Postcrossing Blog

Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday dear Postcrossing,
Happy birthday to you!

Hurray! It’s Postcrossing’s 9th birthday today! That’s quite a lot for an internet project, isn’t it? :)

A few exciting things happened in this past year. Here are some of the highlights:

• New Postcrossing-themed stamps were launched in Finland, Belarus and Guernsey and also a Postcrossing postmark in Czech Republic.
• Postcrossers and Deutsche Post raised €7845 on the “Postcards for a good cause” campaign.
• We reached 20 million postcards, bringing us closer to a postcard received every 5 seconds.
• You organized dozens of meetups all over the world, and flooded us with your lovely stories.
• And many more exciting things happened!

What a great year! :D

And since it’s a special day, we wanted to share something special with you…

Remember back in March, when we asked you to send us postcards for an event – and you responded in a spectacular fashion, sending us over 1000 postcards in a week? Well, the postcards were all delivered at TEDxOporto, and we thought we’d share the talk I gave that day, as it has just been translated into English! Here it goes:

I was so nervous that when I stepped off the stage that I couldn’t remember a single word I had said… but it was truly an honor to be able to spread the message and play “mail carrier” to all your nice postcards! The people loved them and were thrilled to take them home. Some joined the project immediately, others signed up their classes… and a few were already postcrossers and came to say Hi! in the end!

So, our heartfelt thank you to all of you, for making Postcrossing what it is today. Enjoy the day… and send a postcard… or nine! ;-)

Once again, we give the Little Mail Carriers’ cousin center stage, so that he can finish telling you about his adventures in Indonesia (here’s part one in Jakarta, if you missed it)!

The Yogyakarta meetup was slightly different because it was not just for Postcrossing members but for all mail lovers… even Indonesian Post attended!

The meetup was held in Indonesia Education Museum (Museum Pendidikan Indonesia) at Yogyakarta State University (Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta), and was opened by Vice-Regent of Sleman Regency, who symbolically signed a postcard.

It was really exciting for me to attend what was the largest meeting in Yogyakarta so far. Everyone was really friendly and took the time to introduce themselves and exchange gifts! :)

After that, we went straight to the post office, to have a look and mail some cards! Did you know that pillar boxes are orange in Indonesia? Neat!

The next day we visited Vredeburg Fort (which means Peace Fort). It used to be a military fortress, but these days it’s been restored and turned into a museum. Inside of the former barracks there is a collection of historical photographs, historical objects and replicas.

Street food in Indonesia is unbelievably delicious, I couldn’t get enough of it! This is mendoan, which is basically soy bean that has been yeast fermented for around to 2 days. When it’s sticky enough, flour and spices are sprinkled on it, and then it’s fried. Nom nom nom!

I also visited the souvenir heaven in the corner of Malioboro street, one of Yogyakarta’s main shopping streets. There were a lot of miniatures there that were just the right size for me, yay!

We got the chance to watch a lady painting batik, a traditional art in Indonesia which UNESCO has classified as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

Wax must be applied to the cloth before it is dipped in color, so that the design can be unveiled once the wax is removed. It was wonderful to see, such attention to detail! The lady explained to me that batik must be painted diligently, neatly, and patiently.

I had gudeg for my last meal in Indonesia. It’s a jack fruit stew, served with rice and chicken, and it’s also the signature dish of Yogyakarta. I must have gained at least 20 grams here… I can’t seem to stop myself! :)

And that’s a wrap! Indonesia is so huge and diverse… I regret not having more time to properly explore it, but at the same time, I’m grateful for the amazing opportunity! :) A big thank you to Yanita, Aisha, Tintin, Ari, Dewi, Tascha, Dhani, Maya, Fathia, Sekar, and Fatima who welcome me warmly and took some very nice pictures for me!

Earlier this year, the Little Mail Carrier’s cousin was invited to attend some Postcrossing meetings in Indonesia. He begged us to go, so we packed him on a comfy envelope and off he went, towards the Java sea! Yanita (aka YanitaDC) kindly hosted the little man and showed him around her home country. Here’s his report of the trip:

Halo, Apa Kabar?

I just visited Indonesia, the biggest archipelago country in the Equator. I came here to attend the Postcrossing meetup In Jakarta, capital city of Indonesia… and stayed a bit longer with my host Yanita, to see the sights.

But first things first! The meetup was held in early March in Jakarta, at the Kantor Filateli Jakarta (Jakarta Philatelic Office), where a postcard exhibition of member’s collections was also taking place.

People came from all over Indonesia for this meeting, so I got to meet lots of new friends… I felt like a movie star having a fans meeting! They thought of everything and even made special postcards for everyone to sign!

That was really exciting! Can you believe how many people were there? There was even a news report made about the Indonesian Postcrossing community at this meetup, which was later played on the bigger post offices of Indonesia for a month! Have a look:

In a word… awesome! :D

Next on my tour of Indonesia, I visited Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (which means 'Beautiful Indonesia Miniature Park’). It was brilliant! I could see as much of Indonesia as I wanted… all in one place!

Aaaah, so many things to see… Indonesia is huge! After so much sightseeing, I was feeling a bit hungry, so Yanita gave me some kerak telor. It’s a sort of spicy omelet with sticky rice inside, topped with fried shredded coconut, fried shallots and dried shrimp. That was amazing and really hit the spot!

While I was in Jakarta, another meetup was being planned, this time in Yogyakarta, about 500km west from Indonesia’s capital. The organizing committee kindly invited me to join them, so I eagerly hopped on my envelope and took the plane over!

Stay tuned for my next update – there’s a lot more I want to show you from this lovely country scattered in the sea! :)

I have a confession to make: I get a little teary-eyed when I see a child writing (or receiving) a postcard for the first time. You can almost see the switch going off in their heads when they realize that some sort of magic is going on behind the scenes… they have so many questions! How is this postcard getting across the world? What is the stamp for? How did it land on our mailbox? And when is the next one coming?! :)

So when I saw the pictures that Arlene (aka whodalalee) submitted to our Facebook page… well, you can image the smile on my face! Arlene tells the story of how she and and her friend Evelyn (aka eskae) organized a Postcrossing event in Okanagan Regional Library, as part of the local summer reading program:

My Postcrossing friend Evelyn Skae and I were talking one day about how nice it would be to spread the word about Postcrossing. We had seen schools and teachers doing Postcrossing, so we thought it would be a great idea to see if the local library would be interested in doing something. I went to the library and they were very happy to incorporate Postcrossing into the summer reading program…so Evelyn who works at a print shop made a huge poster, and brochures for the library:

She put a post into the forums asking Postcrossing fans to send postcards to the library. I donated 60 blank postcards to the library so children could answer the postcards. The library set up a wonderful display for one month to let people know about it.

At last, the day for our Postcrossing-summer reading program project came… we arrived half an hour before and waited for the kids to come. It was so wonderful for the children to be able to pick the postcards they wanted, then write the sender a card in return. We had one sender who sent 8 postcards to the library! The children were very enthusiastic and had a wonderful time, there was even a parent who wanted to write a card too. Overall, our project was very successful and so much fun.

I also took many of my favorite postcards to show the variety of postcards we receive and the wonderful stamps on them. It is so exciting to share our passion with others!

We have a few extra postcards that were not answered, so I will be going to another library to see if they would like to continue the project!

Well done Arlene and Evelyn, what an inspiring event! :)

What about you? Have you ever introduced a child to the wonders of mail? Do share!

Meet Lynda (aka LyndaC) from Canada! She’s a stained glass enthusiast, volunteers with Habitat for Humanity and has been organizing the Ingersoll Postcrossing meeting for the past few years! :)

Here is what she had to say:

How did you come across Postcrossing? What got you hooked?

I saw the name on the Bookcrossing site and then I was on a forum of people talking about Geocaching and someone mentioned it. I clicked on a link and started reading. I found it fascinating. I have always loved mail. This seemed so interesting. You write a nice message that goes to someone and before you know it someone else sends you a nice message. And it comes with pictures. I was hooked immediately!

Show and tell us about your favorite received postcard to date, and what makes it special.

I love all my cards and have many that I call favourite. Inge Look old ladies, Paris, roosters, Royals are all nice to receive. I also like cards of people that make you smile or laugh.

But there are two that are very special to me. I recently received a postcard of the Canadian War Cemetery at Holten, Netherlands. Four young men from Ingersoll are buried there. Around the same time I received a card from Taiwan that I had been looking forward to. A missionary dentist from the town next to mine went to Taiwan back in the 1860's and built a hospital there. Today there is a modern hospital with his name on it but the original still stands and I received a postcard of it. I love that these two cards are a symbol of my town touching somewhere else around the world.

Have you inspired anyone else to join Postcrossing or start collections of their own?

This month, I gave a presentation about Postcrossing at the local seniors center and I hope that some interest may build from there. I have also hung up signs around town talking about Postcrossing (which Ana and I designed). The little pull off tabs are disappearing so someone must be interested!

What is it your favorite part of the Postcrossing process?

Picking the right card for the person I draw when I ask for an address. I keep buying cards – even though you can see from the picture that I have a lot of cards. When I get a name, I look over their profile and try to choose a card that I believe they will really like. It might be a tourist card or an art card or a Garfield – but I want them to like it.

Have you been surprised by any place that you have received a postcard from or sent a postcard to?

I sent a postcard to Norfolk Island and had to look it up just to make sure I was thinking of the same place. It is situated in the Pacific between Australia and New Zealand. There are only 2300 people on the island and there was only one postcrosser when I sent the card.

I was surprised when I got a card of the Bremen town musicians from Bremen, Germany. I didn’t know the statue existed outside of fairy tales.

Show us your mailbox, your mailman/mailwoman, your postoffice or the place where you post or keep your postcards!

This is a picture of my postlady Carla. She delivers mail to me and picks up my outgoing letters from my superbox.

Is there anything that you are passionate about?

I volunteer with Habitat for Humanity. They build house for families. The houses have interest free mortgages and the people earn their down payment by helping build their house and someone else’s. I also lend money to entrepreneurs around the world through KIVA. I belong to the Postcrossing lending team.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

I make stained glass windows and decorations. Lately I have been doing it with a ladies group and we donate the proceeds of sales to a shelter for women in transition.

I also collect roosters. Rooster statues, teapots, dishes, salt and pepper, boxes, eyeglass holders, candy dishes, banks, lamps, art, stickers, postcards and even t-shirts. Lately I have concentrated on miniature items. The shelf unit shows the smallest and some of the prettiest items I have collected.