Fun Fact About Me
When I was a little girl, growing up in a small village, I had a tiny dream. I always wanted to be an Apsara dancer. The Apsara dance is a traditional dance of the Kingdom of Cambodia. According to the Hindu mythology, Apsaras were beautiful female creatures that descended from heaven to entertain Gods and Kings with their dance. I wanted to be an Apsara dancer because I wanted to be a beautiful lady. So, I trained myself very hard. I stretch my hand and body so that I could become the best dancer now, I have reached my dream. I dance my fingers with my laptop every day. I am a software engineer. Goals reached!
In 2012, I got my master's degree in Computer Science from Waseda University in Japan under a Japanese government scholarship. Japan is the place where I met my partner so not only did Japan give me my degree, but it also my husband. During my time at university, there were not many women in technology. I was the only female student in my batch. This was my advantage. I became the most beautiful student and my husband fell in love with me. On our first date, I asked my husband. Why do you like me? And he replied: do I have a choice? Life is good without competitors.
After I obtained my master's degree, I went back to Cambodia to work as a coding teacher and software engineer at the same time. I also started my toastmaster's journey there. I still remember the first day that I attended the meeting. I was shaking while I was called for a table topic session. I remember they asked me a very weird question: How does technology look like in the next 50 years? I struggled to come up with the answers but I could manage to talk for 1 minute. At the end of the meeting, some of the members came to talk to me and said they liked my answer very much. I was very proud of myself that day. I came again at the next meeting and they flattered me again. Finally, I decided to join that club. Later on, I realised that Toastmasters are very supportive. They will try to laugh with you and pay attention to you even though they don’t really understand your speech. They will clap their hands when you finish your speech. That’s why I am still a Toastmasters member.
Fast forward to 2016. This is an exciting year because I got married. After getting married, I moved to Singapore to join a startup called Saturday kids where we teach kids coding from 5 to 16 years old. Being a teacher is not an easy job. On average, teachers are working 10 hours a day. But I had many good times with my students.
I remember when I was teaching kids to code. I help students register for an online program. I asked them what are your email addresses? One student replied: I don’t have an email address teacher. I have only gmail address. Ok give me your gmail address. Then, I helped them to create username & password of the website so that they can learn coding. The next day, another students came to me and asked: teachers! What is my password?
After staying in Singapore for several years, I felt so comfortable and I knew that I needed to find some challenges for myself. I told my husband: let’s move to the USA. He said YES and he kept applying for a job. The day he got the job offer was the day I was 5 months pregnant. It was very challenging to move to a new country during pregnancy. I moved to the States in Dec last year when I was 7 months pregnant. My friends told me that I needed a car seat here so I could bring back my baby from the hospital. Thus, I bought one for my daughter. During the first visit with the obstetrician, she asked me: did you already buy a car seat? and I said YES. But she didn't know that I didn't even have a car.
Despite all the challenges, I found the US to be my new home. I transit from working 8h a day, 5 days a week to working 24h a day and 7 days a week as a mother. This is my life story. This is my journey.
In 2012, I got my master's degree in Computer Science from Waseda University in Japan under a Japanese government scholarship. Japan is the place where I met my partner so not only did Japan give me my degree, but it also my husband. During my time at university, there were not many women in technology. I was the only female student in my batch. This was my advantage. I became the most beautiful student and my husband fell in love with me. On our first date, I asked my husband. Why do you like me? And he replied: do I have a choice? Life is good without competitors.
After I obtained my master's degree, I went back to Cambodia to work as a coding teacher and software engineer at the same time. I also started my toastmaster's journey there. I still remember the first day that I attended the meeting. I was shaking while I was called for a table topic session. I remember they asked me a very weird question: How does technology look like in the next 50 years? I struggled to come up with the answers but I could manage to talk for 1 minute. At the end of the meeting, some of the members came to talk to me and said they liked my answer very much. I was very proud of myself that day. I came again at the next meeting and they flattered me again. Finally, I decided to join that club. Later on, I realised that Toastmasters are very supportive. They will try to laugh with you and pay attention to you even though they don’t really understand your speech. They will clap their hands when you finish your speech. That’s why I am still a Toastmasters member.
Fast forward to 2016. This is an exciting year because I got married. After getting married, I moved to Singapore to join a startup called Saturday kids where we teach kids coding from 5 to 16 years old. Being a teacher is not an easy job. On average, teachers are working 10 hours a day. But I had many good times with my students.
I remember when I was teaching kids to code. I help students register for an online program. I asked them what are your email addresses? One student replied: I don’t have an email address teacher. I have only gmail address. Ok give me your gmail address. Then, I helped them to create username & password of the website so that they can learn coding. The next day, another students came to me and asked: teachers! What is my password?
After staying in Singapore for several years, I felt so comfortable and I knew that I needed to find some challenges for myself. I told my husband: let’s move to the USA. He said YES and he kept applying for a job. The day he got the job offer was the day I was 5 months pregnant. It was very challenging to move to a new country during pregnancy. I moved to the States in Dec last year when I was 7 months pregnant. My friends told me that I needed a car seat here so I could bring back my baby from the hospital. Thus, I bought one for my daughter. During the first visit with the obstetrician, she asked me: did you already buy a car seat? and I said YES. But she didn't know that I didn't even have a car.
Despite all the challenges, I found the US to be my new home. I transit from working 8h a day, 5 days a week to working 24h a day and 7 days a week as a mother. This is my life story. This is my journey.
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