Korean M183
January 30, 2003

Interview Transcription

Interviewer: Robert Chun
Interviewee: Mike Ahn

Robert: Hi my name is Robert and your name is?
Mike: Michael
Robert: Uh, I’m trying to do this interview for UCLA are you willing to participate in it?
Mike: Sure
Robert: Uh O.K.
Robert: Are you Korean by any chance?
Mike: Yea, I am
Robert: Were you born here or in Korea
Mike: Here
Robert: Have you ever been back?
Mike: Yea I’ve been back
Robert: When was uh…when you go back last?
Mike: Uh a month ago
Robert: In the winter?
Mike: Yea
Robert: Was it Cold?
Mike: Uh
Robert: I heard it was snowing?
Mike: Well I wasn’t there when it snowed
Robert: Um…Is most of your family here or in Korea?
Mike: Pretty much their, I both places, here and there.
Robert: Uh ok, I was wondering, if you’ve ever been to a dol celebration for the 1 year birthday part
Mike: Yea I have
Robert: Oh who’s did you attend
Mike: Its was my cousins daughter
Robert: And her name….
Mike: Kaila
Robert: Kaila huh
Robert: How old is she now
Mike: She’s about 1 in a half years old
Robert: When was the dol?
Mike: uh half a year ago
Robert: Do you know like what season it was on
Mike: I think it was fall
Robert: Fall…do you remember her birthday
Mike: No… (giggle)
Robert: Um...do you remember like the people that were there, was it just family or
Mike: Just family and friends
Robert: Nobody like out of the ordinary or
Mike: Um not really
Robert: So you knew most of the people there at the dinner
Mike: yea on my cousin’s side but not the husband’s side
Robert: So is it your moms side or
Mike: My dads
Robert: It was your dad’s side
Mike: yea
Robert: O so what kind of food did you guys eat there
Mike: It was just like a buffet kind of thing with a Korean food
Robert: Was it at a restaurant or at your house?
Mike: A restaurant
Robert: Do you remember the restaurant
Mike: No, I don’t
Robert: So do you remember the type of food you guys ate?
Mike: Korean-Chinese thing like…like there is sushi and stuff like that
Robert: So there was Japanese food also and Chinese
Mike: Yea, but more like a Korean style. Instead of like Japanese or Chinese style
Robert: So you guys didn’t have anything like Galbi and Kimchi
Mike: Yea we had that
Robert: So it all mixture of foods…Galbi. That sounds pretty good
Robert: Um… did you guys have the traditional Korean style dol or was it sort of like a fusion of American and Korean or…
Mike: I think it was more of a fusion like it wasn’t like traditional all out
Robert: So what did he wear at the dol… the baby… or it was a her right
Mike: The baby wore a hanbok but
Robert: Oh did you guys do the part where the baby grabs the object
Mike: Yea, she did something really weird, she grabbed like a cell phone but that wasn’t suppose to be there but she just grabbed it and then
Robert: How interesting… well, do you remember what was laid out for her.
Mike: I thin like a pencil… Uh I’m not sure I just remember she grabbed the cell phone
Robert: So
Mike: Yea I don’t remember….
Robert: Papers
Mike: I don’t know I don’t remember
Robert: Uh ok that’s fine
Robert: Um do you remember how the weather was like that day or
Mike: It was just nice night
Robert: It was at night time
Mike: Yea
Robert: It was just a regular like California night
Mike: Yea
Robert: Ok…..uh….do you think it was like the dol was different from if they would have had it in Korea then it was here in America
Mike: Yea, I think it’s a little different. I went to one in Korea and then they did it more like more traditional.
Robert: Like bowing and
Mike: Any like yea….stuff like that…different
Robert: Was it not just like as serious or what was so different?
Mike: I guess it’s more of the people their a younger crowd, than in Korea there all like older so….tradition
Robert: Uh…why do you think the baby grabbed the cell phone? ... its interesting
Mike: Ever since she was little she liked like wheels anything that has to do with technology…yea… her dads an engineer so maybe that has to do with it.
Robert: Oh interesting…hmmm…so was there anything else that was special?
Mike: Yea, like compared from Korea and here they had like a this PowerPoint presentation going on, where they showed pictures of her birth, how she grew up, and how they just…had pictures.
Robert: Instead like putting it in a photo album they put it in the computer.
Mike: It was like a projector…
Robert: All high tech…that pretty cool
Robert: So how about the kind of people you said you knew…some of the people there… and you knew most of the people there on the father side…who attended like your friend, your cousin, your grandmother, your grandmothers friends, your aunts friends friend…
Mike: Yea like aunts and uncles and cousins mostly, and I met some of her husbands
Robert: Side
Mike: Family
Robert: Cool, so do you think they are gonna…if they had another kid do it the same way or they gonna be more traditional about it or
Mike: I don’t know
Mike: Uh probably do it the same way because…yea
Mike: Well the husband was born and raised here
Robert: Uh…so they have more of an American tradition
Mike: Yea, he can’t speak Korean that well but…I mean he speaks pretty well but not really…totally
Robert: So he sort of like me…Korean but can’t speak it well and likes the Korean traditions
Mike: Yea
Robert: Um do you remember anything out of the ordinary, what was funny, what was weird…
Mike: Uh not really
Robert: I have a curious question…do you know how to speak Korean or
Mike: Yea
Robert: Do you watch any of those Korean dramas?
Mike: Yea
Robert: What kind do you watch…I watch a few too
Mike: Uhh
Robert: Do you watch like New Nonstop…like dramas or shows and they also have have those music videos my Dad watches a lot.
Mike: Yea, I watch both like once in a while
Robert: So your very into the Korean culture?
Mike: Yea, I guess
Robert: Do you like Korean food?
Mike: yea
Robert: Do you do any Korean stuff like go to Norebang or
Mike: I used to in high school
Robert: How old are you now, if you don’t mind me asking
Mike: 21
Robert: Your 21…cool
Robert: Alright thx for the interview
Mike: No problem
Robert: Ok thanks
Mike: Bye…