My Second Interview

1.Interview preparations. 

 Description of preparations:

At first we wrote the objective in the class, and the objective answers the questions of “why”, with “whom”, and “how”. After I added five of my own questions to the ten core questions. And I write down my questions on my laptop and print it. And I will find 3 people help me finish three interview.

How did I approach people? When, where, and how did you conduct and record the interview? Whom did you interview?

This is my second interview, so I think this interview can better than first. I had more experience about interview. We have to do three interviews, three interview need to interview people who comes from Saudi Arabia. My second interview I invited my friends Mohammed. He is a 21-year-old male is an international student who lives in Saudi Arabia. He came to the United State 2 years. He major is international business. We take ESL class in last semester, we know each other before and we are good friends, so that was kind of easy for me to prepare our interview. He very pleasure to attended interview. We decided to meet at Friday, and we meet at Caribou coffee. I used my phone to record the whole interview and my interviewee felt comfortable about it. and my interviewee does not mind I record the interview time.

2. Interview report

Describe the interview?

The interview lasted about 30 minutes. We have very good interview started, Mohammed he is my good friend and old classmate, we’ve kept in touch one year. we greetings and talked how things stand of each other, we both were ordered the coffee and all of us were enjoyed the wonderful time. we have very comfortable environment of this interview meet. Mohammed he is very funny guy, he told me how funny about these experience.

What surprised me?

As we know ,there are so many differences between culture of the East and West that I can not list all of their different aspects. I will focus on the differences of diet custom and teaching system. For your better understanding. So, even though we are friends, sometime I cannot understand his thought and character.

3. Country Report

1 General situation

"Saudi Arabia" in Arabic means "happiness of the desert."It is one of Arabic countries . It is bordered by Jordan, and Iraq on the north and northeast, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates on the east, Oman on the southeast, and Yemen on the south. It is also connected to Bahrain by the King Fahd Causeway. The Red Sea lies to its west, and the Arab Gulf lies to the northeast. Saudi Arabia has an area of approximately 2,149,690 km2,(2million one hundred and forty thousand and six hundred and ninety km) and it has an estimated population of 27 million, of which 8.8 million are registered foreign expatriates and an estimated 1.5 million are illegal immigrants. Saudi nationals comprise an estimated 16 million people. The flag of Saudi Arabia is the flag used by the government of Saudi Arabia since March 15, 1973. It is a green flag featuring in white an Arabic inscription and a sword. The script on the flag is written in the Thuluth script. It is the shahada or Islamic declaration of faith:"There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah"  The flag is manufactured with identical obverse and reverse sides, to ensure the shahada reads correctly, from right to left, from either side. The sword points to the left on both sides, in the direction of the script. The flag is sinister hoisted, meaning that it is hoisted to the left of the flagpole, as viewed from the obverse (front) side. 

2 Economy

Saudi Arabia's command economy is petroleum-based; roughly 75% of budget revenues and 90% of export earnings come from the oil industry. The oil industry comprises about 45% of Saudi Arabia's gross domestic product, compared with 40% from the private sector. Saudi Arabia officially has about 260 billion barrels of oil reserves, comprising about one-fifth of the world's proven total petroleum reserves.

Saudi Arabia is one of only a few fast-growing countries in the world with a relatively high per capita income of $24,200 (2010). Saudi Arabia will be launching six "economic cities" which are planned to be completed by 2020. These six new industrialized cities are intended to diversify the economy of Saudi Arabia, and are expected to increase the per capita income. The cities will be spread around Saudi Arabia to promote diversification for each region and their economy, and the cities are projected to contribute $150 billion to the GDP.

However the urban areas of Riyadh and Jeddah are expected to contribute $287 billion dollars by the year 2020.

3 Religion

There are about 25 million people who are Muslim, or 97% of the total population. Data for Saudi Arabia comes primarily from general population surveys, which are less reliable than censuses or large-scale demographic and health surveys for estimating minority-majority ratios. The vast majority of the people of Saudi Arabia are Sunni Muslims. Islam is the established religion, and as such its institutions receive government support.  Mecca [ˈmækːɐ]) is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located 73 km inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of 277 m above sea level. Its resident population in 2008 was 1.7 million, although visitors more than double this number every year during Ramadan.

4. Interview transcription 

M:Mohammed

S: Mengzhen ( me )

S: Hi, Mohammed. How are you?

M: Good. How are about you?

S: I’m good. Are you ready for the interview?

M: of course, how long we can finish?

S: I think about 30-40 minutes. I need to record our interview, is it ok for you when we do the interview?

M: It is ok. No problem. I don’t mind.

S: OK! Let’s we start the interview.

S: Do you like the weather in St.Cloud? Please explain

M:   This weather will be OK . Yeah, it's so cold! It was hard for me to adapt because as you know I came from Saudi Arabia and the weather is too hot there. When I first came to St. Cloud, I was surprised! So much snow! It has beautiful fall and summer season.

S: Are you live in St. Cloud? Where are you born?

M:Yes, I live in St. Cloud. I am original from Saudi Arabia. I leave out campus new. You can visit my apartment what time you want .

S: HAHA, thanks. Maybe I finish my interview and Accounting exam I can visit your apartment.

   Next question, if you are not a local people, did you undergo different culture?

M: The main content of American culture is the emphasize on individuals' value, the pursue of democracy and freedom, the promotion of competition and the need of realistic and practicality.

American society has great movements within itself. These movements are shown in two aspects: movements amongst locations and movements inside the society. And I dot not like America food, it is very different  for my country food.   

S: Could you please tell me about yourself?

M: I am Mohammed. I am 21 years old. I major is international business. I stay here 2 years. I have a little sister, She just 7 years old . I very love her.

S:Why you choose study abroad in America?

M:The United States are relatively more open and have more freedom. Many people living in the states, no matter whether they are Native American or immigrants from overseas, have the same dream of changing their social class and make their lifetime dream come true through their own efforts. This is what they often called "American dream". Then English is one of the most common languages that are speaking in the world. According to the research, there is nearly one person in every ten people can speak English. We need to learn English because as our country's economy's develops, there are more and more opportunities for us to visit other countries.

S: What is you major?

M:International Business.

S: Why you choose you’re major?

M:Business is the most popular subject for international students in the United States. And in SCSU business and education is very fames . I do not like teach students. So, I choose Business major.

S: How often do you communicate with your family back at home?

M: I usually use viber call my parents or video with them. Maybe twice a week .

S:What is the biggest holiday in your country? Please explain about the holidays (Activities, Food, Date, Origin, and etc.)

M: Saudi national day .This day represents the nation's identity and is greatly associated with the unification of the country by the late king Ibn Saud in the year 1932. This day holds an important place in the History of Saudi Arabia. The day embodies all the customs and traditions of the country and signifies the true spirit of the Saudi Arabian nation.

S:What is things that your country culture cannot do in American ?

M: Sometime men is relatively free than women. Women cannot do :

Drive (culture, social and legal) ,Sponsor a non-Saudi husband for residency  in the Kingdom (legal) ,Visit a graveyard (although there is debate on this topic) (culture and religious) ,Attend Friday prayers in a mosque unless there is a women section (there is also debate on this topic) (culture and religious) ,Be alone with an unrelated man who is not a “sanctioned” relative (father, grandfather, brother, uncle, husband) (culture, social and legal) ,Travel alone without approval of the male (culture, social and legal)

S: Did you face any racist problems? And How to solved this problem?

M:Of course, when I first came here I didn’t know anything about other cultures, but after a while I started discover and learned about them. And make friend with US or international students. Also, here in Saint Cloud there are many ways help students to learn about other cultures such as, culture meetings and culture nights.

S: What’s the biggest difference between the American culture and your culture?

M: Thought and Grammar. I think this is important for English writing. This is can depend your     grade.

S:In what ways might it be difficult to practice your religion here in the U.S?

M: First is pronunciation. My mother language pronunciation is very different. When I first come America, people cannot understand what I tell about.

S; What are your goals for the future; after you graduate, what are you going to do?

M: I don't think about the goals too much. I just want to learn and get more English skills.  After I graduate, I will go back to Saudi Arabia , than get high pay.

S:What do you do for leisure?

M I listen to music, or surf something on the internet. I also travel to other familiar cities and drive around with my camera

S:Do you have culture problem when you talk with American students? And How to solved this problem?

M:Most American students is very friendly, So I like make friends with them, It is can improve my English.