Culture Day-cum-New Year Celebration 2008

Driving along the Russian Federation Boulevard last Saturday, passerby must have noticed that something was slightly out of ordinary at the typically tranquil IFL campus. All around this prestigious institute were lines of people in their best traditional outfits patiently queuing for registration. Blaring moderately loud were mindsoothing traditional Cambodian new year melodies, obviously telling us that some sort of festivity must be going on. For those who were there, the event was actually nothing else but the Culture Day-cum-Khmer New Year Celebration, an annual festivity held to raise awareness within the IFL community about Cambodian culture and heritage, and to mark the arrival of Cambodian new year.

Attending this event were H. E. Pit Chamnan, former Rector of the Royal University and currently Secretary of State of the Ministry of Education; IFL administrative and lecturing staff; and over 1,000 other students. The ceremony started off with an opening address by Dr. Mao Sokan, the Vice Rector of the Royal University, followed by another speech from H. E. Pit Chamnan. Central to the event that morning, however, were not the speeches. Instead they were cultural performances performed by the students and staff of the Institute and a forty-five minute Chapei duel by Cambodia’s Ray Charles Kong Nay and his protege Sin Soy. 

As a graduate and lecturer of IFL who has been away for so long, I can’t describe enough how glad I am to be back in time for the fun. For us people in the IFL community, this is the most exciting event of the year. It is one among the many activities that the IFL management team has come up in recent years to expand our students’ educational experiences beyond the academic sphere.

Since pictures are said to paint a thousand words, why don’t we let them PICTURES describe some of the day’s major highlights?

The most beautiful dance of the day, Robam Phuong Neary was performed by some members of the IFL Dance Club, a club founded by IFL deputy director Suos Man in 2000. I myself was also a member of it during my undergraduate years.

Kong Nay dueling with his protege Sin Soy on this year’s main themes – culture and ethics.

A short standup comedy show by IFL’s one and only Om Soryong and his student Vattey. ប្រសិន​បើ​អ្នក​ទាំងអស់​គ្នា​ឆ្ងល់​ថា​គាត់ហ្នឹង​ជានរណា គាត់ហ្នឹងឯងអធិរាជកំប្លែងស្ងួត​ប្រចាំ IFL។

Just look at the smiles on these faces! They should very well tell you how much they were enjoying themselves.

Following the yummy buffet lunch came the PARTAY time Cambodian styled

In other words, lecturers and students alike needed to hit the dancefloor.

I was very glad to run into some of my students from several years ago, who already graduated yet couldn’t help coming back to this annual fun.​ All that said, they are my pride. I am so proud to learn about what they’ve been doing and achieved in the past years. Keep up the good work, guys!