Should I try writing to my Chinese penpal again?

Question

A bit of a boring story here:

A few years ago I went to China on a school trip (I was 17), and we all got a massage in this hotel. My masseuse (sp?) was this really cute guy, who kinda flirted with me throughout, and I had a fun time trying to converse with him in English. At the end of the massage I took a pic of us together, and remembered the name of the hotel he worked at.

Anyway, once I was home, despite all my friends calling me a stalker, I wrote to his work with a photo attached asking if they could kindly hand the letter to this man, and my letter said who I was and whether or not he wanted to write me. 4 months later I got a reply from him, and he was really happy I'd written, saying he remembers me and has been thinking about me a lot. He said he hoped to improve his english and gave me a home address to write to. So I had a reply translated (very poorly, I couldn't afford a professional this time) and sent to the address, and to this date never got a reply (it's been a few years).

It sounds silly, but I still think about him sometimes and wonder what happened, he genuinely sounded excited to hear from me and have an opportunity to write to me. I thought of writing again last month but frustratingly couldn't find his original letter with the address, should I try once more and write to the hotel in the hopes he still works there (and potentially look like a creep, embarrassing him) or just forget it?

Sorry for taking so long to describe a simple and boring story!

Answer 1

I think it will be hard to find him since it has been a few years. As you say you could try to write the hotel, just make sure that what you write is neutral. He could be married by now and the last thing you want to do is to cause him problems. The hotel personal are sure to tell everyone he knows that you wrote him, if they know him.

It would have been better if you had tried to contact him earlier though, so much can happen in a persons life in a few years. I think that you should try. It's something that's unsolved and it occupies your mind, even if it's just a little. It's better to finish it and tie up the lose ends.

Just think about how you word your letter. If you do it right then you'll sound like someone that's just interested in seeing what happened to the person and if you word it wrongly you'll sound like a creepy stalker.