topic Re: Do you remember Pen Pals? in Among Friends

Do you remember Pen Pals?

qualitygal — Wed, 08 Aug 2018 09:07:08 GMT

As a teen, I wrote to a gal in New Zealand. Now, due to t.v. I got to see what a beautiful place that is. We both grew up and lost touch with each other. But, I'll always remember the little blue paper she use to send her letters on.

Did you have Pen Pals?

I'll add it was from a Teen magazine at that time. Name of the magazine, ?????

Re: Do you remember Pen Pals?

Mom2Dogs — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 10:23:00 GMT

Yes! My older brother has two now....one from Germany and I can't remember where the other one is from, both women, ha! He is a great letter writer.

Re: Do you remember Pen Pals?

Nataliesgramma — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 10:27:38 GMT

Yes.....I always wanted one....but my Parents wouldn't let me...I don't know why...

Re: Do you remember Pen Pals?

Tribesters — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 10:31:54 GMT

@qualitygal

Yes, I had several pen pals. The ones I corresponded with the most were from Baton Rouge, France & Singapore. It’s funny I never met the one in the US but Marie Sophie from Paris France visited here twice & I went to visit her as well. Had it not been for Marie Sophie I would have never been to Paris. Some of the attractions her family took me to visit were Normandy, Notre Dame, Versailles & Mont St. Michel. We rode a boat down the Seine River at night-beautiful! Of course I saw the Eiffel Tower, the Louve Museum, Napoleon’s Tomb and much, much more. Definitely my trip of a lifetime.

While here Marie Sophie met friends of our family whose brother was a pilot in the war. He had been shot down over Francs & buried there. They had never seen his grave or were even sure it existed. Marie Sophie went back to France & found his grave. She put flowers on it & sent photos to them. As you can imagine this meant a lot to them.

I lost track of my pen pals over the years. Marie Sophie became a scientist & I have seen papers published by her online. I attempted to reconnect with her but learned she had died from what her mother called “raging cancer.” So sad...

Re: Do you remember Pen Pals?

qualitygal — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 10:41:49 GMT

@Tribesters, I'm so sorry you lost this friend, but what a great story of your pen pal adventures. You have been left with some wonderful memories.

Re: Do you remember Pen Pals?

drizzellla — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 12:16:08 GMT

We went to the New York World's Fair in 1964. The Parker Pen Company had a pavilion. And you could sign up to get a pen pal. I received a name and address for a guy in Taiwan. We were about the same age (12) and wrote once in awhile. He wrote to me in English and I did not realize it that he had to have someone help him write the letters.

Then he started writing to me in Chinese. A friend of the family, translated the letters to me.

Since I was not reading the exact letters myself, I was just thinking the letters were just friendly chats. When I went away to college, his letters to me were in English again. But suddenly he was talking about getting married?!?!?!?!?!?!

I honestly thought maybe he found an English book and was just copying from the book. And he did not understand what he was writing. He even started sending me gifts. A string of small Chinese laterns lights - is the only thing I remember.

I wrote back and said thanks but no thanks. I had no intention of moving to Taiwan and I was not ready for marriage. I never heard from him again.

Just think I could have been a 90 Day Fiance.

Re: Do you remember Pen Pals?

Pook — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 13:27:08 GMT

I think it was freshman year in high school for English class we all got foreign penpals. I got a teen my age from Ceylon who was named Joy. We wrote back and forth for a couple letters then I learned Joy was a male. He said he had 7 older sisters so when a boy came along they named him Joy. At one point he said razor blades were hard to get and asked if I could send some so I did and he politely asked if maybe I could send some better ones. We wrote for over a year and then when he found out my father had a tv and appliance business and also repaired them he wanted to make arrangements to come over and apprentice with him and live with us and maybe we could eventually get married!!! Well needless to say that was my last letter to him!!!

Re: Do you remember Pen Pals?

TaylorBrown — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 14:08:09 GMT

Oh my, yes, i do. I used to get a childs/teens magazine Highlights and it had penpals in it.

Re: Do you remember Pen Pals?

missy1 — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 14:24:31 GMT

Yes

Re: Do you remember Pen Pals?

threecees — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 14:27:28 GMT

Yes, I wrote to a girl in England @qualitygal

Stored and saved her letters for many years.

Enjoyed looking back at them.

Re: Do you remember Pen Pals?

happycat — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 14:38:21 GMT

Yes! I had one in Hawaii, we lost touch also.

Now, I am wondering how we even got in touch in the first place. What I remember was her very neat penmanship.

Re: Do you remember Pen Pals?

happycat — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 14:39:08 GMT

@Mom2Dogs wrote:
Yes! My older brother has two now....one from Germany and I can't remember where the other one is from, both women, ha! He is a great letter writer.

How did he meet them? Is there a website to meet pen pals, I guess?

Re: Do you remember Pen Pals?

151949 — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 15:47:11 GMT

When i was about 10 our sunday school class had pen pals at a sunday school in Germany. I wrote to mine all the way thru nursing school, but eventually it tapered off and we stopped. I have wondered about her.

Re: Do you remember Pen Pals?

chrystaltree — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 15:48:45 GMT

I did. It was a class project when I was in the 4th grade. My Pen Pal was my age, her name was Libby and we corresponded for a couple of years. She was English and lived in a small town and she seemed to have a lot of chores to do. Funny. She was blonde and had a lot of chores. That's all remember about her.

Re: Do you remember Pen Pals?

cherry — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 15:53:42 GMT

Mine was in Osaka Japan. We used onion skin paper , because back then ,postage was considered expensive to send overseas

Her name is Yumiko. I hope her life has been filled with goodness ,and wonderful times

Re: Do you remember Pen Pals?

CherryHugs — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 16:16:40 GMT

Yes I had pen pals There is two people that still write letters since they dont have internet access due to living in the country. It was fun and kind of sad no one hardly writes a real letter anymore or even send cards as well.

Re: Do you remember Pen Pals?

TX-starlight — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 17:16:03 GMT

@TaylorBrown YES! I remember getting those from the magazine. I had a couple, but can't remember anything, as far as location. Always fun to get mail, as a teen, lol.

Re: Do you remember Pen Pals?

shoptilyadropagain — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 18:13:38 GMT

I had one for years and then eventually we just quit writing. She was from Georgia. I got one of my best friends to start writing her as well and my friend actually met her in person when she was traveling in her area. A few years ago we reconnected on facebook. It's kind of neat to be in touch after all these years but we really don't have a lot in common.

Re: Do you remember Pen Pals?

FuzzyFace — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 18:52:10 GMT

i was fat and wore glasses so even though I had a penpal I made sure we'd NEVER meet. I could just imagine the look on her face if we ever met face to face for the first time--I had enough emb
arassment and humiliation in my life and didn't nrd more.

Re: Do you remember Pen Pals?

colliemom4 — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 21:19:27 GMT

Yes. As a young teen I had several. I actually stopped writing to the last one because I became too busy. It was a lot of fun.