JESUS LOVES PEBBLES: A lifetime of correspondence

A penpal is a person with whom one becomes acquainted through a friendly and regular correspondence. Traditionally, the mode of correspondence has been by way of letter-writing. In the modern age of technology, people have progressed to:-

(a) electronic mails

(b) chatting online - msn, facebook, google chat, etc

A penpal relationship is often used to practice reading and writing in a foreign language, to improve literacy, to learn more about other countries and lifestyles and sometimes, to reduce loneliness.

As with any friendships in life, some people remain penpals for only a short time, while others continue to exchange letters and presents life-long. I currently have 5 penpals - I have been corresponding with 4 of them since I was in my early teens whereas the 5th penpal and I have been corresponding since I was in my late teens.

(a) HKH - she lives in Norway and is one of my oldest penpals. Her birthday falls on the same date as my brother although she is 2 years older than him, which makes it easy for me to remember her birthday! Her pug dog is cute and is often photographed with her. She makes truffles in huge batches during Christmas although I have yet to sample any. (Big hint, girl!)

(b) BLM - she lives in New South Wales, Australia. We too, have known each other since we were in our early teens. I was very happy to learn that she now not only has an electronic mail address, she is also on msn! Till today, my mother can remember the photograph of BLM (wearing a beautiful pink dress) that she sent to me years ago. We spoke on the telephone once many years ago. She has a lovely daughter. I enjoyed our chat on gmail chat the other day - let's do this again soon!

(c) SH - she is a Catholic and she lives in New Jersey, United States of America. She has a daughter and a son, both of whom are very adorable. Thank you, my friend, for being a listening ear all these years, putting up with my endless litany of grouses and for reading my blog. Are you still doing belly dancing?

(d) LG - she lives in California, United States of America. Being of mixed parentage, she looks very Chinese in some of her photographs. I have a friend (who studied in USA) who once told me that she is acquainted with LG's sister - I think that they were either classmates or schoolmates. How are you, girl? What is your electronic mail address?

(e) JMC - Although the "newest" of my 5 penpals, he and I have known each other for more than 15 years. He lives in South Carolina, United States of America with his wife, son and daughter. When will you be visiting Singapore with your family? Please say a big "hi" to your folks and give them a big hug from me! Please also let Paps know that I no longer collect comic books but I still watch WWE "Raw" / "Smack Down" on television. *grin*

Some penpals eventually arrange to meet face to face. I have to date met some of my penpals, either because they came to Singapore or I visited their countries. Da has even met two of my penpals a few years ago.

Some pen pals even get married. My parents (who were born and raised in different countries) were penpals for many years and their correspondence continued even when my daddy went to Australia to further his studies.

Penpals come in all ages, nationalities and cultures. For many years since I was in primary school, I corresponded with a girl of the same age as me and who was also living in Singapore but we never met. I remember that her handwriting in primary school was very unique - the characters were very squarish. As fate would have it, we ended up in the same orientation group in Junior College! To cut a very long story short, we now live near each other and her 3 beautiful children are Da's and my god-children. Life works in mysterious ways, doesn't it?

People may seek penpals based on their own age group, a specific occupation, hobby or select someone totally different from them to gain knowledge about the world around them. Although most of my penpals are around my age, for many years I corresponded with a penpal from Channel Islands, United Kingdom who was a grandfather - he battled glaucoma bravely for many years and passed away several years ago. Towards the end of his life, his children had to read his letters to him because he could not see the words.

Many people writing to a penpal do not use their native language in their letters. I once corresponded with a Russian girl who wrote her letters in Chinese. She was learning Chinese in school and was more than happy to practise what she learned. However, I must confess that her command of the Chinese language was far superior to mine and after some time, I found it difficult to continue with the correspondence due to language barrier.

A modern variation on the traditional penpal arrangement is to exchange electronic mail addresses as well as or instead of paper letters. This has the advantage of saving money and being more immediate, allowing many messages to be exchanged in a short period of time. The disadvantage is that I find this more impersonal than writing letters. Having said this, taking into account the fact that my handwriting is getting more and more atrocious as the years go by, I think that my family, relatives, friends and penpals would be more than happy to heave a sigh of relief that I have finally "gone online".

I recall that when I started having penpals, I subscribed to a penpal club based in Finland. For a certain amount of money (I cannot recall the amount - I think that it was about US$2 per penpal), I was entitled to 5 penpals from their data base. In addition, my name would be included in their data base and if anyone wanted a penpal from Singapore, my name would be given to them - in this way, I would get "free penpals". I also placed my name and address in the penpal column of a local television magazine (which was how I got to know my friend whose children are now my god-children, if I recall correctly). Some penpals were referred to me by other penpals by word of mouth. There was a time when I was corresponding with more than 20 penpals!

As Christmas approaches, I have just started on my Christmas shopping. Normally, I would first buy the presents for my penpals as I would need to post their presents to them and as such, I would need a headstart on the purchase of their presents.

When Da and I were in Chinatown recently, we came across a gift shop selling lovely souvenirs. I decided to buy some for my penpals.

I have wrapped up the presents and I will be posting them to my penpals soon. Have a blessed and merry Christmas, my dear penpals, and I hope that we will be able to meet (finally!) / meet again soon.