Bruno

Born in Germany, Bruno, 84, was a butcher like his father before him. He still lives in the same house he and his late wife shared for 50 years, and where they raised their two sons.

 

Bruno first came to the United States when he was 16 years old. After seven years, he returned to Germany, finally immigrating to the United States for good in 1954. But Germany is never far from his thoughts.

 

Two sisters still live in Germany, and he now uses the computer provided by the Virtual Senior Center project to communicate with them. Every evening, after watching the television news, he goes to his computer and calls up German news programming "to see what's going on over there." He also reads German and U.S. newspapers online, watches German soccer, and views photos of the German town where he grew up.

 

Bruno enjoys lively conversations with his Selfhelp social worker via webcam. He also sometimes watches or participates remotely in classes and activities at the Selfhelp Benjamin Rosenthal Senior Center such as tai chi, ping pong or dancing, and he hopes to use email and other text-based activities to improve his writing. What he likes best about the Virtual Senior Center are the discussion groups such as the current events and reminiscence groups, which are led by two Selfhelp Social Work interns. Here, Bruno is able to talk and share ideas and opinions with other seniors.

 

"That's really nice," he says. "I like the programs where you can talk to people, friendly people. I never knew such people existed."