Chris Block
English 191 Sec 21
November, 16 2009
Interview Two: Yei
South Korea
In preparation for this interview I came up with ten questions, but after we had everybody’s questions I used some of those to help revise my questions. By doing this is gave me the best questions that I feel would be very effective during the interview. The questions ranged from political to personal to cultural. The next thing I did in preparation was to come up with some objectives that would assist me in having a successful interview. After some revision of the objectives from some people in class that helped make them better. Then I set out to look for my candidates. After locating them I have been keeping in touch with emails, and text. Then I started to do some research on their counties to help find out if there is anything that I should ask or not. After failing to get the other two people to respond I decided that I needed to go back to Laurence Hall and find more interviewees. With the help of a student we found two more and then conducted the interviews right on the spot. One thing that I changed from the first interview was instead of my cell phone I used a digital camera which was way better.
The Second time around of finding people went much faster than the first time. The first time I found three people but two of them seem pretty reluctant and not to enthused about it. To my surprise both of them failed to either show up or even respond to my emails. So once again I went back to Laurence Hall. I was lucky enough to run into Victor and he helped me find two replacements for the no shows. After a little chat with him about this class we headed off upstairs and we went to Jorge room and he seemed somewhat interested, but with a little encouragement from Victor he agreed to it. After the interview with Jorge I decided to find another one and with the help of Victor again he found Yei and she seemed more than willing to participate with my interview.
I conducted my third interview on Saturday the 14th. I started it almost immediately after my one with Jorge. After talking with Yei she about jumped out of her room ready to be interview so we went to the lounge to do the interview. Her interview was very fun because she would talk and talk and talk. Sometimes when she wouldn’t know what I was trying to ask her she would start to talk and then stop and ask what I meant. So the interview took a little long than planned because of having to stop and restated the questions.
I interview Yei. She was from South Korea. She came to the U.S. when she was younger and then decided to go to school here. One of her teachers recommended SCSU so she decided to try it out. This was her second year here at State. She is going for a physical education major. She told me that in order to get a job in South Korea most jobs need a master’s degree, where here in the U.S. we only need a bachelor’s degree for most jobs. Her father back I South Korea is a University Professor and he really wanted here to get a degree, and he told her that by getting schooling here in the U.S. will up her chances of getting a job. The job that she wants in South Korea only 3-5 people a year get picked for the teaching position that she wants. Over 40% of people graduate from the universities in Korea that makes for a lot of people apply for the same jobs. So by studying here this kind of helps her get the edge in the business world.
While I was interviewing her she kept referring to how she was finding it hard to make friends here in Minnesota, but when she was in Georgia it was not a problem at all to make friends. One thing after another she kept referring to it and I tried to tell her that most people here in Minnesota would be more than willing to help her out or anything that she needed. Another thing that surprised was that how good her English was even though she thought she was terrible. She just seemed so sad, but she told me she used to be very outgoing and almost crazy. After interviewing her a while I could see that. I figured that’s why she just loved that the fact that I was interviewing her. She just lit up and was talking away like she was talking to her family that she hadn’t seen in a year. I just couldn’t believe she didn’t have much for friends here. She was really friendly so that seemed to be a strange occurrence, not having friends. Each answer that she gave was very in depth and detailed. After explaining a few she would just talk. It was really fun, but sad to listen to how she would have to struggle back home to find a job, but would lack friends and a social life if she stayed here.
In 1953 South Korea became official. The original country of Korea was split on the 38th parallel. In comparison South Korea is about the size of Indiana. They have a temperate climate but in the summer has a long rainy season. The terrain of South Korea is very hilly with very rough terrain. Less than 20% of the land can be used for farming. They also have several issues with natural disasters like Typhoons, floods, and earthquakes. Due to lots of large cities there is a lot of air pollution resulting in acid raid. (1) They also have issues with water pollution due to the disposable of sewage into the water. Netting fish is also become a problem due to the mass amounts of fish that can be harvest at one time. With the population of 47 million that means it very densely populated. (2)
Korea is one of the most homogeneous countries in the world. They also have one of the most technologically advanced societies as well. (2) They have the 12th largest economy in the world. They use the Won as their form of money. The life expectancy is around 78 years old. Almost 98% of the population is literate. Another thing that Korea does is it spends almost 5% of their GDP on education, which the Koreans think is super important.
The government of Korea is a republic but has a lot of influence from the U.S. They gained their independence from Japan in August of 1945. Their national holiday is to celebrate that day on august 15, to celebrate liberation day. They have a 3 branch system just like the U.S. The Unemployment rate is only 3.2% which is very low it’s the 37 country with the lowest.
Chris: Where are you from and what is one thing we would find interesting about your country?
Y: I’m from South Korea and maybe that we are the only nation divided in half?
Chris: Why did you decide to come to America?
Y: Oh that’s a really tough question! I really wanted to go to Germany because my major is physical education. I wanted to go to Germany to learn German and to learn about a different culture than South Korea. But actually English is a very important language to learn overall in society so I had to learn English first. Currently the U.S. is the number one place to go for physical education majors so that was the second reason and I also wanted to go to graduate school in the U.S. so that is the third.
Chris: What were your expectations when you arrived here?
Y: I thought that I could make a lot of American friends because it’s really easy to make American friends in South Korea because they are they minority you know. But here it’s not actually that easy.
Chris: So are you still meeting new people then?
Y: I rarely have the opportunity to meet new people. I lived in Georgia when I was really young like maybe 13 but here in Minnesota its way more difficult to make American friends. It’s really hard to even approach them. All of the international students I have talked to have said that its really hard for them to make American friends too.
Chris: Have you ever heard of the term Minnesota Nice?
Y: Oh no I have never heard that before!
Chris: Yeah supposedly Minnesota is supposed to have very friendly people. So that surprises me that you have had troubles with it.
Y: Oh really? Wow!
Chris: What made you decide to come to SCSU?
Y: Well my professor recommended SCSU for me because I am an Education major. SCSU has one of the best programs for education majors so I thought maybe I could learn more here.
Chris: So what is the thing that you miss most being away from home?
Y: Food! I miss food and I miss people. There are so many relationships I have in Korea that I really miss. And especially the weather, the weather here makes me depressed.
Chris: Oh yea that is what my other interviewee said too!
Y: Oh really?
Chris: Yeah.
Y: And I’m also from a big city in Korea so I’m used to a much more dense populations than here. In Korea there are so many sky scrapers and so much to do, but here there is nowhere to play… nowhere to go.
Chris: Yeah St. Cloud is kind of boring! But what is the political structure of South Korea?
Y: It’s like the perfect democracy compared to the North and its very similar to the U.S. We were very affected by the U.S. after WWII so it’s almost the same as here.
Chris: So does everyone there like the political system?
Y: Yeah, I guess a lot of people do but not everyone likes every specific policy that the president makes but it’s mostly good.
Chris: Is there equal rights there between everyone?
Y: Sure there are equal rights, absolutely.
Chris: Is there any differences in the academic environment?
Y: Yes, until ten years ago we had 40 students in every class so you couldn’t even ask questions because there were so many people! It was a very ineffective system. But now we are learning a lot from the U.S. So we have like 36 students in each class in elementary school. The education system is really improving. Even though our country is only about the size of Florida the educational budget is enormous because being educated is the highest social standing. Even though we are densely populated it’s important to teach everyone.
Chris: Would you say that is the main focus of your government?
Y: Yeah, absolutely. Education is very important to Koreans. Over 40% of Koreans graduate from universities. Many of them come to the U.S. when they are young and do well with it. Everyone is crazy about education there.
Chris: So do you think the U.S. should be putting more money into education and not so much into the military?
Y: Well since it is one of the highest social statuses in international relations it is probably necessary for the money to go to the military to keep everything safe but I’m not really familiar with that so much?
Chris: So what was the reaction of your family members when you told them that you were coming here?
Y: Oh, actually the supported me to come here. My father is a professor at the University of South Korea and the reason why I came here when I was young to Georgia was because the whole family followed him here for a while. My mother is also an elementary school teacher in South Korea so they think English is the most important foreign language for Koreans and they think that academic successes is very critical in Korean society. It’s also important that I go to graduate school and the ones in the U.S. are supposed to better so they supported me coming here.
Chris: Do you feel the professors here are willing to help you enough being that English is your second language?
Y: Sometimes yes and sometimes no. What my international friends say is that many professors are eager to help them. I on the other hand am taking one political science class that the professor is not willing to provide me with any extra help even though I have language barriers that make it hard sometimes especially when talking in academic terms. Every single class period is full of tons of vocabulary I don’t know so I need extra feedback and support to do well. It’s hard to learn sometimes when you have to look so much up in the dictionary, but a lot of professors are very helping and supporting. Some will e-mail us the days lecture so we can re-read it but some say you came to the U.S. so you need to cooperate with the U.S. system.
Chris: Yeah my other interviewee mentioned that he has a student that helps him out in one of his classes do you have any American students that help you?
Y: No I don’t but I think my personality really changed since I came here I’ve become very afraid to ask for help when I need it. I’m afraid they won’t be able to understand me.
Chris: I don’t think you need to be scared I think most people would be willing to help you out.
Y: Really? Well that’s good.
Chris: Do you think that your opinion about the U.S. has changed a lot since you came here?
Y: Yes a lot. The U.S. I experienced when I was young is very different than the U.S. now.
Chris: When you were little in Korea what did you think about the U.S.?
Y: I thought people would be super friendly and eager to help international people. In Korea its mostly only Koreans so if you told your parents you were going to marry a foreigner they would think you were crazy or insane. We don’t have much diversity in Korea so I thought that the U.S. would be really diverse and very welcoming to people from other countries.
Chris: Do you think you will be able to use the skills you have learned here when you are back in Korea?
Y: Yes I think so.
Chris: Is there a lot of job opportunities for physical education teacher in Korea?
Y: No it is a very competitive field and not many people get hired.
Chris: So where do you see yourself in 20 years?
Y: Well, I guess maybe I will stay here in the U.S. and be going to graduate school or have a job here. I want to live here.
Chris: Well that is all I have for you do you have any questions for me?
Y: What class is this for again?
Chris: The core English 191
Y: Oh I see.
Chris: Well thank you!
Bibliography:
(1) https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ks.html#top
(2)http://www.prospects.ac.uk/cms/ShowPage/Home_page/Explore_working_and_studying_abroad/Country_specific_information/South_Korea/country_overview/p!emljbk#Culture
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