The Second Interview

Interview Report II

Report II

With the experience of the first interview, I did more preparation than the fist time. I cleared my objectives and reviewed my questions again. From the research of the first interview, I got to know more information about the country Sri Lankan. I want to know how do they feel after come here and what their lives in Sri Lanka are like in their point of view. What are the differences between the information from the Internet and their real experience. All my questions are related to my objectives. The next thing is to check the technology. At this time, I made an experiment before the interview. From the experiment, I figured out how high my volume should be. At last, the coffee shop in the library was still considered to be the right place for interview.

Since I work as a night security in the residential hall, I can meet with a lot of international students from different countries. Luckily, one of the community advisors Yoshan who always work on the same day as me is also from Sri Lanka. I asked him if he can be my interviewee during the time when we work together. I told him that I was doing a interview for my English class to know more about the international students in our school and I chose Sri Lanka. Yoshan promised to be my interviewee after my explanation.

I conducted my interview at the coffee shop in the library on March the 25th which was also a Thursday at 5 pm. We first talked about the weather, what we did during the spring break and asked him if he has already find an apartment then I plan to start the interview. I told him that I would ask him some questions about his country and his feelings about the United States and I also need to record our interview. I asked him if he has problems with the recording and he said okay about it. Before I started to ask my questions, I checked my recorder to make sure it works well. Then, the interview began.

Yoshan is an international student comes from Sri Lanka and he is now working as a community advisor(CA) in Benton Hall. He has been here for almost four years and has been a community advisor for three years. He told me that he is now so sick of being an CA even though that's part of his life experience and he wanted to move out of the campus. To be a CA, he has to deal with so many troubles made by his residents, sometimes he even need to be woken up late in the evening because there are students get drunk again. It was really a hard time when he first became a CA. "But that is part of the life, this job gives me a place to live and eating for free in the Garvey, that helps a lot", he said. In his family, there are three people. His mother and his younger brother are in Sri Lanka and his brother is in high school now. Because of his outstanding, his mother decided to sent him to the US and the government also paid half of the tuition for him. He is now major in the coumputer science and will graduate in two semesters. He plans to stay here for a while either to find a job or go to the graduate school. He wants to have more experience and find a good job in Sri Lanka that his mother can retire and have a good rest.

From this interview, I learned a lot from Yoshan. His braveness of facing the difficulties made think about myself. In fact, I had the chance to apply for an community advisor but I didn't, because there is so many troubls in the residential hall and CAs also need to contact with A lot people they don't know very well. Yoshan is right, that's part of our life. I need this experience to help me to overcome the difficulties.



Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is an island country. It is in the South Asia and lies in the India Ocean. It is located to the Southeast of the bay of Bengal. It has 65610 square kilometers. Because it's near the equator, it is always summer on the island for the whole year. The average temperature there is 28 degree Celsius. The country is also known as "the pearl on the Indian Ocean", "the kingdom of gem" and "the lion kingdom" in the world.

In the late 6th century B.C., the first Sinhalese arrived in Sri Lanka. The Buddhism was introduced in at the Mid-third centuray B.C.. During the 200 B.C. to A.D.1000, civilization was developed in the Anuradhapura and during the 1070 to 1200, clivilization was developed in Polonnaruwa. In the 14th Centurey, Indians in the south built their Tamil Kindom but the coastal areas of the island were controlled by the Portuguese in the 16th Centuray and by the Dutch in the 17th Centuray. The island was ceded to the British in 1796 and became a crown colony in 1802. By 1815, it was united under the British rule. As Ceylon, it became independent in 1948 and its names changed to Sri Lanka in 1972. From 1983 to 2009, there was an on and off civil war against the government by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam which is short for LTTE. It is a separatist milllitant oganization who fought to an independent state and named Tamil Eelam in the north and wast of the island. Both of the Sri Lanka government and LTTE have been accused of various human rights violations. On may 19, 2009, the president of Sri Lanka officially claimed an end to the insurgency and the defeat of the LTTE.

The population of Sri Lanka is 21,324,791 and the growth rate is 0.904 percent by 2009. Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Moors, Indian Tamil and Sri Lanka Tamil are the main ethnic groups of the country. People in Sri Lanka also have so many religions such as Buddhist, Islam, Hindu, Christian and so on. Sinhala is their official and national language. Tamil is also another national language of Sri Lanka. English is commonly used in government and is spoken competently by about ten percent of the population.

The government type of Sri Lanka is republic and divided into three parts which are executive branch, legislative branch and judicial branch. The executive branch is consisting of the chef of state, head of government, the cabinet, elections and election results. The legislative branch has elections and the election results. The Supreme Court is the main institution of the judicial branch.

Colombo is the captain of Sri Lanka and known as the "Oriental crossroads" since the Middle Ages. It is one of the most important business ports in the world and the world’s famous gemstone is flowing from here to the overseas. The average temperature is 28 degree. It has a population of 223.4 million (2001).

In Sri Lanka, it's traditional food was influenced by both the Westerns and Middle Easterns. Western influences customary diet are rice and curry, Kiribath, wattalampam which are made mainly by coconut milk. The Middle Eastern influences are found in the traditional Moor dishes such as, Lamprais, Breudher which is a Dutch Christmas cake and Bolo Fiado which is a Portuguese style layer cake.

Every April 13, Sinhala anad Tamil people celebrate Sinhala and Tamil New Year. Muslims celebrate the Ramadan for every year. Esala Perahera is the grand festival hold on July ot August in Kandy which is in the middle part of Sri Lanka. It is a Buddhist festival consists of dances and richly decorated elephants. It has already become a unique symbol of Sri Lanka. Fire dances, Whip dances and Kandian dances are the main dances in Sri Lanka. During the festival time, elephants are usually adorned with lavish garments and people have the shows of different dances. The festival ends up with the traditional Diva-Kepeema and the elephant is paraded around the city bearing the tooth of Buddha.

The tourism is a very famous industrial in Sri Lanka and more and more people are selecting Sri Lanka as their vacation paradise.


Reference

Sumit G. (2006). South Asia. New York : New York University Press. March 2010.

Introduction to Sri Lanka. Applied Language Solution.com. March 2010.http://www.appliedlanguage.com/country_guides/sri_lanka_country_introduction.shtml



Interview Transcript II

Engl191 Section 22
Ziyi Feng
Yoshan from Sri Lanka
03/25/10

F: Where do you come from and what's your native language?
Y: I'm from Sri Lanka and my native language are Sinhala and Tamil, but I also speak English.
F: Cool, so do you have any problems with speaking English when you first arrive in the US?
Y: Actually we don't have big problems for understanding but you know my country was the colony of British, so there are still a lot differences.
F: Yes, I can understand. So what is the imagine of the US in your home country? What do you think now?
Y: Before I came here, I have heard about the US a lot and I also did some research from the Internet. but St.Cloud is smaller and colder than I thought. It's like a small town in my home country.
F: Yes, i have the same feeling when I just arrived. Do you like the weather here, compared to Sri Lanka?
Y: To tell the truth, no. I like summer more than winter but the winter here is much longer than summer, I can't do sports outside or hang out with my friends. In the winter, I'm so lazy to move.
F: haha,me too. What’s your daily life like in your home country? How is it different from your life here?
Y:When I was at home, we can have a lot of fun after class or work. I don't need to worry about my study and tuition. But at here, I need to work everyday and I also need to keep my GPA in a required level or I'll lose my job. I'm so busy sometimes especially when the exams comes. But sometimes it's so boring that I don't know what to do during the breaks.
F:yep yep.What is the most different thing here comparing to your own country?
Y: First, the culture is really different, people have different ways to thinking to spend their time and make plans for their life. people don't have many stresses here except for the exams,haha. We also have different types of food, in Sri Lanka, we like rice and curry every much.
F: I have heard about that some of the food in Sri Lanka was influenced by both western and eastern cultures. Did you find any similar things here?
Y: Yes, that's true. but I did not really find any similar habits here.
F:What type of government does your country have? How is it different from the US government?
Y: yes, it's pretty different from the American government. The president is the biggest and then the ministers and vice-ministers.
F: what about the cilvil war?
Y: Yes, we have civil war in our country, it was because of the two different organizations they have different opinions about the politics and it was ended last year.
F: Okay. Why did you choose MN for schooling, why St.Cloud? What makes you to come to the US?
Y: I don't have many chance to make the choice for which country to go you know, because the government paid part of my tuition. But I choosed St.Cloud because it's really cheap here.
F: yep. Do you have any difficulties to adapt to a professor with a different accent?
Y: At first, it's really hard for me to catch the different accents. but after a while when i get used to it , I can understand better. but for me i prefer the professors with no accent better, that makes me feel relax in the class.
F: What is the greatest influence the US has had on you? What affects you the most?
Y: I became more independent after i come here. I get a job and earn money by my self. you know i'm a CA, so i work to pay for my living place and eating in the garvey. to be a CA is really a important experience in my life i think. cause there are so many troubles in the residential hall and i have to help them solve the problems . especially the freshmen, they always have parties in their rooms and sometimes even drank and pass out in the bathroom. I was woken up in the midnight and to deal with this. what's worse is I have a exam at 8 o'clock in the morning.
F: Wow, that's really sucks. how long have u been a CA, have u thought about to quit?
Y: i 've been a CA for three years. I had thought about to quite, but then i have no money to pay for the rent. That's the life, you need the experience to make you stronger, right?
F: Yes, That's true. What’s your major? Why do you choose it? Does it provides you more chances to find a good job?
Y: My major is computer science. I like to deal with the computer very much and I had a interest in it when i was in high school. i want to have a good job no matter here or in Sri Lanka. i want to give my mother and my brother a better life. My mother is so tired to work for our tuition. i want her to retire and enjoy her life now.
F: What do you plan to do, where do you want to go after graduate? Stay here or go home?
Y: Well, it depends. if i can get a job after i graduate, i'll stay here for a while or maybe I'll go to the graduate shcool. but I'll go back to Sri Lanka at last.
F: yes, I agree with you, that's a good choice. If you get a chance to introduce your country, what do you want the others to know the most?
Y: It's really hard to say just one thing, but our food and the beautiful place worth to go to Sri Lanka.
F: What about the traditional festivals, is the Esala Perahera, sorry, i don't know if i'm right. Is that a special holiday in Sri Lanka?
Y: yes, you are right. It's a very big event. at that day. we'll have to elephants decorated with beautiful garments and people have different types of dance on the street. it's a buddhist festival.
F: i see, do you have any religions? are you a Buddhism?
Y: yes, I am.
F: Cool, thanks for today. Thanks for taking the interview.
Y: yep, with pleasure.