Postcrossing Blog

Hawwa (aka Eva) is from Spain, but currently lives in sunny Morocco. She speaks 5 languages besides her native Catalan – and uses them all to write her postcards in Postcrossing! :) Here is what she had to say:

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

A pen friend from Canada informed me about this project. I look for Postcrossing immediately in Internet, and I thought it was an excellent idea to increase my lighthouses collection and improve my language skills. I tried, I became hooked and I discovered soon that Postcrossing is not only a site to collect postcards but a real community.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

I like writing letters in different languages. Sometimes I even dare to send some mail art! I also run a blog (mailadventures.blogspot.com) about my mail adventures. All of you are very welcome!

Out of the post world, my main hobbies are trekking, writing short stories and travelling (I’ve been to seventeen countries so far).

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

I’ve recently moved, so I will show you my previous post office (in Spain). I’ve sent the majority of my Postcrossing postcards from here:

And the currently post office (in Morocco):

Also my current mailbox (a bit boring, as it is a PO Box).

And the graceful mailbox where I send my postcards from Morocco:

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

I have a lot of favourites. They usually remain some weeks on the wall of my study. But I will show you the three kinds of postcards I really love:

JP-208063: I just love amazing pictures and especially when they let you learn about distant cultures.

DE-632790: because the funny story about the picture written by the sender. I was laughing the whole day!

NO-34163: It is a handmade postcard and I find it very original. I think it also shows a lot about the sender and his country.

What is it your favorite part of the Postcrossing process?

It used to be choosing the right postcard for every recipient. But now where I’m currently living I have a really limited choice. So now my favourite part in the process is finding postcards in my mailbox and searching more information about the place where they were sent from.

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

Yes, I was really surprised to get a postcard from Tuvalu. I hadn’t heard about this country before! Indeed, I’ve discovered a lot of places thanks to Postcrossing. Postcards have inspired some of my last trips.

Is there anything that you are passionate about?

Two of my strong passions: languages and lighthouses. My native language is Catalan, but I speak more or less five more languages (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic). And Postcrossing is a good place to practice!

Thirteen months ago, we published a ranking of how popular Postcrossing was in a given country, based on the number of postcrossers for every 100,000 inhabitants.

It’s been a while since then, so we thought it was time to compile some fresh statistics, and check if there were any noticeable differences. Here is the updated ranking:

Ranking (current)	Country	Postcrossers (per 100,000 inhabitants)	Previous ranking (in Dec. 2010)
1	Finland	275	↔ 1
2	Lithuania	164	↑ 3
3	Belarus	161	↑ 8
4	Netherlands	157	↔ 4
5	Estonia	154	↓ 2
6	Taiwan	142	↔ 6
7	Latvia	98	↔ 7
8	Macao	91	↓ 5
9	Hong Kong	66	↑ 19
10	Åland Islands	56	↑ >50
11	Czech Republic	55	↑ 15
12	Poland	54	↑ 16
13	Iceland	50	↓ 9
14	Singapore	43	↓ 11
15	Portugal	43	↓ 10
16	Ukraine	39	↑ 35
17	Germany	38	↔ 17
18	Slovenia	35	↓ 13
19	Guernsey	31	↓ 12
20	New Zealand	30	↓ 14
21	Russia	30	↑ 29
22	Luxembourg	28	↓ 20
23	Belgium	23	↑ 26
24	Switzerland	22	↑ 25
25	Austria	21	↑ 28
26	Australia	20	↓ 18
27	Canada	17	↓ 24
28	Norway	16	↓ 23
29	Jersey	15	↓ 27
30	Malta	15	↓ 21
31	Ireland	13	↑ 33
32	U.S.A.	13	↓ 31
33	United Kingdom	13	↓ 32
34	Hungary	10	↔ 34
35	Croatia	10	↓ 30
36	Slovakia	10	↑ 38
37	Malaysia	9	↑ 40
38	Brunei	9	↓ 37
39	Spain	9	↑ 44
40	Sweden	9	↓ 36
41	Guam	8	↑ >50
42	Moldova	8	↑ 49
43	Thailand	7	↓ 39
44	France	7	↓ 42
45	Montenegro	6	↓ 43
46	Korea (South)	6	↑ >50
47	Bulgaria	6	↑ 48
48	Turkey	6	↓ 47
49	Denmark	6	↓ 45
50	Israel	5	↑ >50

What do you know? Finland is still leading the ranking by a mile! :) New-comers to the table include the Åland Islands, Guam, South Korea and Israel. Please note that in the case of the Åland Islands, the ranking is skewed, as their population is about 26,000 inhabitants.

On the fast-climbers side, Hong Kong jumped 10 places (from 19th to 9th) but the most surprising climb comes from Ukraine, which rose from 35th place to 16th! Well done!

Are there other statistics you would be curious to see here? Let us know!

PS: Like the last time, to calculate the data above we took into account only countries with more than 10 members and excluded countries which were too small or of which we did not have any relevant population data.

As some of you already know from previous editions, a new Chinese Year means a new exhibition at the Singaporean Philatelic Museum!

The theme of this year’s exhibition is Snakes and Ladders, and all postcrossers are invited to contribute to it by sending in their snake-themed postcards to:

Singapore Philatelic Museum
23B Coleman Street
Singapore 179807
Singapore

As with the previous exhibitions, the museum will send a postcard back to all of those who include their address!

The exhibitions at the Singapore Philatelic Museum are usually very interactive, and especially attractive to the younger visitors of the museum – so please send a message to the little ones! You can tell them about your favourite snake, or just say hi! Bonus points if you can find stamps with snakes as well!

Here are some photos from this year’s exhibition, which will run until September:

Doesn’t it look neat? You can tell all the effort that goes into making this a great showcase, so if you’re in Singapore, don’t miss it! :)

Do you know how to say “Hello” in French… or Chinese? Ok, maybe you already know those ones, but how about “Thank you for your card!” in Norwegian or “Goodbye” in Dutch? If you wonder how to write these and other sentences, then you don’t need to search any more!

Sebastian (aka BlueJay) from Germany has put together an excellent resource for us: Dictionaries for Postcrossers. He compiled together the translation of several common Postcrossers sentences in 30 languages – and it keeps growing!

And if by chance your language is not there yet, he accepts new contributions so don’t be shy! :)

Tschüss!

One of the most popular cartoon characters of all time, Hello Kitty has been an iconic part of pop culture for over than 30 years. But where did this adorable white kitten come from?

Hello Kitty was designed by Japanese artist Yuko Shimizu, who at the time was not trying to create an icon, but was simply doodling! She drew inspiration from Japanese bobtail cats and put her own twist on it, giving the drawing no mouth, and a bright red bow. She first captured the hearts of people all over Japan in 1974, when she appeared on a small coin purse, between a bottle of milk and a goldfish bowl!

Sanrio is the name of Japanese company that began distributing Hello Kitty all over the world in 1976. They’ve also introduced her family, and gave her a background… for instance, did you know that she was born in the suburbs of London, and weighs as much as three apples? :)

Sanrio has also featured Hello Kitty in mass produced collectible items like necklaces, folders, pencils and more. In the 1980s, a Hello Kitty craze swept the United States, and anything with her likeness sold like hotcakes – she was even featured on a couple of different cartoon shows and her image graced appliances, dolls and other items. In Japan, Sanrio has opened two Hello Kitty theme parks called Harmonyland and Sanrio Puroland, both of which delight millions of visitors every year!

Hello Kitty is beloved not only for her cute image in colourful backgrounds, but also for her optimism and happy messages – despite her lack of mouth. Sanrio representatives say this particular characteristic helps people project their feelings on the character, and that because she speaks from the heart, she isn’t bound to any language.

These days, Hello Kitty continues to appear on everything from jewellery to laptop sleeves… and of course, many beloved postcards! You can learn more about Hello Kitty’s stunning rise to fame and check her many themed products on the Sanrio website.