Postcrossing Blog

Natan (aka nboliveira) is one of the top (and earliest) users in Brasil. He likes travelling (both in real life and through the postcards he receives) and marvelling at the collection of stamps on his local philately shop.
Here is what he had to say:

What is your name, age and location?

My name is Natanael but everybody calls me Natan. I’m 44 years old and I live in the capital of Brasil, the city of Brasília which has an unique modernist architecture designed by Lucio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer. It’s a planned city inaugurated 60 years ago and an Unesco World Heritage Site for its architecture. I work at a telecom and recently started studying Law to be a lawyer in the future.

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

I’ve exchanged postcards since I was a child but when the internet was invented, I thought this hobby was over. In 2005 I read in the newspaper Estadão.com about the project of Paulo Magalhães from Portugal and his idea of sharing an old hobby using that new technology. I registered immediately but I didntt expect it to work out because I didn’t know that many people who would like to receive postcard this old fashioned way. Since then, six years have passed and I’m very proud to be one of veteran members of Postcrossing.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

I like listening to music especially lounge, bossa nova, and songs from the 80's, watching movies at home and going out with friends. Another passion is travelling, knowing different places and, of course, buy postcards from these places. Friends who travel with me already know – if I disappear, just ask where is the nearest store of postcards is! :)

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

The post office where i usually send postcards is also a philatelic store and I like go there because I can choose stamps from their huge collection and talk a little with Aurea, a friendly postal worker who is also passionate for postcards and stamps.

I keep my postcards in boxes like this. It’s not too organized but i like it bcause I can see postcards randomly and not for specific or preferred countries.

I also like to use some of my favourites to change the picture in my mobile phone.

And I put some on the table of my living room to show to my friends and family when they come home to visit me. You may notice that these postcards are in general of famous people and historical places… it’s a sure way to hook visitors and start a conversation about Postcrossing!

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

On my favourites, you can see that I really like sunsets and nature scenes, perhaps because I was born in a city of the Amazon region in Brazil. So guess I have a strong relation with nature. About my favourites, I should say that each postcard received is special on its singular message, images and stamps. But I’ll show three of them.

First, on the left, there is one that came from France (FR-65979) and I like it because for me represents the real spirit of Postcrossing: a world that share a hobby without frontiers of cultures, religion, language, social condition or politics. The second, came from Finland (FI-1130539) with an amazing sunset that I like so much. At last, one from China (CN-27229), I like this for its spiritual significance.

What is it your favorite part of the Postcrossing process?

The best part is the happiness I feel when I open my mailbox. I always smile of joy :) I specially love it when i see that someone saw my favorites and sent a postcard that I like. I always try to do the same because I know that in another part of world there will be another postcrosser with a smile on his/her face because of the postcard I sent.

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

Receive postcards from countries like Iran, Pakistan and Brunei with isolated regimes has surprised me. On the other hand that’s good because I noticed that Postcrossing is an universal way of communication.

Today we’re announcing a different kind of contest! Some of you might have noticed we’re fast approaching the 10 million received postcards milestone. We’re quite excited about it, and to celebrate this achievement, we’re having a guessing game!

It goes like this: every member has a chance to bet on the day and time on which the postcard number 10 million will be registered. The user with the closest guess gets the prize: a coupon for 120 postcards, an awesome offer from MOO!

All you have to do is go to the 10 million postcard page, and place your bet!

Each time slot can only be chosen by one person, so the first user to pick that slot gets to keep it. You can change it at a later stage, if you want, but only from the available time slots left. We will close the bets when there are 1,500 postcards left to postcard 10,000,000. There are some more rules, which you can see on the contest page.

So what are you waiting for? Give it a go, and good luck! :)

Last November, a group of Indian postcrossers got together in Mumbai, on 11/11/11. The goal? To bring postcrossers closer together, and create a Postcrossing family in India!

In attendance were exactly 11 postcrossers (what a neat coincidence!): indianfriendszone, seetas, Yuktie, Kanthi, anushankarn, kevindesai777, NishaJ, manojkamat_2005, kaushal, aditicm and Manasi.

Together they wrote and sent postcards with India’s Post special cancelation mark of the day, showed each other their collections, and shared tips on to store and preserve postcards.

Here are a few photos from the event:

Amit S, organizer of the meeting told us that “With all the excitement members didn’t realise how time flew by, some had to rush back home and the others decided to move on to a nearby restaurant for some coffee and snacks and more discussions!”

Time does fly when you’re having fun! :)

PS – Never been to a Postcrossing meetup before? Look up the upcoming meetings on the forum, or set up your own!

Last week, our friend Iris sent us the link to the videoclip below, which brought a big smile to our faces. The song is a little balad called 'I won’t give up’, by Jason Mraz.

The tunes are nice, but what really caught our attention was the amount of stationery displayed in this clip! It’s full of old-school envelopes, stamps, cancelation marks and postcards!

Doesn’t it make you want to write someone a love letter? What are you waiting for? :)

PS – German and/or Chinese users can see the video here or here.

First of all, happy New Year! We hope 2012 brings lots of smiles to your mailbox! We start the year with lovely news: a Postcrossing wedding!

Ivan, the groom, writes on his blog that he met Natalia in a Postcrossing meeting in Ukraine, over a year ago. Since then they’ve done a lot of things together, like a photography course, kayaking, and of course, attending more Postcrossing meetups (like this one in Balaklava).

Last fall, they decided to get married on the 26th of November, and send a lot of cards to their friends. Here are a few photos from that special day:

Don’t they look lovely? Congratulations Ivan and Natalia, and thank you for sharing your story with us!