During the whole interview, I noticed that Junhyeon can recognize the meaning of national flag. He told me a lot about his country’s military and political reason with North Korea. These are exactly what I am always curious and what I want to know.
Geography:
South Korea occupies the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula, which extends some 680 miles (1,100 km) from the Asian mainland. This mountainous peninsula is flanked by the Yellow Sea to the west and Sea of Japan (East Sea) to the east. Its southern tip lies on the Korea Strait and the East China Sea. The country, including all its islands, lies between latitudes 33° and 39°N, and longitudes 124° and 130°E. Its total area is 38,622.57 square miles (100,032.00 km2). South Korea's terrain is mostly mountainous, most of which is not arable. Lowlands, located primarily in the west and southeast, make up only 30% of the total land area.
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Visited: 03/20/2011
Below is my transcription of entire interview:
Me: Hi, Jiwon. Long time no see. How do you feel today?
Jiwon: Hi Susan. I am good and interested to join your interview.
Me: Thanks a lot. Before I have interviewed Sung, I told her that I will interview you in my second interview.
Jiwon: yeah I know. Lol.. You know, I like talking with people, and be interviewed because my major was mass communication.
Me: Oh really?! Nice! Ok can you introduce yourself please?
Jiwon: haha, I don’t want coz you already know me friend. Can you introduce me to your classmates and teacher?
Me: lol, sure! This beautiful girl whose name is Jiwon Lee. She is my friend and from Korea. She is 22 year old, and she likes shopping and travelling so much. This spring break, she went to Chicago with Sung who appeared in my first interview. Is enough? You wanna add something?
Jiwon: Oh! Susan! Nice job! You know me a lot! Haha, let’s change the role of interview right now. You can replace me in this interview.
Me: haha, yes I will coz I can read your mind. Just kidding. Ok, first question is why did you decide to come to SCSU instead of studying or working in your own country?
Jiwon: Um.. I like the life America. It’s a freedom country before I came here when I knew it. I can wear special clothes that I dare to wear in my country. I can talk with others through different address. You know, in my country, I must use respective address for some people who are older than me. Although it is a traditional culture in my country, I really don’t want to do that. When I came to this school, I studied in Intensive English Center, I was able to made friends with people who were from different countries. That’s awesome!
Me: Yup, same as me. I appreciated god that I meet you here. Haha. Do you miss your home here?
Jiwon: yeah! Really really… I missed my home, my three sisters and my boyfriend.
Me: Oh! You never told me you have three sisters?! Oh my god!
Jiwon: Oh I didn’t? haha yeah, I have three sisters. I am the second girl in my home. The oldest sister’s name is Su-a shin, and the youngest sister’s name is Ye Chan Kim. My third sister’s name is Ye Sol Kim. They all are very cute. I missed them.
Me: Wow, Jiwon, you have a big family. Is there a policy about limitation of children about a family in your country?
Jiwon: No, we never have, so I have three sisters.
Me: Do you have any cousins?
Jiwon: I have two cousins, and they are all boys. They are in Korea’s universities right now.
Me: Oh, you must have a wonderful life in Korea coz you have a lot of friends and family members. What is something unique you and your friends do for fun?
Jiwon: Haha.. We like hanging out with friends on every Friday coz we need study at school from Monday to Saturday. Actually, we often go to some clubs and play games with friends. You know, many Korea girls are good at drinking. I like inviting many friends to my home; we play cards games and PS3 for fun. That’s really cool for everyone who joined our parties coz we have a lot of drinking games for fun!
Me: Yah… I know a game from Korea.. It’s like this( do some postures for her) It’s really good! If someone lose the game, someone need to drink all the cup of alcohol. Is there a policy about the limitation of age on drinking in your country?
Jiwon: Not really, we don’t have a clear and specific policy on drinking age like America. We can drink when we are at age of eighteen. Actually, it all depends on ourselves coz some family will blame children who drinks alcohol. Different families have different condition.
Me: All right, so you are able to drink right now in America?
Jiwon: Yes! For sure!
Me: lol..What’s your opinion of the America diet?
Jiwon: I like eating healthy and delicious food in America, but I don’t like fried chicken and fries coz they are able to make me fat. Lol.. I like keeping slim ever. Um.. I think some kind of America food is pretty good and attracted by me. For example, I like eating steak and salad. The steak in some restaurant is very fresh and good taste; it doesn’t like the steak in my country. They are different taste from different countries. You know, I like eating salad every day coz it looks healthy for our lives.
Me: Sounds really good! You have good habitat for food. My friends recommend me to red lobster next week, you need join us!
Jiwon: Yea.. Sure!
Me: How does the climate in your home country compare to here?
Jiwon: The climate in my country is not cold like Minnesota. Compare to here, it’s too cold to go outside in winter. I just wanna stay warm in my room in winter. However, we can a lot of thing for fun in winter; I still wanna go outside. For example, we can go ice-skating in winter. In summer, the weather is so good, but doesn’t have high temperature like here. Frankly speaking, there are four seasons in my country, but I am think about Minnesota almost have two seasons one year. Spring and Fall is too short, and winter is too long. Haha.
Me: Yea, I agree with you. Here is too cold, the weather makes me feel cold a long time. Do you like life here?
Jiwon: Although the weather doesn’t look good all the time, I like the life here. I have many friends here, like you. I like sharing some interesting thing with them on face book. I like eating and talking with them during meal time. Sometimes, I go to Helenbeck to do some sports.
Me: lol.. I know. What are some cultural differences between your country and here?
Jiwon: First, we speak different language, and we have different habitats. I know some people like hanging out with friends from Thursday night to weekend here. It’s an informal habitat. However, we just work and study till the end of Friday evening coz the weekend is waiting for us. Second, we need address in formal way to someone who is older than us. That’s a kind of respect. It depends on what age we are and what age you are. Third, we eat different food. I like eating Kimichi. Kimichi is a traditional food in Korea, but many American don’t like eat.
Me: All right. Some habitats are same like you. Do you know at what age do men and women spend private time and at what age do they consider marriage?
Jiwon: You mean when are we going to fell in love with someone? Haha, I have eageged to my boyfriend. We knew each other during high school, and then we fell in love. So that means we don’t have specific time for men and women to be together. Actually, for men, the age of getting married is around 30 year old; for women is at the age of 28.
Me: Ok, it is a little late to get married in my country. In my country, for men is at age of 25; for women is at the age of 24.
Me: What are your personal experiences with racism since coming to the US?
Jiwon: I never encounter any racism till I came here.
Me: That’s really good. I heard some friends who told me they face racisms in US. What were your preconceptions about the US before coming here and how have they changed?
Jiwon: I thought there is a good environment here coz there are many people in my city, so the transportation is always busy at morning. However, you will not see many people who walk on the road. Everyone almost drive their car on the road. That’s really different. I feel a little bored sometime coz I can’t see many people who walk outside. Before I came here, I thought there might have a lot of person using public transportation here. When I went to Chicago, I felt like in my own country. Almost many people go to work by subway, bus or other transportation.
Me: Yea.. There are large differences from here. Chicago is a big city in U.S. If you could visit any place in the U.S., where would it be? Why?
Jiwon: I prefer to work in big cities, not like here. Although St. Cloud is a peaceful place, here is too cold, and it’s a little boring for me. I would like to New York or Chicago coz there are many opportunities for work, and we have more entertainments during weekend.
Me: I can imagine your life in the future. Did you face any language barriers? How to solve it?
Jiwon: When I came here, I was studying in Intensive English Center. That’s a good place to learn American Language. I am not good communication with others coz my listening and speaking are not good as native people. I just learn English by many ways. For example, I often talk with my American roommate. She is very nice, and she told me a lot of interesting things that happen here. I cherish every talking in life.
Me: Talking with others is really a chance to challenge our English skills. We should do that. What‘s the most interesting thing you have experienced during your time studying at SCSU?
Jiwon: um… The most interesting thing happens on Halloween last year. I never have a wonderful time like that in Korea. I like Halloween coz we are able to do a lot of things for fun, and join different activities on campus. I went to Haunted House during Halloween. That truly makes me feel scared, but fortunately I with many people. I expect to the Halloween day this year.
Me: Me too… That’s my favorite festival. How many countries have you visited?
Jiwon: This is my first country that I have visited.
Me: Ok, can you tell me what your dream job is and which state would you like the job to be in?
Jiwon: My major is mass communication. I like talking with others, and observing on different news in my life. That do enjoys me. I want to work in a National studio in the future. That’s my dream job.
Me: Wow! I like your job coz we will know different news from different countries by you. Hope you will accomplish your dream as soon as possible.
Jiwon: yea. Thanks!
Me: That’s my entire interview. Thanks friend!
Jiwon: Nice talking. Lol..
Description of interview
During the whole interview, I also found some interesting topic to talk about. For example, we talked a kind of Korea food, it is called Kimichee. We talked about the steps to make it. That’s truly interesting. I do learn a lot about Korea’s culture and educations. This make me feel impressed. As I am an international student, when we talked some question, I also felt we have understandable similarities. Interviewee’s experience made me find some similar point. Last but not least, interviewee might not good at to describe the history of Korea. She told me she doesn’t know a lot nationality flag’s meaning. Anyway, I felt achieving a lot knowledge from the interview.
