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!

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.

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?

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!.

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.

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!

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.

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.