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When I was in school, I often dreamt of visiting foreign countries and having a good time. This was partly inspired by the novels and books I read, which portrayed so many interesting places and such fascinating cultures. But reality being what it was, I could only ever dream of going to these places. My family had never stepped out of our home country and foreign travel was an options that all of us could only imagine.
Until I discovered the world of pen friends that is! My very first pen friend was a girl, my own age, from Japan. I found her name in magazine that we subscribed to, that had recently started a section for pen friends. Since Japan was one of those countries I had always been curious about, I grabbed the opportunity and wrote to her. Thus began a long and mutually-beneficial relationship with a pen friend. If my first pen friend was from Japan, others from Australia, Egypt, Portugal and the UK soon followed. Each of them had varying degrees of proficiency in English. Some of the words and phrases they used were unfamiliar. But the best part was that by interacting with these pen friends and writing to them on a regular basis, my view of the world and the people from various countries expanded. Not only did I get to know more about my pen friends, their likes, dislikes, tastes and preferences, I also got an opportunity to know more about their countries the people, the politics, different religions and a whole lot of other things. My pen friends expanded my horizons so to speak. Perhaps the most memorable thing was when my pen friend from Egypt happened to visit my country. Mustafa had secured a youth scholarship that enabled him to go to any country of his choice to spend a few weeks understanding the people and the cultures, and having heard so much from me, he opted to come to m country. I spent several weeks in anticipation, waiting for Mustafa to arrive. I’m quite sure I drove my parents insane with my nervousness. But when my pen friend Mustafa finally arrived, the waiting seemed to have been worth it.
We spent a good two weeks together before he went around other parts of the country in his learning quest. But those two weeks were truly memorable. Not only was I finally able to put a face and a personality to my pen friend, but by speaking with him and learning more about the faraway country that he hailed from, I had managed to live a part of my childhood dream – that of visiting and traveling in distant lands and faraway countries. Today’s children don’t have such problems. Traditional letter writing has been replaced by e-mails and the Internet has made knowing about different people and cultures that much easier. But even today, there is nothing to compare with the joys of writing to and hearing from pen friends from all over the worl. Websites like www.pen-pals.net, www.penfriends.com.au and even the International Pen Friends website offer scores of possibilities for one to make and treasure pen friends worldwide. So why wait? Start off on a fascinating journey of discovery today!
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