Interview Essay Review

1. Who sored highest? 

Mattson, Valerie

Liu, Yipeng 

Alabbas, Ahmed

Asiri, Mohammed

2.  Why chose these guys?

Because these guys have very good form, and shows clearly information about their interview.


3. The grade

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ala7uztt--yrdEJxUFMyOGVJZjRFRkNpbk9uamRLNWc&usp=sharing

First interview

My first interview

Interview preparations:

For my first interview was with Ahmed and he is from Saudi Arabia, actually we know each other before and we good friends, so that was kind of easy for me to prepare our interview.  So I just called him and told him that I need his help for this interview, and then we met in Library last Friday afternoon. I bring two papers that have all my 15 interview questions and one of my textbook went to the meet, for these 15 interview questions, 10 questions we discussed in class and 5 are my own questions. So for tow papers I keep one and one for him to read, because I want him know what kind of questions I will asked and do not him feel uncomfortable. And for the textbook that was for me to take notes from our interview, so after these paper we started our interview meet.

Interview report:

We have very good interview started, Ahmed he is my good friend and old classmate, we spend two years with each other in IEC studied. So as I said, we greetings and talked how things stand of each other, we have very comfortable environment of this interview meet. Ahmed he is very funny guy, I have asked him some questions about Arabia in IEC before, so his answers did not let me feel very surprise. But his travel experience was let him very interesting, he was traveled many place in US, like Michigan and Chicago or New York, he told me how funny about these experience and let me yearn for.

Country Report:

The cultural setting of Saudi Arabia is Arab and Islam, and features many elements from historical ritual and folk culture such as dance and music. Traditional values and cultural mores are adapted into legal prohibitions, even for non-Muslims who are forbidden by law from publicly practicing their faith inside the kingdom, although they are free to do so in the privacy of their own homes. For example, Christmas decorations are sold in supermarkets, but you will not find Christmas parties advertised. Alcoholic beverages are prohibited as are pork products. Women may not ride a bicycle, drive a car, or even sell make-up to other women. Saudi Arabia is well known for its unique way of life which, in its own way, preserves its centuries-old heritage. (1)

Saudi Arabia has the world's 2nd largest oil reserves, which are concentrated largely in the Eastern Province.Oil accounts for more than 95% of exports and 70% of government revenue, although the share of the non-oil economy has been growing recently. This has facilitated the transformation of an underdeveloped desert kingdom into one of the world's wealthiest nations. Vast oil revenues have permitted rapid modernisation, such as the creation of a welfare state. It has also the world's sixth largest natural gas reserves.(2)

Saudi Arabia, officially known as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is the largest Arab state in Western Asia by land area (approximately 2,150,000 km2 (830,000 sq mi), constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula) and the second-largest in the Arab world (after Algeria). It is bordered by Jordan and Iraq to the north, Kuwait to the northeast, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates to the east, Oman to the southeast, Yemen in the south, the Red Sea to the west and Persian Gulf to the east. Its population is estimated to consist of 16 million citizens and an additional 9 million registered foreign expatriates and 2 million illegal immigrants.(2)

Two source: 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Saudi_Arabia

                       2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi_Arabia

 

Our Interview Questions and Answers:

F: Yu Fan (me)

A: Ahmed

 

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

A: Yes. I like it. At the beginning it was hard for me to adapt because as you know I came from Saudi Arabia and the weather is too hot there.

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

A: when I came here in 2010 I used to call my family once a week because I used to use Skype, but now the technology has improved and I call them every day by my iPhone.

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

A: I want to get my bachelor degree and then try to do my master if I could, but If I couldn’t I will try to find a job and get marriage.

 F: Do you get culture shock when you first come here? And how do you deal with it?

A: Yes, it was in the bathroom. Because back home we use water hose in the bathroom for washing, but here in the US they don’t.

F: Does your government provide compulsory education for students? If Yes, how many years

A: 12 years in Saudi Arabia and then you decide if you want to work or study at high education in Saudi Arabia or you study abroad. If you chose to study abroad they gave you a scholarship to help you with your school tuitions and other expenses.

F: How do you communicate with each other in your home country?

A: Actually there are many ways to communicate with other people. In my country calls over the phone is the most useful way. Now days the technology has improved and we can communicate in easy way by using smart phones.as long as you have internet you can just downloads apps or applications and then start chatting. In our culture back home in Saudi Arabia we go out with friends every day. Also, we meet with family in grandparent's house once every week and it is usually Friday.       

F: What is the clothing style for men and women?

A: Men and women in Saudi Arabia always wear traditional clothing. For men Thob is the traditional costume which is a(white dress) and for women Abayah is the common costume which is a( loose black robe from head to toe).

F: How are women and men treated differently?

A: Because of Islamic rules women and men are treated differently in Saudi Arabia. Mixing is forbidden thing for example public places such as, Schools and Mosques they always have separated to two parts one for men and the other for women because of religious purposes. Also, driving is not allowed for women in Saudi Arabia and now women are trying to break the rules and drive there, some did that perfectly and others became arrested by the Saudi police. In addition, in the past women do not have right to work or even vote, but now they became first in everything. 

       

 F: How has your experience here helped you interpret and respect cultural differences?

A: 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. Also, here in Saint Cloud there are many ways help students to learn about other cultures such as, culture meetings and culture nights.   

 

F: Do you enjoy speaking with other exchange students?

A: I do yes

 

F: How long have you been in the United States?

A: I have been here four years. I have spent two of them in the IEC which is the Intensive English Center and the other two at the university.

 

F: Have you been able to visit any other parts of the United States

A: Sure, my dream was to visit all the states when I came here. I always like to take a road trip because it is cheap and nice to see the US Cities and highways.

My first journey was in 2010. It was a road trip by two cars with some of my friends. It was to Michigan and Chicago. The second one was in Christmas 2011 and it was a long trip. I like to call it (my life trip) because I started driving with three of my friends from Saint Cloud to Florida. Sense it is a road trip we have passed throw many states including, Indiana, Alabama and Tennessee. And of course we stopped there to take pictures, do shopping and take some rest. After spending a good time in Orlando and Miami Beach we decided to celebrate the New Year in New York and then we did drive from Florida to there. New York was our last station we had a lot of fun in Times Square and statues of liberty. After one week road trip we left New York to Saint Cloud to start school again. My last trip was also in Christmas and New Year in 2012, but this time we drove from Saint Cloud to California and then to Las Vegas.         

 

F: What are your home country’s major religions?

A: There is only one religion in Saudi Arabia which is Islam. 

 

F: What influenced you to come to the United States? Especially, Saint Cloud State

A: When I graduated from the secondary school I used to apply to many colleges and university, but they always refused me or didn’t even answer me back and I couldn't get an acceptance letter. Do you know why? Because of my poor English. After a while I have called my friend Saleh who was a student at the IEC and I have asked him about his life and school in America. I also, told him about my story after I graduated from the high school. After that he encourages me to apply at Saint Cloud state university and he told me that there is no problem with English because there is an English program I have to take in the IEC to be ready to go to the university.

 

F:  Do you have any questions for me? I have asked so many of you

A: No Thanks.  

Group of Jaffer, Rakan Alolayani, Yu Fan


Challenges:

1. Could not understand their own culture very clear

2. You surprise from something is normal in your culture, but it’s bad thing in others.

3. To get what people say to you because they have different accent.

4. I cannot speak to few people because they didn’t speak the language which I speak and I couldn’t learn about people culture.

5. Some people didn’t accept to talk with you and ignored you.

6. You have to be careful while you ask about religion questions.

Benefits:

1-To get a strong knowledge about cultures and tradition.

2- Know new details about people religions.

3-Make new friends.

4- How people live in others countries and what they wear of clothes.

5-Learn basic words in others languages and that help you when you travel.

6-Get good skills in the way to talk with people.

We choose this one because its has the most important challenges and benefits that face interviewers while they are in the interviewing.

Objective:

I will conduct there interviews. This will allow me to compare how other people live and what they do. Compare the lives and schooling across my own and the interviewee’s culture.

I will record all interviews, will write country reports, and describe my preparation of the interview, and how it went.

What I want to ask:

1.        What is the popular religion in your country? And your religion?

2.       What kind of choose between go to college and find a job in your country and why?

3.       How many holidays in your country?

4.       Does your government provide compulsory education for students? If Yes, how many years?

5.       What is the drink age in your country?

6.       Do you know anything about China? And what most culture shock of you?

7.       When people can marry in your country?

8.       How many child or wife could you have in your country?

9.       After you graduate you want go back home or stay in here? And could you tell me why?

10.   What is the staple food in your country?

11.  In your culture, how are boys and girls treated differently?

I am interesting about this topic because the war between China and Japan usually is a controversy history question. And all my summary and sources are support to my this topic and will let people to know this history more clearly.

When Hideyoshi unifies Japanese and became chancellor, he become more ambitious and has a plan to invasion Chinese Ming dynasty. This plan was a maneuver to divert the people’s attention in order to give the restless spirits in the home land another direction. Because Korea is the passage to China, Japan invaded Korea in 1592 and won very quickly.  “The war was fought with such terrible cruelty that in Kyoto a temple was erected above the ears and noses which had been cut off and salted.”(1) In this war Japanese used merciless ways to killed about 215000 Koreans.  Korean asked the Chinese for help, so Chinese Emperor sent General LI Ju-sung leaded an army to help. After fought, Li Ju-sung won and repelled Japanese very brilliant. In 1597 Hideyoshi was undertook a new advance, but he death in 1598 and his entire plan was death too, and the first war between Japan and China ended. At this war the more important point of controversy was Korea, that was call “Korean question”. For china it was a tribute-playing land; for Japan, it was an object for the extension of power.

Except the first book summary topic “Chinese-Japanese War” I also found these books to expand on the concept. First book “The Japan-China Phenomenon” by Arnold Toynbee, which deals with what kind of phenomenon between China and Japan, conflict or compatibility. “I myself visited both China and Japan for the first time in 1929. At that time, Japan’s superiority over China in technological development was patent.”(2) Different national power let Japan could invasion China successful, and Japan started the invasion war of China in 1937. So for this book was introduce how economy problems let the relationship between China and Japan change to conflict or compatibility.  Another book “Dictionary of Chinese History” by Michael Dillon, this book was show the history about China that also includes the war between China and Japan. For this book was specific to description of Japanese crimes at this war, for example: The Nanjing massacre. The Nanjing massacre was a tragedy on the modern history of China, took place in December 1937. “When the Chinese War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Japanese Army in the Chinese capital of Nanjing a few months after the siege finally break, the Japanese mass killings in the city about three hundred thousand Chinese civilians”(3). Nanjing Massacre has been reported in the local newspaper in Japan, including the murder of two officers in the city game, these first-hand war records currently stored in libraries throughout the world, except to the Nanjing Massacre, the Japanese also in other parts of China for many times the scale of large or small massacre. Has during World War II been the record of the Japanese massacre in the history of the Chinese in many other areas.

At the end I will summarize. The war between China and Japan, China usually was passive defense and never played invasion this role, like “Korea questions” war, the second war between China and Japan. So I chose this topic, because I want to let everybody know more clearly history and how the wars impact.

Works cited:

1.      Julia E. Johnson “Chinese-Japanese war, 1937-”. Page 45. 1th edition 1938. Printed by the H.W.Wilson Company.

2.      Arnold Toynbee “The Japan-China Phenomenon”. Page11.  Kodansha International Ltd, Tokyo, New York and San Francesco.

3.      Michael Dillon “Dictionary of Chinese History.” Page5. First published 1979 in Great Britain by Frank Cass And Company Limited.