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A day in the life of the elderly This interview was done with the elderly, whose name is Jerry. Hes a white male, 72 years old. Currently he lives in the mountains of Utah. Before he lived in San Francisco, California. Jerry lives with his wife.
Her name is Ellie. Shes a little younger than Jerry. They have 2 children who are grown-ups and who have their own families. They live in different parts of the USA; therefore they see each other very seldom. Besides, his children work much and they have little time.
Jerry is a former teacher of computer sciences. He worked in school but his main income came from his properties. He owned some houses that he let for other people who paid him a rent. Also he had some income from stocks.
Jerry lived most of his life near Silicon Valley and his son worked in Microsoft Systems. Therefore, he saw the dawn of technology. Certainly, the technology was faster than Jerry and with time he understood that he is too old to follow all these modern technologies. However, he has a hobby. He likes photography very much and before the advent of digital technologies he enjoyed the usual photo camera. But when he first tried the digital photo camera he fell in love with it immediately.
He went to the courses of digital photography where the same old people as he tried to comprehend this new technology. Jerry learned much; in fact, he even learned how to process digital photos in Adobe Photoshop program. Another Jerry's hobby is traveling around the world. He visited many countries: Egypt, Turkey, Cyprus, France, Siberia, Ukraine and many other countries of the world. Sometimes his wife traveled with him and sometimes he traveled alone. When he traveled alone he didnt stayed in expensive hotels but tried to experience the life of local people.
For example, in Siberia, he stayed in the house of local teachers. He traveled there as a volunteer teacher and they welcomed him. He saw much new outside the United States. Now he sold all his properties and all the stocks. He and his wife Ellie have moved from San Francisco to the mountains of Utah. The point is that it is Jerry's homeland.
He was born here and he decided to spend the rest of his life here. However, he didnt give up all these modern technologies completely. He still takes pictures with his digital camera, he made a new DNS network in his house in the mountains, he remodeled his house and now it is comfortable place for living which has all modern conveniences including fast Internet. We pay so much attention to Jerry's life in order to understand the way he feels about his life.
Is he happy? What problems does he have? Who are his friends? Does he see his children often and if not is he upset about it? To answer all these questions we ask Jerry himself.
Question: Jerry, are you happy? Answer: Yes, I am. You want me to explain? Ok, Im an old man. I know that my life is going to its end. But Im not afraid of it.
I know that my life was as complete as it could be. Ive raised my children; they are raising their children (my grandchildren) now. I have everything I need: a good house, cars, computer with the Internet, my digital photo camera. Ive visited many countries and Im planning to visit some more. My wife loves me.
What else a man could want? Question: Jerry, do you understand younger people surrounding you? Do they understand you? Answer: Yes, I do. I understand that as they are young they have many problems love, money, et cetera. Many of them dont know why they are living.
But I understand that this comes with life experience. I understand much of what they are talking about because I like new technologies. Still, some there are some things that I dont understand. Is it about their language, slang? I dont know, maybe I dont understand some of those words. But I can catch the general idea.
Sometimes I dont understand why they say it. Maybe because Im too old. Im too old to understand their life stile. They listen to this modern music, rap or rock. I like classical music. Or when they talk about fashions.
I know this is important for them but for me it has no sense. For me, the clothing has to be clean and comfortable to wear. Sometimes I can understand when they talk about cars. My son has the best new cars, the Mercedes or BMW. But I have simple, inexpensive cars, easy to drive. Question: Jerry, do you have any problems in your life?
Do you feel lonely? Do you have friends? Answer: Problems? Who doesnt have them?
I have some problems but I wouldnt say they are too serious. Health is a constant problem for elderly people. But for all the problems there is a solution. I try to live a healthy life style, not to eat much. Lonely? Yes, sometimes I feel a little lonely.
I would like to see my grandchildren more often. When they send me a postcard for Christmas I wish they were here with me, or I were with them. Id like to visit them more often. But they live far away and the road is long. We live in the mountains and I dont talk much to the neighbors. Do I have friends?
Yes, I have many. But I dont see them much Fortunately, nowadays there is the Internet which makes the distances shorter and communication easier. I write e-mails to many of my friends. Im sending photos from all the trips Ive made. Many of my friends live abroad.
I met them when I was traveling. I have friends in Moscow and in Kiev. Some of them are young students. We exchange e-mails. They send me their photos and Im sending them mine. Also I have some friends on the Internet.
We play online bridge. I and Ellie, my wife, we are crazy about bridge. We even have our bridge club. Question: Jerry, could you describe one usual day in your life?
Not when you travel abroad, but usual day in America? Answer: No problem. Theres not so much to say. Usually I have some things to do.
As you know Im remodeling my house all the time. I do it myself. I have all the necessary tools and I buy good materials. Sometimes theres some work that I cant do myself. Then I hire workers, but I try do everything myself. My friends and neighbors know that Im good in computers and technologies so sometimes they invite me to repair something.
I can go and repair a printer that doesnt want to print or to repair their computer. All these things take time. When Im not remodeling my house I spend time with my computer. I try new programs for processing of the digital photos, learn new things. Or I just play bridge via the Internet.
The day is more interesting when Im traveling but I was asked to describe my usual day. Conclusion. After this interview I understood that not all the elderly people are alike. Some of them are very lonely; they lack both communication and friends. But some, like Jerry, preserve much energy.
They love life and although their children and grandchildren dont visit them much, they find some things to keep them busy. I found that elderly people are much wiser than young people. Still, they can be as curious as young people. Some of them enjoy new technologies, digital cameras, the Internet and many other things. The elderly like to travel much. In America, the majority of tourists are the elderly people.
In spite of the fact that the elderly people are all different, there are some things they have in common. They all have some problems with health. They all feel lonely, at least sometimes. They all would like to see their children or grandchildren more often. Still, I guess all these things can be the same for all people, not only elderly age group. We need to see each other more often.
We need to communicate more. Sometimes we dont understand each other although we speak the same slang language. And we must be proud of such elderly people as Jerry, who know much about new technology, maybe even more than young people do.
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