Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Letter Girl

Just found out that there won't be any Finnish classes today and tomorrow. Our teacher's on sick leave. Two of her wisdom teeth had just been removed this morning. OUCH!!! So I have time to write this post he he he...

I don't know why but I've always been interested in writing letters ever since I was a kid. Back then there was no internet yet, so letters were still pretty big. When I was in Elementary School, I had a good friend. Unfortunately we had different classes after a few years, so then I started writing letters to her. Her aunt'd pick her up from school and my Mom'd pick me up from school, so we exchanged letters through them he he he...As usual, they'd come before school was over so they had time to talk and to exchange our letters. I don't remember much about this as I didn't keep the letters. I think mostly they were just written on a piece of paper he he...

On the second grade in Junior High School, I sat next to an outgoing, funny girl. She started writing letters to me. We'd give the letter to each other but we'd only read it when we were home. We shared stories of our crushes and all that he he he he...It was SO MUCH FUN! She'd fold the letters in a certain way and I'd follow her steps he he he...We stopped writing each other when we went to different classes on the third grade. Now she's married and she has two kids already.

On the third grade in Junior High School, I sat next to another girl. We started exchanging letters as well. This time it continued until we got to High School. We went to different High Schools, but the building was the same. I went to the morning school, whereas she went to the afternoon one, so I'd wait for her to come to school to exchange the letters and then I'd go home whereas she started her school day.

We became pretty close because of those letters. Turned out that we had a crush on the same boy at school in Junior High!!! HA HA HA HA...So funny! She also shared some private stories that she had never told anyone else. It feels GOOD to be trusted that way. We also shared stories of our love life along High School. She started working right after graduation as she went to a vocational school. I went to the university afterward, but over the years we still kept in touch via snail mails. The frequency was dwindling, but we still kept in touch. And then we started talking to each other on the phone again. She's now married to an evangelist.

At the university, I met a sensitive girl. She started writing letters to me, so we exchanged letters every once in a while, even though we met a lot and we talked a lot in real life and also over the phone. We still keep in touch via emails.

1999 was the year when I had SO MANY emailpals. I wanted to improve my written English, so I asked my Dad to upgrade the computer and buy me a modem he he he...It was SO SLOW back then to get online. How time flies!!! Anyway, it seems that my entire life's filled with letters or emails. No wonder I LOVE blogging.

Actually a couple of years back I tried to make my own homepage and posted some of my poems and someone said to me, "Hey, it seems that you'll like blogging." Back then I didn't understand the concept of blogging, but now what she said makes SO MUCH SENSE to me. Oh yeah, to those of you who don't know, I used to write so many poems, but I think lately I've lost the knack to write good poems. It seems that nowadays I'm more in tune with essays. Back then I loved writing poems 'coz I could hide my true feelings in poetry (for fear of my journal being read by somebody else). These days I don't feel that need anymore.

Oh well...just a rambling post about the importance of writing in my life he he he...

17 comments:

  1. I used to have penpals too. it was fun, wasn't it?
    I blogged about penpals once.
    http://blurting.blogspot.com/2007/07/penpals.html

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  2. Hi, Blur!

    THANKS for sharing that link. I LOVE that story of yours hi hi hi hi...Oh dear!!!

    Yeah, having penpals WAS fun indeed. ;-D I had some but they didn't last long. I had one from China, Japan, Egypt, Italy, Germany, Sweden.

    Oh...the only one that stays is the German girl. We still keep in touch via emails these days he he he...

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  3. I love writing letters too, Amel. Like you, my friends and I used to exchange letters even if we sat just next to each other he he...I guess, most girls do that ;D

    And, guess what?! I've joined the 'International Pen Friends' before...he he...Actually, before that there was another one when I was in Primary School, and then, I joined the IPF when I was in High School.

    I have lotsa penpals then, and the one I still correspond with is from Italy, it happens to be that I still keep his email, then, we started to correspond via email instead of traditional way. ;)

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  4. Choc Mint Girl: YOU TOO?!?!?!?! I got those penpals from IPF myself he he he he he...

    I never found anything like that in Primary School, so I only started doing it in High School he he he...

    Yeah, these days it's cheaper and faster and safer to correspond via emails instead of snail mails he he...

    I don't know that most girls wrote letters to each other 'coz my close friends didn't do such a thing he he he...

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  5. I think letter writing is great. It seems that with our technology today, people don't write letters anymore. I always think it would be good for our grandchildren and great-grandchildren to be able to read letters we wrote in our own handwriting.

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  6. Hi, Kathy!

    Yeah, a snail mail letter is always more personal than a typed-written one. The problem is that with Indonesia's postal service...they SUCK big times. They lost some letters to me or from me to other people. If the postal service is reliable, though, then I won't mind sending more letters he he he...

    Once my friend's sister sent her some lipsticks from Aussie, but then the package arrived without the lipsticks, can you believe it? Somebody in the PO stole them!!! That's why I don't wanna send packages to Indonesia via snail mail.

    Handwriting...maybe I should leave some diaries to my grandkids. I do have some old ones written in pen or pencil. ;-D

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  7. I think the desire to be heard is encoded in our DNA. My mom had her penpals from all over the world some 60 years ago. I was pretty much interested in penpals who could write in Chinese - because I like to write in Chinese, such a beautiful language.

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  8. Hi, Mother Hen!

    Yes, you're right. God created us as social beings he he he...I wanted to have international penpals 'coz I had always been interested in improving my English.

    I agree that Chinese's such a beautiful language, but it's hard ha ha ha ha...

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  9. I ahd a pen pal in Tasmania...we lost touch and I have been trying to get in touch but cannot find an address!

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  10. Hi, Frasy!

    That's TOO bad. :-(((( I know how sad it is to lose contact with someone. I had on emailpal who was pretty close to me but then he stopped writing. The email address is still available but I've never got any reply. I wonder if he's still alive or not...very strange.

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  11. Hi Amel;

    When I was younger I found out that girls liked to share letters and that most guys would never do that so of course I took it up, it was a “competitive advantage”, one that at times I think perhaps made me a “victim of my own success”, what can I say? I was a messed up young man.

    It seems to me that there are more female bloggers than male, more than you would get by a simple global gender count as per the population.

    I have always loved reading and writing. For the first several months I was blogging my wife would playfully tease me about it. Then one day I actually explained what blogging was; I cleared up the misconceptions people have about it (if they even know it exists).

    I said it is about communicating with other people, reading and also writing. She then saw it as a more “serious” endeavor.

    I wonder if people that blog a lot are also big readers away from the blogs.

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  12. hahaha...I used to be one of those IPF vendors back then, to get the free address :D. I had dozens of those snail mail pals, must have costed my parents a fortune :P. I still remember how nervous I felt when I first sent the letters, and when I first got the replies. Turned out that my dad used to do the same thing too, 50 years back :D. To think of the hours I spent on replying letters, while I should have been studying hihihi.. And the time I took to decorate the letters and envelope :O

    BTW...now that I think of it, I did have several cousins living in other cities that I write regularly to, back when I was in elementary school. I almost forgot about that!! That's how I met Dora - we were both flowergirls at my cousins wedding, and we continued to write to each other for 5 years before we ended up in the same highschool hehe...

    But I never swap letters with my benchmates - we swap stories though hehehe... we'd each write a story, as clever and funny or as stupid and gory as possible, then swap (sometimes the next day), and giggle our way through them hihi... Still remember the boys behind us would get sooo curious about the stories, so in the end we let them read it hihi.. It was big time fun!!!

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  13. Hi, Livingsword!

    A messed up young man, eh? I think most people were messed up when they were young at one point in time at least he he he...

    Yeah, you're right about the fact that there are more female bloggers out there.

    HI HI HI...so your wife teased you about blogging at first? Glad you cleared it up. :-D

    I think most bloggers love reading. At least when I read their profiles, there'd be some fave books there he he he...but I don't know if they're big readers or not.

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  14. Hi, Girl!!!

    Yeah, I remembered being nervous going to the Money Changer to exchange rupiah to dollars. Had to pay them with US$ he he he...

    My Dad also did the same thing. He used another name as a nickname in his letters ha ha ha...

    So you also wrote to your cousins? NEAT!!! I didn't know that you sent letters with Dora that long!

    Talking about stories...in the first grade of Junior High School my friend and I also wrote funny, crazy stories. I think I still keep one or two in my home in Indo he he he he...;-D Those were definitely crazy days. :-D

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  15. Amel,
    I use to write to my 5 grade teacher's daughter. I was a very shy child so my teacher set it up so we could write to each other. I just love to write to people now and I am not so shy, as you saw I love my rainbow letters. They make letters more colorful.

    I loved seeing all your pictures from your trip and the ones in the snow.

    Thank you also for the birthday wishes. I could not believe how many I had when I logged on today. I will let you know later how my day has gone. God Bless and Kepp Smiling :) HE HE HE HE

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  16. Hi Amel, I was in the IPF too :-) I wrote a lot of letters when I was in my teens. I think that's why I like to blog

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  17. Sindi: So you were a shy child? It's GOOD that your teacher made you do it then. Yep, I LOVE your rainbow letter! ;-D

    Glad you enjoyed my pics. UR welcome about the birthday wish. It's MY pleasure. ;-D God bless and you too, keep being your funny, lovely, wonderful self! ;-D

    Fish: YOU TOO?!?!?!?! Oh dear...maybe I should make a poll and ask everybody if they had ever tried IPF HI HI HI...

    Yeah, I guess bloggers love writing...otherwise they wouldn't make blogs, eh? ;-D

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