Confessing how geeky I really was/am

When I was a teenager, I was a faithful reader of the Spanish version of Seventeen. It probably cost me half my allowance, but I bought every issue for a few years.  I sent the magazine a brief profile that they featured a few months later in their pen-pal section. And so it was that I got about 50 letters from girls all over the world (even one from an ex-Russian country). Some of those letters were in English and, because I had written in my profile that I collected currency from over the world, I got some weird-looking bills in the mail.  I answered most of those letters, got a few pictures, sent a few myself, and continued writing with a few of those girls for at least a few more months.  Then my laziness got the best of me, and communication drastically ended.  I wish I hadn't; maybe I'd have a friend on the other side of the Berlin wall.