Tumbaco Quiz Answers

Thanks to all who played our Tumbaco Quiz! You can all have an internet chócale! You can have one even if you DIDN'T play!! Here are the answers and some explanations:

1. What does "¡Chócale!" mean?
a. chocolate!
b. a million dollars!
c. a new kitty!
->d. high five!
e. SLANDER! err.. libel?
f. pie in the face!

In Spanish, chocar means "to crash." So don't take "chócale" literally... They use the phrase for high fives, fist bumps, and whatever other faddish alternatives to handshaking there might be.

Indonesia Quiz Answers

Hello, friends!

Here is our last quiz answer blog for a while (at least, we anticipate it will be). These are relevant to Indonesia's Quiz. Congrats to Albert and Kimberly for winning!

1. What does "kelapa" mean? (hint - it's Indonesian).
     c. Coconut

Isaac and a coconut in Cambodia.
(C) Isaac and Kirstie Bickford

2. On which island do most Indonesians live? (If you say "the one that has the most people," you fail.)
     Java. According to Wikipedia, Java is the world's most populous island!!

3. Fill in the blank: Papua New Guinea + Papua = _______________
     New Guinea. The island of New Guinea consists of two halves: Papua New Guinea and Papua. We're not quite sure how that adds up...

Sorry for this not-very-exciting post. We've been away from the internet machine for a while because WE'RE IN ECUADOR! We'll have some more news on that front very soon!

Chao!
..Kirstie and Isaac..

Nepal Quiz Time Answers

Sorry for the wait! We've been enjoying our holiday season with family, and we've also been enjoying not working. But it's the new year and we're back on track to finish out our LEAD duties!

Here are the answer's to Nepal's Quiz Time:

1. What exactly is an ox? (Yes, this is totally relevant to Nepal's Spotlight.)

An ox is a bovine (cattle, buffalo, yaks, and things like that) that is bred and trained to work. They're usually male, castrated, and specific breeds (just like we use Holstein specifically for milk production). In Nepal, we saw oxen used for plowing fields, pulling carts, and even riding with a saddle!

A cow at a temple. We assume that means it's holy or someone would be using it for work - different cattle are valuable for different reasons in Nepal. (C) Isaac and Kirstie Bickford

Philippines Quiz Answers

Congratulations to our good friend TJ for winning the Philippine Quiz! Runner up was Naomi! Thanks for playing!

Here are the answers with explanations (and pictures!)

1.  What is the official language of the Philippines?

There are actually two: Filipino and English. Most people say it's Tagalog, and that's kinda right. Tagalog is a language spoken by many people in the Philippines. When the government was trying to unify the Philippines, they selected Tagalog to be the national language. But people who didn't speak Tagalog as their mother tongue didn't like that. So the government "invented" a new language that was supposed to combine elements from all the languages spoken in the Philippines. It was called Pilipino for a while, but this still didn't get wide support from the variety of ethnic groups in the Philippines, so they changed the name to Filipino. 

The varied landscape of the Philippine islands holds varied languages and peoples. (C) Isaac and Kirstie Bickford

As far as we can tell, Filipino is Tagalog with an assortment of loan words from various languages, especially English, Spanish, and regional languages of the Philippines. It was strange going to the Philippines, not knowing a word of Filipino, and being able to understand every eighth word (Isaac knows Spanish and Kirstie knows... when she hears a Spanish word).

And speaking of Spanish, we thought that a lot more people would speak Spanish in the Philippines. There was a lot of linguistic influence from Spanish, but most people don't speak it. In the Philippines, Spanish, along with Arabic, must be supported on an "optional" basis (yeah, we don't get it either).

To the Philippines! (Plus Thailand Quiz Answers)

Here are the answers to Thailand's quiz!

1. What in the world is a tuktuk?
      b. A form of cheap transportation

A tuktuk in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
(C) Isaac and Kirstie Bickford

The tuktuk in the photo is actually from Cambodia, not Thailand, but it's kind of the same idea. The difference is that, in Cambodia, you ride in a trailer pulled by a motorbike, and in Thailand tuktuks are kind of their own vehicle and have 1 seat instead of two. In both places, they're cheaper than taxis. Tuktuks aren't as regulated as taxis, so you want to make sure your driver knows exactly where to go, and agree on a price beforehand.