25 Years Ago (Age 10)

Dear Yixing,

Thank you for being my new pen pal to help me learn English. My name is Chanyeol and I am 10 years old. I live in South Korea. I know you live in America and that America is very far away across the Atlantic Pacific Ocean. What do you do in America? Is it nice there? Do you have any siblings? How old are you?

 Please write soon,

Sinserly Sincerely, Chanyeol

Dear Chanyeol,

My name is Yixing, but you probably know that already. I am 10 years old, and I live in California. That is in America. It is nice here, but hot. I like playing outside. I don’t have any siblings. It is just me and my mom and dad. They are from China but I was born here. China is closer to Korea but America is very far away. I have never been to China or Korea.

 Are you in school? I am in the 4^th grade. Write back!

Your friend,

Yixing

Dear Yixing,

California sounds cool. I want to visit. I have one older sister. She is mean. You are lucky that you don't have a sister. I have a dog. Do you like dogs? She is having puppies soon. I will send you a puppy! My mom says I am 10 like you, but in Korea I am older. I don't understand it but we are born in the same year. Summer is almost here and then we will have break.

Write soon,

Chanyeol

Dear Chanyeol,

I like dogs, but my mom says you can't mail animals across the world. Anyways, I like cats better. I wish I had a sibling because then I would have somebody to play with. Maybe brothers are better than sisters? It is almost summer too and then I can play every day and not go to school. Last year for my birthday I got a guitar. I start lessons soon and I am excited. We are having a pool party next week! Maybe you can come, since you know my address! I'll ask my mom.

Your penpal,

Yixing

Dear Penpal,

I think I missed your pool party... Maybe next time. Haha. The puppies are here. There are 4 but we have to give them all away. It's not fair. I want to learn guitar too! That sounds like fun. But summer is almost over and soon I go back to school and we do not get much free time. Maybe I will learn anyway. Then some day we can play together.

Your friend,

Chanyeol

Dear Chanyeol

Sorry I did not write for a long time. I lost your address but then I found an old letter. I will keep your letters in a box now so I don't lose them again. Let's plan to write to each other always, okay? That way we can always have a friend. Some of the kids at school don't like me. They say I talk funny and say I am not American, even though I was born here. I don't care what they say though. 

I am still learning guitar and my teacher says I'm good. I want to learn piano too but I don't have a keyboard. Sometimes I play on the piano in the school music room just to make noise but then other people come in and I can't play anymore. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

My mom says you don't celebrate thanksgiving though. I don't know why we do either. We just celebrate it at school by playing Pilgrims and Indians. Do you know what those are?

Write soon, even though I didn't! :(

Yixing

Dear Yixing

I tried to write soon. But now it is Christmas. I'm sorry! Still, let's promise to always write to each other! I have a few friends here but none of them have penpals in another country, so I think that makes me cool. My best friend is named Jongin, but outside of school we don't hang out. Do you have any good friends? What are they like? Are they nice? It's really cold here. Do you get cold weather where you live? Do you have snow? I like the snow but it's not fun when you have to go out in it. I got a guitar finally for Christmas. Now I can learn to play just like you. Piano also sounds fun. Maybe I will learn that too! Then we can play together. 

Your friend, 

Chanyeol

The first year of correspondence. I won't be including every single year of letters since they've started writing. Expect a small-to-large time jump to occur between some 'chapters'. But now the kids Chanyeol and Yixing know each other, and this year lays out the foundation for everything to follow. :) 

By the way, I can't wait until they start getting older and then they can start using complex and compound sentences. Hooray!

<3 Rosie