What I've learn from the interview..?

2) In conduction your interview, are there things you noticed that could be used as evidence aside from the words the person said? Think about body language, emotions, gestures, clothing, the setting of the interview, etc.

Not only from the words the person said, we can tell by person's emotion ( Is that person tired from work? Is he upset? or is he not satisfied?) . Also, by the body language/gestures ( Is he uncomfortable about certain topic? Is he trying to look okay about it? Is he having pain from the work?).
For me, during the interview, I noticed that the person were suffering pain in her hands and shoulder from work. She tried to hide the pain but she was constantly rubbing her shoulder and hands. Also, for certain topic, she was very upset while explaining it to me. It is very important to understand what the person's saying to you as interviewer but it is also important to observe the person's condition/emotion.

bonus post: A stranger's touch.

I was glad to read this article since I'm interviewing the Nail Salon's owner. And I'm also working at the Nail Salon. It is true that there's thin border line between being personal and professional since worker has to work with customer one to one. I wouldn't say that work itself is hard but, dealing with the customer's feeling is definitely exhausting! Especially for those who can't speak English well has tough time to understand the customer's need and to respond accordingly. I have worked with many immigrant workers and they all agreed that there's not much of choices for them to chose for jobs. Working at Nail salon helps them financially and also to learn how to speak English, perhaps learn the American culture from the customers. It is also true that it requires long hours of work and can be physically demanding.

Research question

My research question is..

" What are the difficulties for immigrants to have their own businesses? how do they become part of the community?"

I'm still not sure how to address the research question. I would like to focus on how immigrants start their businesses in new environment and how do they associate with other immigrant workers.

what I think of the budget cut/ tuition hike..?

Truthfully, I didn't think that many people including students were involved in that hearing.
I was surprised to see that many staffs and students were there to discuss the issues and I also felt shame that I was not aware of those critical issues. Especially, tuition hike is very critical since many students including myself have to pay more!! It is already too much to pay the tuition and to buy the text books!
many of us come to community colleges in hope of continuing the education to senior colleges.
If tuition increases, it will definitely make everyone hard to afford the education!
Plus, with so many people coming back to school now.. we can not have more budget cut in our schools!! It is already short of staffs at our school!
what we need is more support in our school system!!

Research/ interview questions

I have decided to interview my family members including my mother who owns Nail Salon.
Since there's limited jobs that first generation immigrants to choose from, it's interesting to find out how they start in that field and how did they achieve to have their own businesses.
my questions will be...
1) how did you decide to work in that field ( Nail Salon)?
2) what are/is the most difficulties that you had to overcome?
3) how is it different from working for someone else to having your own business?
4) you have come from different culture, how does it affect your job and what are the conflicts?
5) Do you feel that you are more involve in your community since you're the business owner?
6) how would you describe your work days?
7) what are the disadvantages/ advantages of being immigrant and business owner?
8) What is your opinion on policies on business/sales?

post #5

Am I part of the global economy? how do I participate in the global economy?
I'm currently working at the nail salon, which is providing services for customers. However, all products that we use in our store are from all over the world. Some are made in China, Mexico, and India. Plus, as a consumer, I believe everythings that I purchased from stores (clothings, products for home, etc.) are made from different countries.
Even though I have known that those factories in poor countries are terrible, it was shocking to see that in the film Mardi Gras. How poor the working conditions are in those countries! For the consumer, it's better to purchase the cheaper products but what can be done to help those factories to improve their working condition? In order for those workers get higher wages, does that mean that we as a consumers has to pay more for the products?

What work is...?

Somehow that poem reminded me how my mother told me about work..
My mother didn't work after she got married, she stay home and raised us till we came to the United States. That's when she went to work. The work itself wasn't hard for her, she said, it was the language that she needed to learn. Every night after work, she would grab the book to memorise few words that she needed to know. But every times she tries to use them, she would forget everything.
She never told us how hard it was for her to learn a new language and work six days a week at same time. Just once she had told me, that there were days that she wanted to quit. At the end of her day at work, she would pack her belonging from the desk and thought that she will not go back. But when she came home and saw us, she knew that she needed that job.
I can only imagine how she felt through those days.
From her, I have learned to be responsible and to respect other people's work.