Call me Saoirse (Irish gaelic for freedom), but my name is Amédée.
A couple of weeks ago i saw on french TV a documentary about death row in U.S. When they say that mail was a very important thing to inmates, i thought that was something that i would do easily. After some research i came on this site wich is, i must say, quite complete and seemed really friendly to me. So i started.
After i choose to respond via your mail service to a couple of female inmates ads, i now that is today yhat the inmate i wrote to will getting to know me for the first time.

I can't wait to have an answer!!

still i've got some concerns, and maybe, one of you could help me through.

1/ I know that stamps are expensive to inmates plus there is an extra charge for responding overseas

2/ does anyone have some tips to get U.S stamps in France, or do i have to order them online?

in case the inmates i email to didn't respond, should i try again via snail mail or just drop it (in an other way how to know if the inmate is not able to respond because of a lack of money to afford stamps or just isn't interested in me?).

As you can see, english is not my native language, is the fact that i may mispelled words or write in a not so proper way could be a problem?

And finally i got an idea, i read that in certains facilities, music devices such as ipod or music reader were authorized, is such a thing is true,
shouldn't we able to provide homemade music,(such as compilation of french singer as an example) via a sd card that we could send? or homemade cd that will be approuved by facilities.

Maybe it will be difficult to set up, but as we say in France
"unity make the strength"

thank you for all the people that acts and i'm happy to be a tiny part of it.

Sincerely,

Saoirse

Hello Saoirse and welcome to WAP. You pose many questions, which I will try to answer. First of all, your English. It may not be perfect, but it is delightful. If I were an inmate I would think that it was great fun to help you to learn it better. However, you do have to be prepared to run into some who are very poorly educated. So they may not be able to even write English, themselves, let alone help your with yours. As for the electronic music devices, many prisons do not allow them to be sent into the prison by outsiders. They worry, constantly, about drugs and other contraband being sent in. So, it is easier to send them money, so that they can buy their own. But, don't offer money right away. Many of them are con artists and they will go to great lengths to convince you how poor they are. So, wait until you have gotten to know your new friend before you send them money, or stamps. The only thing might be small amounts of money for postage, which they can purchase in the prison mail room.

As for them responding, you never know. Some might respond immediately, while others may look at the cost of sending mail, to France, and deciding not to do it. The other thing is that it might take quite a while for their mail to get over seas. So, you will have to be patient.

Again (as I go down your list of questions), I wouldn't worry about sending them American stamps. It would be easier to send them a small amount of money and let them buy them themselves. But, I would be hesitant to offer the money up front. Wait until you get to know them better.

The other thing is, if you don't hear from one, withing a month or two, try another. I know that there are a lot of guys who would give their right arm to hear from a nice French gal. Good luck with everything and Happy Writing. :-)

Salut Saoirse

Une autre personne de nationalité française ! On est pas beaucoup ici. J'ai pas beaucoup de temps là, mais je t'aiderai comme je peux

Bienvenue

Salut Saoirse

Une autre personne de nationalité française! On est pas beaucoup ici. J'ai pas beaucoup de temps là, mais je t'aiderai comme je peux

Bienvenue!

Edit: sorry, double post

Originally Posted by Xray48

I know that there are a lot of guys who would give their right arm to hear from a nice French gal. Good luck with everything and Happy Writing. :-)

Is she a woman? I thought she responded to female ads. No idea but I hated not knowing the sex sometimes of posters!

I had doubts too and I went to check, the profile picture is a man one

It's sad that I'm French and not even sure Amédée is a male name. Sorry Saoirse!

Thank you for your replies. As michel Polnareff would sing: "Je suis un Homme..." (i'm a man).
But it happens all the time as my name could be used by both male and female. but think of Mozart who's name was Amadeus. is that help?

@ oasis: merci! j'aurai surement besoin d'une aide pour mes premiers pas.

All I know is that down here in la Lousianne, "Amedee" is a surname. lol

Bienvenue Saoirse! The only French I know is Cajun so I won't try to show off.

Your English is fine, I can understand you quite clearly, don't worry about proper grammar. If you're overseas, people will understand it's not your native language, as French sentences are structured differently than English ones. welcome to WAP! Your name is AWESOME!!! And, and... I SPEAK FRENCH TOO!!! I've spoken it since I was 4 or 5 years old, while I haven't spoken much of it since I finished high school in 2006, I still know it! nice to see another French person on here! I hope you enjoy writing!

The awkward moment when I don't know if I should continue speaking in English or French to you!