As it turned out, Percy had a surprising knack for picking up languages. He initially started taking Japanese in secondary school (mostly because he was required to have a certain number of second language credits in order to graduate), but soon found that he actually quite enjoyed learning the language. While his dyslexia certainly made it more challenging, he managed to find his own ways of working around it. He'd even been able to enroll in the AP class!
As part of his final project, he would be assigned a random student from Japan to exchange letters with over the course of the semester. The idea was that it would act as both a cultural exchange and a way to practice writing in hiragana.
You don’t know me, and I don’t know you. But that is totally ok! My name is Percy. My full name is actually "Percival", but I prefer to be called Percy. I hope my handwriting isn't too messy. We're not allowed to type our letters, so I have to write everything by hand. I don't mind, though! It's better practice this way.
I live on the Island of Sodor. It's a small island located just off the coast of England. I like living here because it's close to the sea. Do you live near the ocean? I also like living here because you can take the train pretty much anywhere you need to go, so you don't even need to have a car! I like taking the train to school every day.
I like drawing, photography, and comic books. Sometimes, when I'm bored in class, I'll draw pictures in my notebook. I also like origami and collecting stationery. When the weather is good, I like to fly kites! What do you like to do for fun?
Do you have a job? I work part-time at the post office. Right now I'm saving up to buy a new scooter, since mine was stolen a few months ago. I won't let that get me down, though! Once I have enough money, I'll buy an even better one.
I'm excited to get to know you! I want to know all about your favorite things and what your life is like. I hope we can be friends.
Sincerely, your friend from Sodor,
After double and triple checking that everything was correct, Percy took a deep breath and slid the envelope into the mailbox. Enclosed alongside the letter was a postcard and a small origami star. While Percy was excited, he also couldn't help but feel somewhat nervous. What if they didn't have anything in common?
