Nation-wide Universtiy Entrance Exams

This weekend, on both Saturday and Sunday, high school students all across Japan took the "Center Test" that is administered by the National Center for University Entrance Examinations.

The Center Test is essentially the equivalent of the SAT (or ACT) in America, although there are big differences between the two tests. The two biggest differences are probably that the former is only administered once a year and that Japanese students take tests in many subjects.

Another difference is that the students who take the Japanese standardized test are allowed to keep their test booklets. Also, the tests and answers are published online almost immediately after the tests are finished, and, as far as I know, the answers are also published in newspapers the following day. Japanese students can therefore figure out their unofficial test scores almost immediately after the leave the test center. Amazing, huh?

Here is a look at the first four questions from the 2010 English grammar/reading test. The trick is to pick out the one word in the group that is pronounced differently than the others, based on the underlined part. For some reason, this skill is considered extremely important in Japan. I've studied about 7 foreign languages and have never seen so much stress placed on pronunciation.

Now here's a look at the next three questions. This time you have to determine which of the given word's syllables is stressed and match that with one word in the group. This is another requirement that I have never seen on a test in any of the foreign languages that I have studied.

Another favorite of Japanese test-designers is to make students unscramble a bunch of words in order to formulate a sentence (or part of one). I have seen this type of question on tests for other foreign languages and have even taught German lessons that involved this sort of activity, but I have never seen the activity used to the degree that it is used in Japan.

I think if you are trying to teach students who are studying German that the verb goes in the second (or last) position, or students who are studying English what a prepositional phrase is, for example, then yeah, by all means use such an activity. But why use it just for the sake of unscrambling words? I've even seen 15 word-sentences all scrambled up with plenty of short words like "to" and "do" repeated about three times each, leaving me scratching my head trying to figure out the correct order. Worse yet, the words are usually spaced so closely together (e.g., to / do / she / has / what/ to / that / is / it / finish = That is what she has to do to finish it.) that that in itself is confusing. (That's not the case on the Center Test, however.)

Also, you many have noticed how confusing taking a test in Japan can be. Notice, for instance, that each section of the test begins with Question 1, although the actual question number is placed inside a rectangle (or otherwise indicated). Also, notice on the unscrambling sentences activity that you are only required to indicate the placement of two words, not every word. If you're not especially careful, you can easily screw up your answer sheet.

Cycling Trip to Taiwan: Day Three (Part II)

As we continued south, we came across more and more statues such as this one at the entrance to the village of Nanao, along with various murals and other monuments, erected in honor of the aboriginal Taiwanese.









The aboriginal village of Nanao, Ilan County, Taiwan, one of many little towns we rode through.











Late lunch, which was like the food you get at a Chinese buffet at a mall in the States (but perhaps not as good!). I had my choice of three sides (served with rice, of course), plus some sort of mystery meat, which was supposedly pork. Yes, it tasted as bad as it looks. No, I didn't get sick.












We rode south down Highway 9, which went right along the coast at times and thus offered us some spectacular views (which would have been even better had the sun been shining), ...











but we had to compete for space along the roads with some buses, plenty of cars, lots and lots of huge, nasty trucks(!), ...











and a bunch of long, dark, dusty(!) tunnels.











After 100 kilometers of riding, Day 3 ended at about 5:15 up on our arrival at the Farmtastic Youth Hostel just north of Hualien.

Cycling Trip to Taiwan: Day Three

Day Three started off with breakfast, which luckily was a far cry from what is typically served in Japan. We weren't served much, but the soup tasted good and the "one-sided" toast with the piece of hard-boiled egg on the side was a nice change from rice. (The following morning, at the next place we stayed at, we were also served the same kind of toast with a topping, and I saw the same thing at a buffet-style restaurant later during our trip, in Kaohsiung, so I figure that this kind of toast must be fairly popular in Taiwan.)

We originally expected the ride to (just north of) Hualien to be mostly flat, since we were going to be riding along the coast. At the party the night before, however, we were warned (correctly, I might add!) that the road was actually rather hilly, and that there were going to be about five up-and-downs along the way. Since we had just finished a fairly difficult 150 kms, we were kind of disappointed upon hearing that news. The next morning, however, with fresh bodies and plenty of fuel in the tank, we were looking forward to the day's challenge ... sort of.

We headed out fairly late (after 10 a.m.!), quickly found our road, and made good progress toward our goal. From what I remember, Joe and I both ate a bunch of snacks around lunchtime, rather than stopping for a meal, and we were simply pedaling along, taking in the sights, with Joe slightly ahead of me.

At around 12:15 p.m., after (what I believe was) the second of five climbs of the day, we rolled into one of the countless rundown towns that we rode past during the week. At one point, we heard music coming from down a side street to our right, so we decided to go check it out. It turns out there was a huge wedding party going on, and, just by staring long enough at the crowd (and being a couple of foreigners wearing weird clothing), we got ourselves invited in! That all started when this little kid came up to us and busted out this pose for my camera.

We certainly felt a bit awkward, not to mention under-dressed(!), but during our stays in Japan, we've both had plenty of these wow-look-at-the-foreigners-they're-like-celebrities-how-cool moments that we simply smiled at each other, shrugged, and walked right in.

Amazingly, we were led to a table at the very front of the place, right next to the stage, as if we had been invited and were part of the VIP crowd. The people at "our" table quickly made some room for us, plopped us down in chairs, and offered us food and drinks.

Even though I wasn't hungry, I was really looking forward to hanging out for a while, especially since I'd never been to a wedding, or a wedding party, in Japan. Furthermore, it's the rare times that you stumble upon these random events that makes traveling all the more fun and unusual. Joe, however, ever the wise one, advised that we get going after only a brief stay, since we had many kilometers ahead of us yet, including plenty of the "up" variety.

Therefore, after chatting with our tablemates, having a drink, nibbling on some sweets, and even posing for some pictures, (including one with this supposedly famous politician!), we hit the road again.

But first, a few notes: When the politician handed his business card to Joe, Joe summarily dropped it on the floor! Oops! As for me, well, after he handed his card to me, I have no clue where it went! I thought I eventually put it in one of my pockets, but for all I know, I left it on the table or also dropped it. That's why the politician we met will forever be referred to as "the politician."

Also, even though as we rode into town we noticed the road heading out of town was uphill, before we left we tried to confirm with some of the other guests that we indeed had quite a bit of climbing to go, since, if we didn't, we wouldn't need as much time to ride and could thus stay at the party longer. Well, the same guy who told us "the politician" was "famous" also told us that the rest of the road was actually "flat all the way."

That guy must have been a politician himself, since he told us what we wanted to hear. Just like the other politicians we met at the top (not!) of our climb the day before.

Using our better judgment, we decided we better believe the people we met at the Christmas party and boogie on outta there.

Cycling Trip to Taiwan: Day Two

Sony rode for about 50 km with us, up to somewhere near Sanxia, a little town southwest of Taipei, before she headed back home. Joe and I continued on our own. We had a good 100 km ahead of us, since the plan was to ride across the mountains to the east coast town of Wujie. The weather conditions weren't great: it was slightly chilly as well as a bit rainy. Nevertheless, the booties that Joe brought along helped to keep our feet warm and dry and we were a lot warmer than we would have been had we still been in Japan, so neither of us was complaining.

Take a look at Joe's bike and you'll see that we really traveled lightly. Each of us had a small bag attached to our handlebars, plus a small bag in back for our gear, which included, at least in my case, not much more than spare inner tubes, rags, and a few tools; my wallet; some maps; a pair of walking shoes; and minimal extra clothing. We each took along so little stuff that when I was wearing my tights, long-sleeve shirt, and windbreaker (along with my riding outfit, of course), for example, about all that was left in my bags was a pair of sweat pants, an extra top and bottom to ride in, and an extra pair of socks, underpants, and gloves. (I ended up wearing my extra riding top not for riding but rather at nighttime when we went out for dinner or whatever, since that was the only shirt I had that wasn't stinky. My extra riding shorts were actually a bathing suit, and that and the extra gloves are the only articles of clothing that I brought but didn't wear. Had Joe had a bathing suit, however, I would have worn mine the one time we went to an onsen [but didn't go in!], since, unlike in Japan, you need a bathing suit at many onsens in Taiwan.)

We stopped for lunch a little before 1 p.m. This was our second time in a restaurant in Taiwan, but the first time we had to order for ourselves. (Usually when we stopped for lunch, there weren't too many places to choose from, and they were all kind of run-down looking, so we kind of scoped them out and eventually both agreed where we'd eat. Luckily, we made some pretty good choices!) Out in the boonies as we were, it came as no surprise that the staff could barely (if that!) speak English and the menu was only in Chinese, but Joe and I used a mix of Japanese, English, and sign language to get across that he wanted noodle soup and I wanted fried rice.

If you've read some of my other travel stories, you know that I pick up on a lot of little things when I'm in foreign countries and this trip was no different. One of the things I noticed in restaurants was that the chopsticks were not only disposable, but also wrapped in plastic. Furthermore, the Taiwanese usually eat with both chopsticks and a spoon, and the spoon is often of the throwaway variety. (I planned to bring along a set of re-usable chopsticks on the trip, but, regrettably, decided against that at the last minute.)

Joe and I each had two drinks and the total bill came to the ridiculously low amount of about 140 Taiwanese dollars, with TWD 100 being equal to about JPY 300, USD 3, and EUR 2.20. (I figure each meal was about 40 dollars and each drink about 15.) In other words, our lunch came to all of about $4.25. Talk about cheap! Prices for the most part stayed that low throughout the trip, whenever we ate at one of these mom-and-pop-style restaurants. (Naturally, in the bigger town of Kenting and, of course, in Taiwan's second-biggest city, Kaohsiung, the prices were more in line with the prices in Japan.)

Another food item(that we had later on the trip) that I remember the price for is what the Japanese call "gyouza," or what the Americans call "pot sticker." The standard price for those was $4 each. What you're looking at in the picture is a fantastic side dish for a pittance: $1.00.

Anyway, after lunch we started on the biggest ascent of the day (and of the whole trip, for that matter), the climb from about 600 meters (that's the Big Baling Bridge in the picture) to a little over 1200 meters. Unlike in Japan, there were kilometer markers along most roads, including the one we were now on, the "7," also known as the Northern Cross (Island Highway). Unfortunately for us, however, we weren't quite sure which kilometer marked the high point of the road. We thought it was Kilometer 66, but we had trouble believing that (or rather, didn't want to believe that), since the "real" climb started at around Kilometer 46 and would have thus meant roughly 20 grueling kilometers to go.

As we slowly grinded our way up and through the mountains, we counted down the kilometers as we passed each marker. I remember finally reaching Kilometer 56 and thinking, "Oh my God, only half way." And I remember reaching Kilometer 58 (or so) after approximately 1 1/2 hours of riding and sarcastically saying to Joe something like, "Only 8 kilometers to go." We were both pretty exhausted by that point, though I honestly must say a lot of the exhaustion, at least in my case, was more mental than physical.

But just then a funny thing happened: We turned a corner, saw a group of riders, and decided to pull over and chat with them. Of course, one of our first questions was how much farther we had to go until we made it to the top. Imagine our surprise as they told us we were there!

Flashback: Remember when I said we didn't always get the best information from people we talked to? Well, this was one of those cases! Joe and I were really happy to have made it to the top of the hill, but we were still fairly skeptical. The group of riders insisted, however, that we were at the top, and the road ahead certainly went downhill, so we figured they must have known what they were talking about.

After a short rest, we started our long descent. Or so we thought.

It turns out that the road ahead went up and down, up and down, up and down ...

for the next 8 kilometers or so ...

all the way to ...

Kilometer 66.

So for all of you out there who are thinking about riding this route, believe me, you haven't reached the top until you see the sign for the Mingchih Forest Recreation Area.

As you can imagine, the rest of the ride was mostly downhill and flat, all the way to our destination, the Ilancat B 'n B in Wujie. We had to ride in the dark for about the last hour and a half of the 150 km ride (since we simply couldn't out-pedal the setting sun that goes down at around 5:30 p.m. in these parts), found our goal easily (thanks, again, to the kilometer markers in Taiwan!), and were immediately blessed with more good luck: A Christmas party!

We had some great food at the party and got to meet some lovely people. What I liked most about the party was that it was so relaxing, as opposed to the parties that I've been to in Japan, which are usually characterized by a stiff atmosphere. What's more, there were no official start and end times for the party, as there would have been if it had been a Japanese party. After having spent so much time in Japan, where the people are überpolite and afraid to express their true feelings, the party in Taiwan gave me that taste of normalcy that I had so sorely missed.

Cycling Trip to Taiwan: Day One

Here's a little secret: If you want to be fed earlier than the great majority of the passengers on a flight, order a "special" meal, such as the Asian vegetarian one I ordered when I reserved my China Airlines flight from Fukuoka to Taiwan.

And if you're lucky, something unusual and incredibly fitting will come with your meal, as it did with mine. There I was, on December 24, about to start a cycling adventure around Taiwan with my buddy Joe, and the naan (bread) that was the centerpiece of my meal was shaped exactly like a bicycle seat! Go figure!

Once we landed and finally got our bikes put back together again, our next order of business was to make our way to our first pit stop, Jingmei, in the southern part of Taipei. Naturally, we had to compete with cars and scooters for space and we also had to battle the pollution, so the riding wasn't much fun. Luckily, however, many of the roads we rode on (all over the country, as it turned out) had dedicated scooter/bicycle lanes that kept us feeling fairly safe. This particular stretch of road had no such lane, but most cars nevertheless kept to the left. That's Joe in red. (By the way, we started our ride directly at the airport, just after we took a shuttle bus from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2, which we probably could have skipped. We were then supposed to take another shuttle from T2 to the Cargo Terminal, but we decided to start riding from that point, despite the police officer's warning about doing just that that we were given while we were unpacking our bikes.)

One of the funniest places we saw along the road was this little shack with a (ahem) big "D Cup" sign above it and a scantily-clad woman inside. Naturally, (boys will be boys) we first thought it was a hooker advertising her wares. It turns out we were half-right. The woman wasn't a hooker, but she was advertising her wares, the most prominent of which was that thing on the far left of the sign on the left (and on the far right on the sign on the right), namely: betel nut. After we rode on and saw more and more of these shacks, I remembered having read about them before the trip. Nevertheless, this one had me fooled. Later on our trip, we saw millions of betel-nut stands, most of which were rather tame compared to this one.

Joe and I had a rough idea of how to get to Jingmei, but every once in a while we'd stop to ask for directions, just in case we were going the wrong way. (Considering we didn't have much of a clue where we were, besides what we could tell by our map and the road signs, we really did a great job of navigation.) One person we came across was this fellow, Chih-Li. His English was fantastic, since he was home on vacation from the States, where he studies at Texas A&M. He was sitting outside a 7-11 (or some other convenience store), so we joined him for some snacks and he assured us we were going in the right direction. So many Taiwanese people we met later gave us terrible information, but not Chih-Li (pronounced like the hot pepper)! Thanks, man!

The reason we were heading to Jingmei was to meet Sony (pronounced "Sunny"), a biking-crazy girl I met through couchsurfing, whose grandmother was happy to host Joe and me. What a great deal that turned out to be! Sony's grandma not only put us up for the night, but also took all of us (Joe, me, Sony, and two of Sony's aunts) out to dinner to a local restaurant! Talk about starting off a trip on the right note! That's Sony (not Malcolm) in the middle.

If you look closely at the picture (or click on it for a better look), you'll see a staple of Korean food smack dab in the middle of the table: kimchi. The kimchi was already on the table when we sat down, so I thought that it was left over from the previous customers. Nope. Apparently, the pickled dish is rather popular in Taiwan as well. Personally, I stay as far away from the stuff as I can!

Anyway, after dinner, our lovely hosts took us for a walk to some of the nearby "night markets," since they were eager to get us to try some more typical Taiwanese tidbits. One of those that I tasted was "stinky tofu." I guess it's the Taiwanese version of Japan's very own natto: It doesn't taste all that bad, but it smells so horrible that eating it is a truly unpleasant experience. Consider stinky tofu "one and done" for me.

We were also treated to a weird-looking dessert that I have to admit tasted rather good. Joe was brave enough to order first, and I simply grabbed a spoon and helped myself to some of what he was having. It was basically shaved ice covered with taro-root balls (the dark ones), some other white and pink ball-shaped somethings, and some kind of fruit (perhaps).

Sony ordered a different kind of dessert that consisted of boiled peanuts and tofu, I believe. I also tried that and, though it wasn't anything special, it really wasn't bad. Still, when it comes down to it, I prefer much sweeter desserts, such as cake and ice cream.

Yet another product our hosts were kind enough to buy for us was something that the Taiwanese call "bell fruit." This apple-like fruit (which apparently also has many other names, including "wax apple," "love apple," and "water apple," depending on the country) is really lightweight, rather watery, and, as you might guess, not very sweet. Luckily, despite the added weight it meant I had to carry, I decided to take the bag of 10 or so of them along when we headed out on our bike ride the next morning.