Recieved a response!!

Yay!! I'm really excited for you! Such a great feeling getting that first response ^___^. Enjoy the experience!

Thank you so much!! I was so nervous and worried that he wouldn’t respond and so it was such a relief when the letters came! Also never knew receiving letters would be so exciting haha I’m a child of this generation and have only ever sent emails and texts, so having to be patient was painful haha! 

Yeahhhh I’m happy you finally got a letter I hope it go’s well so how did you find the first letter? 

Hi Kelly! It was a wonderful letter! He’s a good writer and I can tell he’s smart too. He was just really respectful, funny, and he just seems to be really curious and grateful too. I’m super excited to write back and I just feel like there’s so much I want to say and know, but I don’t want to overwhelm him haha. There’s time, I think, for us to be able to say everything without having to say it all in one letter. He seems to also be very honest  and he says that he’s an open book, so I plan on doing the same. It’s a two-way street after all! But yeah, overall I’m really glad that I chose to write him. Hopefully I can get a long term friendship out of this! 

I hope you can too I’m happy for you just see how things go. But I get what you mean the excitement of a new letter always wants you to know so much at once lol 

@Kelly yes you’re right! I don’t want to get ahead of myself! Still the excitement is overwhelming haha 

Hey, I'm glad to hear that your mail went through. I know you might think we share little in common in terms of age gap and that'd be understandable but I am also a gen y or millennial however you want to spell it out. In spite of being 10 years older than yourself we're not actually that dissimilar except for one thing. I saw the birth of the modern Internet in the mid 90s you probably did not.... I remember writing by hand as a common practice (and my handwriting sucks) you can probably get away today without writing anything by hand except a signature and date should you choose to.

But I get it, living in such an instantaneous world you get to the point where you think waiting sucks... The flip side is that and you're gonna hate me saying this... Because enjoy your 20s it all gets quicker and quicker after that... A good way to make time go slower is to actually slow down yourself, and one of those ways is writing a letter to someone by hand and putting it in the mail box on your local street corner... Surprisingly or not :P Australia Post still supports this "feature." 

If you want to speed up the process and reply more quickly to them you can use a service such as jmail which costs the same as one Australian $3 stamp or there abouts but it actually means you can send your return mail from inside of the United States.

As to the enjoyment of writing to someone, well I hope you do enjoy the process because it can actually be one of the most enjoyable experiences in the world to make a deep human connection with another human being.

Most of all slow down in life to smell a bunch of flowers and let salt water get in your hair... It's these things life is about not the hustle. People who live for the hustle in my humble opinion have their lives all arse about... I might get shot for saying that but its my truth... It doens't have to be yours... But hey some people here just like to slander people for sharing their truth...

I can understand the excitement! The woman I wrote to responded through Corrlinks and I am really happy as well. :) This is my first response and it seems I am her first pen pal as well. :)

Hi Cleo,

1st letters are just a wonderful thing, but with some ppl it's getting better with every letter! ;-)

Happy writing,

Kirsten

Ah the excitement of a first letter, I’m happy for you! Enjoy  :) 

There is nothing wrong with being excited it’s part of the reasons most of us are here it can bring as much joy to you as you want it too keep us posted how it all god 

@Frankie Hi Frankie! I don’t think we’re dissimilar haha I mean here we are both millennials writing to inmates! I do think you probably have a more wisdom than I do though! Yes, I so agree that I do need to slow down a bit. I think coming from an immigrant background, there’s so much pressure on me from my family especially to be successful and to make it here in Australia. My parents expect me to hustle and to take on as many chances and opportunities as I can (because my dad did, so why can’t I?). It’s hard but I know my parents want what’s best for me, I think! But yes, having a successful job and making money (to me anyways) isn’t the be all end all! 

Thank you Frankie for the words and help! I think I will set up a Jmail account for my other pen pal though because this one likes receiving handwritten letters, and I like them too. Feels more special lol. Thanks again mate! 

@Menyanthe  Hi! And wow that’s exciting!! I’m happy for you! Corrlinks is similar to JPay, is it? I think that’s quite special - being someone’s first pen pal and vice versa. Enjoy it!! 

@Kirsten Hi Kirsten and thank you!! I hope it does get better, I think it actually will! I think the excitement stems more from ACTUALLY receiving a response! But I’m keen to see how our friendship develops. 

@BabyBlueEyes Thank you so much!! And I will :) 

@Kelly Thank you and you’re right! Yes I will keep posting here! And I hope that you will too. I’m interested in you and your mans situation and I really hope/want it to all work out for you! Keep us posted!! It’s nice to see something positive, and what’s more positive than two people in love!

I know the feeling... The struggle is real being from a migrant background in Australia sometimes... My grandparents, aunt and dad, came here from a migrant background themselves. The hustle is cool, so is finding time to disconnect from that world.

Congrats @Cleo95. 11 days that is good turn around, I have a penpal in New Jersey and it takes a solid 2 weeks for his stuff to make it to the east coast of Australia. I'm glad I live in a metro area so there are no further delays.

Though we also chat via JPay daily, getting snail mail is always nice treat and did make us both feel more real to each other. 

While its not quite like how people share their lives on FaceBook these days, he shares with me many little things from his life, commissary forms, rosters, door tags, next time he posts me he is going to send a toothbrush :) (they are only 7cm long, we have been discussing them at length recently with me attempting to use only 7cm of mine, I understand the safety aspects, but I'm constantly surprised at what level their lives are changed by being in prison). It makes me feel like we have more of a connection since there are some big barriers to being able to visit.

@ Zaneta Hi and nice to see another Aussie on here! Thank you!! Yeah, I’m in Brisbane myself! It didn’t take as long as I thought it would? But Frankie said that Aus Post is not consistent with delivery so I should expect a time frame of anywhere from 10 to 28 days.

I think that’s wonderful that you guys get to share little things and information like that. I hope that my pen pal and I can also to get to that stage. I’m interested in the more mundane stuff lol. That’s cool that he can send things to you! My inmate is in Colorado so I’m not sure what the rules are, but I’m hoping there’s some kind of flexibility! Also I cannot imagine a 7cm toothbrush? It never occurred to that even toothbrushes would be different in prison. But yeah you’re right, things really are different in there! Thanks so much for your response and I wish you well in all your writings :)

@Cleo95 it may take some time to convince some penpals that the mundane life is ok to talk about, I found another PP at the end of last year, in WA (everytime i see that i just think western asutralia lol) and we have been writing for nearly 3 months now and i think i've only just convinced him that i'm serious when i say I want to know about anything, not just the exciting. he says his life is boring as its just work, gym, eat, sleep. though when you break it down like that, everyones life is boring.

@Zaneta lol yes I read WA as Western Australia too lmao! Yeah it’s really starting to sink in that patience is such an important thing in this whole process. Hopefully I can get to that stage too! Also when you think about, most peoples lives out here also boil down to work, gym, eat and sleep too! Can I ask you when do you think it’s okay to bring up your pen pals crime? Is it even a good idea? Would it be better if they brought it up? Also, if they’re involved in some sort of a prison incident, am I allowed or would it be okay for me to ask about the details? I don’t want to do anything to get them trouble or anything like that! I’m just curious is all! Thanks!

I'm not Zaneta, but I'd like to give you my pov on these, Cleo.

[QUOTE]when do you think it’s okay to bring up your pen pals crime?[/QUOTE]

I wouldn't. Let them decide on doing it. They will - when and if they're feeling it's safe to do so. 

[QUOTE]Also, if they’re involved in some sort of a prison incident, am I allowed or would it be okay for me to ask about the details?[/QUOTE]

Again, I would not. Remember, your conversation is read and I personally avoid anything that might cause them further trouble.

One of my pp recently wrote me: "Sorry for not responding sooner, but I had to deal with a situation in here. Sometimes I wish I could talk more openly, but it's not possible. But let me tell you I hate this place."

I know the prison he's in has been on a lockdown and following the news a bit gives me an idea of what might have been the probable reason for it. But if he doesn't talk about it, he knows pretty well, why he doesn't talk about it. So I leave it at that and closed my answering letter: Take care and stay away from trouble as far as you can. And there won't be much more said than this.

@Kirsten thank you Kirsten! As always you’re right and I’ll take your advice. I think if he wanted to, he would’ve shared more details, but I think he does have to be careful. And obviously I have to be as well, I don’t want to get him in any type of hot water! Thanks again :)

I had this problem for the longest time... Its quite common for them to think that their live are boring and of no worth because of where they are right now. I found some gentle "prying" helps the situation and just remiding them that the smallest things in their lives aren't boring to me at all. Moreover that I am glad to here anything that they want to tell me about their lives also.

The other thing is that they may well lose their sense of freedom and what the word mean so they can also get overly excited to jump on board your lives. I'm not hear to tell you what you should or shouldn't do but you can really be the gateway to their soul and their outlook on the "real" world so treat that excitement and joy to be part of it a a sene of doe eyed amazment, and maybe let them play tag along wih you for a while.