FINAL PAPER (with interview)

Preparation for Interview

          I had to do a lot of things to get ready for this final interview because I had forgotten most of the questions. So the first thing I did was memorize the questions, so that the interview could flow well. The next thing I did was talk to Mohammad and see when he was free to do the interview. Once we had the time and place set, I went over the questions once more. I chose not to test my phone out for recording before the interview because I felt like it worked well the other three times. I was right that it was going to work just fine too. Muhammad and I met at Caribou where I have done all my interviews. The Interview was conducted at the end of November, but I can’t remember what day to be exact. 

          

          This was probably the most comfortable I felt during any of the interview because me and Muhammad had become friends over the semester. During the whole interview we were joking around and we went off track a lot during are conversation. It did not seem like we were really even doing an interview and just having a good time talking. I don’t really think any of the stuff he said surprised me much because I had heard similar answers in the past three interviews. But if I had to choose one thing it would be that private schools have graduation ceremonies and public schools do not. That was one thing that I did not hear in any of the other interviews.

Transcript of Interview #4

Kyle= K and Muhammad= M

K: Hello Muhammad, thank you for letting me has this interview. How are you?

M: I am doing well how are you?

K: Good, thank you. To start off the interview can you tell me a little about yourself and your country?

M: I am Muhammad, and I am from Saudi Arabia. I have been in American since 2007. I have 3 brothers and 1 sister. Two of my friends have gotten married and now it is my turn (Ha-ha). I am majoring in electrical engineering.

K: What part of Saudi Arabia are you from?

M: I am from the Capital city that is right in the middle.

K: Are you the oldest sibling in your family?

M: No I am in the middle; two of my brothers are older than me.

K: How is the education here different to back in Saudi Arabia?

M: It is much different here, because in America you have to do some research. Back home they just have the books and they say remember this and this and that, because the exam is going to be just like this. That’s pretty much it.

K: How is interacting different between men and women in Saudi Arabia.

M: They are like separate. You can talk to the women in your family and it won’t matter, but other than that no you can’t do it.  Also when we are sitting together… they need to cover their face. You can’t like go to any family and go inside their house like your friends for example, and you can’t see their mothers or sister face.

K: What are weddings like in Saudi Arabia?

M: Well the clothing is similar here for the women, but it is different from the men. It is also separate. Men will be on one side and women will be on the other.

K: What are the celebrations like?

M: In my region for the men it starts and goes from like 9-12 and there is a lot of sitting and talking with dinner. Then that is it, everyone go home. But for the women they also start at like 9 as well, but they go all the way into the morning. The women are singing and dancing, but the men are just like sitting and talking and then leave. But there are the men who also dance and celebrate, not all just sit and talk.

K: What are the basic beliefs that you have for religion?

M: Well women need to cover their body and there face. The men can wear anything, but it still needs to be appropriate. So like the guy can’t just wear underwear and go outside (ha-ha).

K: Are there any other beliefs?

M: Yes, I believe that there are 3 religions from god…  They are Jewish, Muslim, and Christian. But the other religions I do not believe in.

K: Do you have different rules of eye contact in Saudi Arabia?

M: Well sometimes... From man to man there are not really any rules. But when it is from a man to women it is a big difference. You need to act polite toward women and watch what you say.

K: What do you eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner usually?

M: For breakfast I eat a food from back home that is healthy and kind of sweet with coffee. Then for lunch I usually will go to Chipotle because it is rice and chicken. Then for dinner I will usually make some type of Arabic food.

K: Why did you decide to come to St. Cloud State University?

M: Because I use to study in the Twin Cities and then I tried to get into a place in New York. When I didn’t get in I talked to some of my friends and they mentioned St. Cloud State University to me. After I was accepted I chose to come here and that is how it happened.

K: What do you think of St. Cloud State University?

M: I like the people, but the weather sucks.

K: What are you favorite activities to do in Saudi Arabia?

M: Play soccer, talk to friends, play Volleyball, and play cards.

K: What are some of the foods back home that you don’t eat here?

M: I don’t really know how to make lamb or beef. I kind of just cook chicken. There are some other foods that I don’t know how to say in English, but I miss them.

K: About how many days of school did you have during the week in Saudi Arabia? And how long were the days?

M: We had 5 classes a week and it depends on your schedule for how long the day is. We have Thursday and Friday off of school.

K: Who do you most respect in your family?

M: Both my mother and my father.

K: Do they both work?

M: No only my father works. My mom says at home and does house work.

K: How many people live in your house?

M: Umm… I have just my little brother and my little sister living with my parents.

K: What are some of the holidays that you celebrate?

M: I celebrate the basic Islamic holidays.

K: What is dating like back home?

M: We don’t have dating back home. Back home if you want to date, you need to find a secret place so that no one finds out. If a guy gets caught with a random girl, than he will go to jail and the girl will have to call her parents to get picked up from the police station.  When the parents pick up the girl, than she will be disciplined (Beat her, maybe kill her, or just get in trouble).

K: So are most marriages arranged?

M: Yes, and if the male figures out that she is not a virgin the man can divorce her and get money from her family. The girl’s family will give you money to not say anything about it, but some men will keep her as his wife and not take the money sometimes.

K: What was graduation like in high school?

M: We had a ceremony at the end when we graduated. Private school has ceremonies but public school does not.

 K: Okay, well that is my last question. Thank you very much for helping me out.

M: You are welcome and I will see you on Thursday.

BACKGROUND OF SAUDI ARABIA

(FINAL PAPER)

          Saudi Arabia has many interesting qualities that separate it from any other country. It has a very important history that makes the world what it is today. In Saudi Arabia the language spoken is Arabic and it is written from right to left. It is home to the second largest religion around the world, and the religion is known as Islam. Also in the early times the peninsula where Saudi Arabia now is was one of the biggest trade centers in the world. Some qualities that make Saudi Arabia a special place are the history of the country (First Saudi State, Second Saudi State, and the Third Saudi State), religion and its five pillars of faith, and food.

          Saudi Arabia is located in the Middle East boarding the Red Sea and it fills most of the Arabian Peninsula. In the summer time the humidity becomes very bad and In the book Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, David Long says “in the summer months (mid April- mid October) the temperatures can average 113 degrees F. David Long also says “In the winter months (December and January) the day time is around 59 degrees F and at night can drop below freezing”. Saudi Arabia is basically a desert, with a variety of different kinds of them. There are three primary deserts that occupy the area which are Great Nufud (An Nafud), Syrian Desert, Rub al-Khali. The U.S. Department of State says “The population of Saudi Arabia is 28.7 million people” .The size of the country is approximately 1,960,582 million sq. km. also known as 784,233 sq. miles.  

Saudi Arabia’s history has helped its personality develop into what it is today.  The Arab peninsula has given the area much history because it was an important trading center and also the place where Islam was “born” a very long time ago. During the 18^th Century a man with the name Shaikh Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab wanted to bring back the original form of Islam but was forced to leave by religious scholars who didn’t believe in what he was trying to do. When Wahhab left the area he found protection in a town ruled by the man named Muhammad bin Saud. Both Shaikh Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab and Muhammad bin Saud agreed to one another to help bring back the teachings of Islam. Muhammad bin Saud decided to call it the Saud house. They decided to have their capital be Diriyah where they became partners. As the years went on the Saud House continued to grow and had almost taken over all of the Arab Peninsula. The Saud house was becoming very powerful with the allies of other areas. But the Saud house came to an end after about 75 years, when an Empire combined of North Africa and the Middle East destroyed it. The reason for destroying the first Saudi State is because the Ottoman Empire thought the Saud house was becoming too powerful.

After rebuilding the Saudi State, the Second State began with the Al-Saud family retaking control. Www.saudiembassy.net says that the new Saudi ruler was “Turki bin Abdullah Al-Saud and decided to transfer his capital to Riyadh, some 20 miles south of Diriyah”. Turki chose to take his ruling to the next step and make sure that everyone in his empire had everything they needed to live their lives. During this time they were able to get most of the land back that was lost to the Ottoman Empire.   As the years went on almost everything you could think of was becoming stronger. A few examples are trade and agriculture. The only thing that was not as strong for the Second State that the First State had was the amount of land controlled. But once again this all had to come to an end. The problem was the Al Rashid dynasty of Ha'il (The Ottoman Empire) wanted to move into the Arab Peninsula where the Saudi State was at the time. The Al Rashid dynasty of Ha'il began to take over parts of the Saudi State around the year 1865. As the war got worse for the Saudi State Abdulrahman who was ruling at the time, was forced to leave with his family and go to Kuwait. The Second State lasted almost as long as the first one did; this one was about 67 years. It ended in 1891 with the battle of Mulayda.

          In the year 1902 Abdulaziz Al-Rashid began trying to retake the old Saudi State area back. In the year 1932 he had finally done it and named the country Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. That name is still being used in today’s world.

          Saudi Arabia has made a big impact on the world today because of the religion it started. The religion that is taught is Islam which means Peace. The Islam community also calls their religions leader god, but in Arabic god is known as Allah. According to infoplease.com “In 2005 Islam had the second largest religion in the world with about 1.5 billion people, right behind Christianity which has about 2.1 billion”. The Islam religion is still growing fast and according to B.A. Robinson who wrote about the Islam religion on ReligiousTolerance.org says “If current trends continue, Islam will become the most popular world religion sometime in the mid-21^st century”. Just like in every religion there are holidays that are celebrated. Muslims have four major holidays that consist of Ramadan, Eid al-Fitr, Hijra, and Eid al-Adha.

          The Islam religion believes that Allah gave information and knowledge to Muhammad and other prophets. Some of the other prophets were Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. The book Quran is what all people who follow the religion use.  Muslims believes that all the words in the Quran came from Allah himself told through Muhammad. Muhammad began writing the Quran around the year 610. There are five main pillars of faith to follow in the Islam religion and they should be followed as much as possible by each person.  The first pillar of faith is Shahadah, which talks about the confession of faith. That means that there is only one god and Muhammad was gods last prophet. This is the first thing told to a new born baby and the last thing told to a person who is dying. The second pillar is Salat, which means prayer. Muslims are supposed to pray five times a day and every time they do, they are supposed to face Mecca while doing it. All of the prayers that are said during the ritual prayer come from the Quran. The third pillar is Ramadan, which means you fast during the month of Ramadan. During the month of Ramadan no Muslims is suppose to drink or eat any food from dawn to dusk. The month of Ramadan occurs at different times of the year because Muslim Calendars are different than Solar Calendars.  The fourth pillar is Zakat, which means the wealthy help out the poor. The wealthy give the poor two and a half percent of their possessions to help out. The last pillar is Hajj, which means the pilgrimage to Mecca. All Muslims must make a trip to Ka'bah at least one time in their life. Ka’bah is a very important shrine in Mecca for the Islamic religion. Richard Hooker of http://www.wsu.edu says “By recreating many of the events of the life of Abraham and Ishmael who are, in Islamic tradition, the founders of the Ka'bah, one injects oneself into the core of Islamic history and re-evaluates one's life and one's society in the perspective of that history.”

          Saudi Arabian’s still eat most of the same type of food today that they did when the country first began even though most people live in cities and towns now. The Islamic religion has set some rules that Muslims must follow when it comes to eating.  They are not able to drink alcohol and are not allowed to eat pork products or any type of meat that has claws. These are just a few of the things that are not allowed, but there are much more. When slaughtering an animal, the only way that a Muslim can eat it is if they slaughter it properly by following the Islamic law. Even though people in Saudi Arabia are not able to eat pork it has not stopped them from eating meat all together. They still eat lots of meat and according to David Harris of http://www.ehow.com say that “On average, a Saudi eats about 88 pounds of chicken each year”. That is more chicken eaten in a year than any other place in the world. Another kind of meat that they like to eat is lamb. The thing about lamb is most Saudi Arabians prefer to eat it only on holidays and celebrations. Having bread, rice, milk and yogurt with their meals is also a very popular thing. One of Saudi Arabia’s most popular breads is called fatir. The fatir looks basically like a tortilla and is very flat. The two other most popular kinds of breads are arikah and kimaje (flat bread). Saudi Arabia produces most of its own dairy and vegetables that they need because of how good their agriculture and industries have become over the years. Over the years more and more fast food places have been built in Saudi Arabia, but still most of the time the people their prefer to eat their traditional foods. One of the most common meals eaten by Saudi Arabians is Kapsa which has chicken and rice.  During holidays Muslims will always have vegetables, hummus, rice, and flat bread with their meals.

       

          Just like in every country there are table manners and that is how it is in Saudi Arabia. If you are eating on the floor than you should sit crossed legged but if you want to kneel than you should only put one knee on the ground. While eating you should only eat with the right hand because the left is considered to be dirty. When a Saudi Arabian has a guest, they are offered the more pricey meals to show respect.  When having a meal in Saudi Arabia there will almost always be some food left-over to show hospitality.

          Overall Saudi Arabia is a very interesting county that is different from any other. It has many qualities that make it the place it is today. Not only has the qualities in Saudi Arabia made it what it is today, but it’s also helped other countries build its own personalities. A few of the things that Saudi Arabia has done to help other countries make its own personalities is the amount of Petroleum that Saudi Arabia has and the most important is the Islamic religion. Who knows where the world would be right now financially, technologically and religiously if it wasn’t for Saudi Arabia.

WORK CITED

1. Wynbrandt, James. A Brief History of Saudi Arabia. New York: Facts On File, 2004. Print.

2. Long, David E. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Gainesville: University of Florida, 1997. Print.

3. Ochsenwald, William. Religion, Society, and the State in Arabia: the Hijaz under Ottoman Control, 1840-1908. Columbus: Ohio State UP, 1984. Print.

4."Saudi Arabia." U.S. Department of State. Web. 10 Dec. 2010. <http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3584.htm>.

5. "CIA - The World Factbook." Welcome to the CIA Web Site — Central Intelligence Agency. 07 Dec. 2010. Web. 10 Dec. 2010. <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sa.html>.

6. "MidEast Web - Brief History of Saudi Arabia." Middle East: MidEastWeb. MidEastWeb for Coexistence, 2003. Web. 10 Dec. 2010. <http://www.mideastweb.org/arabiahistory.htm>.

7. "History of Saudi Arabia." History of Nations. 2004. Web. 10 Dec. 2010. <http://www.historyofnations.net/asia/saudiarabia.html>.

8. "The History of Saudi Arabia." The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia Homepage. Information Office of the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington, DC, 2010. Web. 10 Dec. 2010. <http://www.saudiembassy.net/about/country-information/history.aspx>.

9. "The Kingdom - History of Saudi Arabia." Kingdom of Saudi Arabia :: History. Web. 10 Dec. 2010. <http://www.info.gov.sa/portals/kingdom/KingdomHistory.html>.

10. Riley, Carroll L. Historical and Cultural Dictionary of Saudi Arabia,. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow, 1972. Print.

11. Infoplease: Encyclopedia, Almanac, Atlas, Biographies, Dictionary, Thesaurus. Free Online Reference, Research & Homework Help. — Infoplease.com. 2005. Web. 15 Dec. 2010. <http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0904108.html>.

12. Robinson, B. A. "The Religion of Islam." ReligiousTolerance.org by the Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance. Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance, 17 Oct. 2010. Web. 15 Dec. 2010. <http://www.religioustolerance.org/islam.htm>.

13. Hooker, Richard. "The Five Pillars." Washington State University - Pullman, Washington. 14 July 1999. Web. 15 Dec. 2010. <http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/GLOSSARY/5PILLARS.HTM>.

14. Harris, David. "Saudi Arabia's Major Food Types in the Diet | EHow.com." EHow | How To Do Just About Everything! | How To Videos & Articles. 18 May 2010. Web. 15 Dec. 2010. <http://www.ehow.com/list_6524746_saudi-major-food-types-diet.html>.

15. "Saudi Arabia - Islam, Language, Culture, Customs and Etiquette." Professional Translation Services | Interpreters | Intercultural Communication & Training. Web. 16 Dec. 2010. <http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/saudi-arabia-country-profile.html>.

Outline of Final Paper

1) I started with doing one last interview on a friend from Saudi Arabia.

2) Introduction/ Thesis:

       The country of Saudi Arabia has many special features that makes it different from every other country you can think of. All of these features also make people who live or have lived there who they are today.
There is no one country that is going to be the exact same.Some of the basic facts on Saudi Arabia are  (Talk about Geography of Saudi Arabia). Some of the daily life topics that have made a big impact on how Saudi Arabia is today are History of the country, Culture, Religion, Soccer, and Food.

3) Paragraph on the History of the country

4) Paragraph on the Culture

5) Paragraph on the Religion

6) Paragraph on  Soccer

7) Paragraph on  Food

8) Conclusion:
     
All of these topics and more are what has made Saudi Arabia what it is today. That also goes for how there people act and what they believe. All countries are going to look at these topics differently and that is how it will always be. For that reason there will never be one country that is identical. Even as the years go on Saudi Arabia wont be the same as it is today. All of these topics are going to slowly change and that is going to change how the people around it act. Overall Saudi Arabia is a very interesting country and it is going to continue to get more interesting to learn about as the years go on.

Final Project

For my final project I have decided to do one more interview and transcribe it. Also I am planning on doing a more in-depth Country Report on Saudi Arabia. I hope to find even more interesting information that I have not learned about Saudi Arabia. I plan to have my outline posted on my blog by December 2^nd.

Interview number 3 winner

Results

I chose Heqiu Liu as the winner for the 3^rd interview. Once again I thought there could have been a few people who could have won it, but I just believed that he had the best. The layout of his interview for the blog was very easy to understand. All of his information was labeled well so I knew what I was reading right away. I was impressed on how much time and caring he put into the history report for Somalia. I liked that he had many different categories for the Country report so that I could look at certain topics like History, Government, Economy, Population, Languages, etc. I enjoyed looking and some of the pictures that were in the Country report because I was able to see what their flag looked like and how different things looked in Somalia

I gave him a perfect score on personal review because he was nice enough to wait for his interviewee to be finished with what he was doing. With his luck of being nice enough to wait for the person he was able to interview one of the guys he talk to friends so that he could get it done earlier than if he would have needed to wait for the person he first talked to. I also gave him a perfect score on the preparation because of how confident he was going into his 3^rd and final interview. The best part about that is that he was comfortable during the interview, which also made it much easier for is interviewee to open up. The preparation that was made was very important so that Heqiu could get all of the information he needed from is interviewee.

Heqiu had lots of interesting information that he learned from his interviewee. One of the interesting things that I learned was what they do when they have company over. It seemed throughout the interview some of the answers were getting longer and longer, which to me is a sign that the interviewee was becoming more and more comfortable with what was going on.

Overall I think Heqiu did a great job, not only on this interview but all of them! But for just talking about this interview I saw a lot of things that jumped out to me. This was just a good interview all around. I think he put a lot of time and effort into it.

Interview Number 2 winner

Results

I think that the best interview out of all of the second ones was Longfei Ren. The scores for the second interview were close but Longfei beat out a few students by just one point. I gave him a perfect on preparation because he looked back on his first interview and figured out what went wrong. Longfei listened to the first recording many times to figure out what to do better. It showed that Longfei really cared about the interview because he practices with his friends a few times before doing the real one so that he would be ready. I think that is a big reason why he was not as nervous for the second one.

Another think that I really liked about the interview was the information about the country of Japan. Longfei mentioned that he wanted to add more information than he had from the first interview. This showed that he has found great interest in other cultures. I enjoyed the Country report because it had information and some nice looking pictures to go along with it.

I liked the questions that Longfei asked during the interview. Something that really jumped out at me while I was reading the interview was how he would explain questions so that the interviewee had an easier time answering what he wanted to know. An example of what I mean by this is for one of his questions he asked: “Could you please tell me a little about yourself, for example: Where are you from?  How old are you? What is your mother language? How long have you been here?” Many of the questions that were asked left an opening so that the interviewee could talk for a long time about what she believed/thought. What I mean by that is there were not many questions that were just answer yes or no.

Overall I think Longfei did a great job. I am impressed on just how hard he worked to make sure that the second interview worked out better than the first. Also how he looked at what he could do better and not just by blaming it on the interviewee to make it easier. I think I learned some interesting things about Japan that I didn’t know before.

Third International Interview

PREPARATION FOR INTERVIEW

            I had to do a few things before I could start my 3^rd and final interview. The first thing that I needed to do was get a hold of Mohammed and see if he had found me another interviewee. Once he told me that he found someone, we talked about where and what time we could meet. About a half hour before I met with my interviewee I looked over the questions once more because I knew I would be rusty on remembering some of them. When I got to Caribou at about 8:30 on November 9^th 2010 I discovered that I was going to be interviewing Mutaz from Saudi Arabia who is also in my English 191 class. I was very comfortable approaching him once I knew who I was interviewing.  We sat down and got comfortable. When we started the interview I used my cell phone as a tape recorder.

DESCRIBING THE INTERVIEW

                I thought the interview was very relaxing and had good flow. We were both relaxed and had an easy time joking around with each other. We went into depth on a few of are many topics we discussed. During the interview at times I heard things that I have already heard from the proper interviews, but I also heard some new material that I did not know about Saudi Arabia which was very interesting. One of the interesting facts that I did not know about Saudi Arabia is when it comes to marriage that the man is able to talk to a random father about meeting his daughter. After thinking about it, it did make some sense but I just never thought about it like that.  Another interesting/ surprising fact that I learned was that they spend 2 hours of the holy day for praying and listening to the Al- Kahen. They begin this at noon every Friday. It was interesting for what Mutaz said about their weddings and how they are more separate than together. What I mean by that is here in the United States the Bride and Groom do basically everything together and in Saudi Arabia the Bride and Groom will do their own thing during the ceremony

Report On Country

                Saudi Arabia is the birth place of Islam and is the area for its two holiest shrines. These shrines are Mecca and Medina.  The Saudi state was founded in 1932. Saudi Arabia is located in the Middle East by the Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf. The area of the land is approximately 1,960,582 million sq. km. That is a larger area than any other country in the Middle East. Most of the area though is dessert. The discovery of oil reserves was in 1937 a few years after the founder of the Saudi State. The weather in Saudi Arabia is usually very hot and humid especially on the coast. Also it has many sand and dust storms that occur.

                Saudi Arabia has a population of about 28 million people and around 5.6 million of them are foreigners. The birth rate is still on the rise, but so is their economy. The language spoken is Arabic, and a little bit of English. More than 200 million people speak Arabic. The religion that people believe in is Islam. Saudi Arabia has a political system called monarchy. The way it works is a King is chosen from the Al- Saud Family. The King will then work with the councils of Ministers. The work week for people who live in Saudi Arabia is Saturday through Wednesday because Thursday and Friday are weekends.

The people who follow Islam are called Muslims.  The word Islam means “submission to God”.  Muslims follow the book called the Holy Quran. The Quran mainly focuses on the beliefs of the religion. In the world today the Quran is the only book memorized completely by more than 10 million people all over the world. The holy day for Muslims is on Fridays (which is like being a Sunday here in America). Muslims are able to eat any type of meat they want as long as it is not pork and they are not allowed to drink liquor. The foods that are not allowed to be eaten are called Haram. Muslims celebrate Ramadan which means they cannot eat during the day for one month. They are not able to eat from dawn to dusk.

            Work Sited

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3584.htm   10/28/10

www.cia.gov  10/28/10

http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/cultural/religion/islam/history.html  10/28/10

http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Food_culture_and_religion?OpenDocument   10/28/10

TRANSCRIPT OF THE INTERVIEW

Kyle: K

Mutaz: M

K: Hello how are you doing?

M: I am doing good thanks for asking.

K: Can you tell me a little bit about yourself and where you are from?

M: My name is Mutaz. I am 21 years old and I will be 22 in about 7 days. I have 9 brothers and 2 sisters and we all live in the same house. That is how most families in Saudi Arabia are. I am from Saudi Arabia the capital city Riyadh.

K: Is that West, East, North or South?

M: It is in the center of Saudi Arabia and there are like 5 million people who live there.

K: I still can’t believe you have that many siblings. I have 2 sisters and a brother and I think that’s good enough.

M: Yeah, we have big houses and it is very common to have that big of a family.

K: So how come you chose to come to the United States and go to school at St. Cloud State University?

M: Well we have 2 big universities back at home and I studied at both of them. But the education there isn’t as good as it was here. And one of my friends who are my roommate now came here before me in 2007. When he was here he called me and told me that I should come to St Cloud for school because it’s easier and the education is better. And when you come here for your education, then it makes finding a job back home much easier to do. So I decided to talk to my parents about coming here and they said yes. This was my first time coming to America and getting out of my Country. So when I came here to America I was nervous and scared but my friend who told me to come took good care of me.

K: What were the names of the universities that you went to back home?

M: I went to King Saud and it is one of the best Universities there. It is not like it is here but it is still good.

K: How do you interact and make contact with women differently from a man?

M: Well in Saudi Arabia we do whatever we can to follow the religion. So we just say don’t talk to any women unless it is your mom or your sister or any other women in your family. If you talk to any other girl you could get into trouble.

K: So how do you meet other girls then?

M: Well some people meet girls but in secret, like they will go on the internet and talk. Then they get each other number and call each other to meet up. So they will meet at a restaurant or at a coffee shop for example.  So they will do this in secretly and it is really hard. But if we follow the rules it is not acceptable and you will get into trouble.

K: Well so then I am guessing your parents arrange the marriages?

M: Not exactly, I could choose. I am able to go to any guy who has a daughter and ask if I could meet his girl. Then of course after that I can meet her and get to know her, so I know if I want to marry her. After a few days you usually decide if you want to marry her or not. But usually a guy will marry a girl that he knows from the family.

K: So did you say that you can go to some ones Father and ask if you can meet his daughter?

M: Yeah, also sometimes I could just go to my mom and tell her to go find me a beautiful girl and she says okay.

K: What are the wedding traditions like in Saudi Arabia?

M: First the women get together and the men get together. So everyone has their own place. At the weddings the bride and groom will take pictures. Also they will sit in a chair in front of the people. The Chair is placed to where you can see it right when you walk through the doors. The man will where something called Bisht. The day of the wedding the man will sometimes eat with other people but sometimes he won’t. Sometimes he will just take the girl and they will go to the hotel and they will do whatever they are going to do. And for the women they will wear what women wear here. They will wear like a long dress and they dance. It is kind of hard for an American to understand because it is not like a together thing like it is here.

K: What are some of the basic religious customs that you have?

M: Are Prophet Mohammed said that your clothes has to cover from your knee and up. So whatever you wear must cover up at least this much. Most people will wear a thawb because it covers everything and most people respect that.  For example an old man that saw me wearing the thawb would be respectful toward me. But if he saw me wearing jeans like I am right now he probably won’t. There are no specific clothes that you have to wear though, just as long as it covers what I said before.

K: Do you have any different rules for eye contact and body language in Saudi Arabia?

M: Well when I was at a restaurant here in American with some of my friends one of them snapped their fingers to try and get the waiter, and when that happened another one of my friends said that we don’t do that here because that is for dogs. So I thought okay I am not going to do that. For eye contact, when I talk to people back home you have to look at them. If you don’t look at them while they are talking to you, then they will think you are not listening and it is disrespectful.

K: What do you usually eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner?

M: For breakfast we eat the same things pretty much as here. We eat eggs, cheese, bread, etc. It is not a big difference from here. For lunch I usually eat what we call Kapsa, which has rise, chicken and a special sauce from back home. So yeah that’s what we eat and for dinner we also eat Kapsa. But sometimes people will change it a little bit and add fish or a different kind of meat. Also we will grill like lamb or chicken.

K: What are some of your favorite activities that you do in Saudi Arabia?

M: We will walk around anywhere or I will go play cards with my friends. We like to play this one card game called Balot that is not played here in the United States. Most of us love to play that game and we will play it anywhere. When we play it we like to smoke sheesha. We also like playing other games when smoking sheesha. Sometimes we also go to the mall but not too much. One of the things we love to play is soccer. We will just go to an open field and play either soccer or volleyball. So we love soccer more than a lot. You can’t find a person from Saudi Arabia who doesn’t like soccer. Everyone loves soccer even the women do. Actually just before this interview I was off playing soccer with some people.

K: What are some of the foods you eat back home that you don’t eat here?

M: There is one dish that I miss a lot. My mom would always cook it for my family. It kind of looks like chicken alfredo to describe to you how it is. But it is nothing like alfredo. It is something that I miss very much. But we eat Kapsa here every day.

K: What were some of the classes like in Saudi Arabia during high school?

M: Well back in Saudi Arabia I really liked chemistry and I was excited to take it when I came here. But when I took it here I didn’t like it anymore. I learned that it can be easy in your own language but then really hard in a different one. I just hated chemistry here.

K: How long did it take you to learn English?

M: I came here in July 2008 and I believe I finished and knew English well by June 2009.

K: Okay, and what are you majoring in?

M: I am majoring in Finance.

K: Are you planning on going back home once you have graduated?

M: I would like to continue my masters here if the government lets me. But if I don’t get permission from the government I will go back. Graduating here though will help me get a lot of good jobs back in Saudi Arabia.

K: Are there a lot of good financing jobs back in Saudi Arabia?

M: Yes, we have a lot of new companies being built right now and so I think it should be easy to find a good job when I go back.

K: On Fridays how long do you guys pray all together?

M:  Well we have a priest that we call Al- Kahen and he stands in the front and talks about what people should do. After that happens we all pray together and it takes about 2 hours for the whole thing to happen.

K: At what time do you do this at?

M: We always do it at noon and it ends around 2.

K: Who is the most respected person in your family?

M: I respect my father and my mother. Also I respect my oldest brother. He is 32 years old and kind of looks like my father. I also respect my grandparents who live in the same house as me back in Saudi Arabia.

K: What are some of the holidays that you celebrate?

M: We have 2 holidays that we celebrate. One is after the month of fasting and is called Eid ul- Fitr. The other one is called Eid Al- Adha that is coming up right after my birthday. So people are starting to celebrate their birthdays but usually we don’t.

K: Are there any special events that happen for a child’s birth?

M: Yes, we do it because they hope that god blesses the child. So we make it a big deal for every child born. The main thing that we do to celebrate is get together and we will cook food and eat. It is usually a small celebration.

K: Thank you Mutaz that is all the questions I have for you. Do you have any that you want to ask me?

M: I was wondering why kids here when they turn 18 to 20 years old they move out of the house where their parents live.

K: Well usually they do it because they want to make their own rules and not have to listen to their parents all the time. Another reason is so because they want to be more responsible and live on their own.

M: Oh okay, I was just wondering and that is my only question.

K: Alright thank you so much for everything. Have a good rest of the week and I will see you in class next Thursday.

M: Your welcome, see you later.

Scores for First Interview

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