The trials and tribulations of letter correspondance!!

 THE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF LETTER CORRESPONDANCE!!

Penpaling has been a passion of mine for 3 years , a great hobbie as i have a natrual love of writing and a desire to make friends around the world ! 

There are a number of adults who penpal ,its not just for kids! I have penpals in america,turkey,greece,australia,germany,korea and here in the uk . Its so much fun and ive met some really interesting folks. Its wounderfull to meet these people and become "friends" through letters ! Even though many are very different to me and lead compleatly different lifestyles , through letters we still manage to accept those differeces and on many occasions become real "friends" .

 In some respects you are more likely to open up this way , and i find it a very relaxing and educating hobby!

After 3 years of penpaling with almost 100 ladies!! i decided i could no longer keep up ...so decided to send a message to those who simply never wrote within almost a year! (yep ,thats right the ones who sit on your facebook and never reply to mail!!!)

In addition to penpalling , i also do postcards exchange (written & stamped) which is another popular way to communicate world wide. weather it be one off postcard exchange or a regular exchange with the person , its all fun and i have well over 200 written and stamped postcards as a result! worth thinking about ! for one its inexpensive,you dont have to write much!,and you can send and recieve from all over the world :0) I know postcrossing is a good site if you want to have a random address to send and recieve. Also "send something ,net" however this site is for random profiles , in which the sender is really doing a random act of kindness...its not essential for the reciever to send back....but many do out of courtesy. I met a wounderfull penpal through there to! and regular postcard exchanger. :0)

Swap-bot.com is a great site for swapping just about everything and anything! from letters,postcards ,handmade crafts,journels,and swaps for random gifts! You sign up and find swaps to join ...partners are automaticly chosen and you send to the person whos address your given! another person will have your address(not the person you are sending to) and in return you will recieve a swap also :0)
This site also works using "ratings" so easier to see a good swapper! worth a look ....

Facebook sites have many penpal groups , postcard exchange,e-pals,swapping  and even text pals groups! these can be a wounderful source of  friendship ...but ide advise not to add people to facebook without exchanging letters first. But if you insist it may be worth going into privacy settings and hiding photo albums ,email address ect untill you know them better :0) Also ALWAYS KNOW WHERE THE BLOCK FUNCTION IS!!! just in case . Its just a few suggestions , I have on the whole had little problem ,and enjoy it !

HOBBYS WITHIN HOBBYS!
In the world of penpaling and similar hobbies , i discovered fbs,lbs,decos,lyrix,slams and  a few other things some exchange in order to find new pals! many of you may know about these already! :0) but for those who dont .....
** FBS -ABBRIVIATION FOR FRIENDSHIP BOOK
**LB-ABBRIVIATION FOR LABEL BAG
**DECOS-ARE SMALL BOOKLETS WHERE EACH PERSON WILL USUALLY DECORATE 1 PAGE , EITHOR IN A THEME OF THE BOOK OR THERE OWN THEME(FREETHEME)
**LYRIX-SMALL BOOKLETS WHERE THE PRIME USE IS SONGS ..LYRIX
I will attach a link with greater detail for those interested in finding out more...including abbriviations commonly used in the writers details....

generally , these are all ways to meet new people ...you would add your name ,po address,email address (whatever your comfortable with!) and add a little infomation about yoursel (yousually short and sweet! then pass it on to a pal to do the same and so on. when it rcomes to the last page the last entrant will return the book to the person who its been made for! then they have a list of new potential penpals / swappers :0) Does anyone swap these ? or maybe ive left out a few others? let me know! I swapped most of these ,but im taking alittle break now with the kids on their summer hols i havent got time ! but these often become added hobbys  for some penpalers :0)

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A PENPAL?
well i think this is a great question! and worth asking yourself before correspondance . I personally love a common ground no matter how small! but i also love people who lead different lives ..i learn so much! Main thing to me is respect i guess , and accepting and appriciating the difference .
I used to only enjoy long letter friends...but after 3 years even i struggle to write 12 a4 pages (and wounder how i ever managed it easily! LOL) i dont mind them long or shorter these days , again personal prefrence! some have an age ,gender,religion preference. always a good thing to think about! likewise some dont care eithor way and will enjoy corresponding with pretty much everyone :0) theres no set rules , and thats what makes it great !

Im also a crafter ,cat lover,reborn collector (newest hobbie!lol) , postcard enthusiast , swapper, stationary hoarder,girlfriend and mother of 4 small kiddos :)

So the purpose of my blog ? Is EVERYTHING to do with my passion for penpaling and similar hobbies ive come to love ! and hopefully meet likeminded peeps :):)