When I was a teenager, I had pen pals. I registered with a pen pal company, and they connected me with other young people in other countries. At that time, there was no Internet or social media, so we wrote letters to each other.

I had pen pals in Morocco, The Philippines, Estonia, Germany, Japan, Canada, Australia, the USA, China and Hong Kong. I wrote to my penpals for many years. Sometimes we sent each other presents. I was always happy to recieve traditional items from the different countries.

My pen pal from Japan was called Megumi. She used to send me pictures of cherry blossoms. She also sent me a jigsaw puzzle of a traditional Japanese painting. We wrote to each other for a few years, but then we lost touch. (lose touch = lose contact)

I often wonder how she is. I have lived in Japan for 18 years, but she doesn’t know that. I still have her old address. Sometimes, I think, “Should I write to her old address?” But I’m sure she is not there anymore. She has probably moved away. Maybe she is married with children. Maybe she doesn’t remember me. I would like to contact her again to say thank you. Thanks to her, I could learn about Japan and Japanese life when I was living in the UK.

Now we have social media, so it is very easy to become friends with people around the world. Teenagers can meet people and learn about other countries easily. However, I’m glad there was no social media when I was a teenager. I remember how excited I was when I got home from school and found a letter from a pen pal! It made me very happy.