On the order form, I had to list 3 country preferences for my new friend. Of course, the company would try their best to provide me with my first choice but should they be unable to do so, they would choose my 2nd or 3rd choices...I don't remember what would happen if neither 3 preferences were feasible.
Anyway, at that point in time, I was very interested in all things American. So, needless to say, I listed the US as my first choice. And I was most delighted to receive an address for a girl in the US a few weeks later.
I still remember her name....it was Jenny. She lived in Indianapolis. She became my very first foreign penpal. We got along well & I naively thought that we would be friends for life.
But in the meatime, I was being drawn into the penpal craze that was happening in my school. So, I found myself ordering more penpals with my pocket money. In fact, it wasn't too long that I was harrassing my fellow schoolmates to order penpals through me so that for every 12 orders I placed with IYS, I would get 3 bonus penpals.
I soon ended up with a lot of penpals. But sadly, many of them soon lost interest in writing. But that didn't deter me from ordeing more. However, I soon stopped my fixation when I was swamped with school work. By that stage, I had left primary school & was in secondary school. I didn't have a lot of spare time to write endless letters. So, I began to choose among the remaining penpals I had...I still wrote to everyone who wrote to me but, as time went by, it became clear that there were a few who were constant & genuinely interested in maintaining a long-term friendship.
I used to check my mailbox daily with great anticipation. I always felt a thrill whenever I saw an air mail envelope sitting in my mailbox...I had to bug my mother for ages before she would permit me to have my own key to the mailbox.
But since the explosion of emails onto the scene, those letters have more or less stopped arriving via snail mail. My remaining penfriends have switched from the traditional way to the high-tech way of penfriendship.
I used to dread emails but now, have come to realise that emails aren't so bad. I no longer have to wait for weeks or months to hear from my friends. Now, it's only a matter of minutes. But of course, that doesn't really happen in reality. They still take some time to reply but, it's definitely a whole lot sooner.
Yet, I still miss the good old-fashioned way of penfriendship. Somehow, I don't quite get the same buzz of anticipation each time I get a new mail notification...I mean, I 'm still excited to receive new mail but....perhaps I'm just an old-fashioned girl at heart. :))
I honestly believe that it 's a lot nicer to receive letters or cards the snail mail way. It means that someone has taken the time & effort to send them to you...but with the busy lives everyone now leads, there simply isn't enough time for such niceties.
In my opinion, I think the new generation of penfriends are missing out on something. The feeling of being special. Maybe I'm mistaken but I think the convenience of email fails to make up for that special feeling we get when we receive a card in the mailbox from someone who has taken the trouble to go & buy a card & then to send it to you. I always feel a warm glow when I think about the extra effort that other person had put in to get that card to me. Perhaps many don't share my thoughts on this but, I still believe that emails & ecards don't really compare to the antiquated way of prenfriendship - handwritten letters & cards are so much more personal than emails & ecards.
Dont' get me wrong, I have a wonderful time selecting ecards to send to friends but, for really special occasions, such as a wedding or the birth of baby, I think the paper variety is a whole lot more significant.
Oh well. Perhaps with time, I will learn to be more comfortable with this evolution in penfriendship. Then again, who knows?? But for now, I still prefer to receive letters in my normal mailbox. It sure beats receiving bills!!!
