Philadelphia,PA,USA--Until recently, Figen Gencosmanoglu,36, was living in Trabzon, a small town in Turkey. Dan Haigh, 42, was in Philadelphia. Both were in the same boat--divorced and lonely. They met on the internet and started e-mailing each other. Figen told Dan all her secrets. "He was so far away, he seemed unreal," she says. "It was like talking to an advice column, but I knew we had a lot in common." Dan was soon e-mailing Figen three times a day--morning, noon and night. Before long, he wrote, "I'm coming to Turkey." He hadn't even seen a picture of her!

Meanwhile, Figen got a photo of Dan in the mail. It took ages for her to open the envelope. She put it in her heart and repeated, "Oh God, please God." She was already madly in love with him and didn't want to be disappointed by the photo. She was not.

A month later, Dan made the long and expensive trip to Trabzon, his first trip outside the US. He was nervous about the meeting. On the plane, his mother's words echoed in his head. "What are you doing? Are you nuts?" In Turkey, Figen was on edge too. "Aren't there any American women for him?" her parents had said. But when Figen and Dan set eyes on each other, they knew it was the real thing.

Dan researched Turkish marriage customs and several months later went back to Turkey with his parents and formally asked for Figen's hand. "When you meet on the internet, you begin as friends. You can really listen to the other person. You have time to think about their words and to read between the lines," says Figen, now living happily with Dan near Philadelphia.

1. Why were Figen and Dan in the same boat?
2. What did Figen realize soon after she and Dan met on the internet?
3. Why did it take ages for her to look at Dan's photo?
4. When Dan made the trip to Trabzon, how did he feel? Why?
5. How did Figen feel just before he arrived?
6. What happened when they set eyes on each other?
7. Why did Dan go back to Turkey later with his parents?
8. Why does Figen feel that dating on the internet is a good thing?

Complete the story:


ask for her hand

take ages

have a lot in common

be disappointed

before long

be nerovus about

make a trip

set eyes on

be in the same boat

56 Years of Correspondence Leads to a Happy Ending

In 1942, Colleen Lee was 14 years old and living in Iowa. She had a pen-pal
from England, Geoffrey Lake, who was also 14. Writing to each other was a
school assignment. The teenagers did not _________________. Collen was an
innocent girl who was happy on her father's farm. Geoffrey was growing up
in the middle of a war. But the two teens found it wasy to write to each other.
______________________, they were writing almost everyday. However, when the
war ended in 1945, they both got married and stopped writing.

It __________________--almost 40 years--for Geoffrey to start writing again to
Collee again. He was happily married bu the wanted to know what happened
to her. When Collen got his letter, she was delighted and their correspondence
blossomed again. Colleen was married, too, so there was no romance in their
letters, only a strong friendship.

In 1992, Colleen's husband died. Then in 1997, Geoffrey's wife died. Now they
_______________________---widowed, lonely and almost 70 years old.

Their letters became romantic, beginning with "My darling" and "My love". Still,
the two had never met. After much persuasion from Geoffrey, Colleen agreed to
___________________ to New York to meet him. Of course, they ________________
the meeting because they didn't want to ______________________. But according
to Geoffrey, when they first _______________ each other, they knew it was the
real thing. "It was love at first sight. There was no tension or shyness. Geoffrey
went down on his knees and _______________. The couple married in 1998 and
they are now living happily in Iowa. "It seems like a fairy tale," says Colleen.