Karim Aboushady...an interview

Transcript

Name: Karim Aboushady

Country: Egypt

Age, gender, marital status: 20; Male; Single

Family details: Karim’s mother, father, uncle, brother and sister are all in the United States. His other sister and the rest of his family still reside in Egypt.

Native Language: Arabic

Occupation: Karim currently works at Starbucks and he is also attending Wake Technical Community College.

Path to Coming Here: Karim’s father and uncle came to the United States in 1977 for college. His father moved the family to the United States in 2000.

Goals/Intentions/Dreams: Karim’s current dreams are to own his own Hookah bar. If he doesn’t do that he wants to be a wholesaler.

Life before and after: Life in the United States as far as living conditions go is much better for Karim. When asked specifically what is better he answered “Everything.” He also told us that Egyptians who were educated in the United States got more respect and better jobs than people educated in Egypt. Karim said that he misses the strong sense of community that he had in Egypt. He also said that Egypt is more fun than the United States is and there was more stuff to do in Egypt.

Challenges: The challenges of living in the United States are the people, individual community, and Language.

Acculturation: Karim says that he has taken the things he likes about each culture and put them together. At home his family still keeps their traditions, but Karim also enjoys activities that other Americans would.