I’ve written about my love affair with Postcrossing a few times (here, here, and here) and while the past year I haven’t kept up with sending as many cards I love the fact that I still continue to be surprised when one pops up in my mailbox. Another great thing is that I can pick up and right where I left off and I wrote five postcards yesterday.
For every card that tells me a little about their life or just says hello because they don’t write English, there are those that tell me how their hobbies and interests intersect my own. It’s comforting to know that in this crazy world we are not all as different as we sometimes think we are. And sometimes I receive postcards like this, from strangers who bring war and conflict closer to home.
I’ve received a few more like this from Kiev over the past year and it has definitely made me feel more connected to the people there and what it going on internationally. Interestingly, I’ve received more postcards from Russia and it is never mentioned.
These are the countries I received cards from and the average length of time it took for them to get to me.
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Postcards by country
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Country Received Avg travel (Received) 1 Australia 5 8 days 2 Belarus 12 27 days 3 Belgium 1 6 days 4 Brazil 1 92 days 5 Canada 1 10 days 6 China 10 24 days 7 Czech Republic 5 15 days 8 Dominican Republic 1 45 days 9 Estonia 2 10 days 10 Finland 8 9 days 11 France 2 54 days 12 Germany 28 14 days 13 Hong Kong 5 14 days 14 Iceland 1 14 days 15 India 3 11 days 16 Indonesia 1 25 days 17 Ireland 1 3 days 18 Israel 1 19 days 19 Japan 3 13 days 20 Korea (South) 2 13 days 21 Latvia 1 16 days 22 Lithuania 2 16 days 23 Morocco 1 9 days 24 Netherlands 23 10 days 25 New Zealand 2 16 days 26 Poland 9 47 days 27 Portugal 3 22 days 28 Russia 28 23 days 29 Singapore 4 12 days 30 Slovenia 2 12 days 31 Spain 5 59 days 32 Sweden 1 6 days 33 Switzerland 1 9 days 34 Taiwan 9 17 days 35 Thailand 1 14 days 36 Turkey 1 15 days 37 U.S.A. 22 12 days 38 Ukraine 11 26 days 39 United Kingdom 3 11 days Of the 222 cards I’ve only received one set of repeats.
Appropriate, right? One is from Germany and the other from the Netherlands.
If you want to keep up with the postcards I receive you can visit the blog I’ve set up, Postcarder
And if you are interesting in giving it a try yourself I can’t recommend it enough! It’s fun, easy and a cheap way to travel. Visit Postcrossing.
I think it’s great that you do it. I definitely see the benefits.
That postcard just breaks my heart. The world has become such a scary place. I’m amazed at how long it takes some of the postcards to reach you.
Wow! This is wonderful what you are doing and you must get such pleasure from receiving cards from strangers around the world who prove that we are all very similar and it’s truly a small world.
Stacy, what a fantastic project to participate in. I spent some time on your postcard blog and loved looking at all the beautiful and unique cards. I’m so tempted.
I gave PostCrossing a try a few years ago, but my participation fell by the wayside. You make me want to try it again. 🙂
I’ve not done Postcrossing for years! I used to be a member of another similar site which went down years ago. I might just have to join in again. 🙂
What a cool project! I’m going to look into this to use as part of our Social Studies schoolwork! I love post cards, getting and sending them, and I think it would be a cool way to introduce my kids to the world a bit more.
As for the situation in Ukraine, it is heartbreaking. My husband lived there when he was a teen because his dad went there as a missionary, and so we have been following things there very closely.
You always make this sound so fun. I like the idea that it makes you feel closer to the rest of the world.
Congrats on National Championship Ohio State. I would love to try this.