A few days ago, two of the Singaporeans (H.P.G. [Level 4] and T.S.S. [Level 3]) were crowded 'round a phone in the hallway in-between classes. I peered over a shoulder. It was "DokiDoki Postbox" out of Japan; a phone app.
What is Doki Doki Postbox? I didn't know but soon learned and got on board.
The premise is simple. You write a "postcard" -- a short, text-only message -- which, once sent, is delivered to a totally unknown recipient (randomized by computer algorithm within the program's database of anonymous accounts). You have no way to identify each other once (if) contact is established, except by nationality (displayed as a flag) and gender. Once contact is established, you can continue the exchange of "postcards" with the same person until he or she stops responding. You may send only one postcard at a time and must wait for a reply. If the other person breaks contact by not responding to your postcard, you lose all possibility of contacting that person ever again.
Here is what this program looks like (screenshots from my phone). As mentioned, you can choose only two parameters for your postcard recipient: (1) "World" (outside my country) or "Local" (my country); (2) "Any Gender / Male / Female".
Original Korean Conversation Me: 오. 하이. 요즘 잘 지내고 있죠? Korean: 아 니 요 Me: 왜 그래요. 설명해 주세요. Korean: 잘지낼 여유가 없음. Me: 잘 지내고 할 수 있는 방법이 필요하죠. 내 생각으로...치킨, 삼겹살, 등. Korean: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 운동할래요 걍. | Translation into English Me: Oh, hi. You've been well lately, I hope? Korean: N-o-p-e Me: What do you mean? Please explain this. Korean: I've been too busy to relax. Me: We all need ways to enjoy life, don't we. My opinion...fried chicken, grilled pork, etc. Korean: Hahaha. I'll just play some sports. |
He didn't seem to realize that I wasn't a Korean native speaker. Other exchanges I've played around with resulted in Koreans promptly saying things I could not decipher so I stopped responding to them. Koreans are big into slang.
One of my "world" postcards ended up being delivered to an American female. My country flag displays as South Korea, so I decided to have some fun. I wrote: "Can you tell me a good USA food?" Her answer: "McDonald's".