.

- Go in whatever one can without caring the others - simply squeeze in for bikers.

Now I wonder if we care what it means by Public Goods and how we should live together as a community. It is time to know how to live together as a community. It is time to show that you know what is right what is wrong. When our parents do not care about us, will we start caring about ourselves!? I extremely hate such administration.

November 15, 2012

Capacity Building Movies!

Vuthy 7:05:00 PM Recommendation , Review 0 Comments

Cry Freedom

Enron the smartest guy in the room

Inside Job

Thank you for smoking

The Company Men

Forrest Gump

Too big to fail

October 3, 2012

World Camp Participants' Reviews

Vuthy 11:54:00 PM Review , 0 Comments

First of all, I would like to apologize as I am going to start it half way. For those who are not familiar with International Youth Fellowship and World Camp, please spend some quality time on Google or click on the words highlighted in blue: International Youth Fellowship

Before you decide whether to join World Camp 2012 which will be held at Institute of Technology of Cambodia this November 2012. It is important for you to read the reviews below. There are three sections. The first one is a column from New York Times, the second one is a review by my Thai friend and her experience with World Camp in Thailand, and the last one is my experience as a resigned volunteer.

1. Here is an extract from New York Times: Traveling to Volunteer, Getting Sermons Instead

Source:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/20/nyregion/traveling-to-volunteer-but-it-wasnt-what-they-expected.html?

Key Summary:

Clearey wanted to join an "English Camp" in which the total cost was reasonable; 300USD for accommodation, transport, and others.

He found himself sleeping in a room of 5 to 6 people, and was woken up at 5:30AM. They later told Clearey that the teaching is much different and larger agenda which centered on the religious theories of Ock Soo Park, a Korean preacher and founder of Good News Corps, the sponsor of the English Camp

Associates gave supplementary “Mind Lectures” on biblical passages as interpreted by Mr. Park, who asserts that the human heart is lodged with “filth and evil.”
Security guards at the doors to the ballroom of the hotel, the Intercontinental in Dallas, discouraged anyone tempted to skip out.
Volunteers who turned up late for 6 a.m. sessions of calisthenics and group massage were ordered to perform squat thrust exercises.Those who skipped sessions were tracked down by teachers and ordered to explain their absences.

“The whole concept of their theology was that your heart is evil and that you need to have an ‘open heart,’ ”

“I was the victim of a scam,” Mr. Cleary said.

"" ____________________________________ ""

Mr. Park said that before going to Texas for training, the volunteers could have attended local workshops and learned about the religious dimension. Most people knew what would be involved, he said, and of those who went to Texas, only about 20 dropped out before going on to Mexico for the camp, which lasted for three days.

The program for World Camp 2012 in Cambodia as displayed includes Workshop, Lecture by Speaker, Cultural Performance, Concert, Short Course Training, Mini-marathon.

There is no way that I could find "Mind Lecture" in the agenda. Participants are not well informed with the workshop they are going to attend.

2. Review by my Thai friend: Suwimon

- Most of the activities is sitting in the hall, listening to "teacher" (he called himself that) talking about testament in Korean and have someone to interpret in Thai
- I think me myself is pretty open to listen and learn, but even that, it was so insane for me, you have to sit like 4 hours and eat and then sit and listen again for another 4 hours.
- In each group has trainer who will blame us when we fall asleep and can't even read a book
- In the evening, there's always a conversation in group, the trainer kind of convince us to change religion and if you seem stubborn, you will be pushed to be invisible
- I do like Christian, and the way they treat the others, they pray for the other is so nice and warm. I like to see them carefree because god loves them, but to accept and believe we have to do it by ourselves, not to be forced.
- My Christian friend doesn't like this org too, she said it maligns Christ
- You know in the states, people talk about Buddhism and meditation, they do practice in meditation camp too. The religion is supposed to be like that, people are supposed to be willing to, not be forced to
- I do believe Christ is a nice religion, it's warm and carefree but just this org spread it not appropriately at all
- Exercise at 6:00AM just like the program in the link above, I think it's pre-world camp.

3. Review by Vuthy

- I was simply an opportunity seeker, so I would try any volunteer activities as I was available at that time. I did not know that IYF is something to do with cult, I only knew that it has something to do with building youth capacity and becoming leader.

- There was the first workshop for volunteers who wish to become an organizer of the event, I attended and was very excited when they showed performances, but later got so much annoyed by the Mind Lecture. However, I decided to stay as it was a chance to volunteer, not to become a preacher. I believe that it's going to be okay as I am not easily convinced.

- I resigned after I heard that the third workshop for volunteers will be held at a beach and volunteers will have to spend a night or two over there. I was afraid that it would be similar to what happened to Clearey; thus, I quit by then.

Enough explanation? Make your decision :)

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