Postcrossing Blog

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…

The Little Mail Carriers have once again written home… from the far east! Turns out they’ve been enjoying the mild winter days of Okinawa! Read all about their adventures on this post from their host cbayha.

Greetings from sunny Okinawa, Japan! Did you know that there is a subtropical island that is part of Japan? Actually, the Prefecture of Okinawa is made up of hundreds of small islands, the largest of which is Okinawa Island. There are palm trees here, and they grow tropical fruits, like pineapple!

A long time ago, these islands were an independent nation, called the Ryukyu Kingdom. The kings and noblemen of the Ryukyu build many beautiful castles and because of this, 9 of the 16 UNESCO World Heritage Sites for Japan are on Okinawa.

Our first outing was to the Katsuren Castle, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm! The castle sits way up on top of a hill, with a view of the ocean on either side. We were pretty tired after we hiked up to the top! Down at the visitor’s center they have built a model of the castle that was just the right size for us.

The people of Okinawa are very creative! They are famous for their pottery and hand blown glass. We took a trip to the southern end of Okinawa Island to visit the Ryukyu Glass Village. There we met this ferocious looking shisa. Don’t be scared – Shisa are Guardians. They protect buildings from typhoons, which threaten the island every year. Legend has it that a clay shisa, much like this one, once came to life and saved the island from a horrible storm. Now almost every building has at least one shisa (but usually a pair) guarding them and protecting them from the storms.

After watching the artisans at work, we admired the beautiful glass tile wall that is one of the main attractions. Okinawan glass is very colorful.

The glass is not the only thing that is colorful on Okinawa! The Okinawa sweet potato is bright purple on the inside! It is very nutritious and tasty and everyone’s favorite way to eat it is as cake! Sweet potato boats are the most popular present for tourists to take home with them from Okinawa. At the bakery we got to sample different varieties of sweet potato sweets, and watch how they are made.

We also met another shisa! This guy was very happy and relaxed. He was taking a break from his regular duties to eat a few sweet potato boats.

What a day we had today! Today we went on a road trip to the Northern end of the island to visit the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium. This world-famous aquarium is a must-see for anyone who visits here. The aquarium has lots of hands-on exhibits for children, a sea turtle exhibit, a manatee house, a great dolphin show and one of the largest aquarium tanks in the world!

The Kuroshio sea aquarium has a capacity of 7,500 cubic meters and houses giant manta rays and whale sharks! We had lunch in the cafe along one side of the tank and watched all the big fish swim around.

After that we headed outside for the dolphin show. We were very happy, because it’s winter on Okinawa, so we didn’t think the dolphins would be out performing. But they put on a great show and we loved watching them leap in the air. If you look beyond the dolphins, across the bay, you can see an island. That is Ie Island. On Ie island they grow peanuts and flowers! They host an annual Lily Festival which is supposed to be amazing, but we are visiting at the wrong time of year.

Maybe we’ll come back some day to see all the flowers in bloom!

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! :)

The Little Mail Carriers have written home again! Turns out they’ve been enjoying a relaxed time in Tianjin, China! Read all about their adventures on this post from their host fitziane.

Ni hao, everyone, hello from China! We have spent a couple of lovely months in Tianjin, a dynamic city about an hour and a half away from Beijing. Our host family’s mom and dad work at an international school in China. She’s the elementary librarian and he heads the PE department. We spent our time living the expat life and enjoying family life.

Our very first weekend we went camping. Our host family, the Fitzgeralds, love the outdoors and we went camping twice during our stay. The first trip was to Yunmengshan.

This is a beautiful forest in the mountains north of Beijing. There are quiet mountain paths and lots and lots of trees and plenty of wonderful fresh air. (Although we can’t complain of the city air. October is the best month for air quality in Tianjin and we had many beautiful clear days. Still, there’s no beating fresh mountain air.) Camping was a lot of fun, although a bit of work, especially for people our size.

After setting up camp, we went exploring. The stream that ran past our camping site provided endless opportunities for splashing and wading. We didn’t get too wet, which was a good thing, because there was definitely a chill in the air in the shadows of the forest. Little Paulo, of course, had to swing from the trees like Tarzan and he kept looking at the water as if to calculate the size of the white water raft he’d need.

Going back to the city was good. We were happy to spend time with our librarian friend at her school. So many eager students come into the library every day. Libraries are wonderful!

During our month in the city, we did the usual tourist stuff. We went to Ancient Culture Street in Tianjin, among other places. This is a market that has grown around a Buddhist temple. About 5 years ago, the whole market was torn down and refurbished to give market vendors modern facilities, but the ancient character was kept. The market itself is very much a tourist site, with people come from all over the countryside surrounding Tianjin to visit. The temple was very busy, with many people lighting incense at the different altars.

The best part of our trip, though, was camping at the foot of the Great Wall of China. The first week of October is a national holiday in China, as the country celebrates its founding anniversary. We took advantage of the holiday to go for a long weekend with 6 families and camp at Jingshanlin.

The Great Wall was built by China’s first emperor to protect China from the Mongols in the north. The aim of the emperor was to have a wall stretching from Lop Lake in the west to Shanghaiguan in the east. It was to be 6 horses wide at the top and 8 horses wide at the bottom (or something like that. We read a book about it in the school library.)

There were to be watchtowers every 100 meters. The emperor sent a million people to build it. Many died and are buried in the wall. The conditions must have been brutal. It took 10 years to build, but subsequent emperors built different parts of it. The part we were on, Jingshanlin, was built during the Ming dynasty, only 500 years ago.

Click here for more photos of the Great Wall from our host.

We’ve had a great time in China and although we’re sad to go, we’re eager to continue with our adventures. We wish you all great happiness and good fortune.

Thank you fitziane for this lovely report! Now we wonder where the little ones will show up next…

Another exciting report from our dear little mail carriers! Australia is so big that they’ve decided to stay a little longer there, and visit another friendly postcrosser, Smileyfflagge! Meanwhile, they’ve been on newspapers headlines and gave radio interviews… seems like everybody wants to meet them! :) Read their story below:

We left Mundoo in South Australia on Thursday 23 June 2011 and arrived in Coffs Harbour NSW on Monday 27 June 2011. Smileyfflagge got a big surprise when he opened his mailbox this morning!

Smiley lives at Upper Orara, which is about 25kms west of Coffs Harbour. There is no town of Upper Orara; it is a “locality”, a name given to a district for land record purposes, and so people have an address. There are about 800 residents in the area, and they have fat cattle farms or dairy farms. Upper Orara is very pretty and is situated in the Orara Valley.

Smileyfflagge’s little house is situated right in the middle of a huge dairy farm and sometimes the dairy cows come right up to the boundary fence to see what is going on.

Australians love BIG THINGS and the very first Big Thing built in Australia was the “Big Banana” which is in Coffs Harbour, so we went to see how big it really is.

There is a café near the Big Banana, so we looked at all the postcards they had for sale before we had our afternoon tea.

Smiley took us out into a banana plantation so we could climb a banana tree. The blue plastic bag protects the bananas.

Another day we went to look at the view over Coffs Harbour from Sealy Lookout but it was closed for refurbishment. We found a little clearing in the trees so we could take a photo of the view looking north and while we were there we met Claude and Barbara, who were visiting Coffs Harbour from Western Australia, so we had our photo taken with them. We are hoping that they will join Postcrossing after meeting us!

On Wednesday 13 July we went to the Coffs Harbour Jetty for a newspaper interview. We were met there by Gemima Harvey, a journalist with the “The Coffs Coast Advocate”, and her photographer Bruce Thomas. We had a very nice interview and Bruce took our photograph with glenasena and Smileyfflagge. The newspaper printed our story on the front page! And it was on the front page of 9 other newspapers right up the coast from Coffs Harbour to Gladstone in Queensland! And in the papers in the inland cities of Ipswich and Toowoomba in Queensland. We sent Gemima and Bruce a postcard to say “Thank You”!

On Friday 15 July we went to present our credentials to the Mayor of Coffs Harbour, Councillor Keith Rhoades. Cr Rhoades signed our travel documents for us. The Mayor is a very busy man and we are grateful that he was able to take the time to meet with us. We sent him a postcard to say “Thank You” too!

The following Friday (22 July) we went to the “ABC Radio Coffs Harbour” studio for an interview. We went on air and tried to chat with Katya Quigley from “ABC Radio Port Macquarie” on her morning program. She couldn’t hear us, even though we were talking as loud as we could, so Smileyfflagge had to do the interview on our behalf. This next photo shows us in Liz Keen’s studio in Coffs Harbour.

On Monday 25 July Smiley drove us all the way up to Ipswich in Queensland, so we could visit our dear friend crizle who has been very ill in hospital. She was very happy to see us and is now home and very much better.

The next photograph shows us at the beginning of the boardwalk at Urunga, which is about 25kms south of Coffs Harbour. The boardwalk now goes right out to the end of the training wall, and the second picture shows us waving to all our postcrossing friends in New Zealand, which is out that way somewhere.

Smiley took us to the Post Office in Urunga to meet the Postmistress, Christine. She stamped our travel documents for us.

Here we are looking out over Park Beach on a cloudy day. In the summer months Park Beach is full of people enjoying the sunshine and the surf.

Our very last photograph shows us looking out over the marina at Coffs Harbour, with Muttonbird Island in full view. Just to the left centre of the photograph you can see the Coffs Harbour Jetty, where we had our interview for the newspaper.

Now we are getting ready to leave Australia for…