Postcrossing Blog

Shinta (from Indonesia) has an interesting job: she works as a translator/editor of children books – something that many of us would love to do. She’s very keen on fridge magnets and has a quite respectable collection – here’s what she has shared with us.

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

In 2008 I was searching for any fridge magnet sites when I came across Postcrossing. At first I had no idea what Postcrossing was about. As I continued my search, this name kept appearing on the search results. I decided to join for the first time, made mistakes here and there for I didn’t quite understand how it worked. I was a total mess! But I learned fast and not long after it I found myself fell in love with postcards too.

What (or rather who) got me hooked was all the amazing, kind and friendly forum members who had sent me beautiful items/postcards including RAS. I hope we can continue this friendship. My sincere gratitute and deepest appreciation to you all!

When my magnets were too many to handle, I had to say enough to myself and only did a couple of swaps in a month. I’m still active in postcard collecting, both in official and in the forum. I withdraw myself from other magnet/postcard trading groups and stayed home at Postcrossing, simply because my heart belongs here.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

Besides postcard and magnet collecting, my other hobby is reading. Ok, it’s not that interesting ;) I read anything, lovestories, biographies, inspirational stories like Chicken Soups, detective/suspense, history, sciencefiction, children books, literatures, you name it. My job in editing/translating department requires me to read more books, which I don’t mind at all :).

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

This is where I send my postcards:

This is the post office where I sent bigger packages / registered items and bought lots of phillatelic stamps:

I keep my “for trade” cards in these little drawers of my living room table, and stack the albums (my collection) on top of it, so anybody can enjoy them. Friends and relatives always ask about Postcrossing and I answer those questions with pleasure.

Some of my postcards collection:

Me and my magnets:

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

I have so many favorites that it’s not possible for me to pick one or two cards only.

What are you passionate about?

In 2009–2010 I took a part time job as a kindergarten teacher and my passion is to encourage my little students (age 4–6) to love to read by doing a lot of storytelling. I showed every postcards that I received and told one piece of the world to them. Their favorites are auroras, cartoons (Moomins, Hello Kitties, the Simpsons, Disneys, etc), wild flowers, Lali Riddles, and other colorful cards. In 2010 for a very sad reason I had to let go this job that I love very much…

Fernando (or Patagonia) is 31 and lives in Santiago (in Chile). He has a dream of living in the beautiful region of Patagonia, in the southernmost part of South America, hence his username choice.

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

I always liked photography and postcards. I bought postcards for each trip and also bought old postcards from other countries in different libraries. That motivated me to write to different people from other countries to swap. One of those people mentioned Postcrossing as a good place to swap. I think it is a magical virtual place to know other people, make friends, know other cultures. It’s magical because it can connect people from Siberia to Atacama, from Egypt to Cuba thanks to this great project… and thanks to technology, of course.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

Yes, I love the nature. Actually I practice trekking, principally in the Andes Mountains. Where I live, Santiago de Chile, is very privileged for this discipline, because is near of the Andes and there are many mountains to practice this beautiful sport. I love reading poetry, listen classical rock and latino-american music and the most important I think, play with my 7 months son, Diego.

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

I have stored very well my postcards, so, I can show my Byōbu (wind wall) in the living-room of our apartment. It’s very special for me, because it decorates our home.

My son Diego also likes the postcards.

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

Maybe, it’s the hardest answer. I love all postcards, each country is very special for me. Postcards from Poland, Brazil, Romania, USA, Italy, etc. are beautiful.

I think my favorite postcard is from St. Petersburg, Russia, because was my first card received by Postcrossing and the russian postcards are all amazing (Siberia, Moscow Subway, etc.).

Is there anything that you are passionate about?

My family… is the most important for me. Also, today we are living so great changes in the world, people must live free and with fundamental rights, I love that people should reveal their oppressors (bad politicians, dictators, etc.). I believe that is the sense of Postcrossing, a free world, free thought without oppression.

Few events can unite the whole world such as natural catastrophes and the recent events in Japan have left no one indifferent. In the last days our thoughts are with those in Japan going through the hardship of a 9.0 earthquake and the devastating tsunami that followed.

We all feel powerless when such events are so overwhelming. But that is precisely why it’s important that we do do what we can to help recovering from this disaster. Below are some links we collected where you can make a donation to help recover from this desperate events.

By credit card through Google’s 2011 Japan Crisis website

In this page you are able to donate the Japanese Red Cross and to other institutions such as UNICEF, 'International Medical Corps’ and 'Save the children’.

Through bank transfer to Japanese Red Cross

Note that their website also recommends that you contact your local Red Cross for ways to donate. From their website:

“If you want to donate money to the affected population of earthquake and tsunami, please contact your national Red Cross/Crescent society, which may have already launched fundraising campaign within your country.”

Using Paypal Japan earthquake and tsunami relief website

You may donate to several different organizations through Paypal and they are covering all processing costs so 100% of your donation reaches the non-profit organization you choose.

Every donation, no matter how small, will surely help.

Also a way that you can help is sending your support towards Japanese members using postcards. You may be wondering if your postcards will reach their destination in Japan. The Japan Post has published on their website that some areas are expected to have delays on the delivery. However, they are doing the best they can to deliver all the mail, even to those who might have lost their home, to whom they are making an effort to hand-deliver in person to those in shelters and evacuation centers – when such is possible.

We also received a report of a Japanese Postcrosser in the Fukushima area (one of the most affected ones) who was very moved by receiving a Postcrossing postcard hand-delivered to him by the mailman in the shelter he is at the moment.

So, please be extra patient with postcards traveling to Japan – even those traveling to areas that were less affected. Delays are expected. But remember that words of support and letting them know that our thoughts are with them is a way to help them go through these difficult times.

Edit: Google has a website with the addresses of the temporary shelters. Although this information is in Japanese only, you can find some details on how to interprete it at this forum thread

Kayla (or Mickaela) lives in London and she studies politics. She likes to learn foreign languages and is now trying to learn her a 4th one! Here’s what she has to share with us.

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

I first heard about Postcrossing from a friend and because I always liked receiving mail, I decided to try it myself. At first I thought I’d just send a postcard every now and then, but before I knew it, I became an addict! What really got me hooked was the random aspect of Postcrossing and how every card we receive and send is a new little surprise and completely unique :).

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

At the moment, I am quite busy with my studies, but I’m still dreaming to become a writer one day… I’ve been trying to write a book for a while now!

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

My mailbox.

My postoffice.

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

This is a card I received from Sarah in the US and it’s a picture of people dancing at the Brighton Beach in New York. I love it because everyone in the photo looks so happy – it makes me smile every time I see it! And I also love old things and this postcard fits into this just about perfectly!

What is it your favorite part of the Postcrossing process?

I like drawing a new address and the anticipation of it – what country is it going to be? What kind of person? Can I send them something special? Do they speak another language I could write to them in? I really enjoy getting the cards ready for the mailbox and writing as much as I can on them.

Remember our little mail carriers? The last time we checked on them, little Paulo and Ana were in Taiwan… but no more! Come discover what they’ve been up to recently, in this lively report by their latest host, icitaiwan!

Hello from Valencia in Spain. It has been quite a while since you’ve heard something from us, but we’ve been very busy with traveling all over the world.

Our journey started in November when our sweet host shui sent us to the northern part of Taiwan where our new host, icitaiwan, was living. Yes, you’re reading it well…she’s not living there anymore. We arrived at a place, full of boxes and to be honest, it was messy, too ;). We explored Nankan where we were staying and took the bus to Taipei for a short trip. Our first stop was the Taipei 101. The “101” was the tallest skyscraper in the world until 2010 and we can tell you that it’s tall, 509 meters!

We ate a local snack and on the way back we really had a laugh when we read this sign in the bus on our way back home: “Please fasten your seatbelt. For landing please ring the bell. Please do not leave the seat when the vehicle is not all arranged yet”.

We also wanted to visit the Taipei International Flower Exposition, but unfortunately we didn’t get a chance, because the weather was so bad on the day that we intended to go and my host had to leave Taiwan soon. Instead of visiting the Expo we went to the Taipei Zoo where we saw pandas and many other animals.

At the end of December we were put in a little box and when our host opened it again we felt so cold. We had taken an airplane to the Netherlands where our host was staying for the holidays. Everything was covered with snow and we really regretted it not to have brought our scarves with us. We had a great time during the holidays, ate lots of food and gained some weight.

In the beginning of January we were put in the same little box again (oh no….!) and we saw daylight again in Valencia, Spain. We have traveled all the way to Spain, because our host decided to leave Taiwan for Europe for good.

We have had a great time in Valencia. The weather was sunny, warm and we saw beautiful blue skies. We enjoyed our free-time by wandering through the streets downtown. We started our trip on “Plaza de la Reina” where you can see the “Catedral de Valencia”. After that we walked to the “Mercado Central”. It’s a colorful market in a very old building. This sight-seeing trip made us hungry, so we ended up on one of the many terraces to have something to eat. What else could we buy than paella valenciana? This is Spanish rice with chicken and rabbit. The wine tasted pretty good, too…cheers!

After our siesta we decided to go to “La Lonja de la Seda”. It’s a late Valencian Gothic style civil building, built between 1482 and 1548, and one of the principal tourist attractions in the city. The UNESCO considered it as a World Heritage Site in 1996. “La Lonja” was used as silk exchange.

Another day we planned a trip to the "Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencas”. This is a cultural and architectural complex and it’s the most important modern tourist destination in Valencia.

The City of the Arts and the Sciences (Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias) is situated at the end of the old riverbed Turia. Turia became a garden in 1980, after the bypass of the river by the great flood of Valencia in 1957. The complex was designed by Santiago Calatrava and Félix Candela and the whole project was completed in 1998. It’s made up of 7 buildings. It is an amazing place to visit and it’s so beautiful on sunny days when the sun reflects onto the water and the buildings.

Time flies when you’re having fun and our last trip was to Malverossa Beach in Valencia. It’s a nice place to go to on the weekends. People are strolling along the beach, playing soccer and beach volleyball, or they are having a drink on one of the many terraces along the beach. We played on the beach and even tried to go for a swim, but the water was still too cold.

OK….this was an update from the two of us. Check out this site again soon for more adventures. We are on our way to a very special place now…..adios……..!