Penpals!

When I was about nine years old, my parents took us to Greece for our first family holiday abroad.  We had a great time and I still have lovely memories of family fun and learning Greek!  One of the great things to come out of that holiday was my very first penpal - a girl my age called Jessica from Wales.

We had befriended each other in the resort during our time in Greece.  It was quite a coincidence that this lovely family had three children the same ages as us so my brother had a little friend too - they took the inflatable boat a little too far out one day so both fathers had to swim out and bring them back out of the current before they got a telling off.

We wrote to each other for years and even ended up at Manchester University together - both studying languages!  Eventually we unfortunately lost touch (excluding the odd facebook update that is).  Unfortunately with the launch of email, facebook and texting has meant that penpals have more or less become a thing of the past, and I think it is such a shame!

There is nothing quite like getting a handwritten envelope in the post - and the fact that it's not a bill is reassuring.  It's nice to take the time to write a letter.  When I first lived in Germany my gran and I wrote to each other regularly and the letters are a memento that I will always have.  I always keep letters I receive. 

This is all why I am so happy at the moment to have a total of three penpals thanks to the like minded people over at yes and yes.  Thanks to Sarah's monthly 'Network of Nice' hookups I am writing to lovely ladies in Ireland, Spain and New York.  It's so nice getting to know other people this way.  Not feeling the pressure to reply straight away, the way I do with my emails, and taking the time to really put thoughts on paper.  It's also great to get to know how things are in other countries and cultures.  I can't recommend it enough!