The first interview transcript by Kaye Lee

The First Interview Report



Class; ENGL 191 21
Interviewer; Kaye Lee
Interviewee; Jamuna Adhikari
Country of Origin; Nepal
Interview Date; Oct. 24 2009



Where are you from?
I’m from Nepal. I lived in the capital city, Kathmandu for like 5~6 years.

What about college? Did you go to college there?
I went to college in the second biggest city in my country because I had some of my relatives living over there, so I can go and visit them.

So why did you come study in American college?
American education is recognized all over the world and American education provides practical education. We can get benefit from our daily life and more advanced technology.

So, are you going to get a job as a nursing career after graduation in the states or are you going back home?
I think I might practice here for years and I might go for master’s degree and then once I finish higher level of education, then I will go back to my country..

So you are going to the graduate school in Minnesota, maybe?
No, just in America.

Have you taken any college-level classes in Nepal?
Yes, I have. I took some health classes like 3 years because I wanted to go for nursing, I didn’t do my graduation there because I wanted to come to America and finish my education here.


So what are some differences between colleges there and here?
I think one of them is the way they teach in the class in my country, it’s more like teacher speak and students listen, you know, they don’t really participate in activities, but in here, they participate a lot, they do presentations and you know, and they are encouraged to do that. Most do group studying you know. And another thing is technology you know. We most of the work we do here use computers, which in my country we don’t do. We only get library sources. And more participation and it makes students independent and learn more things than just listening to lecture you know. We just had lectures without discussion of participation like experiments.

So how long have been here?
More than four years. I was in another state and I transferred here because it’s cheaper, and you know… it’s a nice and quite society. You prefer being in a quiet place.

Since you’ve been here for a while in the states do you feel that your perspectives toward your life, or college, or career in the future have been changed?
Culturally yeah. I think I learn more how to be independent you know. Like do my things, myself instead of depending on my parents you know. Most of the things we do, you know. If we are going to college, because we expect money and all the resources they(parents) provide us.
And we don’t have to work. But here, we work on campus and other things.. In the class, the way they teach here,, group participation thing.. I like that more than you know listening to lecture which I didn’t prefer in my country, I was like.. “oh~! No participation! It’s not a good thing! It’s not a good idea!”. Now, I think it’s a good idea, we learn things by ourselves. I want to go for nursing so I need more like.. give like teaching, education.. I need that. Nurses have to teach patients, patient education, and different fields of education, you know. Hygiene, defend disease.. So it’s going to help me a lot..

Do you think your perspectives are different from your friends or your siblings back home?
Yeah, of course. Even my brother, he’s in my country, and going to college over there, I think he doesn’t believe group participation. It was the same thing for me, when I was in my country, I didn’t believe participation thing, you know. I thought why didn’t teachers give lectures and go? Why participate you know?

What about getting a job, and starting your career?
Getting a job, yeah, once they finish the college and education, I think it’s important to get a job. It’s lilke they have to work somewhere, it’s like gaining knowledge. And they have to work. And they work. But here, you know and then if you go for.. for example, if you go for nursing in my country, you have to work as a nurse. You can’t change it. It’s not a good idea to change your profession.. You know. You cant’ just stop going for nursing. Here you can change it and It’s a good thing about.. And you can go for different professionals. And that also gives you freedom of choice. You can go for whatever you like.

Maybe I’ll ask you about cultural things.. cultural experience here. Besides college thing..
So when is your most culturally shocking experience in the states? Or here in college?
Yeah, in a couple relationship, people here can have multiple guys, and they can change their boyfriends and girlfriends whenever they would like to. But in our culture, it’s like more serious relationships, yeah, exactly.. and if you have a boyfriend, then you know that you are going to have a relationship like forever, you want to get married, you know. You just don’t for like 1 or 2 years relationship or break up. So it’s not common to have temporary relationships.


So, is your home country culturally diverse as here in the states?
Yeah, it’s culturally diverse. We have people from different backgrounds like Mongolians, you know. They have different castes and the caste that I belong to is the second greatest caste. And there is a thing that we can’t even get married with people from higher castes. So I belong to the second caste. It’s a taboo, you know. People from 1st class, they want to find somebody from the 1st class. And if they get married to people from lower class, it’s going to be a sin. It’s not normal. It’s not illegal, but just not normal. Most of the time, guys and girls listen to their parents, you know. They prefer parents’ sources and their relationships.
We have four castes. Like different sub-groups. They speak different languages from me. People from different castes celebrate different activities and religious activities. And even you know like.. the thing I celebrate.. because we have different activities like festivals.. not all the people celebrate the same festivals and the same activities at the same time you know because they have different activities and we don’t even know them. We are not even family with them.
Most of the common religion is Hindu, and Buddism, islamics, and Christians and then.. um.. some other islam, and muslim. So major group is Hindu. I’m Hindu.


Are there some conflicts among those people like different groups with different religions?
Yeah, because sometimes they favor hindu people they favor Hinduism. Hindu people are more liberal, they accept other people, but other um.. for like people who are muslim or people who are really strict with religion you know. They really don’t accept other culture very well. I think..
In India, people have been fighting each other because of the religions. But not in my country, it’s peaceful in my in country.


Is it common to speak multi-languages in Nepal?
Yeah, very common and we don’t even understand them. I speak like… you know my Nepalese language? And that’s the national language. I only speak that language. I don’t even understand other people. Even the letters are totally different. However, people can speak Nepalese because it is the national language. All the textbooks are written in Nepalese. I can also speak Hindu, which is the national language in India.
14:41

I am going to ask you some personal questions. Do you feel homesick sometimes? If you do, when do you feel that way the most?
When festivals (such as Dashain) come in my country, I feel homesick. I miss my family a lot because they get together to eat and celebrate, so I call them often. I miss home food the most and there are various religious and traditional foods back home made of rice, vegetables, and curry, for instance.

If I want to travel Nepal, where would you suggest me to go?
You can go to Mount Everest. Now, you can go take a car and enjoy the beauty of the mountain. Also, you can visit Hindu temples which are in the capital and world famous. If you want to see natural beauty, you should visit western part of the country, Pokkura. There are lakes, bridges, and craves and so many things.

Is plagiarism considered as a serious crime in your country?
No, not as much as here. I think it’s a good thing that we learn about giving credits to authors for using their sources, but it’s common to copy others’ sources in Nepal. Even when I took English courses, we did not learn about citing sources in text. Plagiarism is not taken seriously even though it’s illegal.

This is a society-related question and has a different topic from previous questions. It’s about being different in a society. So, is being homosexual, being divorced, or being a single parent common or acceptable in Nepalese society?
22:20
Being a single parent is not common and not acceptable in our society. It’s like a taboo. If a girl gets pregnant, she has to find somebody to marry. Being divorced is common these days, but not widely acceptable. Divorce rate is only 10% in Nepal. However, being homosexual is common. There is a specific community for people who are homosexual and it’s called ‘Blue Diamond Society’. They do special events wearing different clothes. Even people from rural areas have homosexual spouses, and it’s legal. Those people tend to move to cities and can adopt children, too. Furthermore, it’s illegal to discriminate them, but single parents (especially women) might suffer in the male-dominated society. Widows have to wear white clothes all her life. They are not supposed to wear redish color.