When I open my mail box and all I find are cobwebs, advertisements and sinister looking envelopes I don't even want to open, it is quite disappointing. I love both writing and receiving letters and this is why I was so excited about
Postcrossing! I found out about Postcrossing from my friend Lara, who is a similar letter enthusiast. The concept is that after signing up, Postcrossing gives you a random address belonging to a stranger somewhere in the world. Your mission is to send this person a postcard with a short letter on the back of it. You are given a registration number that must also be written on the card. Once the person receives the card, they register it and soon you will be receiving a letter on a postcard from a different stranger from some other place in the world. It makes opening the mail box very exciting. Who knows who is going to say 'hello' to me on any given day? A school teacher from Finland? A sailor from Japan? A little kid, still learning about what the world is from Brazil? You never know! Postcrossing is a really good way to be connected to other people in the world. It is a good reminder that even though their are seven-billion people in the world, each one of those seven-billion people are individuals, with their own personal story and their own links to our world.
The letters are fun, but so are the postcards as beautiful objects. Whenever I get a new postcard I hang it on my fridge. Until all the magnets are all used up. Then I slowly put them in my 'letter-box' to make room for more cards. Here are some of the postcards I have received:
 |
| Germany |
 |
| Indonesia, Malaysia, Poland |
 |
| France, Finland |
 |
| China, Russia |
 |
| Belgium, Russia |
 |
| Russia (and my first postcrossing card... ever!) |
 |
| Australia, Finland, Netherlands |
 |
| Taiwan, Czech Republic |
 |
| Russia and France |
 |
| Netherlands, Russia |
 |
| United States |
 |
| Russia |