Family Day with Singapore Embassy

It’s been almost two months we had prepared for the Family Day for the Embassy staff for 2012. Kimrong, Ousphea, and I were chosen to be the organizing committee for the program and were directed by Ms. Catherine. The reason for choosing us was that we are the newcomers to the Embassy in 2011 and that we might have new idea for the yearly celebrated Family Day.


We had discussed over where to go to and what to do for the Family Day. Several ideas came up such as going to Kirirom, Bokor Mountain, Kompot pepper planation, Sokha Hotel in Sihanouk Ville, or just go around Phnom Penh. Finally, Nataya Resort at Kompot was chosen.


Organising a trip is not easy. Kimrong and I were busy contacting people at various resorts, renting the bus, booking breakfast, thinking of games to play over there, buying the T-shirts and items for the goodie bags and other items. That put us into serious headache.

The Family Day was divided into two parts—first part was the Recycling and Recreating Competition and second the trip to Nataya and the team competition. Regarding to the Recycling Competition, all Embassy staff, including both HBS and LRS, were invited to take part by making something out of used items. Three rankings would be chosen for prizes. The announcement started somewhere in early December 2011 and people started thinking and making their things with their creativity. I also started to make mine. With an idea from a Korean TV show, my mother suggested that I fold paper birds and make a Cambodia map. I accepted the idea and started to produce my masterpiece. It required hard work and patience; it was finally born though. I also put my snail artwork into election. The selection day of the winner of this program was on Friday 13^th January 2012 in the Embassy. The judges were those who didn’t participate in the competition, and there were also some votes from HCC and MPA staff. The votes were not counted until Sunday when we were on the bus to Nataya.


On January 15, the day finally came. I was the first one to arrive at the Embassy. There were some problems, but we managed to solve it. We were finally on the bus, and everything was just smooth enough. I felt annoyed by the travel company which provided the bus to us because they changed too often and the driver did not know how to get to the destination! That part was bad!


On the bus, Ousphea was in charge of making the group alive by giving quizzes. Around 15 quizzes were asked and prizes were also given out. After that, the result of the Recycling Competition was announced. Within my expectation, my Cambodia map got the first prize and the snail artwork got the second prize. Ms. Janet got the third prize for her memo and photo calendar stand. I was so excited that I got two prizes, the prizes that I wished to receive. I got the cooler bag for the first prize and the badminton set for the second prize.

At 11am, we finally arrived at Nataya Resort. We were welcomed by Naro, the beverage manager of the resort who gave us welcome drinks. We then started the sand carving competition. B. Yuthnea had prepared in advance the ears, tail, eyes, and whiskers of a rabbit. In three, we had carved a shape of a rabbit in a garden. That’s cool! Our other group members also made marvelous images. Ms. Catherine and B. Chanthy carved a gecko, and again we carved a gold fish. The Blue team had a castle, a turtle, and a crocodile. Naro, the manager, was the judge for the most outstanding one. The rabbit was chosen for the first prize! Cheers to the Green team! My team won for the first game. Next, we played the game—picking the peanuts. The Blue team won it. After these two games, we had lunch at 12:30pm. The buffet cost $20 per person and half price for children between 5 and 12 years old. Cost at Nataya covered a substantial part of the budget. After lunch, we continued our games such as blowing the ping pong ball, picking the rice, and don’t blow the king away. Between that, Kimrong and I went to the Nataya bridge and took pictures. The final result of the team competitions were finally announced, and the winner was the Green team (My team!). Prizes were then distributed. All in all, I received four prizes—two from Recycling competition, one from team competition, and the other one from lucky dip.

We kicked off at 3:30pm and arrived at the Embassy at 7:30pm, two hours later than what we had planned. It was the first time I could go back home with my own motorbike after getting off the bus instead of calling someone to pick me up. I arrived home at 7:40pm.

This trip is the first trip I have been in 2012. The special thing in this trip was that I was one of the organisers and that I experienced the stress in dealing with the budget and the actual expenditures. It was part of my job and I learned things from it. Although I could not free myself during the trip, I did enjoy much and was excited when I could receive so many good prizes. Also, thanks to B. Phalla who gave me a ticket to Phnom Penh Sport Club. I would have a good time there again with Kimrong.


It is a good start for the year! I will go to other provinces for the remaining 11 months. Hopefully, I will be able to go to Siem Reap, Mondulkiri, or Ratanakiri. Cheers!

More pictures are here: