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Maybe we can’t jump on an airplane right now to travel to
What can we do to cultivate our cultural learning and open our eyes to the world—right from our living room?
One way to travel around the globe is by putting on our cultural awareness glasses and grabbing a pen and paper! Don’t forget to take your kids with you!
Is That Even Possible Anymore?
“Maybe David and Ann can be pen pals,” my friend in Pennsylvania suggested.
I almost choked on my food.
“Pen pals!? I haven’t thought about pen pals in ages,” I exclaimed.
“Is that even possible anymore?” my friend asked.
“Why not? Who said pen pals are a thing of the past?!” I replied. “Why can’t David and Ann stay in touch and be pen pals when we return overseas? If they don’t want to handwrite letters, then they can send each other emails and texts.”
Pen Pals—A Novel Idea?
Pen pals. Sounds like a novel idea, but it’s actually an old idea.
I grew up having pen pals, and perhaps you did too. But, it’s true, nobody talks about pen pals anymore—at least in the traditional sense of the term.
“Pen pals are people who regularly write to each other, particularly via postal mail. Pen pals are usually strangers whose relationship is based primarily, or even solely, on their exchange of letters.”
Wikipedia
Most of my relationships with pen pals started in my language classes. I can remember writing letters back and forth to my pen pal from France. I would write to her in French, and she would answer me in English. It was a way for us both to practice the foreign language that we were learning, as well as to develop a friendship with someone located on the other side of the world. We would often ask questions about each other’s families, schools, friends, culture, food, and life. We would often send pictures and postcards to each other.
A Cultural Exchange
It was an incredible learning experience—a cultural exchange.
We never had an opportunity to meet face-to-face, and I regret that we didn’t stay in touch throughout the years. If so, we could have perhaps met up in person when I first moved to France to study at the university when I was 19. That would have been amazing!
Sadly, I don’t even remember my pen pals’ names. However, I’m a sentimental and a collector, so I’m sure that I still have those pen pal letters and postcards somewhere. They are probably tucked away in a storage box in my mother’s basement back in Missouri.
Pen Pals Meet Face-to-Face
I have heard of pen pals who started their long-distance friendship as children and continued into adulthood. Eventually, they met up face-to-face. What an experience that would be!
“A pen pal relationship is often used to practice reading and writing in a foreign language, to improve literacy, to learn more about other countries and life-styles, and to make friendships. As with any friendships in life, some people remain pen pals for only a short time, while others continue to exchange letters and presents for life. Some pen pals eventually arrange to meet face-to-face, sometimes leading to serious relationships, or even marriage.”
In German class in France, our boys also had pen pals. It was a great experience. They sent letters and pictures back and forth to each other, and then a year later, they met in person for a student exchange. Our boys went to Germany to stay with their pen pal’s family for one week, and then their German friends stayed with our family for one week in France.
It was a rich cultural exchange—“Weaving Cultures”!
What a great way to open our eyes to the world to the world around us and to cultivate our cultural learning! As parents, what an incredible way to open our kids to the world!
What Happened to Pen Pals?
So, whatever happened to pen pals? I guess it still exists. It’s just evolved with the new wave of technology.
We no longer pick up a PEN to write our pal across the ocean. Rather, we pick up our device and write a text, send an email, or record an audio message.
When I think about it in this sense, I have hundreds of “pen pals” around the world—in Bosnia, Tunisia, Morocco, France, England, the U.S., Mauritania, Canada, Venezuela, Indonesia . . .
E-Pals
It seems that the old term of “pen pals” has now been changed to “key pals” or “e-pals.”
“While the expansion of the Internet has reduced the number of traditional pen pals, pen pal clubs can nowadays be found on the Internet, in magazine columns, newspapers, and sometimes through clubs or special interest groups.”
Wikipedia
Types of Pen Pals
Benny—The Irish Polyglot, on his website, “Fluent in 3 Months,” identifies three different types of pen pals in today’s world.
“Technology has created lots of options for pen pals to connect with each other. So you can customize the type of pen pal you want to be based on how you like to write to people:
—Snail Mail: This is the traditional type of pen pal. You send proper letters to fixed addresses in different countries. If you like the way receiving a handwritten letter makes you feel, this type is for you.
—Email: Many people prefer email to snail mail these days because it’s free, quick, and easy.
—Digital: These are pen pals you connect with via instant messaging or services like HelloTalk. Here you can have daily or ongoing conversations with a pen pal through your mobile phone. If you prefer a fast-paced digital world, there are lots of options here.”
Pen Pals—Not Just Writing Buddies
Pen pals aren’t just writing buddies, however. The uniqueness of a pen pal relationship is its cultural exchange.
It’s not simply to find a spouse or to fill a need for a friend. It has an intentional purpose of learning about another culture and building a friendship bridge with someone on the other side of the world—someone completely different from yourself.
“The best pen pals are usually those who have an interest in learning about different people, cultures and languages. They want to connect with the world outside their borders, but on a more personal level.”
Benny—The Irish Polyglot
I put on my cultural lenses to see if I could expand my global tapestry in this area. I wanted to increase my cultural awareness. Much to my surprise, I found “Pen Pal World,” “Global Penfriends,” and “InterPals.” These are all online platforms where you can create a free online account and connect with people from all over the world. Fun!
I love the idea of connecting with people from around the world and “Weaving Cultures,” but I’m missing the traditional side of “pen pals.”
Old-Fashioned
There’s something special about taking the time and making the effort to get out a pen and write a letter or a card to someone. There’s something old- fashioned and beautiful about going to the post office to buy a cool-looking, international stamp (even if it costs way too much!) and sending it “par avion” across the ocean to someone waiting on the other side of the world.
From the receiver’s end, there’s something amazing about getting mail. When was the last time you received a handwritten card or letter in the mail?
It’s especially exciting to receive an envelope from another country with an interesting, foreign stamp on it. And, oh the feeling of reading a hand-written personal note that someone took the time to write just for you. It can’t be copied and pasted to someone else.
IT’S JUST FOR YOU!
I’m feeling nostagic as I write this and drink my cup of tea.
Something inside of me is screaming to shut down my laptop computer, resist the digital world into which I’ve been pulled, and find a blank piece of paper and a nice writing pen.
Something in me wants to be a pen pal today—intentionally writing a letter to someone special, and then going to the post office tomorrow to mail it to the other side of the globe.
I have someone in mind—an older gentlemen from India who I met on the train in England recently. He’s a writer, and we had a fascinating conversation about cultures, living abroad, foreign languages, faith, family, and life. He doesn’t have internet, but he gave me his postal address. We can’t be “e-pals,” but we can be old-fashioned “pen pals.”
I promised to write him a letter, and that’s what I’m going to do!
Resurrect a Lost Art
What about you?
Who says that pen pals have to be a thing of the past?
Together, we can resurrect this lost art—this old-fashioned way of “Weaving Cultures.”
If you are interested in traditional, letter-writing, pen pal culture, please contact me here.
I have several ideas up my sleeve. 🙂
Also, while in quarantine, this could be a great cultural awareness project for your kids—even the whole family!
—The Cultural Story-Weaver
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Let’s Weave Cultures!
Growing up (or perhaps now), did you have a pen pal? Where was he or she from? How long were you pen pals? Did you ever meet in person? If so, what was that like? Are you interested in being an old-fashioned, letter-writing pen pal with someone on the other side of the world? Or would you perhaps like your kids to have that experience? Would you like to get mail from another country?
We invite you to tell us your own cultural stories and global adventures . . . as you engage with the world, breaking down barriers, building bridges, and “weaving cultures”! Write about them in the comment box below.
