The uni area of Dumaguete is always covered in banners like these, announcing lectures, congratulating students who have won awards or graduated, welcoming guests etc. Garry had just been made an adjunct professor at Silliman University, so yesterday he gave a professorial lecture, worthy of a banner of his own. It was the most unbelievably formal lecture I’ve ever been to! In addition to the lengthy and profuse introductions, we had to stand for the Philippine National Anthem and then a prayer, and after the lecture we stood again to sing the Silliman song, which was a toe-tapping anthem straight out of the ’50s.
Loyal will we be to Silliman,
Here’s a cheer, boys, three times three:
Silliman our Alma Mater,
Silliman beside the sea…
Hilarious. Garry gave the same lecture in Townsville, and there we just had a free bar and nibbles. Ma’am Emily asked if he would like the JCU hymn to be included in the programme… so we’ve been having a lot of fun trying to imagine how that might go!
Becks is a marine ecology PhD student, living in Queensland (Australia), Dumaguete (Philippines) and London (UK). Marinegirl is her online alter-ego. She dreamt her up as as super-gorgeous superhero saving the underwater world (if you've seen Captain Planet, you get the idea). She is not, and never will be, in the marines.