Pen Pals

Looking At My Old Box Of Memories

[As an original writer, please do not copy my work. I'm sure you know the yady yada of how this goes. If you don't, well... DON'T STEAL MY SHIT! Thank you x]

Prologue

I remember how the autumn term of school was so unfair to me. I was sick on the first week back of school and yet I missed so much. Yet I found out that our school was picked to access the pen pal system. Everyone in my class got to pick their own pen pal, but I had to be given the last choice. I got this chubby chinky-eye looking kid called Seung Ti Kwung. When I was seven I was unable to pronounce it myself and used to call him Ti (as in Ty) if I spoke about him to any of my peers. Oh and back then I wasn't really aware that the Far East Asian countries were very much different, I was so naive and thought they were all the same people. I wasn't dumb enough to think they all looked the same, but I thought they all spoke the same with different country names within them; like Britain.

I remember my first letter to Seung Ti Kwung, which I mostly wrote in English. I attempted to write Annyeounghaseyo (안녕하세요)-but wrote Annyuonghasio (안녕하ㅅㅔㅛ) -, which meant hello in South Korean. However, when I received a letter back from him he corrected me on it and told me I was dumb and needed to work harder. However he did say good effort though. The surprising thing was, he wrote his whole letter back to me in English and probably had better spelling than I had in my own damn language. I cried on that day and refused to write a letter back, however a week later he wrote me another one. He asked me why I didn't write to him back and instantly assumed if I was feeling sick. He then told me all his favourite hobbies. I'd never forget how he said he loved computers and other technology, though when I was seven I didn't know what the term technology meant. He also said math and English, which I cringed at. Looking back in the past his sudden concern made me smile. After telling my mother about the second letter Seung Ti Kwung sent me she told me," He's smart." And that she liked that. In fact she admired it. She went as far as going to the school and asking them to let me have access with him from home. Of course she had to wait and see if it was ok from his family. And unfortunately for me she was granted what she wanted.

I was forced to write a second letter to him by my mother and had not a lot to say. I told him my favourite hobbies such as sports and arts, before telling him my favourite colour- mint green. And from there we got closer and closer. And I actually became fond of him. We began sending pictures back and forth with letters. As we grew he lost the puppy fat and became quite slim and nerdy looking as a teen. By this time we were so close we began to Skype.

I remember our first call and how nervous I was and how excited he was. He had 'emo' hair if you like, and I had two bunches in mine. He immediately spoke to me, his English sounding ok but not as good as when it was written. Well at least he was better than me, because I didn't really understand Korean though I made it my priority to read and write in it- weird right? He immediately asked me how was my day. I told him and returned the question. He was so honest and told me how he had a terrible day, but as extra as he is he said I cheered him up because I'm so beautiful. Me being the fourteen year old I was, I blushed and giggled. We asked each other some more basic questions and even went over the same ones we've asked each other in the past. As soon as I got comfortable speaking to him and hearing his voice I heard someone shouting in the background. He then told me he had to go, because he needed to do revision and have his dinner, I nodded and told him goodbye.
Our first call was mesmerising, I loved it though there wasn't very much to it.

And as time went on we became more and more comfortable as we grew to know more about each other. We ended up being completely opposites that attracted, but then again no surprise there. He was a true nerd and critic who never stopped insulting me, but occasionally complimented me afterwards. Though English is his second language and my first, he still ended up helping me with my exams and homework. He was truly bright. He's very classic when it comes to music also, so when I let him listen to my Hip Hop jams he criticised the music. It was funny at first, but then we had an 57argument on how precise he was. He thought it was messy and TOO much, but I couldn't just let his opinion stay there. Me being the extra teenager I was, I told him that classical music was boring and for white people. It was very stereotypical of me, but the school I went to was mainly black and spoke of white people as the enemy. Back then I didn't know much better, though I knew it was wrong of me. I knew I stepped out of line and so I apologised to him on text after he hung up on me. He blanked me and I then wrote a long ass paragraph telling him I was sorry. I told him in order to fit in at my school you had to be like the rest, but looking back now that still isn't good enough. I told him how I'm not racist and that I love all people, but I just got carried away. A day later he replied saying he forgave me and that he was sorry too. He said he researched on this genre to find out that this music came from us- black people, in order to own and enjoy something for ourselves. Well he went more in depth on how it started from reggae and branched out into other sub-genres, etc. He said he also listened to Soul for the first time and said he liked it, oh and Jazz which he loved. He said he began to understand my culture a bit more, but it didn't change his perspective on Hip Hop, which was understandable. I then thanked him for understanding culture appropriation and then on forward I decided to appreciate how honest he was.