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eduardo23 🇺🇸
I joined Slowly in May 2019 because I thought it would be interesting to make some new friends around the world. However, I did not expect to meet a person, whom I now consider, to be one of my best friends – his name is Danny. As I was exploring the countless people in the app, his profile immediately caught my eye when I noticed that he was from Ecuador. My mom’s side of the family is from Ecuador and I thought it would be cool to know someone from there that is not related to me. I read his profile and we seemed to have a variety of things in common, ranging from movies to personality.
On May 9, my second day on the application, I decided to send him a letter hoping I would receive one back from him. On the first letter I sent him, I stated that we had so much in common that we were practically twins. I mentioned that we were both interested in movies, enjoyed solitary spaces, and very shy and timid at first. I told him that I may be a “bicho raro”, which in English is translated to “strange person”, but that we would eventually find out as we got to know each other more. I wished him the best and impatiently waited for his response.
That letter would eventually be the start of a new friendship. His reply arrived later that night and I of course was ecstatic because it was one of the first letters I had ever received back. I must admit that his response was a bit anticlimactic. He immediately shot down the joke of us being twins and he called them “mere coincidences”. Haha. However, he went on to state that he would like to visit some of the major cities in the U.S. and asked me what I did for a living. I was still excited to hear more about him and so I responded.
We spent our next few letters getting to know each other better. We wrote about the places we have visited and the places we would like to visit in the future. We asked what we were currently doing with our lives, whether it be school, work, or simply taking a break. We spoke about Ecuador and all the cities we have been to and what we have done in that country. The interest in the differences and similarities in our education systems between the US and Ecuador. And we even trusted each enough to reveal some personal things about our family and lives. I found myself waiting for his replies every day because it offered me an escape into someone else’s life; a person that was a complete stranger at the time, a person that I have never met before, a person that I have never even seen before, and yet, I trusted and felt comfortable sharing parts of my life with him. So, if that was the case, why not actually become friends?
On May 17, after eight days and 17 letters later, I casually told him that I had an account with WhatsApp and that I was open to giving him my number so that we could messages. Although we liked the waiting period because it allowed us to breathe from our rushed lives, we became anxious about receiving our next letter, at least I did. I think we were both hesitant about sharing our numbers with one another, but I told him that we had become good friends and none of us had any intention of hurting the other. He kindly accepted the proposal and the rest is history.
Because of Slowly, I was able to meet my new friend, Danny. Although I was hesitant about joining Slowly at first, I am glad I did because I would have never gotten the chance to meet him. He is an intelligent, caring, funny, and at times, stressful young man, but above all, a great person. Haha. I would have never met anyone like him without this application. I would like to thank Slowly and its team for giving me this new chapter in my life. This, ladies and gentlemen, is my Slowly story.
—Danny— 🇪🇨
“El ser humano es como una mariposa que revolotea un día y piensa que es para siempre”
Carl Sagan
We spend the rest of our lives trying to meet people, make new friendships and fitting into a world that advances at a rapid pace, but we forget in a minute what really is important, “the search for our own happiness“.
When I joined Slowly, I thought it was another application where you met people from around the world, make vague conversations and never talk again, but there was something special that made it different from the others. In Slowly, you can send letters as if they were in real time, an entire journey, which makes it really worth it.
When I met Edu several days ago, I never expected to meet someone so special. I remember that he mentioned that he was starting to make new friends and that certain points of my biography made him believe that he was my “twin”. Obviously, I answered him and told him that they were “mere coincidences” because “there are more stars in the universe than similar people on the planet”. But with him, there was a strange connection. Part of his family lives in my country, a point in favor of his mysterious coincidences, so I was motivated to keep writing him.
When I received the next postcard in the later days, he told me what he was doing, his likes and dislikes, and his journey in my country. He told me that he would have loved to have known several other places, but that time forced him to return to the USA. It a question at the end of that letter that touched something in me, “what is your story?” In that precise moment, my mind was submerged in a flashback of memories and I thought, what am I willing to share with him.
I told him about my dreams of traveling to Paris, Italy and the mysterious connection I felt for these places. He elevated my expectations by telling me that he knew one of his places, suddenly I began to realize that the conversations we were engaged in were the most interesting.
Later, the letters began to become more pleasant and something very strange happened to me; I started counting the hours and minutes for them to arrive, for an instant of my life, I was starting a very nice friendship with someone from around the world.
As of now, we no longer exchange letters; we decided to exchange numbers. I clearly remember that he gave me his first, when I was going to do it first, but okay I was not bothered, but I’ll admit it, it took me by surprise. I think the friendship we have established can be compared to a building; we started building its bases and over time, we have been building each of its parts. If I could describe Edu as a friend, it would be: pleasant, patient, tender, kind, unique and above all, an extraordinary and courageous person.
Thanks to Slowly, I have met people who have left an echo in my life. Who have opened their hearts for no reason and are able to make you happy for one morning, for an afternoon or even an evening no matter what. The same can be said for others before who have left a nice memory and have left. It is because of these people, who I have encountered, whether they are gone or still here, that the universe can become a complete chaos and even then, all the extraordinary memories lived will always remain intact in my mind.
