Thursday, July 19: I came in early just to print the final version of my thesis. Had some help from Rudy-kun and Tine-san, both students from Indonesia, in binding four copies of my thesis. They even took pictures of us holding our copies. Then, off to the admin office to deliver the bound copies and accomplish some forms. After accomplishing everything, I went to the computer room and helped people with the margins, pagination and editing of their paper. They still have a day to accomplish everything. Went home with Melissa at 8:30 p.m.
Friday, July 20: Planned to wash clothes, clean the dorm and cook some meals but I got a wake up call from Melissa reading aloud the portion of her acknowledgment where she specifically mentioned my name. My guilty conscience went on overdrive - hurriedly took a shower and then proceeded to the university with Manny, another Pinoy scholar from a different program. We requested him to allow us to print Melissa thesis using the printer from the YLP room. He even helped out in the editing. Kai-san from Laos, helped in the binding. After making sure that Melissa is downstairs submitting her bound thesis, I found myself re-checking Kora-san's thesis with the rest of the students from Laos.
Then, I realized that everybody really was helping out each other. We all want to make sure that everybody in our batch submits on time. Come to think of it, looking after your "kababayan" (countryman) is strong for us Asians. All the Vietnamese, Indonesians, Laotians and us, Pinoys were there making sure that nobody misses the deadline.
