I interviewed Sagun Dhaubhadel an international student from Nepal on Friday October 21,2011. The following is a transcription of the interview.
(T) = Tim; (S) = Sagun
(T) My name is Tim and I’m going to be interviewing you today, and I just wanted to be sure that I have it on tape that it is ok that I record this interview.
(S) Yeah that is ok
(T) Ok, well I just have a short list of questions.
(T) First, I want to thank you for taking the time to do this interview.
(S) Oh, no problem.
(T) Alright, What is your name?
(S) My name is Sagun. Last name is Dhaubhadel; it’s a long one right?
(T) Yeah, That’s a tough one.
(T) So, where are you from?
(S) Nepal. Do you want the city name too?
(T) Yeah, That would be great.
(S) Bhaktapur. So, this is the city and this is the country.
(T) Alright, So what is the weather like in your home town?
(S) Weather? It’s good. It’s not that cold, it’s not that hot.
(T) So, then you’re more in the central part of Nepal.
(S) Yeah.
(T) Could you tell me a little about your family? Like how many people are in your family?
(S) I have two brothers and one sister then my dad and mom, and that’s it.
(T) So is everyone still living at home?
(S) I have one brother that is over here and my sister and other brother are still at home.
(T) At what age do young people usually get married?
(S) Girls get married somewhere between 18 and 25. Boys… It’s pretty much the same too. But, most of the
boys get married between 26 and 27.
(T) After the women marry, what is their role in the family?
(S) Its changing now. Before they used to just live the life of a housewife taking care of the house and children, but now it’s changing. The women are going to work in offices now.
(T) So it’s ok for them to work outside the home?
(S) Yeah.
(T) So was that a gradual change or was it more sudden?
(S) I’d say in the last six or seven years it’s changed a lot.
(T) So I’m assuming that your mom was a stay at home mom when you were young.
(S) Yep.
(T) So is she still staying at home or has she decided to work outside the home?
(S) She’s still at home. The ones that stayed home earlier stayed at home. The new generation, the ones that are getting married now are the ones that go out and work.
(T) So do the older generations think this is strange?
(S) No, not really.
(T)Alright, what is a traditional food in Nepal?
(S) Rice and curry.
(T) So is the food generally spicy?
(S) Yeah its spicy, well it depends on the people. Most of the people from Nepal like spicy food.
(T) Do you have trouble finding foods that you like here?
(S) No, You can find it everywhere.
(T) That’s good, what is a type of sport in Nepal?
(S) We play soccer.
(T) Is there any particular sports that are more popular?
(S) We play everything except for baseball and American football. Yeah, those are the sports that we don’t play; besides that everything is popular.
(T) So in Nepal is soccer called football?
(S) Yeah, it’s called football
(T) That’s what I kind of figured. Yeah we kind of took the name and changed the game completely.
(S) Do you like football?
(T) Me, not really, but my wife does.
(T) If you had to come up with only one thing that made you proud of your country, what would it be?
(S) Mt. Everest.
(T) Have you ever been to Mt. Everest?
(S) No. It’s too far away, I live in the city, and it’s just too far away from where I live.
(T) So since it is the tallest mountain, can you see it from where you live?
(S) No, I can see all the different mountains, but not Mt. Everest
(T) Ok, So what places or sites would you recommend to tourists?
(S) Defiantly Mt. Everest is the first one. Then there are other beautiful places such as, Pokhara, Kathmandu, and Nagarkot. Those are all tourist sites.
(T) What about any places that are not so touristy? Maybe some places that the locals cherish, but the tourists may not go.
(S) There is a place in Bhaktapur called Portrait Square, where the local people do different things that I think tourists might enjoy, but it’s not that popular.
(T) So what kind of festivals do you celebrate?
(S) The one that we are celebrating right now is Dashain. It’s like 15 days, but if you count Tihar its 20, 5 days for Tihar and 15 days for Dashain. So when we’re celebrating that we fly kites cook a lot of food.
(T) So is that a real popular holiday?
(S) Yeah, it’s celebrated all over Nepal.
(T) Which festival would you consider your favorite?
(S) Yeah, there is one called Holi, where we throw water balloons at people.
(T) So you just go down the street throwing water balloons at random people?
(S) Yeah, it’s a lot of fun
(T) So when you celebrate the festivals, do people still go to work? What about the government?
(S) No, like the one we’re celebrating now, everything is closed for the whole 15 days and also for the five days for Tihar. The government doesn’t shutdown, but they go on holiday. It’s probably holiday for everyone.
(T) Is that typical for all of the festivals?
(S) This one is the biggest festival, and then there is New Year and a few of the smaller ones?
(T) So it’s generally the public holidays when everyone just stops and has a good time?
(S) Yeah, Well this one is a considered a religious holiday?
(T) So what are you celebrating?
(S) There is this god called Durga it took her 10 days to take over a devil. Then on the 10th day she kills the devil. So that’s why were celebrating that one. So it’s like celebration of victory I guess.
(T) So it was 10 days of battle, and then on the 10th day she wins, and then 5 days of celebration.
(S) Yeah. The two that we are celebrating this weekend are separate, but since we are outside we’re celebrating them together.
(T) A classmate was telling me about the festivals, so I wanted to ask about that.
(T) How would you say culture has influenced your people or family values?
(S) Well I grew up watching that culture and now that I’m over here, I find that I miss it a lot.
(T) So what is the clothing like?
(S) We wear the same things, but there are special occasions, like for this festival we would wear our national uniform. It’s not necessary that you wear it, but everyone just wears it.
(T) So is it more of a sign of respect?
(S) It’s not required, but people just do it. I think they just feel more comfortable.
(T) What are some things that you have noticed culturally different between the US and Nepal?
(S) Over here you can do anything, over there you can’t do everything.
(T) So what are some things that you couldn’t do in Nepal that you can do here?
(S) Well since my parents are not here, I can go wherever I want. I don’t have to come back home, but over there if I’m not home by 9:00 my parents start calling.
(T) Finally, how would you describe the education system in Nepal?
(S) There are basically two types of schools, one is government run and the other is private. The private ones are pretty good. The government ones, I would say do not have the proper teaching system I guess.
Ok, so in Nepal we have Plus 10 and Plus 2, like you guys have high school. The people from the private schools excel in the plus 10 test which is called SLC. The people from the government schools, some do well but most fail, so it takes them awhile to pass the test.
(T) So is the Plus 10 test required to graduate and move on to college?
(S) Yeah, So if you pass the test then you can go on for 11 and 12, because over there it breaks at 10, over
here it breaks at 12.
(T) So then is Plus 2 kind of like starting college.
(S) Yeah.
(T) So you mentioned that there are government run schools, what is the form of government in Nepal?
(S) Its monarchy over there.
(T) Well, We’ve worked through all of my questions.
(T) Do you have any questions for me?
(S) No.
(T) Well I just wanted to thank you again for taking the time to be interviewed.
(S) No problem.
After the interview he invited me to the Dashain festival on Saturday.
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