Preparations for the interview
I first began making a list of what my objectives were:
<!-1) Learn about the Country Saudi Arabia
2) 2)Learn about the religious customs
3) 3)Schooling system
<!4) Family dynam
5) Special holidays and Traditions
6) 6) How America compares to the United States
<!7) Clothing
<!8) Learn about their diets
After I figured out my objective, I came up with more questions than the core questions. I was very interested in the core questions and majority of the time I expanded my other questions off of the core questions. When we were doing the fake interview in class, it gave me a good idea that I would like to learn more about Saudi Arabia. From the little information that Mohammed talked about I was very intrigued.
How Did You Approach People?
As previously stated, after hearing what Mohammed was talking about, I wanted to learn more about Saudi Arabia. It was a country that I’ve never learned about or really talked about except from the news. And the news doesn’t always tell the full truth or information about what is really going on and doesn’t portray a place a certain or right way. Since I wanted to learn more about Saudi Arabia I decided to email Mohammed and Mutaz to find out if they could help me with my interviews. Lucky for me, they were very helpful.
When, where, and how did you Conduct the Interview?
I conducted my interview on October 26th. We decided to meet in the library. I arrived about ten to fifteen minutes before we were suppose to meet because I wanted to find a place that would be good and quiet spot that would work out well. When he arrived, we went up to the 3rd floor to start the interview. Once we sat down, I explained to him again what the interview is for and that it won’t be posted or placed on any website that I was for my use only. I also showed him the questions and said thank you again for taking time out of his day to let me interview him. I decided that I would use my camera to record the interview. As we started to record, I noticed it wasn’t recording. Because I didn’t have any other way of conducting the interview, I asked if it would be ok if we talked and transcribed the interview right there. He was perfectly ok with that. The only draw-back on that was it took a little bit longer than actually recording it.
Whom did you Interview
When I asked if Mohammed could help me out with finding and talking with people from Saudi Arabia, he told me of Tamim. He is 21 years old from the East side of Saudi Arabia. He has two brothers and two sisters and he is the second child. He told me that both of his brothers study in the United States but in different states, Idaho and Texas. What I found very interesting was that his father studied and graduated from Wisconsin University with a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration, but now is retired back home in Saudi Arabia.
Describe the Interview
I believe the interview went very well. Tamim was very open and answered anything that I would ask. I am very glad that I decided to interview International students from Saudi Arabia because I learned a great deal about their cultural and country. He explained to me that the education is very different in Saudi Arabia than in the United States. He said that in 10th grade you have to decide between a Science major and Art major. Also, that there are more Universities in the U.S than back home. He told me that in Saudi, it is very hard to get in to the Universities there than here. One thing I found very interesting when I asked if it was hard to write English at first, he stated that it was a little difficult because in Saudi they write right to left and in the U.S. we write left to right. When I asked Tamim if he had any questions for me he asked me what I thought and knew about Saudi before I talked with Mohammed and Mutaz. That question was a little bit embarrassing because I knew pretty much nothing. I said that when I think about Saudi Arabia, I think of the Disney movie Aladdin, that I didn’t know where it was on the map, there are camels there, and that there was oil there. That reminded me of another question that I decided to ask him, if the gas was cheap over there. He told me that it’s about one American dollar for a gallon of gas. I wish that it was like that in the United States.
Report on Country and Culture
Saudi Arabia is the largest Arab in the Middle East and has an estimated population of 27,136,977 people. The capital of Saudi Arabia which is also the largest city is, Riyadh. Riyadh means “garden” in the official language Arabic. The capital city alone has an estimated population of 4,878,723. Most of Saudi Arabia’s land is uninhibited and consist of deserts. Saudi Arabia lies on the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, which is home to a rich marine life on the coral reefs. One thing I found interesting about Saudi Arabia compared to the Minnesota, home of the 10,000 lakes is that is has no permanent year-round rivers or lakes. Most of Saudi Arabia’s economy is petroleum based because of all the oil. Because of how big the oil industry has on the country, it is the biggest stock market in the Middle East. This is the flag of Saudi Arabia. Green is used because it is the traditional color of Islamic. In white Arabic letters it means “There is no god but God; Muhammad is the Messenger of God".
Works Cited
C.I.A. The World Fact Book. 7 April 2007. 3 November 2010 <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sa.html>.
Wikipedia. Saudi Arabia . 3 November 2010. 3 November 2010 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi_Arabia.
Transcribe with Tamim
E: Could you tell me a little bit about yourself and your home?
T: My names Tamim I’m 21 years old I’m from Saudi, I have been in the us for 2.5 years and the first half I was in Missouri, My home town is a small city on the east coast of Saudi. I have 2 brothers and 2 sisters, I’m the 2nd child. My father graduated from Wisconsin w/ bachelor degree in business administration. He’s retired now. Both of my brothers are studying here in the U.S. . . . One is in Texas and the other is in Idaho.
E: Do you Skype at all?
T: Yeah sometimes
E: How is the education in your home country compared to the United States?
T: It’s really different between the education between Saudi and the US. There are much more Universities here than in Saudi Arabia. In HS after the 10th grade you have to choose between Science or Art major.
E: like Theater?
T: No, we have no theater like that play movies.
E: Does it take the same amount of time to get a degree in the U.S. as Saudi?
T: In Saudi its 4 but some university you need to take 1 year for the English language.
E: That seems like a lot
T: When I came here I had to take 1 year of language.
E: Is it hard to write English?
T: It was at first because in our country we write right to left.
E: Any difference in how a man and a woman may contact each other?
E: Like dating wise
T: We don’t have dating but some people do it secretly.
E: What are weddings like? (Traditions of weddings)
T: What I told Hailey, weddings are boring, when you go, 4 or 5 hours you talk with friends then go and have dinner and they are separated. This is my custom but some dance and play music. But I don’t know about the women weddings. I plan to get married I don’t want to have a get together.
E: What are some religious or cultural customs in your country?
E: Is there one religion?
T: yes we are all Muslim; we have some foreigners from other religion. And we don’t have temples, we have mosque. We pray 5 times a day.
E: What are those times? And do they mean a certain thing at that time?
T: 1 before the sun rise, second in the afternoon and the third one in the evening, and the 4th after sunset and the last one is here at 7:30 or 8 pm. It depends on where you live and time changing.
E: What is it back home the 5th one?
T: At night but it varies, it depends on the sun set.
E: What book do you read from?
T: Quran
E: Do you have different rules of eye contact and body language in
your country?
T: What you mean?
E: Like an example is in a job interview its advised to keep eye contact but if you do it to long you’re a creep but too short you’re nervous.
T: I believe it’s the same really, no rules really just manners
E: What do you have for your diet (breakfast, lunch, dinner)?
T: here or Saudi?
E: Both
T: Saudi for breakfast we have eggs, hot tea, Arabic coffee, dates, beans with bread.
E: What about for lunch?
T: Rice, chicken, lamb, camel
E: Camel taste good?
T: Yeah really good it’s like lamb
E: Dinner?
T: Well for the young people we eat fast food
E: Do you go out to eat a lot then?
T: Yeah but when I got here I stopped because I don’t like it, it taste gross, not health. When I go back I won’t eat fast food.
E: Do you have questions for me?
T: What do you think about Saudi? Before you met Mohammed
E: My first thought was I have no idea where it’s located on map and that we get oil from there, and I know there are Camels there and it’s a desert and really hot.
T: You didn’t know that the government is really rich?
E: No, I had no idea
T: Yeah its one of the riches governments in the world and that’s because of the oil
E: So the gas is really cheap over there?
T: Really cheap like one liter is like 30 cents and a gallon would be about 1 dollar but we deal with liters in Saudi.
E: Was it difficult at first being around all English speaking people?
T: It was difficult at the beginning because I didn’t know English. Like I had a little bit of English from Saudi from when I studied there and it was hard a little bit because everyone here is speaking English.
E: Are your winter’s cold back home? Are you prepared for this winter?
T: It’s cold but not like here. Like the lowest degree would be 40 at night and during the day it would be like 55 we don’t have snow.
E: Is that in Fahrenheit?
T: Yeah
E:Well thank you so much for letting me interview you and everything and I had a great time!
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