Interview 1

In preparation for the interview that I had conducted with Chen Fong, who is from Malaysia, I gathered some information about Malaysia, had created a list of questions that I gave him prior to the interview, that way Chen would be able to look over the questions. The objectives that I have with the interview are; I want to learn the culture, his experience as a student in the United States, and some general questions. Also I wanted to develop my oral skills because it was the first time I did an interview with someone I do not really know. When the interview time comes, we decided to have the interview take place at the Miller Center, one of the study rooms, because library is the most comfortable and quiet. Since he lives a couple blocks away from library. The interview took place on October 23, 2009 at 1p.m in the afternoon. I also asked his permission to audio record, so I used an iphone to record the interview.
When the interview time came, I was all prepared with two copies of my interview questions, booked the study room, charge my phone fully because I was going to use it as a recorder, and pen and paper. I wanted to make sure that it was going to be most convenient for Chen; after all, he is taking his time out for me.
The person to whom I interviewed was Ming Chun. He is from Malaysia, the east- Malaysia, and a town called Sarawak. He came to the United States in 2004. He is 26 years old; currently he is a senior student and majoring electronic engineering. His interests are fishing, watching Korean, and Taiwanese dramas. The interview process for me was not easy, because I was nervous even though Chun spoke excellent English. During the interview, he gave me good information, but I do wish I could have gotten more. The interview went smoothly; there really was not any awkward silence. There was a part in the interview that did move me, and that was when I asked the question, what are you going to do after your graduation. He said, he would find a job in the United States and work for few years in order to save up some money and go home because he spent quite amount of money to just to study in the United States. In Malaysia, he says it is harder to save money even if you are working. Thus, this concludes with how the “brain drain” plays in a role. I think if he goes home, he could make some changes in his country.
. Here is the interview:
Galkhuu: Thank you for willing to spend your time for this interview. And I really appreciate it. Alright, where are you from?
Chun: I am from Malaysia.
Galkhuu: Which part of Malaysia are you from?
Chun: I am from East – Malaysia, I was born and grew up Sarawak, Malaysia.
Galkhuu: How long have you been in the US?
Chun: I came to the U.S in August, 2004
Galkhuu: Could you tell me about your background a little bit more?
Chun: Sure. I am from Malaysia, from Malaysian – Chinese family and I have two siblings. Actually, my younger sister is in the U.S. too. I am the only son in my family.
Galkhuu: So you speak Chinese right? And any other language do you speak?
Chun: yeah sure, I speak Chinese because my grandparents originally from China and I mostly speak Chinese with my family and friends. Also, I speak Malay because I attended public school. And I speak MANGLISH (Malaysian-Chinese) it’s basically English but it is more like broken English.
Galkhuu: Wow, you speak three languages? I am amazed with that because I only speak two languages; Mongolian and English. I don’t think I speak fluent in either one. Anyways, when did you start learn English?
Chun: Well, I think started learn English is from the kinder garden but we speak like Chinese mixed English at home, even with my friends before I joined the kinder garden.
Galkhuu: So I guess you didn’t have much language problems when you decided to study in the United States?
Chun: No, no, I wasn’t even feeling confident about my English because I wasn’t the best speaker in my high school. I used to speak broken English just like everybody else in my high school. I was even thinking to take English as a second language classes but when I applied to St.Cloud State, they accepted me as a freshman.
Galkhuu: just out of curiosity, why did you choose St.Cloud State University over like 3000 thousand universities and colleges in the United States?
Chun: I chose St.Cloud because my aunt graduate from St.Cloud a long time ago and she suggested me to study in St.Cloud. Because of numerous reasons. First of all, she suggested that St.Cloud tuition fee is afford because St.Cloud offers partial scholarships to international students. Secondly, after she graduated, she lives and works in St.Paul. since it was first time I stay away from my parents. So she could visit me once a while. Thirdly, my high school classmate was going to study in St.Cloud too. Another reason was I never see snow before so I want to stay a place with four seasons. Unlike Malaysia, have only two seasons, hot and rainy.
Galkhuu: Yeah, you know, I also transferred here because of the affordable tuition fee. So how do you like St.Cloud?
Chun: I stayed here quite long time. So I got used to it. I mean the weather. I like the snow but I still don’t like the cold. It gets really cold in here. Rather than that, I like it here. Small but a nice town with lots of students
Galkhuu: Yeah that’s true. So I just wanted to ask you about the problems you would faces time to time?
Chun: Well, from time to time I faced problems. One of the bigger problems I faced recently was I had to remove my wisdom tooth which cost me so much money to remove only a wisdom tooth. Anyway, I had to remove it because it was so painful. So the student insurance we pay every year like almost $1000 dollars did not cover it. And the money had to come out of my pocket. It was unexpected expenses. Also, every semester books are getting expensive. Financially, it is getting hard for and my family to pay the tuition and living expenses for my sister and me.
Galkhuu: yeah, I totally agree with you. The expenses and health issues are hard. Moreover, we as international students required to take health insurance from only school is a kind of suck right. I wish we could choose the insurance company that we want to insured with.
Chun: Yeah, maybe I could find better insurance company with same amount to pay.
Galkhuu: Well, let’s talk about something else. What are the differences between the lifestyle in the United States versus Malaysia?
Chun: Oh, yeah there is obviously the living style. In Malaysia, I would probably stay with my parents until I get married but in the U.S. is you can leave your home once you graduate from high school. My country is more like family oriented but the U.S. is more individual life style.
Galkhuu: I guess my country is also very family-oriented too. So which lifestyle do prefer?
Chun: I don’t know, sometimes I feel like the U.S. lifestyle is very suitable for me, but other times I like family-oriented. But now, I don’t think I could be able stay with my parents anymore because I have been living in the U.S. for 5 years by myself.
Galkhuu: alright, thanks again for your time and your effort. I really appreciate it.

Food Around The World

Food Around The World
-Background information
-What is the meaning of food?
-Food nourishes and takes care of our hunger.
- It has many meanings across the world
-Holidays and Festivals
-Germany- Oktoberfest- Beer and bratwurst
-US – Thanksgiving- Turkey
- China- Chinese New Year- dumplings and mandarin oranges
-Mexico- Christmas- Tamales and sweet fritters
- Traditions of Daily life
- Nepal- Eat rice in 2 meals everyday
-China- Eat rice
Beliefs and Food-
- Fasting- Ramadan, Catholics Lent, No meat Fridays
- Hinduism- no cow products – cow is sacred
- Muslims- no pork
-How to eat food
China- Chopsticks
-Nepal- hands
-US- Forks
-Africa- Big bowl
- Social gathering – we revolve around food
- Food brings people together
- Family affair
- Potlucks, barbeques
- Birthday cake
- Grocery shopping – people do different amounts
- Daily – fresh food, fruits, veggies
- Weekly non- perishable
- Not limited to what is just iun your country – you can get it from across the world – shipping
- Going out to eat
- Ethnic good – specialty restaurants
- Chinese take out
- Food spreading across the globe
- Sushi – Japanese food – now spreading to the US + European countries
- Conclusion
- Food revolves around us, we revolve around food. Never ending cycle. We depend on it for nourishing, socializing, and traditions.

Outline

Introduction: How different countries practice different cultures
What is culture how is it expressed (food, clothing, literature, music, dance courtship, community lifestyle)
Body 1 About Mongolian culture
- History
- Language
- Education systems
Body 2 About US Culture
- History
- Language
- Educations
Body 3 Comparing two cultures
- How different
- How similar
- Which is better for the community
Conclusion

Preliminary report on Malaysia

Malaysia is geographically located in Southeast Asia. Malaysia became independent country from Great Britain in 1957 and consists of 13 states and 3 federal territories. According to www.cia.gov website; Malaysia's population is 25,715,819 (July 2009). However, there are many different ethnic people.
• Malay 50.4%
•Chinese 23.7%
•Indigenous 11%
•Indian 7.1%
•Others 7.8%
Capital: Kuala Lumpur
The largest city in Malaysia with 1.6 million people. (www.cia.gov)
Religions
• Islam
•Buddhism
•Taoism
•Christian
•Hindu
Culture

Good ideas

- Dress up
- Find suitable time and place (public place)
- Find three interviewees and set a time
- Prepare everything that I need during the interview
- Go to write place and revise the transcribe before and after interview
Galkhuu

New Objectives

-Do some research about the culture which i am going to visit
-Find some students from that culture
-Find a suitable place for the interview
-Ask short questions may be at the beginning to warm up the situation when doing the interview
- Prepare something to record
-Compare the answers from different students
-Practice and interview questions.
- Double check the recorder make sure it works during the interview
- Be on time for the interviews
- Sit up straight

Galkhuu

Presentation pages 560-570

51 A
Reviewing a web site:
- They can be created by anyone.
- They don’t have standards for the design, so click and scroll before locating clues about a site’s reliability.
- Check for relevance, reliability, and currency.
- Browse the home page.
- Look for the name of an author or a webmaster.
- Check for a sponsor name.
- Find out when the site was created or last updated.
- For many college assignments you’ll be asked to use scholarly sources.
- Look for formal language and presentation.
- Authors who are academics or scientists, not journalists.
- Find the citation of the works.
- Original research rather than a summary of others’ work.
- Look for quotations.
- A description of research methods or a review of related research.
- If a site gives little information, be suspicious; do not rely on it.
51 B.
Select appropriate versions of electronic sources*An electronic source can be an abstract, an excerpt, or a full-text article or book. Therefore, to use complete versions of source needs to distinguish among these versions.
*Abstract – a brief summary typically appears in a database record for a periodical article. In order to cite your paper, you need to read the complete article because the abstract itself, does not contain enough information for you to cite your paper.
*Excerpt- the first few sentences or paragraphs of a newspaper or magazine article and it usually appears in a list of hits in an online search. Excerpt would help you to determine whether the article is going to be useful for paper you.
*Full-text usually appears as a PDF file (for portable document format) or as a HTML file. PDF file contains an exact copy of the pages of a periodical online article with pages numbers. The PDF file is paginated and the HTML or a text file is not paginated. If your source is available in both formats, use the PDF file because it has specific pages numbers that you cite in your paper.
51 C
Read with an open mind and critical eyes:
- As you begin reading, keep an open mind. Do not let your personal beliefs prevent you from listening to new ideas and opposing viewpoints.
- When you read critically, you are not necessarily judging an author’s work harshly; you are examining its assumptions, assessing its evidence, and weighing its conclusions.
51D
-Assess Web sources with special care.*Web sources can be deceptive.
-Sophisticated looking sites
---can be full of dubious info
---identification of author hidden
---hidden motives-know the purpose
-------hate sites
*Evaluate Sources
-Check for signs of Bias.
---political knowings/religious views
---published with special interest group
---opposing views-fairness
---language-Assessing an argument
---central claim/thesis
---support claim
-----relevant/sufficient evidence
---consistent statistics
-----fair use
-----origin
---assumptions
-----questionable?
---opposing arguments
-----refute persuasively
---any logical fallacies?
*Evaluate Web Sources
-Authorship
---is there an author?
-----search homepage/ about this site
---knowledgeable/credible
-----qualifications listed
-----links to author's homepage
--------interests/expertise-Sponsorship
---who sponsors the site?
----URL ending
------specifies hosting group-ex/nonprofit= .org-Purpose & Audience
---why site was created
------position, product, inform?
---intended audience
------audience profile
------relevant info-Currency
---date of publication/latest update
---current links
------do they work?

-Melanie, Galkhuu, Mohammed section 21