I have always wanted to have a couple of serious pen pals from various countries overseas and with the Internet and E-mail, I figured that my opportunity had arrived. I wanted to discuss everything from politics to what is for dinner, what the differences were between everyday Americans and everyday whatever nation I was in contact with. I wanted to know how the homes are different, what type of goods were in the local stores and what the favorite foods were. Later, I wanted to exchange little packages of goods, like American Guava Jelly for a packet of real British Tea or exchange video tapes of home towns, send over a can of Campbell’s Soup for a can of whatever broth.
You know, things you can’t get on the average in the US or US things they can’t get.
I thought it would be fun.
I preferred to talk to women because since I’m a guy, they’re more fun and besides, I’m not interested in sports.
Well, after a couple of years and around 26 contacts from Britain to Japan, I’ve discovered that at the most, pen pals exchange around 6 letters and drop out of sight. It seems that in some areas, the pen pal boards are flooded with Americans seeking such contacts. No one seems to want to exchange anything.
I used to read books as a kid where people wrote letters to each other across the globe for years and had a fine time and discussed everything from soup to nuts, exchanged little gifts and, occasionally, met.
So, has the Internet destroyed the art of being a pen pal or is it just that I cannot find good ones? Are they hard to come by or are Americans flooding the Pen Pal market?
I have a penpal in Japan. We don’t write actual letters much, but we e-mail back and forth a lot. We ask each other questions and stuff like that, stuff I think that you’re interested in.
I wrote back and forth with a lot of people before I got someone who would keep in touch fairly regularly. Being an American did seem to interest a lot of people though, so I got plenty of e-mail from people introducing themselves.
If you don’t care what country your penpal is from, I recommend putting up an ad on Japan Penfriend. Most of the visitors are Japanese, American, or German, but there’s listings from all over the world.
This place is a lot easier to handle than most of the big penpal places. It’s smaller and attracts fewer Americans but more people who want to write to native English speakers to practice their skills.
jessica
This reminds me what I call the email black hole enigma. It occurs when an old friend or acquaintance pops up in my email and we exchange a couple of friendly emails, then they disappear!