Postcrossing Blog

Every now and then we receive stories from our members which makes us smile from ear to ear. Today we want to share with you one related with the current football World Cup. Here’s what Liesel from South Africa told us:

I would like to tell you how my daughter, Meghan, made a friend through Postcrossing and got to meet her thanks to the 2010 FIFA World Cup currently taking place in South Africa. Both my daughters and I are avid postcrossers and when we are not busy sending and registering postcards, we like to browse the website searching for favourites.
While browsing the South African postcards one day, we noticed that a lady called Linda, from Slovenia, really liked South African postcards and frequently commented on how beautiful they are. Meghan sent her a message asking if she can mail her one of her favourites and soon they had exchanged cards. Meghan loves horses and Linda sent her a lovely horse card. While corresponding Linda mentioned that she might be travelling to South Africa for the 2010 FIFA World Cup as part of a group of Slovenian soccer fans. We told her that we would love to meet her and kept in touch until she let us know that she is definitely coming. We were so excited! We had to wait until Linda’s tour group visited our home city of Pretoria (the executive capital of South Africa), which they did on Wednesday 16 June 2010.

Nicole, Ouma, Linda and Meghan

This day is a South African public holiday called Youth Day on which we commemorate the 1976 protests by 20 000 pupils against inferior education for black people.

Linda’s group visited several historical sites in Pretoria and we arranged to meet up with her at the Union Buildings. The Union Buildings is the residence of the South African Presidency and government. It was designed in 1910 by Sir Herbert Baker and completed in 1913. It has been the venue of many important events in our history including the August 9, 1956 march by women chanting 'strike the women, strike the rock’ to protest the pass laws under the Apartheid government.

Union Building Gardens

It was here too that former President Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as our first democratically elected President on 10 May 1994, heralding a new era in our history. Unfortunately Linda’s group couldn’t stay long, but we had enough time for a brief chat and to exchange gifts. Linda gave Meghan a Slovenian supporter scarf and Meghan gave Linda soccer memorabilia and postcards of course!

Meghan with scarf Linda gave her

It was a privileged for Meghan to meet Linda, a friend from Slovenia, something that would not have happened if it wasn’t for Postcrossing and the Soccer World Cup!

Thank you Liesel for sharing this with us!

If you have similar stories, we would love to hear them!

WOW! The response to June’s contest was amazing, we had almost 300 very creative submissions… which made the task of choosing just three of them a very hard job!

The Postcrossing team has chosen the following captions as the winners of MOO's postcards:

Caption: “New flight attendant uniforms for budget airline Dot-to-Dot Air” by ezbub

Caption: “After several viewings of Castaway, Jack began to grow comfortable with his unique love” by katier

Caption: “You clean, I’ll pour” by wakegrace

Congratulations to our three lucky winners and thank you to everyone who participated!

The month of July is a very special month for Postcrossing, and we’ll be back soon with another fun contest and more MOO postcards to give away!

Vicki (aka Mundoo), a very valued member of the Postcrossing team, has been involved in Postcrossing for over four and half years. She is a self-professed computer geek and enjoys Geocaching and Pathtags.

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

I saw Paulo promote it on bookcrossing.com and wondered what it was about. I was the third Australian to join and loved the international aspect of it. I got hooked when I received my first postcard. It was such a good thing to find in my letterbox instead of a bill. So bright and colourful, so full of good wishes and friendship.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

I am a computer geek. Before Internet, (yes there was a time before Internet) I used to operate a BBS (Bulletin Board Service) from my kitchen. In 1988 I was the second female in Australia to be a sysop of a BBS. It was called Computer Connection.

I enjoy geocaching from geocaching.com as it challenges me to find hidden treasure in my surroundings with my GPS and takes me to places of interest and out of my computer chair. I have a collection of pathtags that I collect via pathtags.com, they appeal to me because they are similar to postcards in that they tell a story with just a picture.

I love to do cross-stitch and since getting a digital camera also take heaps of photos of the everyday world around me. I take a lot of sunrise photos which show where I live which is about 20 feet from the water’s edge in the estuary of the longest river in Australia – the Murray River. My house is surrounded by a national park – Coorong National Park – which is a RAMSAR world environment site and I am very interested in the environment and my surroundings. I am an active board member of a govt. environment group and a member of my local Hindmarsh Island Landcare group. I like planting trees. I am also the Postcrossing Forum Administrator and part of the Postcrossing Team.

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

Hindmarsh Island has no mail delivery so I rent a post office box in the nearest town of Goolwa (15km away). The Goolwa post office was the longest active post office in Australia still in its original premises since 1857 but has recently moved to new premises. My PO box is very nondescript and surrounded by equally nondescript boxes.

The new premises are in the local shopping mall.

There is a small staff who are always cheerful and used to me always buying postcards and international stamps. The lone male postie was camera shy but the ladies insisted and as you can see he ducked behind them at the last second.

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

So hard to choose my favourite. I actually have 2 that I always smile about a bit more often.

Beautiful handmade postcard that I have framed and put on my bedside table. I love waking up in the morning and seeing the friendship in this postcard sent by flyers.

The other is a delightful postcard. It comprised of the shaggy dog who was holding the tiny envelope in its mouth. The envelope contained the little card.

As you can see I appreciate the work that goes into handmade postcards.

Every year, Postcrossing collaborates with the Singapore Philatelic Museum with one very special exhibition. But it’s not just every year, it’s every Chinese new year! The exhibit celebrates the Chinese Zodiac animals: Year of the Rat, Year of the Ox and, the current one, the Year of the Tiger.

A few month ago, we have requested Postcrossers from all over the world to send them postcards with tigers that they used to display in their exhibition: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Danger. And, as always, Postcrossers have excelled in their contribution and offered a shower of postcards.

Mishelle at the Musueum shared some photos that we now share with you all:

Happy Year of the Tiger! :)

Next on their tour around the world, our little mail carriers stopped in the Bahamas! We’re extremely jealous, and living vicariously through them :) Enjoy the sunny report that islander61 sent us:

Ana and Paulo’s next visit was to Nassau, Bahamas, home to islander61 and dancingkittycupcake. Nearby Yamacraw Beach was their first stop to build sandcastles and relax on a towel on the soft, white sand (watch out for that crab!) The little boats were the perfect size for a ride; who got the red one?

Later, Ana spotted the lighthouse that has guided ships into Nassau’s blue water harbour since 1816. They climbed over a cannon and Paulo was amazed at the size of the visiting cruise ships. They explored the sculpture of Woodes Rodgers, Royal Governor who expelled pirates in 1718, found a red mail-box and tasted paella at a seafood festival. Montagu Beach was the place for a seaside treat of spicy conch fritters and cool, sweet Goombay Punch.

Another day, a drive across the Paradise Island Bridge for a wedding anniversary lunch at The Cove, Atlantis (they really liked the wine!) and a quick peek at the aquarium.

A ride home from school in dancingkittycupcake's uniform pocket and a chance to investigate the backyard seagrape, mango and coconut trees. Coconut water was so refreshing on a hot, hectic day that Paulo needed a nap!

Finally, we baked cookies for our guests. Look, the egg even had two yolks! A special egg for two special visitors, Ana and Paulo.

Thank you islander61, and dancingkittycupcake for hosting the little mail carriers! And now, on to new adventures! :)