How many of you had a pen pal?

[MissouriTeacher]

In my high school French class our teacher assigned us pen pals from French-speaking countries, and I ended up getting one from Martinique (or somewhere in Africa, I can't remember).

Well, the problem was, the company ended up sending my address to seemingly every single female aged 15-17 on the planet (yeah, I requested a female, big surprise :) ). Anyway, I was absolutely inundated with pen pals letters for about a year of my life. There was no way I could respond to all of them, so I ended up responding to none of them. Except for one, a girl from Bulgaria named Zlatina sent me a photo with her first letter. The photo was of here wearing a pink tube top that just happened to be see-through. She wasn't wearing a bra either. I fell instantly in love and ended up writing her a couple of letters before she stopped writing back :(.

Even more frightening, just last year I got another pen pal letter! It was sent to my parent's home, and it was from a 17-year old Ugandan girl who was apparently under the impression that she was writing a high school student (I'm 26!). The recession must be hitting the pen pal market pretty hard if they resort to using address almost a decade old.

[DS1]

1. I guess I had a 'pen chump'

because I never wrote back.

Kinda feel bad about it now, kinda...

[MissouriTeacher]

2. Think how I feel.

I literally got close to 40 or 50 letters from all over the world.

A lot of them had sent nice photos of themselves and their hometowns too. It felt almost famous. :D

[Demobrat]

3. I had a nice pen pal in grammar school.

She was from someplace in South America.

[Cheswick2.0]

4. Hi MT

Welcome to DU! My father was from Mo and I keep saying I will go one day to see where he grew up. He was from Sedalia.

Anyway, no I never had a pen pal...of course you were hogging them all

[MissouriTeacher]

5. LOL

Hey, Sedalia's a pretty happenin' place! Lots of cool stuff goin' on there!

(okay, not really, but I wouldn't want to insult your father's birthplace :) )

[PinkTiger]

6. I had a Pen Pal during Vietnam.

In 1966 a bunch of us high school sophomores started writing guys that were in the service, getting ready to go to Viet Nam. I forget how we got started, but I think it was Teen Magazine. Anyway, for several months I wrote this guy, following him from Marine basic through deployment in Viet Nam.

I wish the story had a happy ending, but it doesn't. He wanted a photo of me, and I was not really all that cute; I was a very young-looking 15, a lilttle overweight and with glasses. He kept hounding me and I finally sent him the picture and then the next letter from him said he was writing another girl now and I didn't need to bother.

That really hurt. I've often wondered if he made it home OK, but I guess now I'll never know. The thing is, he wasn't that great of a writer. He used some non-standard English and was a bit of a dumb-ass; but I overlooked all that and wrote him long letters with loads of detail; I thought I was doing a good deed. I had two brothers in Vietnam, and wanted to do my part. Looking back on it, I realize I was the real dumb-ass. He was after a cheap thrill, not a friendship.

I imagine that today he is a knuckle-dragging Freeper, a card-carrying member of the NRA, sporting a Bush sticker next to the Confederate flag decal on his pickup truck. Ha!

[Breezy du Nord]

7. I had a pen pal from Namibia

She never wrote me back after here second letter. I think she moved.

[BigMcLargehuge]

8. for years I corresponded with a LOVELY Japanese girl

who stayed for a while with my Aunt as an exchange student. We wrote back and forth weekly for at least a couple of years, traded pictures, poetry, and language lessons.

We fell out of contact my last year of college. She just stopped writing back.

I always wondered what happened to her.

[Rowdyboy]

9. 1969-1973 a British teen named Angela..

Also an Irish girl names Kathleen

In 1971, I answered an add for a Greek penpal with a letter. They printed it in the Sunday edition of the newspaper in Thessalonika and I got 26 responses, 4 of whom I corresponded with for around a year.

Gave it all up in 1973, my freshman year in college. No time and mind altering substances changed me fundamentally.

[kskiska]

10. I had several, back in the 50s

through a group called the International Friendship League, based in Boston. There was a girl who lived near Liverpool, a Japanese girl, one in New Zealand, and one outside Paris who wrote in French. I had to get translations from a French-Canadian neighbor. it was fun. I've still got the letters from all these people.

[Kenneth ken]

11. my mom did

from some time in her grade school years. They have corresponded for about 50 years. They met face to face about 5 years ago for the first time.