Rober: A couple of years ago, after studying academic English for a while, I really wanted to gain more fluency and to start speaking real English. I looked for different options online and Facebook pages intended for that purpose, and started sending messages. Some people already had a partner or even a few, some just wanted a penpal, and some of them didn’t even answer my message, but I kept trying. Finally, a woman from US replied to me on Italki.

Jessica: Aquí entro yo. Iba a una clase de baile cuando recibí el mensaje. Recibía muchos mensajes, y contribuyendo al problema que acaba de mencionar Rober, no hacía caso a la mayoría de ellos. Pero por alguna razón, solo por un presentimiento, me decidí a responder.

Rober: Jessica wanted to improve her Spanish, but we lived so far away that our schedules seemed like they might be too different and maybe it would be too difficult to meet over Skype. Still, we found a way to meet twice a week for half an hour. Now, I’ve known Jessica for almost two years and we’ve continued talking twice a week on a regular basis, I can say it was worth the wait, as I didn’t expect I’d get a new friend with so many things in common to talk to.

Jessica: Hemos mejorado las habilidades para conversar gracias a nuestros encuentros semanales, eso seguro, pero la amistad (que ya incluye a Diana, Jacob, familia, y amigos) se ha convertido en algo muy especial. Desde que tenemos el blog hemos aprendido muchas cosas acerca de nuestras ciudades. Y posiblemente lo que más me gusta es la costumbre que tenemos de reunirnos regularmente, aunque no tengamos nada importante de lo que hablar.