Friday Afternoon at the Grad School Fair

Today, I attended what I suppose is a pre-February Fair of Masters and PhD students at my undergrad university. Feb Fair is the most anticipated time of the schoolyear, next to graduation. Various student organizations (academic, religious, sorority/fraternity, athletic, music, etc) set up their own booths on the campus grounds and take shelter there from afternoon 'til night while listening to a series of performances from amateur rock bands and hip-hop dancers, to surpirse appearances of alumni-turned-celebrities, to a very much-raved-about university-wide beauty pageant. There are other exciting events such as paintballing, rock climbing, a motor show, zip lining, a sort of timed tight-rope walking over a twenty-five meter swimming pool, second hand books on sale, uncountable food stalls.....but I'll set aside the details (and photos) for a future blog entry.

Fig 1. Ultra spicy pad-thai.

Going back to the topic at hand, I had seen a Facebook announcement about the 'fair' with the subheading 'Thai Food' neath it. I didn't have to think twice. I decided to open my teaching schedule earlier in the day, drop by my boss' office at university, hang out with my friends at the food fest and probably watch the play that the orchestra I used to belong at university, would be playing at. Unfortunately that last part didn't happen.

Fig 2. Rice cakes filled with coconut-paste.

Fig 3. An Indonesian bean dish.

Fig 4. A very animated demonstration of papaya-salad.

I made it to the campus grounds by five and before I knew it, I was already buying my first half-a-dollar item. It wasn't Thai, but it would do. I was really hungry after Skyping for 3.5 hours straight. I certainly wasn't expecting other Southeast Asian food to be served, but sadly that's what I spent most of my cash on. I only had a few spoons of a very spicy Pad Thai, an even spicier salad which left me terribly parched at the end. The drinks weren't even cold. There was some ''unrefreshing' juice sold for 5 pesos (~12 cents). I was unsatisfied and even thought about advising them to label it TEA. I guess, one area they obviously failed to consider was how to keep the guests properly hydrated. I regretfully had to buy a bottle of coke, to quench my thirst. (and I have that to thank for, in keeping awake to write this blog). The only thing I enjoyed for sure was the coconut-stuffed rice cakes, which wasn't really unique to my taste buds. At every stall, there was at least one dish made of rice. I even encountered grilled rice cakes, which I didn't quite like the sound of. 

Fig 5. Vietnamese stuff.

In addition to food, there was karaoke (which I couldn't get hold of, even if I wanted to), a costume booth, and other native goods that I just wasn't that interested in. But to balance how I felt about the event, a gay Laotian enthusiastically demonstrated how to make a Papaya salad, while struggling to speak in Taglish (combined Tagalog and English). I wasn't too sure his hands were clean when he hand-picked the grated papaya which was the base of the salad. I was impressed however, that he could shake his hips like a belly dancer while slicing tomatoes in the palm of his left hand.

After chatting and taking photos with some international students, my friends and I bid goodbye and decided to drive out of campus to have a decent dinner. We ended up at some slightly cozy, red-walled, Mexican-ish restaurant. We ordered appetizers and iced tea instead of more grains, because we realized that we wouldn't be able to sleep with full stomachs later. 

Fig 6. An unclear shot of us and the graduate school president.