Postcrossing Blog

Marianna7 (aka Marianne), is from Germany but moved to the UK in 2001. In this Spotlight interview, she tells us about her life-long passion for letter-writing… and bread-baking! :)

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

I’ve lived since 2001 abroad (not in Germany) and my favorite weekly newspaper is “Die Zeit”. I try to get it, either from an airport or when friends/family bring it on a visit, but very irregularly.

On one of those I found an article about Willi, the German postcrosser who has sent the most postcards from Germany. At the same time I found life pretty stressful, being self-employed and I wanted a positive change in my mailbox (something else than advertisement, junkmail and invoices).

The other reason why I joined is this one: a good German friend of mine and I have been penfriends and friends for 11 years. Our friendship started more with letters, because I met her just before I left Germany. But we developed it over the years and last year, at our 10 years anniversary, we arranged an exhibition with our best envelopes (handmade), statements from letters of these last 10 years and our own arts (I do photography, Daniela does painting). This meant, we both read through the letters of 10 years again, we discussed which statements to use and which not over mail and phone and letters (obviously) and exhibited in Hamburg, Germany. It was a very interesting experience to go public with parts of our private thoughts, doubts, fears, happiness etc… anyhow, the exhibition exhausted us a bit and we are writing now less than before – so I missed the input of written words in my life.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

I bake my own bread (buns, scones, croissants, bagels, ciabattas – you name it!). I call it a hobby, because it is a very satisfying work. It is so essential, so basic, but it fills a house with a beautiful smell and everyone comes running and wants some warm bread. I like walking with my sons and my partner most. Photography. Reading. I love languages. Arts!

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

This picture is the picture of my main postoffice in the village – but I go for miles all over the North East to send my mail.

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

RU-884413 a letter, very unexpected and mindblowingly beautiful

NL-1056976 one of the very first cards I received with great words

US-1652878 a handmade card on rice paper

I’ve also received mind-blowing letters and postcards with just a few words, which made me stumble. All words, I receive are precious to me. The fact that a complete stranger writes a few sentences out of his/her soul, is absolutely amazing to me.

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

Yes, my son :-) He is only 8, but a fanatic reader and writer (is true) and he collects stamps. So one day I told him I wouldn’t give him my stamps anymore, because I didn’t want to ruin my precious cards/words. That’s when he joined Postcrossing! The only thing I help him, is a)to get the address of recipient right, b) to send cards on time and c) to help him match the recipient’s preferences.

I’m trying to get my mother on it – she is very old and would have to learn to use the pc, but I am sure it would change her life for the better.

What is it your favorite part of the Postcrossing process?

Requesting a postcard. What type of person will it go to? What cards do they like?

I also like the process of finding the right card, though sometimes it takes me days to find one (it’s very rural here and i have to travel far for a card).

And lastly, I also like to receive a card. Who is the sender? After registering, I find it extremely exciting to read the sender’s profile.

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

No, not by the places… But very often I’m surprised by the messages on the cards; the sentences in unexpected letters. I am surprised by the wonderful things other postcrossers are sending. By the passionate words of postcrossers. By the openness of peoples minds towards a complete stranger. I have greatest respect to every cards/letter I receive.

If you have ever seen an Anne Taintor postcard, mug, or greeting card, you would know. Her website tagline is, “Making Smart People Smile Since 1985”. Taintor takes classic photographs and old-fashioned drawings and adds clever words to them, in a newsprint style. For example, her very first piece used an old picture from a National Geographic magazine photo. The photo shows a businessman type wearing a pressed collared shirt, shorts and dress socks. He is with two women in classy dresses and they are standing on a balcony overlooking some exotic location. She clipped out the newsprint worlds, “intellectuals gone bad.” It was funny and offbeat and spawned many more creations.

How did Anne come up with her kooky collages? According to her website, it was 1985 and Taintor had suddenly gone from a stay-at-home mom to being the sole breadwinner of her household. She needed to make money – and fast. She went to a career counselor, where she was asked what skills she had. Her response? “I can make collages.”

She started from there, cutting out magazine photos and making collages. She clipped the words and added them, poking fun at society and gender roles. She even started typing her own words instead of simply cutting them from magazines! She was told to give up many times, but Anne persevered. Her style is defined by clever and witty observations of images from the past that many people would simply have taken at face value, but she turns the image on its side and points out the hilarity of the situation!

Today, Taintor is well-known and her many classic creations make people chuckle all over the world. You can find more of her work on Amazon.com, as well as in gift shops and greeting card stores everywhere.

We’ve just received another photo-filled report from the Little Mail Carriers, all the way from frosty Siberia! Read on their adventures in Russia from their most recent host, Kelpie.

At the middle of February when the strongest frosts were over, we arrived at PO Box in Novosibirsk, Siberia, Russia. Or, more properly, we arrived not in Novosibirsk itself, but in Akademgorodok, it’s a part of Novosibirsk, located 20 km south of the city’s center. It is the educational and scientific center of Siberia. It is located in the center of birch and pine forest on the shore of the Ob Sea. This winter had little snow, but despite that, we fell in the snow up to the waist!

There are a lot of scientific institutions in Akademgorodok, the largest of which is the Institue of Nuclear Physics. It conducts research on elementary particle physics, accelerators, plasma and associated with synchrotron radiation. INP has performed quite an impressive amount of work for the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. We coudn’t go inside due to strict access control. The clock at the entrance also shows the level of radiation, which does not exceed the norm.

And of course we visited the center of the city too. Novosibirsk is the third largest city of Russia (after Moscow and Saint Petersburg) and so called “the capital of Siberia” with population about 1.5 millions. It is also the youngest city which attained the population of a million citizens. On the main square called after Vladimir Lenin there are some high statues of labour and State Theater of Opera and Ballet (against the background). It is the largest theater in Russia and the symbol of the city. Its dome has aunique construction that supports itself without girders or columns. The ratio of its thickness to its radius is less than that of a chicken egg!

Near the theater another symbol of the city is located. The city’s legend says that the exact geographical center of former Soviet Union was marked by the Chapel of St. Nicholas, originally built in 1915 (on the left). Residents build an ice town on the Ob River in winter, where we gave ourself up to traditional Russian fun, sledge (on the upper right corner one can see line of wishing to slither).

Novosibirsk Metro bridge over Ob river is longer than 2 km and the longest one in the world!

We also visited souvenir shop with Matryoshkas and other national souvenirs and an unusual puppet show building.

Also we celebrated “Maslenitsa”, Pancake week, a Russian religious and folk holiday. At this time, people begin to see off winter and welcome the Spring. It is celebrated during the last week before Great Lent. The most characteristic food of Maslenitsa is “bliny” (pancakes), popularly taken to symbolize the sun. The red teddy bear on the left is Kooky, the main character from Czech action comedy film “Kuky se vrací”.

Here you can see a local folk festival…

…and traditional Russian winter footwear made of wool felt, “valenki”:

On next photo you can see national rag dools. These dolls are made as a talisman without the use of scissors or needles. It was believed that in the production of ceremonial dolls, the use of piercing and cutting tools is unacceptable, because they are able to hurt people. Also, these dolls have no face, because faceless dolls do not allow evil forces to move into them.

At the end of celebrating woman of straw Winter is burn out in an impressive show!

On next photo you can see the PO Box from which you usually receive mail from Kelpie if you ever did, but sometime this box has its bottom open (it’s just one of the many reasons why Russian post might be lost) and she’s forced to carry mail to another one.

At the beginning of March presidential election was carried out, Little Mail Carriers made their choice too. As you might know already Vladimir Putin has won and it will be his 3rd official and 4th total governing.

And out last stopping in Russia this time was settlement called Sheregesh, previously a mining town and now a popular winter sports resort.

Thank you Kelpie for showing the Little Mail Carriers around Siberia! On they go…

We’re a bit late to this announcement, but here it goes…

The two winners of the FunnyCard.nl giveaway are myshadow from Canada and AleksAndFlo from Germany. Congratulations!

And a big thank you to BrendaP, for sponsoring this giveaway! :)

Dianna is the user with most postcards sent from Macau, and she loves it when members decorate them, or fill them with stickers! :)

Here is what she had to say to our spotlight questions:

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

I became a postcard lover since my first trip abroad, I enjoy sending postcards to my friends and to myself. One day my friend Staci told me about postcrossing so I become a member. I am so glad about Postcrossings as it has enabled me to contact people who love postcards and to swap with people around the world. We are able to share our feeling and stories with each other. I just love it. Thanks to Postcrossing, I have collected so many beautiful postcards now and have made some good friends!

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

Yes, I love world travel, hiking, coffee tasting, reading, movies, music, gardening, cooking, quilting and learning other languages.

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

Here are some of my favourites:

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

I received a card from North Korea. :-)

Have you met any other members in real life?

Yes, one member from Thailand and one from Macau so far.

What is it your favorite part of the Postcrossing process?

My favorite part is to receive postcards. I really enjoying reading and looking at each one that I get. I also enjoy looking for cards to send to others. I really try to find cards that people will like. Sometimes that can be a challenge.