Interview #2

Yesterday afternoon, I went on my second interview with a woman that works at a women's shoe store in Oost (my new favorite part of town). We had a nice break between 2 and 5p so I thought that was the perfect time to go out on this interview. Yesterday afternoon when Shirley and I met up, we strolled around Oost, stepping into the shoe store, and the woman working there said to come back the following day and talk to her sister.

So, I sprinted out of class, grabbed my computer, and got on my bike to head out there around 2:30p. I arrived at the shoe store a lot faster than I had expected, it must have been because I am so excited to be making progress.

I walked into the store. The woman was busy helping a couple of other ladies so I explored the store. The store is mostly a shoe store with various Moroccan clothes in the back. After she finished with the customers introducing myself and explaining why I was there. She was very pleasant. I asked for her permission to record the interview and she happily agreed saying she has nothing to hide.

So the interview began and soon it turned into more of a conversation than an interview. We talked about everything relevant to this topic. She explained to me that she chooses not to wear a hijab because she is not ready to do. This women is about 38 years old and says at some time in her life she will be ready but isn't now. She was very interesting. She was a first generation Moroccan that moved to Amsterdam 30 years ago. The details of the interview should be up on the wiki shortly, most likely once I return from Paris because Shirley currently has the recorder and is transcribing her interviews/conversations.

Unlike my first interview, I really felt afterwards that what this woman told was actually how she felt about the topics instead of telling me what I wanted to hear. It was awesome. I hope to come back and see her again, as well as her sister.

The situation about these sisters is interesting. The older one wears a hijab. She is probably around 45 years old, and the younger one (38 yrs old) doesn't. They both said that they made their choice on their own, and nothing but their heart influenced them. One of the general ideas that I got from this interview is that some younger girls wear it to gain freedom from their parents and older girls tend to start wearing it when they get married either as a request from their new husband or for personal religious reasons.

Awesome interview. It totally motivated me to do more research. I want to talk to more people because I am getting different opinions from different people!