Difference Between Kazakh and American Culture. Culture Shock
As my interviewee for the SIS #2 assignment I chose KBTU student Meruert Telman, who spent one academic year in USA through the FLEX exchange program. I chose her because, firstly, she is a friend of mine, so I could expect her to be honest and give detailed answers to my questions, and, secondly, her perception of the world is somewhat different from other people, maybe because she is partly German and it given her an opportunity to consider all cultures critically and from the perspective of another culture. During the interview, I wanted her to be relaxed and not distracted by anything, therefore I invited her to my home for a cup of tea, considering that the best time for a long conversation for Kazakhs is the teatime. I have prepared a list of interview questions based on material covered by this course, as well as the environment in which Meruert lived during her trip to USA, mainly asking questions on the subjects of host family, school and American culture in general. Here is the interview itself:
1) Where are you from? How old are you? Can you describe yourself in 3 words.
Meruert: I am from Uralsk, Kazakhstan. I am 19. Um, I think I am communicative, smart and fun.
2) Where have you been and for how long?
Meruert: I have spent one academic year in Florida, USA.
3) When you just arrived to USA, how did your host-family, and Americans in general, accepted you?
Meruert: My first impression was not very good, since my host family was late to the airport for almost 40 min, but afterwards they all seemed quite nice.
Comment: It’s quite not typical of the Americans, because they are very punctual. Perhaps this was due to the fact that the first host-family was Jamaican Americans.
4) What can you tell about your host-family? What amazed you the most? What did you like, what was strange for you?
Meruert: I had 2 host-families during the year. So in the first one the cultural difference was very extreme, since they were Jamaican Americans and everything
1) Where are you from? How old are you? Can you describe yourself in 3 words.
Meruert: I am from Uralsk, Kazakhstan. I am 19. Um, I think I am communicative, smart and fun.
2) Where have you been and for how long?
Meruert: I have spent one academic year in Florida, USA.
3) When you just arrived to USA, how did your host-family, and Americans in general, accepted you?
Meruert: My first impression was not very good, since my host family was late to the airport for almost 40 min, but afterwards they all seemed quite nice.
Comment: It’s quite not typical of the Americans, because they are very punctual. Perhaps this was due to the fact that the first host-family was Jamaican Americans.
4) What can you tell about your host-family? What amazed you the most? What did you like, what was strange for you?
Meruert: I had 2 host-families during the year. So in the first one the cultural difference was very extreme, since they were Jamaican Americans and everything