My Second Interview

Interview Preparations
Finding a person to interview was easy again this time, because my first interviewee had a sister who was willing to be interviewed. Her name is Stephnie Fernando. Unfortunately, I had some difficulty getting in contact with her because our schedules are extremely conflicting and I didn't know her phone number or email address. I ended up talking to her while she was at work (which felt very awkward for me, but at least no customers were around so it's not like I was getting in the way of anything) and we decided on a time to actually do the interview.

I still had the same recorder from before. I had altered my questions a bit based on my first interview, but looking back on it, there were still some questions I should have removed and some I should have added. We did the interview in the UPB office, which was perfect at the moment because most of the people in UPB were at a conference, so it was very quiet.

Transcript
M: Why did you decide to come to SCSU instead of studying or working in your own country?
S: First, I went to an international school. All the universities back home are government-run and they all do it in Sinhala medium. And the other thing is my sister was already enrolled in this university, so my parents thought of sending me here. And... working in my country, there are not many jobs for international school students, especially if we cannot get the degree there. So I decided to come here.
M: I heard that in Sri Lanka the government chooses your major for you and that you don't really have a choice. Is that true?
S: I'm not sure about the universities, but in high school and everything... for the international school students, we can choose if we want to do commerce, science or arts. There's three different areas where we can concentrate. But for those who go to the government schools, it all depends on how well you do in elementary school and high school and then they decide which side you should follow.
M: What did you think of the US before coming here and how have your thoughts changed?
S: Before coming here I didn't have much of an idea. All I knew was that my sister was here and that I was going to live in an apartment. I knew I would be dealing with all white people. I didn't know that there were going to be a lot of Sri Lankans here. There were about more than 20 Sri Lankans in this university when I came here. And the Fall was really nice -- I came here during the Fall. It was really nice, and... I simply don't like the Winter; it's too long.
M: Is it really cold for you?
S: Yeah, it is.
M: How cold does it usually get in Sri Lanka?
S: Sri Lanka is pretty warm. Usually it's 80 Fahrenheit. Sometimes it goes to 60s, but... I don't think it goes below that. So this is VERY cold. Now it's sort of okay. Of course, wearing the proper clothes... And sometimes, like my first semester, I forget my jacket and I go running into the bus. I walk out of the apartment, and I suddenly realize I don't have my jacket on. But I'm not going to go upstairs again just to get the jacket.
M: What was the hardest thing about transitioning to the US?
S: The hardest thing was... I hadn't been with my sister for about 3 years when I first came here. And my sister and I used to be great friends, but when I came here she was... very matured, I guess, so... It was like I sort of missed my sister. She seemed to be a lot busy, and I missed my parents a lot because I hadn't been away from them before except maybe one night. So it was so difficult. I just wanted to go back home at that point.
M: Do you talk to your parents a lot still?
S: Yeah. We use Skype, it's free. So practically we speak every day. Sometimes if I won't be able to speak one day my parents are going to call my phone. They'll keep calling my phone because obviously they miss us too. And we don't get to go home very often. The ticket prices are about $2000. So it's like... no way.
M: That would be so hard, not being able to visit your family.
S: Yeah. And I know some people here get to go home at least once per three weeks and they still feel homesick. I just don't understand.
M: Have you had any experiences with racism since coming here?
S: Not really... I've not personally had any, but I've been in classes where they say when they get into the buses and if there's person with dark-colored skin sitting a white person wouldn't want to sit next to them. I'm told stuff like that but it's never been the case with me.
M: Have you lost proficiency in reading, writing, or speaking your native language since coming to the US?
S: Since I went to an international school, I'm not that good in my native language. Just like my sister. But I'm way better than my sister of course. I'm pretty good at speaking because here the Sri Lankans obviously speak in Sinhala, and even back home with my parents I spoke in Sinhala. Writing has been somewhat of an issue because at our school we just had one period for the whole week which was about 35 minutes long, so studying Sinhala for just 35 minutes wasn't helping me. I'm okay with writing, but not really fluent. If you were saying something or reading out something, I couldn't write at the rate you are reading. I could do that with English. And about reading... I'm somewhat okay in reading, but there are some specific words which I won't be able to read.
M: Did you have problems when you lived in Sri Lanka because of that?
S: Yes. We had to go to sunday school, and the sunday schools in Sri Lanka at the place where I lived were Sinhala medium and so I used to be the last person every time we had an exam. For one thing... I didn't have the books because almost all of them who went to the sunday schools were from the government schools, and they get the books for free. Since we went to international schools we don't get the books. So I didn't have a book to study and then I can't write at the pace that the professor is teaching. And I'm just bad. I was just bad at Sinhala.
M: What are some cultural differences between Sri Lanka and here?
S: Food. The food here is just either boiled or... I don't know fried? Maybe grilled? There are no spices at all. Now we make our own food. When I came here, my sister doesn't eat much spices either, so most of the days we ate macaroni. Macaroni. Macaroni. Macaroni. Back home we usually eat rice as a main meal, and here, uh... I guess pasta is more main for here than rice. Here, even in Garvey you wouldn't find rice. You'd probably find stir-fry.
M: So you miss your food. But you can cook it at home, right?
S: Yeah. Now I do cook, and now my fiance's with me too, both of us cook. But my sister's vegan now... so it's pretty difficult to cook for her differently. Overall it's fine. We have all this stuff to cook and I have a job so I can get whatever I want.
M: It's not hard to find any of the ingredients you need?
S: There are some shops that have spices. I don't think it's that hard. And now they've opened up a new place. It's called the Somali Shop. It's all Somali food and it's bringing in stuff from New York and selling spices, and there's a Vietnam store that has spices too.
M: It just seems so weird that the US is an exception with how they eat. Because there are so many other countries that use spices and stuff all the time, but we just... don't.
S: Yeah. Even in France, there are a lot of white people, but they have a lot of stores which sell spicy food or spices.
M: What religions are commonly practiced in your country?
S: Our country is a Buddhist country. So at least 70 to 80% are Buddhists. After Buddhism comes Christianity. And after that there's Hinduism and Islam. So there's four main religions. But Buddhism is the main one.
M: Do you keep up with your home country's news?
S: Um... yes! I'm not fond of listening to news, but... There's a cricket match at 3 AM Saturday morning tomorrow, we've booked the Atwood Theater, and we are all going to watch it. It's between Sri Lanka and India, we came to the finals. I'm not sure if you know what cricket is.
M: I have a vague idea.
S: Most people don't know what cricket is and when I say cricket they're always thinking about the insect. So, most of the Sri Lankans and the Indians are going to meet in the Atwood Theater at 3 AM, and we're going to watch the match and we're going to win the game. But other than that I don't really watch much news. Unless there's a tsunami or something big that's happening, I don't listen to the news much. Even when I was back home I didn't like listening to the news. It's too much information and I have other work to do.
M: Are there any differences in laws between your country and the US?
S: I know one difference is the drinking age. Here it's 21, and back home it's 18. So I was 18 when I came here, and I heard that the drinking age is 21... like you're counted as an adult when you're 21. I'm not a drinking person so I don't mind about it, but it's like... I AM an adult, I'm 18! But they want us to be 21. The other thing about laws is here we get cards for permits, and back home don't have the cards. Before the driving licence we don't have a permit; we just have a piece of paper. Just a big piece of paper. We just have it for about six months, and we have to get our driver's licence or keep renewing that piece of paper. Um... I'm not that good at laws.
M: That's okay. How is the public transportation system in Sri Lanka?
S: Ah, that's a good question. Here we have buses running... every half an hour? And here you don't put so many people on one bus. But there it's like... you can see people hanging on the footboard too. Doors never close in those buses, except for some inter-city buses which stop in few places like the expresses we have here. But other than that the buses get so crowded and they don't have a time, so sometimes you can keep standing in the bus stop for maybe 40 minutes and still the bus that you want isn't here. And sometimes they have like four buses at the same time going to the same place and they're all going on a race to see which one's going to pick up the most amount of people, so. We have a driver and a conductor. The conductor's the person who collects the money and the driver just drives. Whatever they earn for the profits, it's all going to be based on how many people they get into their buses. Like here I believe it's on the number of hours that you worked. Because of that, back home, it's a huge rush to get on the buses. And the roads are not as big as the highways here, so the roads get a lot of traffic. It's difficult to go from point A to point B. Most of the time if it's somewhere close by, we would rather walk.
M: So you don't have to deal with all of that traffic.
S: Yeah. It's way too much.
M: This is my last question. Do you think it will be easy to find a job after college?
S: In the US? I don't think so. Most of the jobs and internships ask if you are US citizens, so... There's just a few where they're okay with international students. I know Canada is a little less strict about hiring international students. If I go back home I'll probably find a job, but I don't want to go back home and work. Because we get paid really low. Like here I work at Pizza Hut, and I earn $130 a week, but if I go back home... One of my friends was working in a communication store, and he said his income for a month is 15000 rupees, which is going to be $150 per month. So I'm just earning $20 less than him per week. And he's not just working in a food store, he's working in a communcation store. So I don't want to go back home. I was born in France, so I'm trying to get my citizenship in France so I can go to any of the European countries. I hope it works, but I need to get a degree or diploma before I can do that.

Personal Review
I felt like this interview didn't go as well. At least 1/4 of my questions required knowledge of politics and current events, which my interviewee this time didn't really have (I'm not disappointed in her or anything, though; I'm no different). I thought of a few other questions to ask to make up for that, but I think I should have a couple of backup questions written down just in case for my next interview.

Other than that I think it went fine. She seemed comfortable and I did get a lot of new information despite the fact that she was my first interviewee's sister.

Country Report
Sri Lanka is a small country located south of India. Up until 1972 it was known as Ceylon. According to the July 2008 census, its population is approximately 21,324,791. Sinhalese and Tamil are the official languages of Sri Lanka. English is spoken by 10% of the population and is frequently used in education and government. Buddhism is practiced by 70% of Sri Lankans. Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam are the most commonly-practiced religions aside from Buddhism. Sri Lanka is known for its production and exportation of cinnamon, which is native to the country.

Information in Country Report was taken from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Lanka. Accessed April 3rd, 2011).