I have another mission this year. I felt the sudden inclination to search my long lost friends. Let me relate the story behind this.

I mentioned in my 2015 Postcard Challenge that I have letter writing friends back in High School. I used to be very diligent in writing and sending letters. When I entered college, I lost all the interest to write. I allowed the few years of friendship to drift and fade away. And honestly, this is something I really regret. If I pursued exchanging letters, I have 7 penfriends in 17 years. Almost another treasure and milestone for me. 

I'm not exactly sure what prompted me to unearth this supposedly closed chapter of my life. I guess it all started when a blog friend, Marieken opened the possibility of exchanging postcards. Since I work near the Post Office and the sentimental fool in me was suddenly awakened, I wanted to write letters again. Weeks after, I was already sending postcards to a few blog friends. Along the way, memories of my letter writing friends dawned on me. I checked my drawer of old letters and from there, I saw tons of letters I received way back 1998. 

Of all the pen friends I gained, the longest exchange I had was from my Thai friend. Actually, I have reconnected with her many years ago. My old planner with her email address paved the way. It was a good thing that she maintained the same email account. I was able to successfully find her through my social media accounts. If my Thai friend took the initiative to find me, she will surely end up unsuccessful. Only God can remember how many email addresses I created and deactivated since 1998. Haha

Of the 7 penfriends I had, I was successful finding at least one. I wanted to search for everyone but my heart is longing to prioritize my two friends from South Korea. 

For those who know me well, the reason is very obvious. Blame all the drama series that affected me and my intensifying dream to see the Land of the Morning Calm. 

Setting aside my personal dream, I considered my two penfriends from South Korea in my list of favorites. We only exchanged letters a few times but I felt the sincerity and instant friendship. One of them even admitted that it was her first time to write a full letter in English. How could I not value the time, effort, and patience rendered for me. I have also received birthday and Christmas cards, postcards of their favorite Korean artists and crush :), stamps and one even sent me a very nice necklace, which by the way arrived to me in an opened envelope. Nice one Post Office! Hahaha Yes, I can still remember this incident way back 1998. My first taste of being personally violated by a government office. But as my Father said, I still have to be thankful. At the very least, the letter and all of its contents still reached me. Okay, forgiven even without apologies :)



Going back to the real intention of this post, the recent revival of my love for letter writing prompted me to search for my two long lost penfriends from South Korea. I took all the letters I received from them. I wrote my own letter after 17 years and reintroduced myself. I also photocopied their letters way back 1998 and all the postcards, photos and other gifts I received from them. I compiled everything in a huge envelope and went back to the Manila Central Post Office to fulfill the first step of my dream.

I already considered the possibility that my two friends already moved to new addresses. They may already have their own families or migrated to another country. It's a big possibility, given that I'm writing after 17 years. But part of me still wanted to consider the opportunity and take the slightest chance.


My two letters were sent via registered mail. It's a little more expensive but I considered safety and feedback. Should my two friends are nowhere to be found in their old addresses, the letter can be safely returned to me. If my letter successfully landed on them, at least I would know even though they decide not to answer my letter. If such is the case, I would of course respect their decision. If they will reply to my letter, this would definitely become one of the best and happiest things that will happen in my 2015. 

As much as I'd like to maintain the anonymity of my two Korean penfriends, I'm also considering the chance that my blog can serve as a bridge to this personal dream. Hence, I'm mentioning the names of my two penfriends.

Eun-Jin Ha from Songpagu, Seoul 
and 
Jae-un from Sunchonshi, Chonnam 

I tried searching their names through my different social media accounts, only to find users who are way younger than me. Haha I'm sure it wasn't any of them. My long lost friends share my age, don't ask me to mention it. hahaha But seriously, if I'm able to reconnect with at least one of them, I would surely be the happiest.




UPDATE: I was able to successfully reconnect with Jae-un in less than one week!!  See the details in this post.