Prep for the third interview.

For my third interview I chose to ask my friend Mohommad if he would be willing to be my interviewee I had already met Mohommad at a party last year so we knew each other. I asked him to meet me in atwood on a Saturday so that there would be less distractioins for us both. He agreed and we set a time. I brought him over and explaind that I was going to record our conversation so I could typ it up later he said that would be ok. I gave him a list of the questions to look at and we started the interview.

Transcription of the third interview.

Tell me a little about yourself and your home

My name is Mohammad I am from Saudi Arabia from the capital city…

What’s the name of the capital?

It’s called Riyadh…I have three brothers and one sister and I am in the middle

How is the education system in Saudi Arabia?

Here is better back home they teach us and we have to do what they did the same way otherwise it is wrong here there is more freedom to be creative.

Are the grade separations the same like first second third?

Yes yes they are the same as here

Did you come straight here after high school?

No I got a degree in Saudi Arabia first

In what

Electrical engineering then I took a one year English class and then moved here to st cloud

What are you studying here?

Electrical engineering I want to get a bachelor degree

Any difference in how a man and a woman contact each other

Yes. A woman cannot come with a man unless they are family it is religion based so they don’t allow a man and woman to be alone together

What are weddings like?

It depends where you are from if you’re from the cities then it’s very much like it is here but if you are from the small villages the weddings last much longer. And no alcohol is allowed

What do they wear?

They wear the Saudi custom and the woman wears a dress like here

What are some religious or cultural customs?

Men are allowed to wear whatever they like where a woman must cover herself.

Do you have different rules of eye contact or body language?

Yes like I said before a man and woman are not allowed to be alone together or touch in ways that could be inappropriate

What is your favorite music?

I like hip hop music the kind they play on the radio

Do you think your sibling would like coming here?

No I think they are still too young and they would not enjoy it like I do

Do you have any questions for me?

No.

Country report.

Saudi Arabia occupies most of the Arabian Peninsula, with the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba to the west and the Persian Gulf to the east. Neighboring countries are Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, the Sultanate of Oman, Yemen, and Bahrain, connected to the Saudi mainland by a causeway. Saudi Arabia contains the world's largest continuous sand desert, the Rub Al-Khali, or Empty Quarter. Its oil region lies primarily in the eastern province along the Persian Gulf.

Government

Saudi Arabia was an absolute monarchy until 1992, at which time the Saud royal family introduced the country's first constitution. The legal system is based on the sharia (Islamic law).

History

Saudi Arabia is not only the homeland of the Arab peoples—it is thought that the first Arabs originated on the Arabian Peninsula—but also the homeland of Islam, the world's second-largest religion. Muhammad founded Islam there, and it is the location of the two holy pilgrimage cities of Mecca and Medina. The Islamic calendar begins in 622, the year of the hegira, or Muhammad's flight from Mecca. A succession of invaders attempted to control the peninsula, but by 1517 the Ottoman Empire dominated, and in the middle of the 18th century, it was divided into separate principalities. In 1745 Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab began calling for the purification and reform of Islam, and the Wahhabi movement swept across Arabia. By 1811, Wahhabi leaders had waged a jihad—a holy war—against other forms of Islam on the peninsula and succeeded in uniting much of it. By 1818, however, the Wahhabis had been driven out of power again by the Ottomans and their Egyptian allies.

The kingdom of Saudi Arabia is almost entirely the creation of King Ibn Saud (1882–1953). A descendant of Wahhabi leaders, he seized Riyadh in 1901 and set himself up as leader of the Arab nationalist movement. By 1906 he had established Wahhabi dominance in Nejd and conquered Hejaz in 1924–1925. The Hejaz and Nejd regions were merged to form the kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932, which was an absolute monarchy ruled by sharia. A year later the region of Asir was incorporated into the kingdom.