British Columbia

Another card from a Postcrossing participant, this time from British Columbia. The sender is pointing out where there is a wine region of British Columbia ("start in Osoyoos and head up the Okanagan to Salmon Arm").

A postcard like this always reminds me of how much I don't know about the world. I am aware of British Columbia, I've always wanted to see Vancouver, but there's a lot more to the province than just its major city. The description from the website link above describes the Okanagan Valley as "begins in Canada's only true desert environment adjacent to the US border". I wasn't aware there was any desert-like environment in Canada, let alone adjacent to the US border.

The site also describes Ice wine, which is wine produced from grapes that are left to freeze on the vine before they are picked and pressed. Interesting.

British Columbia becomes yet another place to add to the list of places I'd like to see some day. This postcard collecting business can cause wanderlust!

Christmas from Russian 2009

Christmas in Russia! This card arrived this week from Irena, through Post Crossing. I don't know what the greeting says on the front, but I love the image.

Lion Sword in Mouth

Another card received through Postcrossing, from Copyyen inTaiwan. I've seen these images before, but I didn't know they were called "Lion Sword in Mouth" and are spirits to exorcise evil. My sender tells me they are auspicious for me, which I could use right now!

Post Crossings, II

This is the second batch of postcards I received through Post Crossing, where for every postcard you sign up to send to someone somewhere in the world, you also are signed up to receive one back. When a card you've sent arrives, it is registered by the receiver, and an email shows up with a "your card has arrived!" notice, including how many days it was in transit. The site provides a list of where you've both sent and received to and from, a map showing the "crossings" of your postcards, and a gallery of postcards flying around the world.

The first post crossing posting can be found here. I've sent 14, received 4 and have several in transit.

It is interesting to see what people send, and to get a brief glimpse of their stories. The tulip postcard is from a group of office workers in Hilversum (close to Amsterdam), The Netherlands who participate to "cheer up their office". The dog postcard is from Brussels, Belgium from a new mom. The restaurant scene postcard is from the southernmost town in Taiwan, Kenting, whose name means "no winter" or "forever spring". This picture is one of the locations in a famous Taiwanese film, "Cape No. 7", which in 2008 became the country's 2nd top grossing film in cinematic history, behind only Titanic.

Postal Crossings

In my immersion in the world of postcards, I stumbled upon a very interesting website: Postal Crossings. In their own words, “send a postcard and receive a postcard back from a random person somewhere in the world!”. For every postcard mailing I sign up to send, a "random person" is then assigned to send a postcard to me.

Notice the number that isn't a zip code next to the "USA" in the postcard above. Each mailing is assigned a number. It is written on all postcards sent, and when I receive a card (this is my first), I enter the card and number into Postal Crossing as "received". There are all sorts of cool metrics and maps, showing where I've sent/received postcards to/from, images of postcards that are flying around the globe, and the number of days it took any given postcard to arrive from one place to another.

The above card was sent to me from Anna in Taiwan of a painting by a Japanese artist, Chinatsu Ban. Underwear and elephants are prevalent in much of her work, and a New York Times review of her work states, "Much of today's art suffers from terminal cuteness, so it is not surprising that Chinatsu Ban, a talented newcomer from Japan, just barely escapes with her life."

Fun to learn about something I knew nothing of, and even better to have it occur in a random way.