My Snail Mail Collection

Posted on 13 February 2016 at 04:23

Back in the time when cellular phones and internet were not yet available and were not even introduced to us, my only sort of communication to my friends from different places was through snail mail. Yes, it was snail mail which had been my happiness.

EL COMIENZO (The Start)

I was in middle grade school when I met my first ever pen pal, Jeselle. She was a beautiful creature, she loves art. She was part of the campers back then from another town, from Jagna specifically. She has this long hair, chinky eyes and fair complexion. We were on the same cottage room during my first ever Summer Youth Camp based in Tagbilaran City, Bohol. It was a Christian Youth Camp and it was a memorable one because it was my first time to join one. I was still in my fourth grade but I was allowed to join the said event. Jeselle on the other hand was sixth grader that time.

We became friends after a specific bible study where in we were both part of the circle of people. Although we were not seated with each other, during the welcoming and getting to know each other part, we both knew we seem to have a special bond automatically. After that said bible study group, we then exchanged addresses and after the said camp, we both decided right there that we would start writing and would update on each other's lives.

PRIMERA LETRA DE PAPEL (First Paper Letter)

Year 1999

The camp was held on the first week of May, it was a four day activity and right after the camp, I sent my first ever letter to Jeselle. I was really glad that just a few days after, I received my first letter from her.

If you can see on the photo on the left, the specific date of which she had responded to me was May 18, 1999. She stated that she was happy about the letter of which I had sent her. She mentioned about what was happening in their town. The day she received my letter was also the day when their public market had been burned down. It was a devastating day for her and for the people of their town but she was delighted with the letter which she received, easing the worrying feeling of the fire.

She immediately responded to me and I had received it after a few days.

Writing a hand letter is enjoyable, it is a pleasure to both the writer and the reader. During those days, we enjoy and we delight in every letter that we receive from our friends. I had received more than ten or twenty letters from Jeselle and I love each and every letter we exchange.

Aside from Jeselle, I also have other pen pals from other places.

AMIGOS DE LETRAS (Pen Pals)

Regina and Matet are my childhood friends whom I have met when I traveled to Alicia in my grand parent's area.

I was living with my aunt and since it was summer, I together with my brothers had a great time at their town. The neighborhood had a lot of kids around and their house was very near to the basketball court where most children would play.

My aunt cousins were already older than us so we were instead introduced to these two sisters, Regina and Matet who are really artistic individuals. Regina is the older one while Matet is of my brother's age.

What I remember about them when we were still both writing each others is the fact that they use really cute and funny stationeries just like that yellow letter I had taken a photo of.

Aside from friends outside town, I also enjoyed writing letters to my friends from other schools. I had been training my hand to write a lot of letters and that it is on a daily basis. I remember myself writing three letters for different people with at least three pages of stationeries.

The image above was a letter sent from a grade school friend to update me with how the group was doing while we were studying on different schools. I studied in the public high school for secondary and they were studying at a private school.

There were different cultures when it comes to studying in a private and public schools. It's a totally different lifestyle too being in a public school which is a bit far from our place. I have to stay at our school for lunch while they go home since the private school was just in the main town.

I am glad that they were still able to update me with what was happening with them. Plus, I get to receive a Harry Potter letter stationery. I didn't know that Harry Potter was already a hit at that time. Looking back at these letter, I then realize that the sequel was almost a decade long!

Foreign Pen Pal

Aside from having local pen pals, I also had two foreign pen pals who have been very special to me. One of them was Alyssa who was from Bolton in the US.

How I learned about her?

Well, way back in my first year as a secondary student, the Samaritan Purse have this operation which they call as Christmas Child where in each individual who would participate fills in a shoe box with stuffs for kids and children of this specific age. At that time, the kids from this part of the United States had given their own share of shoe boxes.

They had filled it in the box with stuffs like notebooks, chocolates, toys, pens and anything that they can think of as long as it fits nicely on the box. And they also placed a letter stating their name and their address in case the child who will receive it would mind sending her a thank you letter.

I had the courage to write back and that was the start. Everything was a history then. We would be sending letters and gifts to each other. Although it takes time to reach her and for her letter to reach me, we both look forward to receiving and reading the letters we wrote for each other.

With all the penpals and friends I had during those years, we often go to the post office to send our letters and would pay specific amount. At that time, I would pay five to ten Philippine peso to get my letter sent out for local destinations, which my friends would receive after three days. While it would take almost a hundred pesos for those letters going abroad. It was fun receiving mails before and was more fun to write manually the stories and responses.

3 Reasons Why I Miss Writing Letters

1. Artistic Letters

These are just some of the letters which I have received from Jeselle. She has a lot more letters which have been artistic where in she will be using a plain bond paper and would be creating her own stationery designs.

Like the one above, it is made of colored pen lines, she also drew the Belle image and then wrote in between the lines. There are more of those artistic letters which they had made for me.

2. Friends Away from Home

Aside from letters, I am also receiving cards from these friends I have earned due to writing letters. I am getting cards during birthdays and some holidays like Valentines Day and Christmas as well.

The image below is a card I received from my friend in Alicia, Bohol for my birthday. This was really touching that they are able to recall my own birth date.

With that, I would also make it a point that I will remember their own birthdays as well and I will also send them a card for their birthdays and those events.

Yes, it's a give and take situation.

3. Waiting for a Postman was Exciting

Receiving envelopes with those stamps gives me a great feeling. But what I really like is the feeling of waiting for the postman to pass by our area and would tell me that there's a letter for me.

I don't know why but it just feels really good! And by the time the postman would call my name, it just feel like I had won the lotto draw! I would immediately open the envelope, check the stationery design and would be giggling over the content of the letter.

EL FIN (The End)

Unfortunately, since the start of electronic email, things had also changed. For all of these letters that I had received, I am glad that I still had kept them until now. This is the box of my snail mail collection. I am still proud to have these with me.