After a busy weekend being a surrogate grandfather I thought today would be quiet and relaxing - but I thought wrongly. I was hardly home. Vuth, across the road at the travel office, has been reading a book entitled "Rich Dad, Poor Dad". It's all about running businesses, using money wisely, having expert advice etc. He and Cina have just been told by auditors from the government that they must pay a whopping amount in tax. Vuth is therefore keen on finding ways to reduce the amount. Cina's point is that no matter what you do, the system is totally corrupt. Vuth's feeling is that expert counsel could reduce the impact. He asked me to read a chapter, summarise it and then tell his wife. He said, "I want it to come out of your mouth because she always blames me."
We're having a youth exchange programme between students from Cambodia and some from Thailand. Friends are going to speak to university students to encourage them to apply to participate. I was told I had to attend the meeting. I hate speaking so I said I wouldn't be going. Thornin said I didn't have to speak; I just had to sit on the stage and look serious. Pi You, who will be speaking, is a student at the university so the idea is that students won't take her seriously as she's the same age. If I'm there, even if I don't open my mouth, it adds legitimacy to the programme. Isn't it lovely to know that I can influence people without even opening my mouth or doing anything?
I had lunch with the family. Today it was a lovely coconut soup with baby eggplant and pork; it's one of my favourite dishes. The dreaded Prohok was on the table and I had dollops of it put onto my plate, along with cucumber and other bits of greenery. There was also dried fish, persimmon, pineapple, mango and snake fruit. Finally, I was given a bowl of coloured jellies in a coconut milk.
It's always a bit of a let-down when I go westwards and my plate has potatoes, one or two veg and one kind of meat. I came back home, with Phearak and Srun trailing behind. I didn't have any English class prepared so I got them talking about what they did on the weekend. Phearak always breaks into a fit of giggles and looks at Srun for support. After they left I settled into a relaxing afternoon but it only lasted half an hour and the Vuth asked if I'd like to join him to meet two young friends in a coffee shop. What would we do without coffee shops?
Heang is a young man who has set up a business making juices from vegetables. They are organic and very good; he generally uses sweet potato, corn and yam. The lady has a business making cakes and cookies. Heang has all the contacts and so he'd like to link up with the lady so that they can benefit from each other. It was fun sitting together and brainstorming about ways of promoting their products. One good thing about Cambodia is that it's a newly developing nation and so there are lots of opportunities for younger people if they want to have a go.
