When I listened to her sweet, soft voice speaking lovely Persian words to me from across the world, it melted my heart.

He is 60 years older than me, and yet we can still find things to agree upon and share.

It is difficult to keep a long-term pen pal relationship, that’s why I am very lucky.

I believe that I taught 'Merhaba' word at Turkish language to at least 30 people. It means hello.

Just like many other female citizen of third world country, I was treated like convicting any shameful act.

We stayed few days together in Zagreb, discovering the city, sharing experiences and adventures...

So, after a week of sending letters in Slowly, he asked me to meet up...

Without realizing, I got the “Serious writer” stamp for achieving 100 sent out letters...

I even woke up as early as 5am in the morning, to reply his letter, so that we could utilize every hour of the day, and make 2 cycles within the 24 hours!

I have made two best friends that I will never forget nor lose contact with.

They have helped me to understand about my own cultural identity – my way of thinking, my way of life. I am a third-generation Nikkei from São Paulo.

This girl two thousand kilometers away, who just wrote to me, a total stranger, here on Slowly, became such a big part of my everyday life.