Dear Whoever Receives this Letter,
I guess I'll start off by introducing myself - I'm Lee Haemi, and I'm 15 years old.
My New Years resolutions are always to learn something new, and two years ago, I chose to learn Chinese.
My Chinese teacher assigned us this idea to write to a pen pal in China, and well, here we are.
(Please excuse any mistakes, I'm still learning)
My life here in Korea is pretty normal - My parents are pretty cool and I have an older brother who is way too overprotective.
School is boring but I have two best friends who make up for it.
I'll let you in on a secret since you're a stranger: my two best friends are actually planning to audition and become trainees.
They both want to be idols someday - they're both really good and I know for certain that they'll make it.
I just don't want to think about them leaving me.
What do I want to be?
I'm still trying to figure it out.
What about you?
What do you want to be when you grow up?
How's life in China?
Do you have any best friends?
Well I don't want my first letter to be overwhelmingly long so I'll end it with the assignment our teacher gave us.
She said to add something from Korea that we wanted to send... So, I'm sending this picture of me and my two best friends, along with a couple of my favorite cookies.
I'm not sure if they also sell this brand in China, so I hope you enjoy them.
I also hope that whoever you are, you and I have fun learning about each other's cultures and becoming friends.
Sincerely,
Haemi
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Past
May 12
Age 15
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"Alright class, if you're finished with your letters, please come drop them off at my desk."
I folded my letter in half, tucking it gently into the large envelope before trying to to smooth out the poking bump of my packaged cookie.
"This is so stupid," my seat mate Hyunmin grumbled. "Why do we have to write about our lives to someone we don't even know?"
"I think it's cool," I shrugged. "It's a fun way practice our Chinese while meeting someone new."
Hyunmin scoffed as she glared down at her desk to her empty, unwritten letter as I stood up and made my way to the front of the class. My teacher smiled as I dropped my letter in the small pile on her table before I nodded and strolled back to my seat.
"Help," Hyunmin urged. "What did you write about?"
"I just introduced myself," I answered. "... And rambled a bit about my life."
"Everything about this is just dumb! Why can't we be normal and write our letters through emails?!"
"I like this," I said, shrugging again. "Hand written letters are more... Personal."
