Imanuel was trained as a car mechanic in Rwanda and worked as such in Kigali for 4 years. He enjoyed his work and even now, among other things, cars are one of his main interests.
| IR: | If you have example… Things that you like here, things that you enjoy | |
| Imanuel: | Spaghetti | |
| IR: | Spaghetti? | |
| J: | American meals , yes | |
| Imanuel: | yes | |
| IR: | you like the food here? | |
| J: | yes | |
| Imanuel: | yes | |
| IR: | uh uh and | |
| J: | American dancing, he likes that. | |
| Imanuel: | yes xxx | |
| IR: | oh it must take some of your time | |
| Imanuel: | yes films, and American people | |
| IR: | you like American people here. | |
| Imanuel: | yes and the traffic | |
| IR: | traffic , I don't understand | |
| Imanuel: | oh cars | |
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The series of jobs Imanuel has had in the U.S have all related to cars in some way. His first job was part-time evenings and weekends in a gas station. The following four excerpts from Imanuel's classroom interaction illustrate different aspects of that job situation. The classroom activity focused on wh-questions and the present tense in the context of work (Click to View) (Requires Internet Explorer).
A common theme among the participants in this project is not being able to practice one's profession in the U.S. This has been a recurring theme for Imanuel as well which he expressed in home interviews in the following excerpts, the first, in English from March, 2004
| Imanuel: | And then the (+) something diffic- difficult for me to find second job. Here it's not easy. And then to find to find the job I was work in my country (+) it's not easy because I have to go back to school. | |
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and the second, in French, from March, 2006.
| IR: | but you prefer to work as a mechanic in a body shop | |
| Imanuel: | I prefer working as a mechanic, yes but here I can't do it it's complicated I must, I must enroll in a program, yes | |
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He expresses this dissatisfaction in the classroom as well as we see in an excerpt from the classroom in May, 2003 (Click to View) (Requires Internet Explorer).
He did, however, in his last interview (March 2006) stated that his present job as a painter in an autobody shop paid better than his mechanic jobs did in Rwanda.
Outside of the financial and personal satisfaction of work, Ismael comments on the different cultural expectations about work in one's life. In his in-home interview from 2004 he had this to say about work and the family:
| Ismael: | I I find job, (4) and there's something (5.0) and then (1.0) and my family life dif- di- di- dif- different in the United States, here they work too hard, | |
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