What do I think?

Average Jane* recently invited her readers to participate in The Interview Game. It sounded interesting, so I wrote her and asked to be included.Here are the questions she came up with for me, along with my answers:

1. What's the biggest culture shock experience you ever had when traveling abroad? The lack of quality French toilet paper aside, this was a hard question. Since I had been so involved in the Pakistani/Indian community prior to actually going to Pakistan, I wasn’t “shocked” as much as you would think – I already knew how to eat, act and dress – hell’s bells, I even knew how to pray in Arabic and speak a toddler’s version of Urdu. However, these are the things that came first to my mind when thinking about your question: 1) It felt bizarre be “different”. I was stared at wherever I went and received special treatment – some people treated me with a sort of awe (particularly in Peshwar and the mountainous regions). It was a REVERSE shock when I came back through Paris and realized with a start no one noticed me anymore. I had gone back again to being nothing special – just another white girl walking around; 2) The extreme differences between the social classes. I was staying with a comfortable middle-class family – but we spent a lot of time with their extremely wealthy family members. I went to a 3rd world country, yet experienced luxuries I had never seen before – an irony not lost upon me, either; 3) The abject poverty. You can see poverty on TV, but there is much more to just “seeing” poverty – there is an intangible smell and sound in shantytowns that just can’t be conveyed through a TV. Again, I had REVERSE culture shock when I came home and we were speeding down a major interstate to go back home. Everything was so NEW, CLEAN and FAST.

2. When is it better to buy a knitted item instead of knitting it yourself? Since it is rarely cost-effective to knit something myself, my rule of needle is “if it ain’t fun to knit, then it’s far better to quit”

3. What's your dream job and how likely are you to ever pursue it? Appropriate question since I am currently experiencing a career crisis. My dream job has always been to get a PhD in Linguistics or Anthropology. How likely? Not very, although I may be explore the linguistics/language option in the next 5 years. I certainly don’t want to stay in the IS field, that’s for sure. This is where being married to a foreigner comes in handy! At least I get a little of my passions in my everyday life.

4. Name something that's supposed to be fun that you absolutely don't enjoy doing. I have heard horrifying rumors that laying on a beach is supposed to be enjoyable.

5. What social or political issue concerns you the most? Another stumper. I am very concerned with the socialist slant many of our politicians have these days. We seem to be moving toward a government that wants to “take care of society” and that simply scares the bejesus out of me. In my experience, “Taking care of” also means “I can tell you what to do”.

If you'd like to play, too, here's how it works:
The Official Interview Game Rules
1. If you want to participate, leave a comment below saying "interview me."
2. I will respond by asking you five questions - each person's will be different.
3. You will update your journal/blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview others in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

*Blogger, in it's infinite wisdom, won't let me include the link to Average Jane in the actual post. I give up - please refer to my blogroll for the appropriate link.