Thursday, August 29, 2013

Pen Pal Era and the International Youth Service

I'm revealing my generation and age in this post but both are needed to explain the topic and why it makes me feel a little nostalgic. 

It was the late 1970s.  I learned to type, not "keyboard" as my children did, in a typing class using a manual typewriter.  Eventually, I upgraded to an electric typewriter and thought it pretty advanced at the time.  There were no personal computers or cell phones, so text messaging and instant anything were things of the future.  Our world wide web was found in libraries that offered reference books and encyclopedias.  Anyone remember the Dewey Decimal System?  What about pen pals?

In 1977, my high school French teacher believed in cultural exchange through an organization called the International Youth Service (IYS).  Founded in 1952 and located in Finland, the IYS was an international penfriend organization.  For a small fee per address, the IYS matched students (between the ages of ten and twenty) around the world.  Pen pals were found based on age, country, interests and language abilities.  Of course, my French teacher suggested we request students from France, but the beauty of IYS was your name went into a "pool" of students.  This allowed the opportunity to have multiple connections from all over the world.  And I did.

I communicated with several students from Italy, Northern Ireland, England and France.  Some lasted only through a few letters.  Two of them, however, shared letters, postcards, photos, birthdays and Christmas celebrations with me from 1977 until I graduated from college.  Then, as with everyone, "life" started and we all got too busy to write letters.  Contact was lost.  Unfortunately, the pen pal generation ended, as I knew it, and IYS closed its doors in 2008, stating it couldn't compete with the Internet.

It was the Internet that actually allowed me to reconnect with one of my friends.  I received a Facebook message a few years ago from someone asking if I knew one of my former pen pals.  The message came from my friend's daughter and her mom had been looking for me.  Fortunately, my maiden name is part of my full name on Facebook.  She might not have found me otherwise.

From that point on, my friend and I have picked up where we left off, catching up and sharing our lives through emails instead of postal letters.  She still lives in Milan, Italy and is a successful businesswoman.  Luckily for me, her English is perfect.  She refuses to get a Facebook page, but her daughter and I are trying to convince her to change her mind.  Maybe she'll come around to it someday.

As for my other friend, I think I've found him via Google.  When we were young letter writers, he was training to become a chef.  He eventually left Northern Ireland to live in London, and in his letters he'd often explain the training he would go through.  I found my box of letters from that time (I still have all of them) and in one he'd described going to a Bob Dylan concert in London in 1981.  In another, he mentioned going out in London (1981) to "celebrate the wedding of Di and Charley" even though it meant nothing to him.  Recently, when I searched his name online, I found a chef with his own restaurant in Ireland, which seems to being doing well.  I'm happy for him and hope to make contact one day.

I'm surprised, but pleased, the IYS was able to stay operational as long as it did.  I'm also sorry that the younger generations can't experience connecting with people the way I did.  Yes, it's easy and immediate now but at the same time probably less personal.  In my opinion, it's the same with sending Christmas cards (a tradition we still follow).  Nowadays, people send holiday greetings via email, and that's okay.  Times change and eras merge.  Letters rarely go via the USPS, or snail mail as it's commonly referred to now (Pony Express in the old days).  Fast, high-speed, instantaneous...all adjectives to describe our lives today, and the way connections are made around the world.  Perhaps remembering how things were once done helps us appreciate the now.  It does for me...while I readily become nostalgic, too.
 

11 comments:

  1. Hello veronica,i come from indonesia.and i had a pen pal from iys too.we disconnect for several years.she comes from usa.i miss her much.i don't know her anymore.i wish i can find her again

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for your comment and for reading my blog. I would suggest searching online if you haven't already...at least that's a start. Social media might help, as well. Best of luck.

      Delete
    2. Hi Veronica, It's good to reminisce the past just like how IYS filled our lives with so much excitement when receiving letters from a friend around the world. I'm from the Philippines and I had a female friend then from USA and one also from Germany. It's sad to see those friendship faded as time goes by since letters travel slow. A similar fate that befell IYS as Internet nowadays make people lives more easier. I forgot the names of my pen friends perhaps they do have their own families now as much as I do. But enjoyed so much every time I got a letter from them.

      Delete
    3. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    4. My apologies for the late response. Thank you for reading this blog post and for the comment. I, too, enjoyed the letters from around the world. Social media is wonderful, but instantly connecting has at times lost its specialness because of it.

      Delete
  2. Hı Veronica,
    Thank you for making me remember those slow but deep sensational days of paper and pe. I remember small tags coming in 10s on which people were writing their names and addresses. There were no guarantee of money pay back. I remember we were putting the tags and 1 dollar for each tag in the envelope and sending them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello,
      Thanks for reading my blog and for your comment. And you're welcome. :) Perhaps because the days were slow and the wait long, it made connecting with people around the world so special. Thanks, again.

      Delete
  3. What is the name of the restaurant in Ireland?!

    (from Amy in Ireland)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, Amy,
      The restaurant that I'm aware of (I believe there has been more than one) is called The Market Street Restaurant in Tramore. I did hear from him since this post was published (confirming he is the person I corresponded with so long ago). Thank you for reading my blog and for the comment/question.

      Delete
  4. It was nice to read something about pen pals. I had many when I was a teen (15-18). It's a pity that IYS closed down. Their service was fantastic. I had many friends abroad. All the best, Lélio Célio Cunha (Brazil).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My apologies for the late reply. Thank you for reading my blog post and for the comment. It's great to know so many people connected through this organization.

      Delete

Featured Post

Taylor Swift

  I know this small post won't gain much attention in the big picture of things since the world's eyes and ears are on Taylor Swift&...