Why I chose to be key-pals?
○ Fast and more frequent communication.
How many e-mails can you send and receive while a single 
snail mail reaches your pen pal? Obviously, almost as many as you can handle! If you want to get in touch with your pen pal as frequently as possible and/or if you want to hear back from your pen pal ASAP, e-mails are for you.
snail mail reaches your pen pal? Obviously, almost as many as you can handle! If you want to get in touch with your pen pal as frequently as possible and/or if you want to hear back from your pen pal ASAP, e-mails are for you.○ Ease of mailing.
What do you need when you write a letter? In addition to pen and paper, you may also need some space (like a desk and a chair) to write a snail mail. You may also need more time to finish one hand-written snail mail than e-mails, especially if you can touch-type. However, you can write mails wherever and whenever - you can send mails as long as you have access to a computer, or you can also mail from your handheld computers, cell phones in some countries, etc. so in an extreme case, you can even write to your pal while you are waiting for your turn in a grocery store, using your handheld computer! You can also send mails faster, not only because many people can type faster than they hand-write, but also because one e-mail tend to be shorter than letters due to its nature. In short, if you have a easy access to the Internet, e-mails may be more convenient for you.
e-mail tend to be shorter than letters due to its nature. In short, if you have a easy access to the Internet, e-mails may be more convenient for you.○ Safety issue.
Unless you have a P.O. Box, you have no choice but to give out your home address when you start exchanging snail mails. Even though your pen pals are abroad, it could be a potential safety issue. In case of e-mails, for example, you can create a “throw-away mail address” at any time with a free mail service such as Hotmail. In case that you get into a trouble with this mail account, you can switch to another mail account at any time. This way your pen pal won’t even know which ISP you are in, not to mention where you live. Even if you are planning to exchange snail mails, you can exchange e-mails several times and disclose your home address only after you know each other enough.
○ Economy.
It depends on the country, but snail mails tend to be more costly than mails. Does sending one e-mail cost you $1 USD? You will also need to buy pen and paper, especially if you are particular about the choice of stationery. Also, if you want to send presents to your pen pal, the postage is quite large. In the age of broadband connections, sending one e-mail does not make any difference in terms of your monthly fee for the connection. Even if you are using a modem and the phone line, the minimum required fee for one e-mail is generally smaller than one letter.
○ Summary
I think that the best way is to start correspondence with 10-20 emails, get to know each other and then decide.
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