Postcrossing Blog

Hi! We’re the Little Mail Carriers, Little Paulo and Little Ana! In the last months, we’ve been busy cruising the world in the hands of postcrossers, but we’ve recently came back to the office for an impromptu visit… You see, we’ve heard rumours that there was going to be a huge Postcrossing meeting in Germany, and we didn’t want to miss out!

We’ve been to a few meetings before, but nothing compared to this one! There were almost 60 people in attendance from a dozen different countries (including Australia!), all staying in the same house… we knew it was going to be a blast! :)

Let us show you what we did there:

On Friday, we took a day trip to Münster, the “bicycle capital of Germany”. We did the tourist tour through all the main sites with a big group of postcrossers and visited a few Christmas markets. We loved the gingerbread hearts, and the giant nutcracker!

Postcard shopping was, of course, an important part of the trip. This little shop was crowded with all the postcrossers ooh’ing and aaaah’ing over the cute postcards!

While we were waiting for everyone to finish their postcard shopping, we spotted a postman on his bike! We asked him if we could take a ride, which he graciously allowed!

Back at the Einschlingen Guest house, there was much to be done! Have you ever received a postcard from a meetup? They’re usually filled with signatures from all the participants. In a meeting this big, it takes a long time to sign all the cards… We chose a few, and made sure that Paulo didn’t miss a card. Then, we gave it a go as well!

All the postcrossers seemed to have brought something sweet from their country, and the tables were piled up with deliciousness!

And oh! There was a huge pile of presents for the Christmas lottery! Everyone’s names were entered on a bowl, and norbaer helped people draw out names and presents! In the end, all postcrossers had received something cute or funny :)

On Saturday morning, there was an article on the local newspaper about the meeting! We didn’t understand all the words, but it sure looked good.

On Saturday, we also wandered on the streets of Bielefeld. We visited a famous postcard shop, met a few local postcrossers, saw the Christmas market … and a crepes stand which had soooo much Nutella! :)

We were almost the last ones to leave on Sunday afternoon, and we were quite sad to go… We loved meeting so many people that share in common a passion for postcards and Postcrossing. Old and new, from near or far… we had a lot of fun in the days we spent together! Perhaps we’ll see you there next year?

PS – Can you guess how many postcards were signed on this meetup? Answer on the forum in this thread for a chance to win some prizes! :)

Wow! Did you see that? There were hundreds of comments on our last giveaway! You really like the Go Green postcards, don’t you? :)

So, without further waiting, the postcard packs go to Deern, super-hero and nt – congratulations!

Once again, a big thank you Brenda for sponsoring this giveaway. And for the rest of you who didn’t win anything this time, don’t be sad, there are more giveaways coming!

In other news, did you see this fun compilation of Christmas facts by MOO?

(click for bigger)

It’s full of really interesting tidbits, like how many cards Santa Claus receives in a year, and how long it would take for him to open them all! :)

MOO would also like to remind you that you should order any Christmas postcards before December 13th, to ensure a timely delivery!

You might have seen these stamps and postcards around… they’re part of USPS’s GO GREEN program, meant to draw attention to the little things that you can do to make a difference and have a positive impact on the environment:

Out of milk? Walk or bike to the store. Repair that drippy faucet—the noise was driving you crazy, anyway. Switch to energy-efficient light bulbs. Put on a sweater instead of turning up the thermostat. Sun dry your sheets—they’ll smell wonderful!

Each postcard has a mix seeds of wildflowers, so you can plant it and watch it grow!

On this weekend’s giveaway, we’re offering 3 packs of Go Green oversized postcards, which come with matching forever stamps. You could plant them or just send them to your friends with a green message! To win a pack, leave a comment below. We’ll pick 3 random winners by midnight next Sunday, CET time.

These postcard packs were kindly offered by 9teen87. Brenda has a very neat postcard blog that you should visit!

PS – I did plant a couple of postcards, but nothing sprouted… I blame my non-existent green thumb, and I hope you have better luck!

The Singapore Philatelic Museum is once again preparing their annual exhibition dedicated to the Chinese Zodiac, this time featuring… dragons! These magical creatures have inspired legends and stories all around the world – from Saint George and the dragon, to Watatsumi, Tianlong or even… Dragon Ball!

No matter the dragon you know best, the Singapore Philatelic Museum would like you to share it with their visitors! So please send your dragon postcards to:

Singapore Philatelic Museum
23B Coleman Street
Singapore 179807

Mishelle Lim, who works at the museum, tells us that many visitors, young and old stop to admire and read the postcards sent by the postcrossers.
The exhibitions 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 dragon, or just say hi! Bonus points if you can find stamps with dragons as well!

As usual, all cards received before the end of the year will receive a reply from the museum – so don’t forget to include your address.

PS – Curious about what these exhibitions look like? Take a look at the previous editions!

Meet Amit Gupta. He’s the founder of Jelly and Photojojo, with whom Postcrossing had a long lasting partnership. Amit found out some weeks ago that he had acute leukemia, a very serious condition. He needs a bone marrow transplant by the end of the month.

The problem is, Amit is South Asian, and this ethnic group is severely under-represented in the bone marrow pool. He has little time left to find a donor.

So, as a personal plea, we wanted to ask you to please join a marrow registry today. It takes 2 minutes to sign up, and the test is really simple: you receive a q-tip, swab your cheek and mail it back. Furthermore, modern marrow donations are painless (like giving blood), and you might be the one to save a life.

If you’re in the USA, you can do it here. In Germany, register here. If you’re in The Netherlands, go here. Elsewhere, please see this post, or leave a comment below with instructions for the people of your country.

If you are already on a bone marrow registry, share this post with your friends and encourage them to register! But please do it fast, because time is running out for Amit, and others out there!

PS – If you need further incentive to join the marrow registry, some friends of Amit are offering a lot of money to the first match to enter the registry and donate his or her marrow to Amit.