- The graduation rites of the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman is not an ordinary ceremony. Compared to other universities, more media people flock the university during this season because of many reasons. One, the road towards the main ampitheater are lined by fully-bloomed sunflowers that tower any average East/Southeast-Asian person; the sunflowers in UP only bloom once a year - during graduation season. Two, there are VIPs who may attend the event as speakers, or serve as special graduates (i.e. Ms. Tiffany Uy, the amazing summa cum laude from BS Biology with the highest GWA after World War II.) Three, the presence of surprising events, knowing of course that UP is the land of unpredictability. As for me, I attended the event because it was my own graduation.
They're as big as my face.
Hello Caroline!!
With the oblation.
Moaaaar sunflowers.
With my friend Bianca.
- This year, UP had its first June graduation. The university just finished its first school year with the academic shift (i.e. school started in August instead of June,) and so the graduation moved from the usual April to June. The ceremony was done in the university ampitheater, open air as before. However, it was done in the morning instead of late afternoon due to the possibility of rainfall in the afternoon, as with most days in June are. The sun was bright, competing its yellowness with the equally radiating sunflower petals. The sun grew from warm, to hot, and later, burning.
"Asian Center."
"Serve the public."
With my former ASEAN-India co-delegate, Rachel.
Dean of the Asian Center, and my adviser, Dr. Joefe Santarita
- The opening remarks was done by the current chancellor, Dr. Michael Tan. He welcomed everyone and told us the differences in preparations this year due to the academic calendar shift, and joked about the burning morning heat. (His funny jokes made the heat more tolerable, even for just a second.) Later on Philippine national anthem was sung by none other than Gerphil Flores, second runner up of Asia's Got Talent. This soprano singer's voice was indeed more jaw-dropping when heard live, than in videos or the television. I would have loved to hear her sing more.
Dr. Michal Tan, the current chancellor.
Gerphil Flores and the stupid mic blocking my view.
Quezon Hall in front of the ampitheater.
- Secretary Armin A. Luistro, FSC, from the Department of Education was the guest of honor of the morning. His speech on rootedness, connectedness, and growth was made alive through his anecdotes of being a freshman in UP, and his fond memories of his grandmother. I wasn't able to take a photo of Secretary Armin because my camera was nearly overheating from the sun's heat, and because I, along with my other fellow graduates, were on the verge of melting or being roasted. The deans had to suffer more since they were seated directly facing the sun. I was also too tired to listen the the speeches at some point, because I spent some time wondering if I would be roasted alive, or if I would make it until noon. (I even had to buy cold bottled water just to place it on my face, my neck, my cheeks, since I have an unforgivingly low tolerance for heat.)
- The university graduation held thousands of graduates from the undergraduate to the graduate levels, so much so that only the summa cum laudes and the PhD graduates were the only ones to march, while all the rest were simply presented by the college deans to the chancellor. Despite my camera almost melting, I was able to take photos of Ms. Tiffany Uy, the "summa" among the summa cum laudes.
Ms. Tiffany Uy, the celebrated summa of summas.
- The highlight of the morning, of course, was the shifting of the sablay. The sablay is a sash that serves as a unique academic garb. (For non-Filipino speakers, "sablay" can also be a verb that means to fail in or miss something, so much so that many puns are made about these 2 meanings of "sablay"during the UP graduation season.) Although some schools have also took on the use of the sablay as an academic garb, the UP system is the largest network of schools (i.e. UP has plenty of campuses around the country) that uses the same sablay design. The UP sablay has the school colors (maroon, green, gold/yellow,) and has baybayin (ancient Filipino letters) that spell out "U" and "P." The UP sablay is properly worn on a white, beige, or ecru barong for men, and Filipiniana dresses for women. The sablay is first placed on the right shoulder, and is changed to the left, like how one would change the tassel of a graduation cap.
Shifted my sablay. :D:D:D:D
- After the sablay shifting and the oath-taking, we supposed to sing the university hymn when a group of students came out of nowhere to rally against the implementation K to 12 education system. I was too shocked to take a photograph of it, and needless to say the media people flocked to the rallyists to interview and document them. I was later told that rallying during the graduation is part of the UP university graduation tradition. I didn't know if I should be happy about it, but it was definitely an unusually interesting experience.
- I later had some more photos taken at the UP oblation behind the ampitheater. The oblation is the most iconic statue/symbol of the university. Afterwards, I had lunch with my family before attending my thankfully-indoor college graduation.
With my shifted sablay.
- In UP, there are two graduations held. First, the university graduation is held, which was the one for all graduates where I burned myself crisp. Second, is the college graduations, which are mini-graduation ceremonies held by each college/institution/center of the university; they may or may not be be held on the same day as the university graduation (but definitely not conflicting with the schedule of the university graduation.) All the graduates are able to march in the college graduation, and proper awards and recognition are done to those who need to be awarded or specially recognized. The UP Asian Center, where I'm from, acts as an independent "college" or center, so our college graduation was one of the smallest and coziest among all college graduations. We held the college graduation at the GT Toyota Auditorium, and is part of the Asian Center compound.
With co-graduates Melanie and Kat, and friends Ivy and Wayne.
If selfie sticks don't work....
....do it Gibby's selfie's way. :)) :)) :)) :))
TADA!!!! Perfect shot. :)) :)) :)) :))
Finally got to march.
Sitting like a good little boy.
Dr. Santarita's welcoming remarks.
- Our guest speaker was Dr. Elena Mirano, former dean of the College of Arts and Letters. Her message was to root our future researches in Philippine Studies, as more about the Philippines are to be discovered and unearthed, apart from the current growing significance of the Philippines in the world and the many issues that envelope the country.
Dr. Mirano.
- We got our diplomas and medals after Dr. Mirano's speech; all graduates were given medals, especially since we were only 11 graduates total: 6 from the master's level (2 from the thesis track - me included, and 4 from the non-thesis track,) and 5 from the PhD level (all of them, of course, had dissertations.)
A few proud moments.
Shaking hands with my adviser and the current dean.
I forced my mom to wear the churidar kameez I bought from India for her. Haha.
- After a short intermission, 2 valedictory addresses/responses were to be delivered by the representative from the MA graduates, and the representative from the PhD graduates. I was told the last minute (with less than a week's notice,) that I was given the privilege to deliver the valedictory address for the MA level, together with Dr. Perseville Mendoza for the PhD level; the speeches of all valedictorians should be in line with this year's graduation theme of "rootedness, connectedness, and growth" ("pag-uugat, pag-uugnay, pagyabong.") Never in my life did I think that I'd get to deliver one, and I felt that me graduating was already more than enough. I hid this from my family with a plan of surprising them, so much so that I had to warn the people from the Asian Center not to spill the beans to my family. Thankfully, my family also forgot to get programs from the registration table, so they had no idea until my name was called. They were so surprised that the whole thing did not sink into my parents until we were having dinner after the ceremony 2 hours later.
Pardon this series of photos, as this probably is a once in a lifetime thing.
Watch my speech if you wish:
- We had a special number just before the oath-taking. My friends from the Asian Center who were in the recent Bahasa Malaysia/Indonesia class sang familiar songs translated into Bahasa Malaysia/Indonesia. We called them our very own "One Direction."
Wayn's red microphone suits him.
Of course I enjoyed my friends' performance so much my double chin got excited too.
Oathtaking.
Final march.
One of the rare recent family photos.
Yay.
With my great adviser, Dr. Joefe Santarita.
With my family and my adviser.
- We spent some time with the oblation and the sunflowers before having dinner. The day flew by in an instant, and in that instant my life changed. My four long years in UP Diliman was a bittersweet epic journey, but definitely a journey of opportunities, inquiries, resolutions, and enlightenments. This chapter might have ended, but the epic is far from over. Until the next adventure!!
At the oblation.
Now with my Asian Center medal.
Oh hi Melanie!! You're here too!!
More sunflowers.
Doing crazy things with the sunflowers before they wither
- Not long after the Philippine-food cooking demo class (click here), my food-blogger friend Clarisse (aka "The Tummy Train," click here for her food blog) was invited yet again to another food-and-media event. This time, the Turkish Flour Yeast & Ingredients (TFYI) Promotion Group, in cooperation with the Filipino-Chinese Bakery Association Inc. (FCBAI), organized a one-afternoon Turkish-bread-making course. Since she was allowed to bring a guest, I go to tag along again. I was more ecstatic than the usual, since I'm quite into Turkish culture lately, as I've been watching a prominent Turkish period series called "Muhteşem Yüzyıl" or "Magnificent Century." (This awesome series is about the life and family of Suleyman the Great.)
- Clarisse and I arrived quite early at FCBAI, which is located near the Tayuman LRT Station. Pastry Chef Emin Aydenir had started doing some of the pastries while waiting for the other media people to arrive. Since we were too early, Clarisse and I, together with some others who got there early, had the opportunity of helping the chef with the pastries hands-on. I was never good with anything dough-related, so I only had the simple task of coating the pogacha with sesame seeds. Pogacha (read as "poacha") is a typical Balkan, Hungarian, and Turkish bread that can have various fillings inside like cheese, potatoes, or olives.
Caught Chef Emin preparing bread ahead of time.
Yay!!
Event poster.
- Chef Emin was an amusing chef. We could see that he's used to being with people, as he always allotted time for picture taking, or posed when he knew his photo was being taken. I also go to practice the little Turkish I knew with the chef, as well as with Mr. Turgey Unlu, president of TFYI, and Dr. Hamit Koksel, professor of food engineering from Hacettepe University.
Chef Emin and his antics.
A tray of baklavaaaaaaa. To be eaten later.
Ms. Cathy from FCBAI helping me with the sesame seeds.
Chef Emin will hit me if I don't coat the pogacas with sesame seeds properly.
It was tiring.
But it was definitely fun.
With my "Turkiye" chef (?) hat.
Yay for freebies!!
Coating the paskalya (Easter bread) with egg yolk.
- When the event formally started, FCBAI former president Mr. Henry Ah gave the opening remarks, before giving the floor to Dr. Koksel, who gave us an introduction to Turkish breads and food technology. He told us that wheat has been cultivated in Turkey since around 8000 years ago; ancient Anatolia is probably one of the first (if not the first) to domesticate wheat, and use it to make bread. Today, Turkey is the second biggest exporter of wheat, and that Turkish flour made from that wheat is of the finest quality. Turkish flour is exported to many parts of the world, from Europe to Asia, and can be used perfectly to produce a wide variety of bread (ex naan and chapati) and bread-related products (ex. pizza.)
Mr,. Henry Ah.
Dr. Koksel.
For those interested.
- After Dr. Koksel's short lecture, Chef Emin first taught us how to make gozleme, which is like the Philippines' own empanada. Balls of dough were prepared for us, and all we had to do was flatten them out into thin circles, and combine ingredients such as mashed potatoes, mushroom slices, chopped spinach, shredded cheese, or even Choco Loc (aka Turkish Nutella.) After placing the filling, on one half of the circle, the other empty half was used to cover the other filled half. The crescent-shaped pie should be flat, so the ingredients inside will be cooked evenly when pan-fried.
Assistance from an FCBAI staff.
Assistance from Ms. Cathy.
She's copying my test answers. Haha. Just kidding.
Need to do this to make sure that the dought is flat.
Euphoria.
My first gozleme. It was awesome.
Meanwhule, Chef Emin was twisting dough strips for the ring-shaped simit.
An FCBAI staff pan-fries out gozlemes.
- The other types of bread seemed to take longer to bake, so Chef Emin only demonstrated how to do them, while asking minimal help from volunteers while the bread he prepared when Clarisse and I arrived were being baked. I, on the other hand, spent more time making more gozlemes, and eating them as well (sorry not sorry, they were bursting with flavor.)
- Later on, tray after tray of bread came out of the kitchen with grand aromas. I am a sucker for the scent of freshly-baked bread. While leaving them to cool down, we were asked to watch a short video on baklava-making in Turkey; we could not make them since is was not feasible. Apparently, this celebrated sweet layered pastry from Turkey and Greece is only made by a couple of "baklava masters." The Turkish variant of baklava is a lot syrup-y, with a lot more pistachios, while the Greek variant is drier and nuttier, and less sweet. We all got to try a piece of baklava, and because I said I loved the baklava in Turkish, I got to have an extra piece (the little perks of speaking to the heart than the mind.)
Look at the giant rolling pin on my left hand.
Baklavaaaaa.
Soft and moist paskalya (Easter bread.)
MY FAVORITE.
Hard on the outside, soft on the inside; typical breakfast bread for the Turkish people.
Pogaca with various fillings. I coated them with sesame seeds!!
- The best part of the afternoon was being able to grab as much bread as we wanted to take home. Since there was a lot of bread for everyone, I took one of each kind. In the end, we all got official certificates from the organizers. And more goodie bags. My heart literally jumped when I opened the two big packages after coming home - one was a box of Turkish baklava from one of the best baklava-makers in Turkey (Karaköy Güllüoğlu), and the other box, some fine glassware from Turkey.
Yay!! My certificate of participation. I look like I won Master Chef of something. Haha.
- I enjoyed this event a lot (did I mention it was free) since I got to get my hands "dirty" (other events usually only had us watch the chef cook,) receive awesome freebies from the organizers, learn more about Turkey, practice my Turkish, eat to my heart's content (had to skip dinner since I ate a lot,) and finally, get precious gifts from the organizers. These made the baking course one of the best food-related events I've been to (or have tagged along to, again with thanks to my good friend Clarisse.) Turkey is a magnificent country, and my experiences in this jam-packed afternoon made me want to go to Turkey all the more!!
