Third Interview and Transcribed

Sarah Nelson

English 191 Section 21

In preparation for my interview with Paul Gerstner, I wanted to make sure that I was prepared. To make sure that I was prepared I did research on his country South Africa, I did an outline on the objectives that I wanted to know, and also prepared the questions that I would ask him prior to the interview. I not only wanted to be prepared but I wanted my interviewee to be prepared as well so I emailed Paul the questions prior to me conducting the interview. The objectives I wanted to get out of interviewing Paul was to learn about him and his perceptive on his country, South Africa, and his perceptive about the United States. When it came time to decide where the interview would take place, Paul and I emailed each other back and forth and decided the interview would take place on November 6 at 8 PM, at his home. The reason the interview was so late is because Paul is a family man, and his weekends are for his family. I was very thankful that Paul took time out of his family life to let me interview him. When it came time for what kind of device I would use to record the interview I used a small recording device that I purchased at Best Buy.

Finding out that I was going to have to interview three different people that are international students to whom go to St. Cloud State University was nerve-racking for me. I am uncomfortable with having to approach random people that I do not know and ask them randomly if I can interview them because they are an international student and it is for an English project. I had told my Mother about my project and she brought up the idea that I interview three people that are international that work with her. I thought this was a fantastic idea because every other student in the class is going to be getting an international student’s perceptive; I thought it would be great if I were able to get an adult’s perceptive. To contact Paul, I received his email from mom, and began emailing him, asking him if he would be willing to let me interview him for a school project. Paul was more than happy to let me interview him. We set up an interview from there.

When it came time to determine, when, where and how the interview was going to be conducted, I first emailed Paul, asking if he would be willing to let me interview him for a class project, Paul was more than thrilled to help me out. Paul and I exchanged emails back and forth to figure out the best possible time and place to conduct the interview at. Since Paul is taking time out of his family life to help me, I wanted to make sure that I make it convenient for him. The best place was to have the interview conducted at his home, and the interview would be conducted on November 6 at 8 PM. The reason to why the interview was so late in the evening was because Paul is a family man, and the weekends are for his family since he works during the week. I conducted the interview by having the questions prepared before hand and Paul also had a copy of the questions, and before the interview I asked Paul if I would be able to record the interview. I recorded the interview with a small recording device that I purchased from Best Buy.

I conducted the interview with Paul Gerstner. Paul is from South Africa, and he lived in the town, Somerset West. Somerset West was named after a British General Lord Charles, in the 1700s. The town is near the ocean, Paul was all about the ocean, Paul was your typical surf boy. He loved surfing and everything about the life style. He was also interested in scuba diving. Paul went to the University for Military training, and graduated with an electrical engineering degree in the 1980s. After college Paul worked in an electronic manufacturing environment, and after that he worked off shore in the oil industry on oilrig. Paul did this for seven years. Then in 1999, he and his wife moved to the United States. Paul has a daughter who is thirteen years old and a son who is nine years old. His children have been to South Africa twice, and Paul has only been back once since he has been living in the United States. Paul and his family plan to remain in the United States and never plan to move back to South Africa.

The interview process for me was easy. What made the interview easy for me was that Paul was easy to talk to. He could understand me and I could understand him, which was very important. Paul, answered the questions the best that he could, with what he could remember, he hasn’t lived in South Africa since, 1999. I had a good advantage because my Mother helped me out with finding people to interview, I just had to contact them and set up the interview. I didn’t have to go around campus asking international students to let me interview them. The thing that impressed me the most about Paul’s interview was when he told me his favorite thing about the Unites States is the security. Paul said that when he went to a swimming pool area, they could all go into the pool and leave their things at their seats. In South Africa you cannot do that. People in South Africa cannot leave their things unguarded, Paul said someone would have had to stay behind and watch their belongings. I was also surprised to hear from Paul, that he has not made the decision to get citizenship; I was surprised to hear this because he has been in the United States for ten years, and he still is not sure if he will get citizenship. I couldn’t believe that not many Americans are in South Africa, from what I have heard and seen is that Americans like to travel so why not travel to South Africa. One thing that impressed me the most with the interview was that Paul really didn’t have any struggles; the main struggle for him was adjusting to the weather. The first winter, here for him was horrible, it was so cold. Also, another struggle for him was, the way we drive, Paul use to drive on the left side of the road, and the steering wheels were on the right side of the vehicles. Paul did move me during the interview; it was when I asked him his impression on Americans. He stated that he likes how Americans have a positive outlook on things. I am surprised to hear this with our economy being not the greatest, Paul still sees Americans with a positive outlook on life. The interview that I had conducted with Paul went very well, I was moved, impressed, and surprised all at the same time.

The country to where Paul is from is South Africa. South Africa is located at the southernmost region of Africa. South Africa has three capitals, Cape Town, which is the largest of the three, is the legislative capital, Pretoria is the administrative capital, and Bloemfontein is the judicial capital. The flag is yellow, black, green, white, blue, and red. The flag is represented for the culture of southern Africa, and the flag also represents that South Africa is a democracy. South Africa is a middle-income country, with an abundant supply of resources. There are eleven different languages in South Africa, Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Venda, Xhosa, and Zulu. Out of all the languages the three majors ones are Zulu, Xhosa, and Afrikaans. With South Africa being so diverse there is not a dominant religion, but the most popular religion is Christian. It can be argued that South Africa is a no, “single” culture of its ethnic diversity. The diet of South Africa is meat based, more like barbeque. One major problem that South Africa has is the spread of AIDS. Prior presidents have denied the problem of AIDS; they said the deaths of people were due to malnutrition. South Africa has since then recognized the true problem is AIDS, and is now working on it. I enjoyed interviewing Paul Gerstner and learning about South Africa, I hope to one-day visit.

Paul Gerstner Interview Transcribed

Sarah: What country are you from?

Paul: South Africa, near city Cape town

Sarah: What made you decide to move to the U.S.?

Paul: Company that worked for. Made us an offer to come over, so we decided why not.

Sarah: When did you move over here?

Paul: 1999

Sarah: What is the biggest struggle you have had while living here?

Paul: Probably the biggest thing was adjusting to the weather. Snow on the ground, driving in the snow

Sarah: Do you have any family that lives in the U.S.?

Paul: No

Sarah: Do you have citizenship?

Paul: Not yet, but we are permnant residents, the green card deal.

Sarah: Do you think you will get citizenship?

Paul: We really haven’t made the decision, but we are probably more than likely to do that.

Sarah: Was it difficult for you to learn the language?

Paul: English was the language grew up with. We never had an issue with it, but few words here and there. But very little language barrier.

Sarah: Was the language barrier hard for you?

Paul: No language barrier, came from an English speaking background.

Sarah: Do you miss your country?

Paul: Probably more than anything the family more than the place

Sarah: How long have you lived in the U.S.?

Paul: Since, 1999

Sarah: Are there other languages spoken besides the English?

Paul: Second language Afrikaans grew out of Dutch and German. That would be like learning Spanish here.

Sarah: What is the dominant religion?

Paul: White population Roman Catholic, Dutch Reform, I couldn’t tell you which one is the strongest, but these are the biggest.

Sarah: What is the attitude towards divorce?

Paul: Not too much different than U.S. much more common today, than my parents generations.

Sarah: What is the attitude toward drinking?

Paul: Not a lot different than seen hear. The last 20 years they have tighten, it is more frowned upon.

Sarah: Is the price asked for merchandise fixed or are customers expected to bargain?

Paul: Prices are fixed.

Sarah: What foods are most popular?

Paul: I am not probably very good at that area, similar to what I see here. BBQ, the normal home cooked meals.

Sarah: What things are unacceptable in your country compared to the US?

Paul: Tough one, I guess it kind of is, talking about 10 years ago, change to gender equality situation, more what it use to be like in the US 20 years ago.

Sarah: What is the usual dress for women? For men? For students?

Paul: Typically in South Africa most schools have school uniforms, but outside of school people dress like people do in the US.

Sarah: What are the special privileges of age and/or sex?

Paul: You are allowed to drink and drive at age 18, instead of 16 and 21.

Sarah: What are the important holidays?

Paul: Similar. Based on historical things, but with politics it has been altered, but you have like Holidays that signify Independence.

Sarah: What sports are popular?

Paul: That’s where it gets different main sports, rugby, soccer/football it depends is called both, but girls don’t play, cricket.

Sarah: How will your financial position and living conditions in the US compare with those of the majority of people living in your country?

Paul: Thing you have to keep in mind, that the population break down in South Africa is almost the reverse from here, the middle white class there is about 15 percent of the population if you just look at that, it is just like here, but a large element of the population of the culture and so on are not educated and a lot of poverty and that kind of thing, that is kind of difficult to compare to here, but you look at middle class that is just like here.

Sarah: What kind of local public transportation is available?

Paul: Do all classes use it? Similar to most areas, train services, bus services, taxi services. Only certain classes

Sarah: Do many people own cars?

Paul: Absolutely, middles class citizens, but lower classes citizens wouldn’t

Sarah: Is military training required?

Paul: It used to be, when I was growing up it was 2 years conscription system that fell away

Sarah: What is the history of the relationships between this country and the United States?

Paul: I don’t think there is much, South Africa had much more with England and European countries, never really a connection with US.

Sarah: Have many people emigrated from this country to the United States?

Paul: Don’t know, but what I could say, by far a larger percentage emigrated to UK or Australia, New Zealand, Canada, US is last. Mostly because the US is difficult to get into.

Sarah: Are there many American living in South Africa?

Paul: I would have to say no, in comparison to Europe, many tourists.

Sarah: What kinds of health services are available? Where are they located, near where people live?

Paul: Similar to what one has here. Located near where you live.

Sarah: Is education free? Is it required?

Paul: Required, wasn’t free, public schools even out what I have seen hear, you pay a school fee as what we call it but you would get a lot more of you school supplies.

Sarah: In schools, are children segregated by race?

Paul: When I was growing up that was the case, but that isn’t the case anymore.

Sarah: What kinds of schools are considered best: public, private, or parochial?

Paul: That is a tough one in a way, Catholic schools there were not that many, Private schools there weren’t very many and very expensive, many good public schools. Can’t say which is better.

Sarah: What are the important universities of the country?

Paul: 2 main, University of Cape town and University of Stellin Bosh

Sarah: Who is allowed to go to a university?

Paul: You would need to have certain education

Sarah: What would you say is the biggest difference between the two countries?

Paul: One thing for sure, South Africa is about the size of Texas, much less area and a lot less people, the biggest difference might be difficult to say because South Africa has such a mixture of different people, people would say South Africa is the Rainbow nation. Diversity is the biggest.

Sarah: Do you plan on ever moving back to your country?

Paul: I would have to say no at this stage. Our kids are already settled here.

Sarah: Do you have a lot of international friends?

Paul: I wouldn’t say a lot, but we know some people that did the same thing we did but went to different countries.

Sarah: How about American friends?

Paul: Yeah, we have met a lot of people in the last 10 years.

Sarah: Are there lots of opportunities to travel to other countries?

Paul: It is something that is more affordable.

Sarah: What do you miss most about your country?

Paul: Family, friends, I was big on the sports that one doesn’t have here. I have picked up on the sports here.

Sarah: What sport did you play?

Paul: Wasn’t so much that I played but followed, I focused on Rugby and Cricket.

Sarah: When you first moved here, what was the hardest thing to get used to?

Paul: Mentioned a little earlier was adjusting to the first Winter, we had right hand drive vehicles and here we have left hand drive cars so we had to get use to driving on the right side of the road.

Sarah: What is your impression of Americans?

Paul: One of the things that stands out, people have much more positive outlook on things, we come from a place where there were a lot of issues, and people weren’t positive, as one would see here. One of the main things that caught my eye.

Sarah: Do you like living in the US?

Paul: Yeah we do, Kids love it, this is their home, they don’t know anything else.

Sarah: What is your favorite thing about the US?

Paul: This might seem a little crazy, but when we lived in South Africa security was an issue meaning there was a lot of crime in neighborhoods, you would have to lock everything up, I remember here, going to a swimming pool area you could leave your things and know your thing would still be there, but in South Africa we would have to leave someone behind to watch our things.

Sarah: Have your kids ever been to South Africa?

Paul: I have been back once, and my kids have been there twice.

Sarah: How old are your kids?

Paul: Our girl is thirteen and our boy is nine.

Sarah: What’s your least favorite?

Paul: Sometimes notice people talk about Minnesota nice, but we notice people are superficial. I don’t know if I am putting it in the right way, but it is how you perceive things.