My Third Interview Report with a Sri Lankan student
For the final interview, my goals were the following;
1. To reserve a study room
2. To email the interview questions to the interviewee before the interview
3. To listen carefully to the interviewee
4. To avoid assume that the interviewee would give the same answers as the first interviewee since both are from Nepal
5. To print out the questions sheet and give it to the interviewee
6. To ask some different questions from the original ones
Before the interview, I came up with other different interviewee candidates because I wanted to hear from people with different backgrounds. However, I decided to interview my ex-classmate, Sagun since he was willing and to interview a different person from a country other than Nepal or Sri Lanka, I had to start researching from the beginning.
I decided to reserve a study room hours earlier because they were often filled by others. I emailed the question lists on the same day I emailed second interviewee, but changed some questions to make them more interesting. I met the interviewee on Nov. 8 on the third floor in the library. As usual, I brought a recorder, a pen, and two question sheets. During the interview, I tried to make pauses to give the interviewee more time to think and talk, but he often read out next questions before I asked him as soon as he finished answering, which made me a little nervous. After the interview, I thanked him, turned off the recorder, and asked more about him for his biography. I am not decided whether I should submit the transcript of this interview or not because the first and second interviews went well, too, but I will put the audio into a CD and submit it for extra credits.
The person I interviewed was Sagun Rajkarnikar from Kathmandu in Nepal and came to St. Cloud about two years ago. He was born in Kathmandu in a Buddhist family. By ethnicity, he is in ‘Newar’ which is one of the upper caste in Nepal. He went to a private English school (A.V.M higher secondary School) first, and then to another, called N.I.S.T. He has a huge family back in Kathmandu including grandmother, father, mother, uncle aunty, one brother and two cousins. His hometown is tripureshwor, which lies in the heart of the capital city, right in the main business area. His hobbies are to play guitar, games, and sleep all day. He speaks Nepali, his tribal language, Indian, and English and wants to be a successful medical professional and support his family in the future.
When the interviewee said he would go back to his country after graduation and I asked him why, he said he could get more opportunities to get a better job if he graduates from American college. However, it reminded me of young people in my country who have been struggling for unemployment even if they went to prestigious colleges. Sagun said colleges in Nepal lack technologies and equipments such as computers and projectors, and there are too many students with too few resources. It was also interesting to hear that Nepalese kids learn English from their kinder-garden and all textbooks except Nepali subject are written in English. Furthermore, he said he has not experienced any culturally shocking events because he has been exposed to American media since childhood. He was also familiar with Indian language due to Indian movies and dramas broadcasted on Nepali media, and therefore, I could better understand why speaking multi-languages is not unusual in this country.
When I asked a different question from the previous interviews, his response was just neutral and indifferent. I asked how he felt about living in a male-dominant society and he knew that women 20~30 years ago were not allowed to work outside their home. While the first interviewer seemed serious about the gender issue, he did not seem to care maybe due to the fact that he was belongs to high status in caste and was a male. Whereas the first interviewee said a widow had to wear white cloth for the rest of her life, the last interviewee said wearing white cloth lasts for a year only, so it depends on regions and culture.
Nepal is in South Asia and located south to Republic of China and north to Republic of India. Kathmandu is the capital city and most Nepalese students on campus came from here.
Hinduism is the national and major religion in Nepal. Although Hinduism is the official religion in Nepal, there are a variety of religions that Nepalese practice such as Buddhism (2nd largest), Christianity, and Islam (both minor). The north part of the country has many famous mountains such as Mountain Everest and south part is highly populated and developed.
There are more than 92 languages spoken in Nepal. Four major groups of languages are Indo-Aryan, Tibeto-Burman, Mongolian, and Indigenous. The major languages of Nepal (percent spoken as mother tongue) are Nepali, Maithili, Bhojpuri, and so on. There are more than 50 major festivals in Nepal and most of them are religious-related. One of the biggest festivals is Dashain. “The festival is said to be held in honor of the gods’ victory over wicked demons. Legend has it that the god Ramayan was only able to kill Ravana, the king of the demons, when the goddess Durga was evoked. Thus the goddess Durga plays a pivotal role in the celebrations and the entire event is seen as a celebration of good over evil.” [1]
Terai is southern lowland and usually urbanized. Hill is on higher altitude and has subtropical to temperate climates. The mountainous are (Mountain region) is famous for Mountain Everest in Great Himalayan Range. This region is on the northern part of the country. Her hometown, Damak is in east part of Nepal and lies between the border of Ratuwa and Mawa rivers. One Nepalese blogger said, “The favourite hangout place in Damak is 'The Himalayan Tea garden','Mini Palace' of The Himalayan Tea Garden, 'banks of Ratuwa river' and the famous 'Ratuwa bridge' from where the sun sets more beautifully than ever. Even the mountains seems to be mightier. Damak truely is gifted by nature.” [2] The interviewee’s hometown, which is Tripureshwor, Kathmandu, is on Hill region. Kathmandu is the largest metropolitan city in Nepal and is situated in Kathmandu Valley. “The word "Kathmandu" is derived from the Sanskrit word, "Kastha Mandap" which means "temple of wood".” [3]
Nepal has four distinct seasons (spring, summer, autumn and winter). There is a raining period during summer and it is called ‘monsoon’. Travelers have the best chances to travel around Nepal during the monsoon period. “Monsoon Nepal is our selection of the best trips in the rainy season, featuring the valleys of Kathmandu and Pokhara, a six-day moderate grade trek in the Nepal trans-Himalaya, and optional high water rafting and wildlife safari extensions.” [4]
Citied Sources
1. Nepalholiday.com
http://www.nepalholiday.com/nepal/nepal_trekking/ganesh_himal_trekking_nepal/dashain-festival-trekking-nepal.html
2. http://jhapadamak.blogspot.com/2008/01/nepal-jhapa-damak.html
3. Maps of World.com
http://www.mapsofworld.com/cities/nepal/kathmandu/
4. Wayfarers – Himalaya adventures (Monsoon Nepal)
http://www.wayfarers.com.np/trekking/monsoon_nepal.htm
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