730 days later, over 120,000 viewed pages, more than 46,000 views of the Blog and visitors from 176 states/territories from all over the world have lead to the celebration of Penpalling & Letters Second Anniversary!
The past months have been prolific in the environment of Penpalling & Letters. We have built a nice community of letter-writers at the Penpalling & Letters Forum and at the Penpalling & Letters Facebook Group. We also have a support page at Google+ Penpalling & Letters G+, so feel free to join the one which fits your purposes better!
Thank you to all the P&L members/community for all this time spent together, to readers and visitors for participating, for the encouraging messages and the support along these two years and to the many lovely people I had the chance to meet!
To celebrate Penpalling & Letters Second Anniversary we are having a giveaway of some cute penpalling stuff you can see below!
How to enter this contest?
It is very easy! Just go on reading... The only imposition on my side is that any "anonymous" won't be taken into account. If possible "I would like to know you". How? Just sign with a Blogger, Twitter, Facebook... profile. Or at least, leave your name and tell me you are in Facebook, Twitter, any social network, website... If I cannot find you anywhere, I am very sorry but cannot take you in. I simply don't want to send a prize to a "ghost" if you know what I mean. This is what you have to do to participate:
Leave a comment in this post and tell me (remember to leave a way to contact you):
How did you start penpalling and got hooked in letter-writing? Please, don't write a few words as those won't be considered. I am asking for a little story about this event and the one I like the most will be the winner! So, take advantage of your penpalling-qualities and write a good one!
Please, notice that if you would like to participate in this contest, your reply has to be written in this post, under comments section. Comments in Facebook, G+ or any other place around the Internet won't be valid. Also, only one entry per person is allowed, so chances to get the prize are the same for all of you.
Everybody is welcome to enter, it does not matter where you are located, and if you feel like it, tell your penpals and friends as well. It is a good chance to get a cute set of stickers from P&L! Deadline will be the 1st February, 2012, at 00:00 GMT+1 Time Zone. The winner will be announced a few days later. Good luck to all participants and my wishes of a healthy and fabulous 2012 for everybody!!!
Hi there, my name is Annie Walton, i am 32 years old, how i started palling was through tiger beat mag when i was 12. And i still have my first penpal to she was 12 to. We stil keep in contact thru facebook. I currently have 15 pals, i love Letters very addicting i got hooked on them very young and it is the best hobby to have. It brightens my day to get Letters in the Mail. I stay in touch with my pals on facebook when i dont get the letterd they let me kno when they Mail it. Very exciting. currently lookin for more pals to. You can contact me via facebook or in email at amrbsb1@yahoo.com please put a subject so i wont pass it up if i am a winner!!!!tjanks so much
ReplyDeleteFriendship Day was originally promoted by Joyce Hall, the founder of Hallmark cards in 1919, intended to be the first Sunday of August and a day when people celebrated their friendships by sending cards. The first Sunday in August was chosen as the centre of the largest lull between holiday celebrations. Friendship Day was promoted by the greeting card National Association during the 1920s but met with consumer resistance - given that it was rather too obviously a commercial gimmick to promote greetings cards. By the 1940s the number of Friendship Day cards available in the US had dwindled and the holiday largely died out there. There is no evidence to date for its uptake in Europe; however, it has been kept alive and revitalised in Asia, where several countries adopted the tradition of dedicating a day to friends. Today, Friendship Day is enthusiastically celebrated in a number of countries across the world.[8]
ReplyDeleteIn honor of Friendship Day in 1998, Nane Annan, wife of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, named Winnie the Pooh as the world's Ambassador of Friendship at the United Nations. The event was co-sponsored by the U.N. Department of Public Information and Disney Enterprises, and was co-hosted by Kathy Lee Gifford.<
My name Is Audrey, I am a 49 year old alomost 50 married female for 22 years. I am from a small town in Pennslyvania called Castanea.
I began Penpaling In 2008. At which time I was home alone all the time and very lonely. I asked my husband what it was he did on the Computer all the time. He told he read alot of different things by google search. The next morning I got on the computer and found my way to google, and For some reason my first search was Penpalling. I love all my Penpals I have met from all over the world. I think that if it hadn't been for my pals I would be even more depressed today than I was then. They all have brought total joy and love and new meaning to my life. It's like they truly listen to me and understand me more than anyone else.
I am on Facebook as Audrey Smith Fenstamaker.
My address is Po box 191, Castanea, PA 17726.
Hello. My name is Sandra Bäckman and that´s also the name I use on facebook. I´m a true fan of penpalling and letters, although I still havn´t visited the forum regulair, but it´s my new year resolation. I´ve always been writing, poems, stories, articles, letters you name it...done that to. I usually joke and say I was born with a pen in my hand. As I was 5 years old and having English as my mothertounge even though I live in Sweden I started writing to my aunt in SriLanka. It continued with my dads mum when I started school and with time I searched for pals trough magazines and eventually IYS, were I found my Marina. Unfortunately I stoped writing to her, big misstake, but I found her again trough a card I sent her old address, turned out her dad still lived there. We now have conntact trough facebook and mail. Marina wasn´t the only one I stoped writing to. I totally stoped for a few years. When I moved out into the forest I started searching for a hobbie, I remebered penpalling and nowI guess I´m one of those in the penpalling world that has loads of penpals, but the thing with me is, that I´m not a penpal collector. I´m a true addict to writing and you can ask any of my pals, I hold them really close to my heart and I even remember their kids and what my pals collect, love finding them stuff to send now and then. I never ask anything back. If I can put a smile on their faces I would be truly happy. My pals are the most important thing to me. Together with my family I´ve met 4 pals trough the years and I hope I´ll get to meet many more :-)
ReplyDeleteI started penpalling through a former friend. She was into writing letter and her sis did FBs as well. So she gave me a FB to look through adresses.. There I have found my first penpal Bianca from the Netherlands. We lost contact these days but it was a great start to begin with penpalling. After some time I found my first foreign pal from Belgium (by TV Text). With her I still have contact, not by letters but through Facebook.
ReplyDeleteBut I guess penpalling has always in my blood because I discovered (after my mum's death) that she was a penpaller as well. She wrote with an American girl. My brother loves to write as well, in a different way though, because he is a journalist.
I still love to write, nowadays my letters are much longer than when I first started.. I prefer longer, personal letters over the shorter ones. I always like to use cute stationery, I have loads and I am a proud stationery addict. But ofcourse my penpals don't have to write on cute paper as the content of the letter is the only thing what matters.. :-) I had a break for 3 months but I discovered that I just can't live without mail in my mailbox! And this year I will meet 2 of my foreign pallies and that is something I really like! I have met pals from my own country before and with one I am best friends now! So I hope I am able to do it as long it is needed and I can enjoy penpalling forever!
Hi, I'm Tinne, and I started writing when I was about 9/10 years old (I'm 23 now). I was reading the "kid's pages" in one of my mom's magazines when I noticed the pen-friends ads. They looked really interesting, especially because I could be friends with people from the other side of the country! (At the time, a 20 minute walk felt like going to the other side of the world.) After a "break" of five years, at 17, I heard about IPF and six years later I'm still writing with one of the girls I "met" that year. Almost two years ago now, I was told about Postcrossing. I liked it from the start, but the best part of it was the forum with all those people looking for pen-friends! I can't say how many pen-friends I have now, around 10 I think (some write only once or twice a year). But I love them all! I already met some of "my girls", even a pen-friend from Taiwan and I am really lucky to have found such great friends. Nothing makes me happier than a Good Mail Day!
ReplyDeleteHelllo , My name is Sara mansour -- i'm on facebook -- and i'm 21 years old , once i was looking in a website for people to exchange e-mails with , and i found lots of them that actually became my friends but one of them didn't say much she said that she doesn't want to exchange emails but prefer snail mail , as i have never done it before i didn't had much expectations and i told her i'm okay with it , and i even gave her my adress , almost three weeks later , i was away and when i came back my sister gave me the enveloppe , i litteraly was jumping with happinesss ... and the letter was so cute and the girl one of the nicest people i know , i sent back mine and she responded the second letter that she sent me made me even happier , and that's how i discovered snail mails and since then i'm ALWAYS waiting for new ones , i made new ones now i have 5 friends , and i love them SO much !!! by the way if anyone of you is intereted you have my name above you can send me a message or something !
ReplyDeleteThat's my story , it haven't been 6months since i got my first letter and i'm the happier i can be ^^ .
Hi I am Wendy and I started penpalling at the age of 7 , so a long time.I wrote with a girl that is still my penpall.My mother and hers were and still are friends too.The first letters were short, contains sentences like: How are you ? I am fine , I have to go to school etc etc.I laugh at it now, becaus I write long letters , 8 or more sides of A5 or A^4 papersheets.
ReplyDeleteI joined Postcrossing 5 years ago and then I started writing with one of these postcrossers.Last year I entered thh Penpalling and letters group on Facebook and since that time I have even more penpals (25)
I have met a few of them and this year I will meet 3 other.
Penpalling is my life
Hi :) My name is Francesca and I'm 23 years old. I started penpalling later than other people because two years only have passed since I discovered it! When I was a teen I used to buy those girlish magazines and I remember that there were some addresses of "wanna-be" penpals, but I have never had the curiosity to write them. Two years ago a dear friend of mine suggested me a site where I could improve my English speaking and writing to other people...at the beginning, I also didn't know what a "snail mail pen pal" was :D Then I started to write to a girl and...I totally have fallen in love with penpalling and its world! Now penpalling is not only a hobby but a lifestyle, a chance to share my life and thoughts with other people who knows me thanks to some sheets and some written words. It's incredibile to think how much power a letter has!
ReplyDeleteI wish you all to love this wonderful way to communicate :)
I began with penpalling when I was 11. I met a Dutch girl at a vacation park and we decided to keep in touch. In the beginning the letters were written by her mother, as she was not that far to write her letters herself. After a year or 2 she wrote her own letters. I have met her a couple of times and after a while we stopped with penpalling. I am not sure why. But I liked to get letters, so I joined Japan Guide to find a penpal from Japan. One from this country because my interest in this country was growing when I was 14/15 years old. I wanted to know more of penpalling. I have written a few years with this Japanese girl and she stopped just at once. I did not hear anything of her after sending messages. It saddened me and I decided to quit writing. I stopped with writing for a few years. At the beginning 2011 I was in a conversation with a friend about penpalling. She added me to the Penpalling and Letters group and I registered myself at the Postcrossing forum. I found a few penpals and am writing again!
ReplyDeleteFrancisca San on Facebook :-)
Hello to all!
ReplyDeleteMy name is Jenni and I'm writing from Gran Canaria, Spain and I have 24 years.one day reading a magazine called "new voucher" I saw the address of a girl, also called Jenni. she was looking for new friends by letters and just live on my island..We became friends and decided to expand my mail..10 years later we are still friends and we met in person.
I write with muschisimas people..I love reading the letters he speaks my friends in their lives,their cities,their hobbies ..5 months ago I started to write letters in English, is an effort,as I have to use the internet translator.but every day I love most and sending letters daily new friends,from different countries .everyday looking for more friends!
on facebook you can find me as Jenni Rodriguez Mayor .. for those who want a loving friend and sincere...
a big hug and happy new year
Good Morning. My name is Troy Mayfield. I started pen-palling about 4 years ago as an excuse to use my fountain pens and work on my handwriting. I have about 15 pen pals from the United States, Great Britain, Italy and Australia. Pen pals allow me to experience the world through the words of others.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I cannot remember when I began writing letters. I'm 42, old enough to know letter-writing as basically the only form of written correspondence. But I do recall obtaining pen-pals from around the world through now-obsolete pen-pal organizations. And "What is your address so I can write to you?" became THE question upon meeting someone I thought might make a friend while traveling. My dearest friendships today are the ones developed through letter-writing. There's just something intimate about the act. Knowing the piece of paper I hold was handled by my friend, who took the time to let me know I was thought of. I've received envelopes containing bits of leaves, a small pile of beach sand, recipes, newspaper clippings, and drawings from my friends' children (who are learning to appreciate the joy of receiving a letter in the mail). My longest-running correspondence is with a woman in West Malaysia whose name I received through "Dear Pen Pal" back when I was eleven. We've managed to keep our letters moving back and forth for over 30 years. I even met her once, back in 1986, when I traveled to Kuala Lumpur with a youth orchestra. Another woman, from Luxembourg, I met while traveling through Israel in 1993. We exchanged addresses, becoming good friends. I attended her wedding in Luxembourg in 2001, and she, likewise, brought her family to my wedding in New York in 2009. When I think back now, I believe my love of letter-writing was largely influenced by my mother, who is still one of my favorite pen-pals, though she lives just two hours away. A letter in the mail is like a little gift which makes me feel important in someone's life.
ReplyDeleteHeyyy!! Tried to comment before but for some reason the page wasn't loading properly... Don't mean to tempt you to get biased, so I won't sign up for the giveaway, just dropping by to wish P&L a HAPPY BIRTHDAY and an inspiring and successful new year online!!!
ReplyDeleteHave a Happy New Year you too, filled with health, prosperity and happiness!! :-*
Hey, my name is Daniela and I'm from Germany (Facebook https://www.facebook.com/dann.nie2). I started to penpal in the age of nearly 10. My mother used to buy us magazines for kids. They included announces for penpalling and swappers.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was young I played the piano, but none of my friends around me did, only my nasty older sister. So I read the announce of Evelyn, who also liked to play the piano. I decided to write her a letter and she replied. The first letters were quite cryptical and my mother controlled my letters according to that I won't do too many mistakes and also would not write nonsense. :D But after a few months she just left me alone with it and my letters to Evelyn became more detailed. We became teenagers and so we started to tell each others about boys, trouble with parents, friends and so on. I live in the north of Germany, Evelyn lives in the south of Germany, so seeing each other in real never happened. We went on writing, telling each others everything. Finally, in 2005, after 11 years of letterwriting, we got to meet each others. In this time I was out of work, so I had the time to drive all the way down to her. I spent a week at hers and we had a wonderful time. We still write letters, after more than 17 years. We started to exchange our first letters and it's so much fun to read about it. Since 2005, we've met at least once a year. In 2011 we went to London together for a week. I'm soooo happy to have Evelyn and I would not want to miss her.
Since 2006, I only had Evelyn as my penpal. I had some others on and off, but they never lasted. When I went back to school in 2006, I started to look for other pals. At first I only looked for German pals. But after a while I thought it would be great to write letters in English, so I joined Interpals to find international penpals. And now I have a lot of penpals, spread all over the world.
For me, penpalling is a very important thing. My penpals are my real friends. I tell them everything and they do the same. It's so much fun to meet a penpal. I could not imagine a life without penpalling.
Hi, I started penpalin' when I was at 3rd grade or so (i'm 29 now). My first real pen pal was from US back then. My English got better that way.
ReplyDeleteIt was exciting to hear from other people outside Finland and I started to love getting letters as much as I love replying them. It's always better to get letters instead of ads. :)
contact: metaleath @ hotmail.com (without spaces)
I`ve started penpalling when I was 9 y.o. I`ve had no idea how it was called then :) I was spending a lot of time in various hospitals then and my first pen friend was girl I`ve met in one. Later I`ve answered some magazine ads, but most of those people stopped writing to me when they found out I`m disabled. Along the years I`ve been penpalling with various people, most of them met in the hospital. When I got Internet, I`ve found some e-pals. Some of them were writing every day and some less often. In 2003, when I`ve finished my first studies, my friend introduced me to some penpalling sites - Europa pages, Andy penpals etc. I`ve met some of my best penpals there. Of course many people stopped writing to me along the years, for various reasons. But now I have both e-pals and snail mail pals. Most of them are good friends of mine and even if we don`t always keep in touch through letters, we contact through emails, facebook etc. But the most important thing is that I`ve met my Wife thanks to penpalling :) We`ve met in 2009 on interpals and at first didn`t think we`ll fall in love with each other. Now - we are together for a year and looking forward to 50 more years :)
ReplyDeleteYou can contact me through Facebook - Patrycja Polczyk or email me patie80@gazeta.pl
How did I come to pen palling?
ReplyDeleteI started with writing when I was 5. I wrote postcards to my granny when we were in holidays. I always wrote stuff like: "We did this and that and I miss you"...
When I was 6 I came to school and met a nice girl in my class. We exchanged letters while being in the same class for 4 years. It was fun. Everyday I took a letter of her home and wrote her one. So we exchanged letters everyday, only on the weekend we didn't.
Then the first school was over and I lost contact with her.
Then I was 10 years old and met a girl in my holidays. She was really nice. We wanted to stay in contact and such. So our parents said we should write letters to stay in contact. And we did. Until 2009 she was my best pen pal ever and we wrote a lot letters.
Because of her I joined letternet and found some more pen pals online. I was really excited when someone told me, that he wants to exchange letters with me.
And I found amazing pen pals. With some of them I have contact until now. Some only online, some still write letters with me. My now longest pen pal is A.! We know each other since 2003 and I really like her a lot. She is like my best friend.
I really love my pals and don't want to miss a single one of them!
my first time was when i was a teen i was doing an exchange with my school so i used to write to my correspondant i was so happy that it was in english as i love that language
ReplyDeletei have started again as i wanted to improve my english and learn about british american countries so i did a penpalling form where i received a list and i started writing my first letters ..i was so happy when i received my first letters back in my mail box ..now i'm happy to use nice stationery and to decorate enveloppes when i have time for that ..i'm still happy to write and i block my weekend for that i like to write on my bed with sometimes one of my cats helping me in my inspiration ..
i now have great friends that were with me during the hard moments of my life (i have been declared a chronic depression in 2004 so i often at home so penpalling became a way to keep a link with the society too )
i'm now a regular pal (i had bad moment when i was i a high down now i try to write even in bad periods ) and i love to have regular pals too because pals are friends to me ;)
Hi my name is Trace and I'm 45 from England. I started penpalling when I was 5 years old. I was at primary school and we had to write a letter to a school in Germany. I wrote to a girl called Suzanne. We wrote to each other for over 30 years before she sadly passed away a few years ago from Cancer. I still keep in touch with her family not as much in the past few months I think they have found it really hard. Anyway I still love penpalling and love receiveing letters from mothers my own age.
ReplyDeletehello everyone my name is rachael wills, i'm 20 years old and i love pen palling so much i usualy do it at night time, i started penpalling when i was about 15 turning 16 years old and been doing it since so 5 years i love it to bits just thought i would start it as i loved to write stories and was into writing, thought i would give it a try, i currently have about 20 penpals i thought this year and last year that i would get more pals as i only had the one that i had been palling to for 5 years so thought why not get more pals to interact with and i have to say it was worth it one of the best decisions i have made in my entire life. I love penpalling now i am just really good at it, it comes easy for me as i love writing stories have been writing stories for about 9 years now but haven't written one in a little while but plan to again this year that is one of goals this year to write more stories and publish a book, i have always loved writing as long as i can remember and i loved reading too when i was little and still do always have, my mum read me books every night when i was a little girl i wanted her to read me one each night, i was a really good reader at age 4, always have been, i just would love to be able to travel the world promoting my book one day that would be a dream come true, i enjoy writing letters to my penpals on weekends and some week days, in the lougeroom or at the dining table mostly, penpalling drives me everyday keeps me occupied i would be nowhere without my penpals they are what keeps me going everyday and i just really love meeting new people and gaining freindships for life.
ReplyDeletei was 8 years old when i started. i was a fan of a dutch band and there where people searching for penpals in the fan magazine.. my first penpals where all fans of that band;-) they introduced me to FB's and since then i never quit....
ReplyDeletei always loved it to come back from school and find mail. i still write with one of them... so thats a very long time!
Also i collected stamps, so i was so happy that one of my first pals was japanese and one south african.. we wrote in english and dutch... english is something ive learned from when i was able to speak, so letters where no problem even for me being 8 yrs old;-)
on facebook i am Tazzy J Black.. or find me at tazintotherasmus@hotmail.com
Hi! My name is Monica Boldoni, I'm 38 years old from Italy. My interest in pen palling started in 1992 when I saw one of my classmates who received a letter from a Chinese girl. I thought how wonderful could have been having a friend in another country, knowing how his/her life could be, the traditions of his/her culture, exchanging postcards...
ReplyDeleteSo, when I found an advert of an association in a magazine, I joined it, spent 15.000 Italian lire and got some names to write to. I received some answers back and I can say that one of them still keep contact with me from time to time.
I am on Facebook: Monica Boldoni, monicaboldoni@alice.it
I'm Mervi from Finland. I was on 3rd grade when our English teacher introduced one company that delivered pen pals around the world and I got my first pen pal from USA. I was very excited about it and my English writing started to become better.
ReplyDeleteI love writing letters and stories. Waiting letters from outside of Finland was exciting. Replying was more fun. Later I started to look for more pen pals and got them around the world and I have always had few pen pals all the time.
I have had many kinds of pen pals from USA, Africa, Europe, Korea and Japan.
I'm on facebook: Mervi Naukkarinen (the one with skyrim character in cover) / twitter: saddy82 / @ metaleath @ hotmail.com (without spaces)
Hi, I'm Lou from the UK. When I was younger I had always wanted to write to someone from another country and I asked my parents if I was allowed to do so. They said that they thought it was too dangerous (which is understandable) so I chose to email instead. I searched lots of sites for email pals and had quite a few to begin with. I think when I was 13-14, I wrote to 2 people from another country. We exchanged letters for a short time and photo's but that soon died down and became non-existent. After a while, I was browsing the internet one day and I come across a penpal website (snail mail). I'm not really sure how I came across a penpal website but I think I was searching for something to do with it.
ReplyDeleteAt first I only wrote to people in the UK as it was new to me and I didn't have a clue as to how much it would cost to send to Europe, Australia, America etc. I found out that there is only so much you can write about with a penpal that is from your country. I searched for penpals in Europe next and I got quite a few requests from people. I still write to a penpal from Germany that I wrote to back then. I found out that I found it exciting to get a letter from a different country and I would always rush to the letter box when the post came! Silly I know but hey!
After that, I gradually started looking for penpals all over the world. I have I think between 20-35 penpals now and I love writing to each of them! They're like my real friends and I am always super excited to receive letters from them :)
I will leave my Facebook here just in case it doesn't come up with it here: Louise Marie Vane.
Penpalling has uplifted my life in so many ways. I've always loved to write, at a younger age I discovered writing was the only way I had to channel my emotions and turn them into positive or at least useful reflections to apply to my life. I never felt as happy as when I received notepads, diaries and pens as gifts; paper became the ears I so badly need it.
ReplyDeleteAs a young girl I always thought of what it would be like to share my thoughts with other people, with people who I could relate to and people who shared at least a bit of the passion I had about writing. I always wished my words to have a recipient, but there was a problem, I didn't know how to make it happen.
I learned to live with the sole desire and learned to write as someone were reading me; my big collection of diaries and pads were destined to whisper their secrets between each other inside a set of cold shoe boxes. Why did it took me so long to find out there was a whole world full of amazing people willing to share in a way everyone else thinks is dead, old fashioned and tedious?, I'm from Dominican Republic, I didn't even knew we had a mail until a few years ago, no one talked about it, almost no one uses it and unlikely other countries in which mail boxes are all around the streets, here there's just one building destined to be a post office... "hmm, guess that's how it was so easy for you to hide away from me", that was kind of what I thought the 1st time I saw that incredible old but wonderful building.
A girl I got to randomly meet one day, who became an amazing friend, started wondering how could I love writing so much -I managed to fulfil my passion through blogging, which is just yet one of the things I can't live without- and not be caught up in the world of penpalling... so she introduced me "Interpals" and since then I've been meeting the most incredible people and I've been finally writing to someone, to several "someones" to be honest...my words finally have a recipient but most importantly they don't bounce into and empty blank space, they get to come around with a soul of their own, with someone else's opinions.
Thank you so much for the opportunity to tell this story and for reading me. Have an amazing day!.
My name is Pernilla and I started to penpal when I was seven. I dont really remember WHY more than I was early in writing and reading and loved to write but I do remember I forced my cousins to write letter to me:) They werent that eager and I got quite mad since they didnt answer me as quick as I wanted. In the end I started to look for ads in magazines to get more interested people.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was ten we started to learn English at school. My teached contacted a school in England to get penpals to leearn English. My classmates thought it was really boring and hard but I did write to my English pal for ages after :)
I started penpalling in summer of 1994. I wrote to Metal Edge looking for a specific tape of a concert,a few months before and a few people wrote wanting to be pen pals & I still write a few of those people. I've found some through Fbs that of which are my hockey pen pals & some I have even met, the most recent was Juy of 2010 my Pen pal Susan in Halifax.
ReplyDeleteMy Pen pals seem to be better friends than the ones I have here. (It seems they care more) I've also compiled a Pen paling Intro & Ettiquette Guide in print for purchase and an update page here...
http://www.squidoo.com/pen-pal-intro-ettiquitte-guide
Where anyone new to penpaling can learn what the abbreviations mean as well as some no nos and those vertrants in the community and get a refresher.
You can Find me on Facebook as Kim Marie Ostrowski
or on Twitter @kymoDragon
When I was 13 years old, my grandmother found a Country magazine(Can't remember the title of it..) and it had penpal ads in it. I thought it was the neatest idea ever to write letters to someone I've never met before, so I picked an ad, wrote a girl named Gabby, and.... She responded!!! I still have the first, and most all of the letters she has ever written me! 8 years later we are still PenPals. I plan to write her for the rest of my life! She truly is as amazing person, and one of the best people I know. Even though I've never laid eyes on her, I feel like I grew up as her next door neighbor!
ReplyDeleteI hope you enjoyed my story as much as I enjoyed sharing it!
you can find me on the link to my blog below.
writebeforeyoureyes.blogspot.com
or email me at split_thoughts91@yahoo.com
~Shannah~
I'm Stefania Garabello Bovio, I'm nearly 32 years old and I'm from Italy. I started penpalling very early, firstly when I was a child with my summer friends (they come in my village just for summer ans during winter we wrote each others), then when I started learning French at middle school, my French teacher introduced us at IYS (International Youth Service from Turku), where he bought addresses or us.
ReplyDeleteI didn't have much luck with my first penpals... I still remember the name, Marie Noelle Rivalin from Pleucadeuc (France)... I wrote her one letter, she answered me and then she didn't answer to my second letter. I wasn't shy as I am now, she gave me her phone number and I called her... can you imagine me, a 12 years girl phoning to a person abroad knowing a little few of french???? Crazy! She wrote me again once, just few lines... and then nothing!
After 2 years, I started learning English and I bought some address from IYS again, Joanna Rappou from Greece and Azmi Hamad Bakri from Malaysia... with the first one I had a good friendship lasted few years (then she stopped), with the second one I was sure she was a girl (because IYS wrote that she was a girl), but in reality it was a male and I discover it after few letter when she/he sent me the photo!!!
Then I started knowing the world of Friendshipbooks and I started increasing the number of my pals!
I love penpalling, sending and receiving letters and swapping stuffs... for me my friends are REAL friends and I want stay in touch often with them, through letters, Fb, emails and sms ;)
My email is stefania.garabello@gmail.com
you can find me on Facebook, Interpals and twitter (but i don't use it often because i don't like it)