Pen Pal writing-the art of writing and learning about the world

Pen pal writing is one of the most prolific hobbies around. You can make a new friend or even find a new love through the art of exchanging letters. People who engage in this hobby usually find out new and interesting things about countries they’ve never been to and it’s like you’re getting exposure to a new culture just by writing to the actual person who lives there. I have been doing this for more than 20 years off and on in grade and throughout high school resuming the hobby in college. It’s great if you like people and want to engage in new and interesting things and even getting some really cool stationery and even stickers. There’s a disadvantage to this as well it’s attracting some strange characters from countries in Africa and Southeast Asia with men and some women who are using pen pal writing as a means to find a spouse or someone to send them money.

 

So be very careful about who you’re writing to because most of these countries in Africa or Asia are poor and many see pen pal writing as an opportunity to snag someone from a resource rich country like the United States or places in Europe. African and Asian writers tend to use poor grammar and don’t speak English very well and aren’t very well educated. If you see anything referring to exchanging gifts (within the first 2 letters) or sending money discontinue writing because you’ll know it’s a scam. A real pen pal will not ask you for money or gifts, and will take the time to get to know you and a true pen pal will not stop writing after 1-2 letters, if you can’t continue to write to someone at least have the decency to be honest with them because not saying anything and hoping they’ll understand in a non-verbal sense is inconsiderate and rude. If you know your priorities don’t permit you to write as much don’t take on any more pals until your time permits you to commit to writing more people.

 

When you put out an ad for a pen pal be specific in what you’re looking for so you don’t end up with people who aren’t fitting of your lifestyle choices. For example meaning if you are gay/lesbian/bisexual/trans-gendered post your ad in the appropriate category or if you are into certain lifestyles find like minded people who fit that criteria. There are hundreds of sites out there that tailor to many different kinds of people of age and ethnic backgrounds. Also be honest about your marital status because you will from time to time have married people looking for people on the side to write to for other means. This can be an enjoyable hobby if the people involved are committed to writing. Develop good communication with your pen pal because most pen pals will understand if you fall behind on writing due to other things going on in your life. It’s about respect and consideration for that other person. You can go on Google and pull up hundreds of sites out there, but I can recommend 4 good ones like Maarten’s Pen Pals, Pen Pals Now, and Sassassociations (free pen pal sites), and Transatlantic Pen Friends-this one is based in San Pedro, California and you can send a SASE (Self addressed stamped envelope) and they’ll send you an application and you pay a small fee and in return you’ll get a fat envelope full of pen pals from the UK to Japan and you get like 40+ names, and I recommend them since I wrote to a few people on there until they eventually stopped writing for whatever reason, but you can get a lot for such a small fee. Their address is: Transatlantic Penfriends Post Office box 2176, San Pedro, California 90731. I’ve corresponded with pen pals from all over Europe through transatlantic pen friends and currently I am writing to people in Greece, Czech Republic, Singapore, Peru, France, Italy and some in the United States.