The last show I
watched that had something to do with Canada was That '70s Show, where Kelso, Hyde and Fez got into trouble
with the Canadian cops for, well, Fez (Fez forgot to bring along his Green
Card, which was later discovered hidden inside his shoe). I'm not too
sure if Eric was involved but it was definitely an episode to remember.
I have family in
Vancouver (or Toronto, I admit I'm a bad, bad cousin), and I'm actually waiting
for one of my cousin brothers to tie the knot so there'll be a very good excuse
for me to fly halfway across the globe to catch up with them. Also, another
selfish thought: I need to hunt down my Canadian penpal (I
hyperlinked it to wikipedia just in case you never had one) which I have
lost touch with since 1994 or even earlier.
Actually I
haven't brought this up at all ever since I started blogging in 2001, and I'm
glad to have this as my inaugural post here Colletive Conversations.
It all started
when I was reading the Daily Express, probably when I was 9 or 10. Back then the
Internet was 'what?' and we only relied on TV and newspapers as our windows to
the world. It was around that time when my dad discontinued our subscription to
National Geographic (after decades) because I was the only one reading it not for
the content but mostly for the pictures (come on, all of us are guilty of this
at some point in life), and everyone else in the family was too busy with their
own things. So, there was nothing much left to do aside from the usuals – Play
Doh, Barbie, Polly Pocket and some computer games such as Tetris and Dig
Dug. Reader's Digest was too wordy and TV only had Mind Your Language, Macgyver, Beverly Hills 90210 and Friends came much later; among
others.
In the 90s, Doulos made few calls at our harbor and while browsing for
coloring books and world maps (I like geography), a crew asked me if I had a
penpal. I said no, and she said I should because it's a fun thing to do and
it's not too late to start making friends from all around the world. Later, I
asked my mom about it and she told me to watch out for some penpal column in
the Daily Express.
I remember
seeing the advertisement. I wrote to them and I received a letter from some
country, I think it's Finland.
Inside there was a chain letter with a list of names and addresses; and I get
to choose a pal to write to. There were so many names from more than 100
countries to choose from, and I picked this girl because her surname was
similar to Tommy Page! Yea I know I'm a loser here...
And so I was got
really excited and I started writing to her (and now I ask myself, why didn't I
pick a boy?) right away. And her name? Stephanie Paige.
So what do I
know about Stephanie? Well, based on my vivid memories, we are around the same
age and I think she has a younger brother, and she's a ballerina. We exchanged
photographs and among the few she sent me there was this one with her in a
ballerina outfit, striking a sweet, angelic pose. I think she sent me that
because I was also taking ballet lessons, and tap dancing too.
It's now October
2007, more than 10 years has passed since I lost touch with her. She said she
was moving houses and gave me her new home address to write to, which I did.
Till today I'm still not sure who was the last person who was supposed to write
back. I still have those letters stashed somewhere in my closet and because of
this post I am inspired to dig it out and write a letter to her during my next
trip back home.
Will I write and
ask for her email address and that if she syncs it with her Facebook or MySpace? Or will I ask her to reply to me via snail mail
and keep the chain going? Or, even better - should I break this excitement and
spam all Stephanie Paige-s I find on Facebook and perhaps on LinkedIn?
I really don't
know just yet – and I am eager to find out myself soon.