Preparations:
Before conducting the interview I made a plan of objectives
as a basis to what I wanted to gain from the interview. I came to the conclusion that I wanted to have a better understanding of
a different culture than my own. I am interested in
knowing about their traditions, customs, food, religious beliefs, and daily
activities. I would like to then compare this information to my own culture. I
also want to know how it feels coming from a different culture to the United
States. I thought about who I wanted to interview. I chose Faisal from Saudi Arabia as
my first interviewee because he is from a culture which I am not very familiar. To set up the interview I sent a brief email
explaining my intentions and asked him what day and times work best. I made sure to accommodate his schedule. We
decided on Friday March 16 at 10:00am in the library. I arrived at the library 30 minutes early to
reserve a study room and print off my list of questions. I used the recording device on my
computer. This was very easy and
convenient to use.
Description:
Overall I
thought the interview went very well. At
first I was a little nervous about doing the interview because I wanted to make
sure I asked the correct questions without being intrusive. Faisal was very easy going and had many
interesting things to say about his country, Saudi Arabia. From my understanding there are some
similarities to the United States but also many differences. For example, The education system seemed to be very
similar to ours. From a young age
children start kindergarten and go until they finish high school. Then they can choose to move on to college. The government is very different,
however. The government is controlled by
a monarchy and ruled by a royal family in which you must be born into. Their government also reflects the values of
their religion. This is very different from the United States which has separated church
from the state.
Country Report:
Transcription
Country Report:
Saudi Arabia is a fairly large
country located in the region known as the Middle East region. To get a visual
idea of its location the boardering countries include Egypt, Jordan, Iraq,
Kuwait, Yemen, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates. It is situated just to the east of Africa,
divided by the Red Sea. The history of
the Saudi Arabian peninsula dates back thousands of years. However, the current government has been
ruled by the Saud family since roughly 1750.
Their government is ruled by a monarchy in which you must be born
into.
Saudi Arabia is known as the
birthplace of Islam. Many of their laws
are based on the laws of Islam. Religion
plays a major role in their everyday lives.
Each day they pray five times a day including before sunrise, at noon,
afternoon, at sunset, and at night. There
are two major holidays celebrated in Islam.
The first is called Eid al-ahad. It comes after Al-hajj, the pilgrimage
to Mecca. Every year, thousands of Muslims make a journey to Mecca as a form of
worship. After returning from this
journey they celebrate by sacrificing a sheep or lamb and distributing the meat
to family, friends, and the poor.
Another holiday they celebrate is Eid al-Fitr, which follows the one
month of fasting called Ramadan. During
this holiday they gather with family and friends.
Transcription
Me: How long have you
been going to St. Cloud State?
F: I went to the
English center here for two semesters and I am a freshman now and this is my
second semester at the university. So this equals three years almost.
Me: ok, cool. What is your major?
F: Finance.
Me: good, that was my brothers major, he graduated from here.
F: What is your
major?
Me: I am majoring in Travel and Tourism with a minor in
human relations and women’s studies.
F: Cool, very nice.
Me: Yea, So where are
you from?
F: Saudi Arabia.
Me: So in the Middle
East?
F: Yes, Middle East.
Me: Ok cool, What do
you think St. Cloud State could do to make your stay better?
F: Well, I told the
previous interviewers that I went to college in Saudi Arabia and everything
there is free. So free education and everything. So I noticed that the parking
lots here you have to pay. Every time you park, even a few minutes, not even a
whole hour. So I suggest that they make permanent permission for parking for a
certain price instead of paying a dollar or so. I thought that would be a great
idea.
Me: Ok cool, I can understand your frustration. I drive, I commute
so I understand.
F: Yea, I come here sometimes just to print. If they gave me
a permit card that would be great for the whole semester so I don’t need to
worry about it. One time I came here
just to print for a few minutes and I got a ticket for ten dollars. It’s not
fair.
Me: yea it’s really not and if you try parking on the street
you will be late for class. When did you start school? You can talk about your elementary
education, high school through college.
F: I went to
kindergarten when I was five and stayed there for one year. Then I went to
preschool then middle school and high school. So it’s pretty much the same. We have three levels in high school, three in
middle school, and six in preschool.
Me: Alright.
F: The high school
was pretty stressful for me because we don’t get to learn English in middle
school we start at high school. It is pretty late for us to learn it. But the education system, they changed
it. So children are learning English
from preschool now. Which is great.
Me: Yea that’s really good!
F: Then I went to
college for one year and then decided to come here.
Me: So is there a
program through your college that allows you to come here? How does that work?
F: If you finish college
in four years they send you out for master’s degree otherwise you fill out an
application to come here right out of high school. You can decide to do a
masters or bachelors.
Me: Oh ok, How would you describe a typical day for a child
in your country? Or a typical day as you were growing up?
F: Ok well, I will describe mine. When I was little I would get up in the
morning, I would go to school, I would finish school at 1:00. I would get back
and we would have lunch as a family, we have to do that. After that I watch TV
for two hours, then do homework with my mom.
After that go out and play soccer with my friends. That’s it. Pretty
normal life.
Me: Yea that sounds
similar. Pretty typical, normal life. What is your family life like?
F: Well I have three
brothers, no sisters. We’re a small family, not the extended family where my
grandparents live with us. No were just a small family.
Me: So just mom, dad, brothers and you.
F: Yea
Me: What do your
brothers do?
F: Well, my oldest
brother works in a laboratory at a hospital, the second one is a pharmacist,
but he is studying here with me. He got his diploma but decided to come here to
get his bachelor degree. And the third one is a networker. And they are all
married.
Me: o wow, smart family.
F: yea
Me: good, do you miss your family?
F: A lot.
Me: yea, how often do you get to go home?
F: Every summer.
Me: oh good!
F: So my country sends us here on a full scholarship, we get
one ticket every year to come back.
Me: oh so the plane ticket is part of your scholarship. That’s
awesome!
Me: How do you greet
people in your culture? Maybe professionally, to your elders, or on a friend to
friend basis?
F: Well, we greet
almost everyone by shaking hands. Either we know them or don’t. So it is
appropriate to shake hands even if we don’t know the person very well. For the
very older men, personally I kiss their hands or head. It is out of respect. For
the close friends or family we hug sometimes. We kiss cheek a lot. That’s basically
it. But we don’t do that with girls, obviously. It is out of our religion.
Unless they are related.
Me: Oh ok, so if they are related to you. So what religious
holidays or events do you celebrate?
F: We have two
celebrations in my religion. It is called Eid al-Fitr, it comes after one month
of fasting. We call that Ramadan. We don’t eat from sunrise to sunset. For a
whole month. After that comes the celebration Eid al-Fitr. Every morning we wake up and there is a
special prayer, then we eat breakfast, then we visit our siblings. On that day,
if I don’t see my uncle for a whole year, I have to see him on that day. So it’s
kind of a gathering. We get together.
Me: Ok, with your family and you celebrate your religion.
F: The other one is
called Eid al-ahad. We do that for the people who just came from Hajj. It is
when we go to Mecca. I don’t know if you have heard of it.
Me: Yea, it’s like the journey to Mecca.
F: Yea, they go Mecca and visit the house of god. When they
come back we kill sheep for them. And distribute the food for the poor people.
Me: And what is your religion?
F: Islam.
Me: What do you do on a daily basis for your religion? Do you
practice daily?
F: We pray five times
a day. We pray once before the sun rise,
one at noon, afternoon, the sunset, and then at night. You don’t have to pray
at the exact time. Like I don’t get up in the early morning before sunset but
it is better to do that. But we have to pray five times a day.
Me: What kind of food
do you like most, which country, and can you explain the similarities and
difference to your own country’s food.
F: I love pastas. I love Italian food and my own country’s
food. So my country’s food is mostly
rice we make a lot of food with rice. We have a popular food called Kabsa. A
lot of American’s love Kabsa. I saw youtubers like it and learn how to make it.
It’s basically rice and chicken, you can do beef too. Then you put tomato salsa
on it. So it’s very popular. You should
try it.
Me: mm sounds really good, you’re making me hungry. Do you
guys eat any couscous?
F: No, that is let me see, that is Tunisian food. I think. I’ve
never tried it have you?
Me: mmhum
F: is it good?
Me: yea I liked it. What are the modes of transportation you
use in your country?
F: We mostly use cars. We use busses when we need to go to
Mecca or long distance. Unfortunately we have one train that goes through the
whole country. And it passes through three cities. So yea mostly cars.
Me: do you drive?
F: in my country the boy gets a car at 18,19,20. They get a
car to drive the family.
Me: so you started driving when you were 18?
F: Yea
Me: cool, what kind of government is in control of your home
country? And how has it been different living in the U.S.?
F: It is totally
different. We have a kingdom. So when
the King dies his brother or son will come after him. In the United States it
is totally different you vote for the president. I really like that because you
get a say who will be the president. I don’t think ours will be like that,
ever.
Me: ok, what kind of sports are in your country?
F: Well we play different sports like basketball, we don’t have
baseball or volleyball, the most popular is the soccer game. I am not a big fan
of sports but yea. We don’t have American football either. Or baseball.
Me: So, mostly basketball and soccer.
F: yea
Me: ok cool. Yea soccer is definitely a bigger sport all
around the world except in the US.
Me: is there anything else you would like to add to our
conversation today?
F: Well part of my
culture that I like in the US and I wish my country had was women get to say a
lot of things, even if they aren’t equal, but I think they are equal. So women
here are allowed to drive, work, travel without a legal guardian. So women in
my country are not allowed to drive. They are allowed to travel but they have a
legal guardian with them or permission from the legal guardian.
Me: so that would be her husband…
F: yea husband or father. Yea I wish it was a little more
open. I would like that to change.
Me: That is how it
kind of used to be for women in the United States. Women didn’t get the right
to vote until the 1920’s and then finally got the right. I don’t think it was
until the 70’s that they started getting equal rights like in the work place.
So there were a lot of protests and women fighting together for the rights. So
maybe someday it could happen.
F: I hope so. I mean it has been a long time. There was a
campaign that women tried to drive in my country. They made some problems when she did that. But
it’s a try. I’m looking forward to seeing more of that.
Me: Great. Is there anything else?
F: no that is it.
Me: Well thank you
for coming and meeting with me. It was nice hearing about a culture that I don’t
know much about.
F: yea ask anything else. Even in class later.
No comments:
Post a Comment