British Interview Assignement 3

As one of the assignments we were meant to interview someone to understand the British society a little bit better. So, I had the opportunity to interview Linda who works at the front desk of our Lovely Vandon House.
Linda has been in London for nine years after leaving her home in Mali, Africa. She is the only one who moved her because of her studies but she expressed how important her family is to her. Family is very important to her which also helps with her following of her Christian faith. She continued to express how important her faith is to her. Every Sunday you can find her at church, bringing herself closer to God. I asked her how she felt about how much marriage meant to her but she didn't really understand the question. So I asked her if two people could live together before getting married. She smiled and stopped to think about it. I could only imagine that she had been asking herself this question for awhile but after a moment to think she responded with the most confident voice she could muster. She explained that because of her beliefs that, no, you should be married before living with someone. She went on to explain that her beliefs are more important to her then anything else. I then moved on from the subject and asked her about her family and why she came to London.
It turns out that she came her to study and received a Bachelors in business administration but came alone. She is the fourth daughter in her family and the first to study abroad like she has. Linda said that she talks to her family all the time and are still very close, even with the distance. The only other relation that has made it to see her was her father.
I moved on to political matters and ask what she thought about the United States. She again smiled and began to try and pick her words carefully before blurting out, "I don't know much about the United States except for the news." Another moment of thinking led her to express that Obama is a good man and is leading the country well and that economically we aren't that bad. She said that the Nation seems to be in a state of improvement in comparison to its last president but she couldn't tell you why she thinks that. That subject didn't last long so on we went to her political in relation to the United Kingdom. She let out a laugh and said she didn't want to get in trouble for saying anything but the Queen is doing "very well." Her exact words were, "She is doing quite fine,doing her job well."Anyone could tell that she was choosing her words the best she could and I'm sure I must of done something to make her feel more comfortable because she began to talk about immigration in the country. The restrictions on the immigrants the come over for both education and work are ridiculous. She explained that you can only work 20 hours a week if you are going to school and for some who have to pay for it all themselves, it is very difficult. Also, with the recession going on there are so many unemployed that it is that much harder to find a job as well. Either way, it is not be handled very well at all, according to Linda.
I ended with asking her about what the differences were between here and her home. The only thing she could think of was the weather. "We don't have snow in Africa."