I am a beginner senior citizen
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Description
Book Introduction
- A word from MD
-
Don't be embarrassed by aging, be confidentWinner of the 10th Brunch Book Publishing Project Grand Prize.
After retiring as a teacher and moving into a silver apartment, he was not ready to call himself an 'old man'.
There, I imagine my future life as an older person, and come to terms with my fears and confusion about aging.
A book that will make the aging process we experience a little more familiar.
August 11, 2023. Essay PD Lee Na-young
10th Brunch Book Award Winner
“It was so weird at first.
“I’m old.”
Facing old age while still young
Pre-learning in old age for novice elders
When do you become elderly? Does turning 65 mean you're a grandparent? Or can the day you receive a "Free Senior Citizen Transportation Card" be considered the day you become officially recognized as elderly? According to a 2022 survey by the National Pension Service, the average age at which people in their 50s and older perceive themselves as "elderly" is 69.4 years old.
As such, 'being old' cannot be defined simply by administrative standards, and each person has their own story.
The first time I was offered my seat on the subway.
The moment I saw my bald head and distinct wrinkles on my face reflected in the mirror.
When you feel the limits of your physical strength while doing something that you used to be able to do easily.
It's a time when we hear one after another of the deaths of people our age, and death is a constant topic in conversations with friends.
This is a scene of the early stages of old age, where one repeatedly asks, "Am I old?" and then accepts it with a strange, "Am I old?"
Kim Soon-ok's essay, "I'm a Beginner Elderly Person," which won the 10th Brunch Book Award, is an honest memoir and a detailed observation of old age by the author in her 60s, who has just entered old age.
The setting of the essay is Silver Apartment, a customized residential complex for the elderly.
Silver Apartments, where the average age of residents is in the 80s, are the perfect place to live after retirement.
However, the author, who moved into a silver apartment simply because it was a new, cheap apartment, realizes that he is not yet ready to become an old person.
“The fact that my age is 60 and the realization that I am old are two separate issues.
I met my true self, a beginner silver, at Silver Apartment.
“Because the gap between thoughts and reality is so large, the confusion lasted longer than expected.” In the midst of the confusion of facing the reality of old age, the author imagines himself as an old man while eating, walking, and talking with the elderly people in the Silver Apartment.
It's a future most of us will face, but it's a pre-learning of old age that we rarely become accustomed to just by observing.
Among the 8,150 works submitted to the 10th Brunch Book Contest, "I Live in a Silver Apartment," a record of observations and complaints from someone facing "old age," stands out with its unique charm.
This honest confession from someone who faced old age a little too early, something they'd rather postpone for the distant future, is a story that's needed in the age of 10 million silver, but hasn't been told yet.
As a resident and observer, the scenery of Silver Apartment and the peaceful yet dynamic faces of the elderly people are unexpected and arouse curiosity.
"I'm a Newbie Old Man" is a story that combines the unfamiliarity and fear, self-mockery and pride of a "newbie old man" with the story of Silver Apartment. It is a story for "young old people" who have entered old age with similar confusion, and for all those who are curious about the journey of the third act of life that will one day pass.
“It was so weird at first.
“I’m old.”
Facing old age while still young
Pre-learning in old age for novice elders
When do you become elderly? Does turning 65 mean you're a grandparent? Or can the day you receive a "Free Senior Citizen Transportation Card" be considered the day you become officially recognized as elderly? According to a 2022 survey by the National Pension Service, the average age at which people in their 50s and older perceive themselves as "elderly" is 69.4 years old.
As such, 'being old' cannot be defined simply by administrative standards, and each person has their own story.
The first time I was offered my seat on the subway.
The moment I saw my bald head and distinct wrinkles on my face reflected in the mirror.
When you feel the limits of your physical strength while doing something that you used to be able to do easily.
It's a time when we hear one after another of the deaths of people our age, and death is a constant topic in conversations with friends.
This is a scene of the early stages of old age, where one repeatedly asks, "Am I old?" and then accepts it with a strange, "Am I old?"
Kim Soon-ok's essay, "I'm a Beginner Elderly Person," which won the 10th Brunch Book Award, is an honest memoir and a detailed observation of old age by the author in her 60s, who has just entered old age.
The setting of the essay is Silver Apartment, a customized residential complex for the elderly.
Silver Apartments, where the average age of residents is in the 80s, are the perfect place to live after retirement.
However, the author, who moved into a silver apartment simply because it was a new, cheap apartment, realizes that he is not yet ready to become an old person.
“The fact that my age is 60 and the realization that I am old are two separate issues.
I met my true self, a beginner silver, at Silver Apartment.
“Because the gap between thoughts and reality is so large, the confusion lasted longer than expected.” In the midst of the confusion of facing the reality of old age, the author imagines himself as an old man while eating, walking, and talking with the elderly people in the Silver Apartment.
It's a future most of us will face, but it's a pre-learning of old age that we rarely become accustomed to just by observing.
Among the 8,150 works submitted to the 10th Brunch Book Contest, "I Live in a Silver Apartment," a record of observations and complaints from someone facing "old age," stands out with its unique charm.
This honest confession from someone who faced old age a little too early, something they'd rather postpone for the distant future, is a story that's needed in the age of 10 million silver, but hasn't been told yet.
As a resident and observer, the scenery of Silver Apartment and the peaceful yet dynamic faces of the elderly people are unexpected and arouse curiosity.
"I'm a Newbie Old Man" is a story that combines the unfamiliarity and fear, self-mockery and pride of a "newbie old man" with the story of Silver Apartment. It is a story for "young old people" who have entered old age with similar confusion, and for all those who are curious about the journey of the third act of life that will one day pass.
- You can preview some of the book's contents.
Preview
index
Chapter 1: How I Got to Silver Apartment
Entering 9
Silver Apartment 15 instead of a country house
Come play at my house 20
Moving Rice Cake and Silver Siesta 26
This is apartment 31
Being Left Alone 38
Silver Restaurant and Rice War 46
Grandma's Gathering 51
Husband 58 joins a guitar club
Two Women in a Cafe 64
Restaurant Scene 70
Flower Couple 74
Let's put the apartment up for sale 79
Chapter 2: Residents of Silver Apartments
Silver only mountain 85
Age of death: 89
Desert Fox 94
Nationalism and the Beetle Debate 98
103 Dementia, but not dementia
Angels Live Here 109
Autumn Foraging Activities 115
Young and pretty woman 120
Chiffon dress for grandma 126
Paper Boat 130
Tenant 134
Preparing to Break Up 142
Be sure to come back again 146
Did you leave there? 153
Chapter 3 At the beginning of the Silver Age
Let Me Die 159
How to Become an Old Man 164
Painting a rented house 169
Free transportation card regret 175
Husband's Wig 180
I became the Mona Lisa 186
Playing 190
Old and young concessions 196
204 above the bungeoppang
Old Husband 211
Death of a Spouse 217
So-so gathering 224
After visiting a nursing home 232
240, becoming more and more like each other
How Retired Couples Live 248
Picnic 254
Going out 261
Entering 9
Silver Apartment 15 instead of a country house
Come play at my house 20
Moving Rice Cake and Silver Siesta 26
This is apartment 31
Being Left Alone 38
Silver Restaurant and Rice War 46
Grandma's Gathering 51
Husband 58 joins a guitar club
Two Women in a Cafe 64
Restaurant Scene 70
Flower Couple 74
Let's put the apartment up for sale 79
Chapter 2: Residents of Silver Apartments
Silver only mountain 85
Age of death: 89
Desert Fox 94
Nationalism and the Beetle Debate 98
103 Dementia, but not dementia
Angels Live Here 109
Autumn Foraging Activities 115
Young and pretty woman 120
Chiffon dress for grandma 126
Paper Boat 130
Tenant 134
Preparing to Break Up 142
Be sure to come back again 146
Did you leave there? 153
Chapter 3 At the beginning of the Silver Age
Let Me Die 159
How to Become an Old Man 164
Painting a rented house 169
Free transportation card regret 175
Husband's Wig 180
I became the Mona Lisa 186
Playing 190
Old and young concessions 196
204 above the bungeoppang
Old Husband 211
Death of a Spouse 217
So-so gathering 224
After visiting a nursing home 232
240, becoming more and more like each other
How Retired Couples Live 248
Picnic 254
Going out 261
Into the book
Silver Apartment was a different world.
Living in a silver apartment was more than just living in a place where old people live together; it was something that required preparation for something else.
I entered the world of Silver without any preparation or thought.
And so began a life of ups and downs and struggles.
Very quietly.
---From "Entering"
“Oh my, you came in early even though it was busy.
“Are you 60 now?”
The grandmother, who had a fairly upright posture and wore pale pink lipstick, appeared to be in her mid-80s.
A bright pink scalp peeked out through her permed silver-brown hair.
“Oh my, thank you.
I'm over 60.
“Grandma, you are really kind.”
As I sat down next to her, I looked at her hands and saw that each fingernail was painted with a beautiful color of nail polish.
The rainbow colors were so vivid that they reminded me of a queer parade.
Wow! I was amazed, and there was even a faint, luxurious scent coming from the grandmother.
I was curious about what kind of fabric softener she used, but before I could ask, my grandmother started.
“Now is the best time.
A young person is walking around looking cool.
Things get so pretty in no time.
Got it?”
---From "A Young and Pretty Woman"
It wasn't long ago that death became a topic of discussion at this gathering.
As the average age of the members reached 60, death became closer and more commonplace.
Over the years, we have experienced the deaths of parents, in-laws, and sometimes friends, but we have never had a member or their spouse die.
But now we all felt that the time had come to think concretely about not only the death of our friends and spouses, but also our own deaths.
“Dying is as natural as living.
“Nothing special.”
We all laughed silently at Jamsil's sudden words.
No, I wanted to laugh.
Maybe getting older was a pretty good thing.
It's not that death is something to be celebrated, but it's not something to be sad about either.
The fact that you can approach death quite specifically and even make plans.
That you can even say, 'Let me die.'
Of course, I know that not going as planned is death.
Anyway.
---From "Let Me Die"
That was when.
The man in front of me stood up rustling his feet.
I stepped aside, thinking he might get off, but the man pulled my sleeve.
“Please sit here.”
The pulling force was unusually strong.
I was forced into a seat.
“No, why?”
Those were the words that came out of my mouth.
What I meant was, if you're going to get off, get off gently. Why did you have to drag me to sit down?
"Do you know him?" I secretly looked at his face, but it was a man in his forties I had never met before, and he had clearly given up his seat to me.
I, who had never been offered a seat on a bus or subway, thought about a time when I had given up my seat.
In all cases, there was only one thing that applied to me now.
'Because I'm old?'
Living in a silver apartment was more than just living in a place where old people live together; it was something that required preparation for something else.
I entered the world of Silver without any preparation or thought.
And so began a life of ups and downs and struggles.
Very quietly.
---From "Entering"
“Oh my, you came in early even though it was busy.
“Are you 60 now?”
The grandmother, who had a fairly upright posture and wore pale pink lipstick, appeared to be in her mid-80s.
A bright pink scalp peeked out through her permed silver-brown hair.
“Oh my, thank you.
I'm over 60.
“Grandma, you are really kind.”
As I sat down next to her, I looked at her hands and saw that each fingernail was painted with a beautiful color of nail polish.
The rainbow colors were so vivid that they reminded me of a queer parade.
Wow! I was amazed, and there was even a faint, luxurious scent coming from the grandmother.
I was curious about what kind of fabric softener she used, but before I could ask, my grandmother started.
“Now is the best time.
A young person is walking around looking cool.
Things get so pretty in no time.
Got it?”
---From "A Young and Pretty Woman"
It wasn't long ago that death became a topic of discussion at this gathering.
As the average age of the members reached 60, death became closer and more commonplace.
Over the years, we have experienced the deaths of parents, in-laws, and sometimes friends, but we have never had a member or their spouse die.
But now we all felt that the time had come to think concretely about not only the death of our friends and spouses, but also our own deaths.
“Dying is as natural as living.
“Nothing special.”
We all laughed silently at Jamsil's sudden words.
No, I wanted to laugh.
Maybe getting older was a pretty good thing.
It's not that death is something to be celebrated, but it's not something to be sad about either.
The fact that you can approach death quite specifically and even make plans.
That you can even say, 'Let me die.'
Of course, I know that not going as planned is death.
Anyway.
---From "Let Me Die"
That was when.
The man in front of me stood up rustling his feet.
I stepped aside, thinking he might get off, but the man pulled my sleeve.
“Please sit here.”
The pulling force was unusually strong.
I was forced into a seat.
“No, why?”
Those were the words that came out of my mouth.
What I meant was, if you're going to get off, get off gently. Why did you have to drag me to sit down?
"Do you know him?" I secretly looked at his face, but it was a man in his forties I had never met before, and he had clearly given up his seat to me.
I, who had never been offered a seat on a bus or subway, thought about a time when I had given up my seat.
In all cases, there was only one thing that applied to me now.
'Because I'm old?'
---From "How to Become Old"
Publisher's Review
Introducing Silver Apartment
A place where three meals a day are provided and a dedicated passageway connects to a large hospital.
A place with all the facilities for hobbies, from saunas and gyms to baduk, table tennis, and guitar, all within the complex.
There is one condition for moving into this nice apartment.
He must be over 60 years old.
Silver Apartment, which is inhabited only by silver-haired old men, is like a giant senior citizen's home.
Every time I encounter slow, uncomfortable, old bodies, I feel as if their discomfort is my own.
The author eventually attempts to escape the Silver Apartment, but moving is not easy due to soaring housing prices and the COVID-19 pandemic.
During his two years and eight months in the Silver Apartment, the author glimpses the dynamism of the elderly's slow daily lives, the quiet passion and subtle vitality permeating the loneliness and comfort.
From afar, they all look like the same old people, but up close, they are all different.
There are grandmothers who come into the house unexpectedly on moving day, and there are also grandmothers who quietly leave vegetables they grew themselves in front of the neighbor's front door.
There is a grandfather who learns guitar while taking care of his sick wife, and there is a grandfather who is angry at the rising price of food and shouts out for struggle.
One grandmother shows off her bravery as a general catching bugs in the hills behind the neighborhood, while another shows off her graceful figure in a flowing chiffon dress with rainbow-colored fingernails.
He also never forgets to offer the heartbreaking advice that all old people are the same.
“Now is the best time.
A young person is walking around looking cool.
“When things are this pretty, they pass by quickly.”
At the beginning of the Silver Age
If parts 1 and 2 of "I'm a Beginner Old Man" are records of adaptation and observations in a silver apartment, part 3 is a memoir in which the author, who has just entered old age, honestly and cheerfully describes his daily life.
On the subway, at the photo studio, in the midst of ordinary days with her husband and conversations with friends, the author encounters her old self incessantly.
Life after retirement is challenging in many different ways.
“It is a life where I suffer from one or two illnesses, have a hard time with the occasional bout of insomnia, constantly question the meaning of my existence after I retire from work and my children become independent, and sometimes despair and then console myself.”
But I don't hate the sight of myself growing old.
Because I am at an age where I can talk calmly about death with friends I have known since I was young.
Because I am at an age where I can literally understand the metaphor that 'life is a picnic'.
“My story is probably similar to that of the first generation of baby boomers.
When I tell the story of growing old as one of those many baby boomers, it's because of my silver friends somewhere who will agree and say, "Oh, I see."
We don't grow old alone.
How precious are the companions who accompany us on our final journey in life.
I hope that these stories, which are so trivial, will bring a somewhat familiar future to those who have just entered the silver age.”
The author calls the baby boomer generation, just entering old age, as the readers of this book.
"I'm a Beginner Elderly" is a record of growing old for those who are still unfamiliar with the word "old age" and for all those who watch and support the beginning elderly who are their parents and seniors.
Author's Note
The writings in this book are my grievances and observations as an old person entering the world.
It was the beginning of the final journey of life, a journey that one cannot easily become accustomed to just by observing.
Although there may be individual differences, the silver period that must pass before death is longer than any other life cycle.
I now realize that I needed comfort and empathy to get through that long time, and writing was one of the ways I found that.
I hope that silver people, especially those who are just starting out in the silver age, don't get confused like I did.
Stay calm and confident until the end.
A place where three meals a day are provided and a dedicated passageway connects to a large hospital.
A place with all the facilities for hobbies, from saunas and gyms to baduk, table tennis, and guitar, all within the complex.
There is one condition for moving into this nice apartment.
He must be over 60 years old.
Silver Apartment, which is inhabited only by silver-haired old men, is like a giant senior citizen's home.
Every time I encounter slow, uncomfortable, old bodies, I feel as if their discomfort is my own.
The author eventually attempts to escape the Silver Apartment, but moving is not easy due to soaring housing prices and the COVID-19 pandemic.
During his two years and eight months in the Silver Apartment, the author glimpses the dynamism of the elderly's slow daily lives, the quiet passion and subtle vitality permeating the loneliness and comfort.
From afar, they all look like the same old people, but up close, they are all different.
There are grandmothers who come into the house unexpectedly on moving day, and there are also grandmothers who quietly leave vegetables they grew themselves in front of the neighbor's front door.
There is a grandfather who learns guitar while taking care of his sick wife, and there is a grandfather who is angry at the rising price of food and shouts out for struggle.
One grandmother shows off her bravery as a general catching bugs in the hills behind the neighborhood, while another shows off her graceful figure in a flowing chiffon dress with rainbow-colored fingernails.
He also never forgets to offer the heartbreaking advice that all old people are the same.
“Now is the best time.
A young person is walking around looking cool.
“When things are this pretty, they pass by quickly.”
At the beginning of the Silver Age
If parts 1 and 2 of "I'm a Beginner Old Man" are records of adaptation and observations in a silver apartment, part 3 is a memoir in which the author, who has just entered old age, honestly and cheerfully describes his daily life.
On the subway, at the photo studio, in the midst of ordinary days with her husband and conversations with friends, the author encounters her old self incessantly.
Life after retirement is challenging in many different ways.
“It is a life where I suffer from one or two illnesses, have a hard time with the occasional bout of insomnia, constantly question the meaning of my existence after I retire from work and my children become independent, and sometimes despair and then console myself.”
But I don't hate the sight of myself growing old.
Because I am at an age where I can talk calmly about death with friends I have known since I was young.
Because I am at an age where I can literally understand the metaphor that 'life is a picnic'.
“My story is probably similar to that of the first generation of baby boomers.
When I tell the story of growing old as one of those many baby boomers, it's because of my silver friends somewhere who will agree and say, "Oh, I see."
We don't grow old alone.
How precious are the companions who accompany us on our final journey in life.
I hope that these stories, which are so trivial, will bring a somewhat familiar future to those who have just entered the silver age.”
The author calls the baby boomer generation, just entering old age, as the readers of this book.
"I'm a Beginner Elderly" is a record of growing old for those who are still unfamiliar with the word "old age" and for all those who watch and support the beginning elderly who are their parents and seniors.
Author's Note
The writings in this book are my grievances and observations as an old person entering the world.
It was the beginning of the final journey of life, a journey that one cannot easily become accustomed to just by observing.
Although there may be individual differences, the silver period that must pass before death is longer than any other life cycle.
I now realize that I needed comfort and empathy to get through that long time, and writing was one of the ways I found that.
I hope that silver people, especially those who are just starting out in the silver age, don't get confused like I did.
Stay calm and confident until the end.
GOODS SPECIFICS
- Date of issue: July 14, 2023
- Page count, weight, size: 264 pages | 290g | 128*188*20mm
- ISBN13: 9788937426278
- ISBN10: 8937426277
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