pen pals

In August of 2001 I traveled to Vietnam and the last leg of the trip took the group to Cat Ba Island. We took a ferry back to the main land where our tall, pale bodies stood out like sore thumbs in the jam packed ferry full of locals. We must have gotten there a little late cause we were all scattered around the ferry finding any seat we could find. I sat next to a Vietnamese woman who spoke a little English. We "chatted" but mostly drew pictures in my journal to communicate back and forth about differences of American and Vietnamese culture/ life. At the end we exchanged addresses.

After coming home I sent her a picture of our meeting on that ferry and a letter. Recently I recieved a letter from her with that picture (her way of making sure I remembered who she was). She said she had tried to send me a few letters over the years but that I never responded. Unfortunately I never recieved those letters but I did get this one and remembered her and our meeting very well. I gave her my email address in case she had access to email thinking that it may be a more efficient and convienent way to communicate. I got my first email from her with pictures of her 2 children, a boy and a girl. I've never had a true pen pal but I would say I do now!