those were the days : pen pal'ing

Chinese new year is 2 weeks away, 
and since I'm not working, 
took this opportunity to do spring cleaning / decluttering / overhaul.
and while digging up all my stuff,
I found some 'gems' 

I had forgotten that I've had pen pals.
Evidence showed I've 9 of them. 
And I wonder how on earth was I so free to write during those days (if I remember correctly during upper primary & secondary school).

and my pen pal were from Saudi Arabia(KSA), Nizip-Turkiye, Gaithersburg-USA, Phillipines, Auckland-New Zealand, Roswell GA-USA, & Klang valley. 
However, I couldn't remember how I got them as pen pals during then.

It was sweet but weird at the same time, reading back letters from the past. 
there was once upon a time when I share my time with nice people around the globe ... actually if you ask me where are those places (except Klang valley) on the world map, honestly I couldn't pin point (pardon my bad geography).

Those were the times when we have trust 
trust that our letters are collected from the mail box - post office - transport - recipient (the whole postal system works)
trust that our pen pals will reply 
trust that we are genuine people trying to get to know each other
trust that human relationships needs time and effort to keep.

While tidying this 'stage' of pen-pal'ing of my life,
ah dear say : at this rate, no wonder pack until tomorrow also not yet finish lo...
Haha, in fact yes, I took a whole full day.
I was like that little girl I was, opening each letter from the envelope, reading each letter while trying to remember my pen pals. 
I believe I love them all at that point of time.  (OK, I mean friendship kind of love).

At the end of the session of decluttering my precious mails & greeting cards,
I was happy to relive that moment of my teenage years.
However, I was DISAPPOINTED at one thing.
I was hoping (and hoping) to at least find a love letter (or at least a little love note) in that big pile of letters and cards in that mooncake metal box.
But NONE, not even 1 ... ARGHHHH!!!!

(I guess I just wasn't someone someone will write love letter / love note to ... LOL)