April 6, 2008 Graduation

My husband and I graduated on April 6, 2008. We didn't know the exact time of the graduation until a few hours before, but it ended up being at 5pm. My husband now has an M.A. in Community Development (his second M.A.), and I have an M.A. in Applied Linguistics.

I had to go out and buy a long-sleeved, white, collard shirt and a pair of closed-toe dress shoes before the graduation. I guess they wanted us to look uniform. I walked to one mall only to find out that it was opening an hour later because of a holiday, then walked to another mall and bought the shoes. Then I walked back to the mall I had gone to in the first place and bought the shirt from a place in that mall where they have discounted clothes cause I'll probably never use it after graduation. The fitting room attendants said, "No fitting of whites," and found the same shirt in blue for me to try on. Then when I got home with my white shirt, I noticed that it had a hole in the seam on the shoulder and one on the back part of the shoulder. I didn't mind because I only bought it to wear under my graduation robe anyway.

The woman I'm with here is a classmate from Korea who got married to a Filipino last year.

We were instructed to wear long-sleeved, white collard shirts and closed-toe black dress shoes for our graduation.

there were 47 graduates this year

Some of the SIL people took some of the Applied Linguistics graduates and anyone else under scholarship from SIL, out for dinner at Chowking, a Filipino/Chinese fast food place. I was feeling hungry because, though there had been some snacks provided after the graduation, they were all gone by the time we got there. Then when we went to Chowking, they served only pork and rice, and I don't eat pork. But eventually someone ordered chicken for me and another person who doesn't eat pork.

graduation dinner

Our Room- A Sonnet

[I admit this is a little silly, but I wrote it after coming back to our room in the province after being away for more than a month. The events in it our true, but don't worry, it's not usually that bad in there.]

A hungry gecko gazed with envy, smug,

At greedy daddy longleg spiders. All

Were sucking tasty big mosquitoes’ blood

In giant webs that graced the corner wall.

A thousand tiny aunts were marching down

To drink my tea and eat my mango; bite

When I am lying down. A sudden sound-

A little mouse was dashing out of sight.

At night, an eerie noise: a crash, a shrill

‘He! He!’ The mouse, perhaps, but strangely loud.

A scuffle, thud, and yes, my husband killed

A rat, not mouse, and wrapped it in a shroud.

Tomorrow let’s go squish the aunts and slug

The mouse. And let the geckos swallow bugs.