Postcrossing Blog

Sometime ago, Carol (aka carolreader) received a special postcard from Anneliese (aka illustransit). It depicted an anonymous person on a Portland bus, which had been hand-drawn by the sender during her commute. Carol told us she was floored by the quality of Anneliese’s illustrations, and that we ought to check them out.

Discovering Anneliese’s work has been magic. We loved the idea of these remarkable and unique postcards, and decided to ask her about them.

A couple of years ago, Anneliese donated her car, and started taking the bus to and from work. Reading in motion made her woozy, so on her new-found commute time, she decided to observe instead:

I love watching people during this time, when they are between places, simultaneously in public and in solitude, both guarded and naked. Their posture, their fidgeting, whether they engage or avoid eye contact, their exhaustion, and their anticipation. I think about where they might be headed, where they’re coming from, and what kind of day they might be having. I spend so much time observing these people, that I decided to draw them.

The format for these portraits is the postcard. After documenting a bus-rider, I drop the postcard in the mail to a stranger somewhere else in the world. For me, there’s something incredibly motivating about drawing for another person. I hope that whomever receives these postcards enjoys them. And I hope you enjoy looking at them!

What a nice way to spend your commute time! Well done, Anneliese! Too see more of her illustrated postcards, check out her website.

It’s Bielefeld-time! Last weekend, the German city opened once again its doors to almost 50 postcrossers from several countries. The Little Mail Carriers were unable to attend this year, but instead sent their recently discovered cousin in their place! Below is his photo-diary of the long weekend in Germany.

Hello everyone! It was my first time on a big meetup, and boy was it exciting! I have a lot to tell you, so grab a cup of your favourite beverage and listen up!

Friday morning we visited a mail sorting center in the nearby town of Herford – I felt right at home! My colleagues at Deutsche Post showed everyone a presentation about the company and how mail is processed, and then guided the eager postcrossers through the mail sorting plant. Everybody ooh’ed and aaah’ed at all the envelopes speeding by! It was a real eye-opening experience, and I think that after the visit we all felt renewed respect for the diligent postal workers who labour the whole night for us to have our postcards in the morning.

On the afternoon, a group of postcrossers went on a Geocaching mission in the woods around the Einschlingen guesthouse, where we were all staying! The weather was unseasonably warm and the autumnal scenery was just stunning. We saw plenty of mushrooms and golden leaves, and after a few trials, found the cache we were looking for!

In the evening, MissMaple held a neat workshop where postcrossers got to experiment with old stamps as a decoration material for different objects. I found some great stamps on those piles, and saw the participants come up with very creative ways to decorate their bags and boxes!

Saturday was scavenger hunt day! sofa organised an exciting trip around Bielefeld, where postcrossers had to do all kinds of silly assignments, on a fact-finding mission in the city. It was a lot of fun – and we learned some intriguing facts! For instance, did you know that according to some theories, Bielefeld doesn’t actually exist?

On the evening, the traditional lottery was held. Every participant had brought something from their hometown, which they put in a big pile. Then, presents were pulled while names were called, and everyone got something new.
After that, a fantastic game of bingo was organized by dandilion! By the time it ended, it was almost bedtime, but we stuck around to wish a lucky postcrosser 'happy birthday’ at midnight! :)

Of course, everybody brought sweets from their hometown, to share with other postcrossers: there were delicious Schokokussen, Lübeck’s famous marzipan, Haribo’s gummy bears… I must have gained at least 20 grams from all those treats!! :D

Too soon Sunday came and it was time to say goodbye… I couldn’t believe how fast time flew! Throughout the weekend, the participants all signed hundreds of postcards which should now be on route to friends and other postcrossers. Fancy a guess at how many cards were signed? Reply in the forum for a chance to win some prizes!

All in all it was a wonderful weekend – the kind that leaves our cheeks hurting from so much smiling! :D A big thank you to Nordbaer for organising the meeting – and to everyone that took part and helped it become this outstanding event! I hope to see you all next year! :)

Earlier in February this year, we asked you to send some postcards to a school in Guimarães (Portugal), whose students were working on a European Capital of Culture project. They’ve received an avalanche of cards from all over the world – so many that they decided to do several postcard-mosaics instead of a single one! :)

As you can see, the mosaics were displayed in several windows of the school, so that the postcards were easily accessible from both sides. The project was very well received – so much so that it is still being displayed, months after it’s conclusion date!

You can see the four mosaics below (click for bigger images):

Did you spot your postcard? :)

The students have also made thank-you postcards themselves, which they’ve sent back to some of the senders during their English classes.

A big congratulations to the students and teachers of the Escola Secundária Martins Sarmento, and a huge thank you (from them and us) to all the postcrossers who sent a card to this school!

Lately, Japanese Gotochi Cards are becoming quite popular and sought after among postcrossers – so we thought it would be fun to tell you a bit more about them here on the blog. Read on!

Gotochi cards are designed and released by the Japanese Postal System, and each one of them represents a place in Japan – hence the name 'gotochi’, which means 'local’. They showcase Japanese symbols (which might be local dishes, costumes, monuments, landscapes, etc.) on a national and regional level, in a brightly coloured and fun cartoon.

Gotochi cards have a couple of unique features that make them special. First of all, they are not perfect rectangles, but in fact take on the shape of their picture. Also, each card not only has a cartoon picture on it, but also the name of the place that is depicted in the image. Every prefecture has multiple cards, which might be one of the reasons that collecting them has taken off and became such a popular hobby!

Some of the most famous Gotochi postcards include Kyoto’s Geisha’s and Ibaraki’s melons. You can check out the whole collection of cards on the postcard collection site.

Hope you enjoyed discovering the Japanese Gotochi cards! Which one is your favourite? :)

Note: While they are super-cute, please bear in mind that they are also more expensive to send than normal postcards – and so it is hard for Japanese postcrossers to send a lot of them.

Tomorrow is World Post Day, did you know? It’s celebrated every year, on the 9th of October and it commemorates the founding of the UPU (Universal Postal Union) in 1874 in Bern, Switzerland Capital.

So across the world, post offices will be celebrating this special day in many different ways. This includes: special philatelic exhibitions, free entrance in postal museums, introducing new products and services, special cancellation marks, seminars, workshops and more!

Actually, in some countries you can even get free goodies (like free postage!) so be sure to check the website for the post offices of your country (hint: if you don’t know the link you can find it in your country page in Postcrossing).

Let us know your findings in the comments of this post, and we’ll keep it updated for others to see!

So, go out, buy some postcards or some nice letter paper and write to all your friends and family; remind them that the post is a very important part of our lives.

Happy World Post Day!

List of events:

Ireland – An Post

An Post Museum will be opened for free to the public on the 9th October 2012. There will be a free guided tour at 11am and 3pm (more info).

Hong Kong – Hong Kong Post

You can send a letter for free, if you mail it from their special Love Post day collection boxes, which are on all their post offices! (more info).