Tag: postcrossing

Lyudmila sends me her greetings from Belarus which, according to her is, “an oasis in the heart of Europe.  Not by chance is it called ‘blue-eyed.'”

I just looked on a map to see where Belarus is [postcrossing: improving my shoddy geographical sense one postcard at a time] and I have to quibble with that “heart of Europe” statement.  Of course, that’s because I came of age where Europe ended at the border of the USSR which is, of course, no more.  So in that old mental map, Belarus is very much outside the heart of Europe. Then I looked up a map of Europe and got a EU one.  Even in that map, Belarus is on the very edge and not in Europe (because it’s not an EU member state).  So perhaps that saying is asperational.  I know those former USSR republics mostly didn’t want to be members of said Soviet Empire.

Anyway, Lyudmila is 41 and has a husband and two sons–teenagers.  She says, “I am happy with my family.”

This is from Unda who is 35 and lives in Maassiuis.  (I’m thinking if there’s a Dutch version of Wheel of Fortune, it’s always prudent to buy some vowels.)

She tells me that she enjoys gardening very much. Unda also included the quote “Begin de dag met een lach” which she translated as “Always start your day with a smile.”

This is a very nice hand-drawn and colored art card.

This is from Sophia who is 25 years old and likes reading and singing.  (Sounds like someone I know.)  She says, “I always get ideas and power from books.  It makes me hopeful in every moment!”

Not only is this one of those shiny moving postcards, it’s also from the Getty Villa.  It’s from regular commentor Jan, who sent along a little note with it.

This is from Katja who tells me she lives in a little city in the middle of nowhere, has two gorgeous children and a dog and loves her job as a photographer.

This is from regular commenter Sara, who tells me she say Bill Nye AND They Might Be Giants.  Also that there was a lot of DFTBA* merchandise on people, which does not surprise me at all.

*DFTBA means Don’t Forget To Be Awesome and is the rallying cry of Nerdfighters. Also see this post.

This is from Dasha, who lives in Saint-Petersburg.  She really loves dancing hip-hop and going to ballet.  Also travelling and skiing. 

The stamps are nice, but I took a picture because they were in two places on the card:  the traditional spot,

And also in the lower left corner, where the postcard message goes.

This is from Kathleen, who lives in Singapore and makes it a point to read at least one book per month.  She is a wedding cinematographer and has a blog.  She sent along a great quote, which is also featured in this beautiful picture on her blog.

It also came with this fabulous “Vanishing Trades” stamp.

I kind of love Kathleen.

I participated in Oregon Humanities first Dear Stranger project where you write a letter to a stranger (the theme was “me”) send it to Dear Stranger at Oregon Humanities with a SASE. They shuffle the letters and send you one, theoretically from another part of the state.  I got my letter in right before the May 5 deadline, but I was still surprised to find a letter in my mailbox on May 9.  

My letter was not from someone in Oregon, it was from a student in Wisconsin who was writing the letter as part of a college assignment.  She also did not include a return address, so that was unfortunate.  Still, I enjoyed the mail and hope that the person who got my letter will write me back.  I really need more pen pals.  

If you are interested in participating in Dear Stranger in August, sign up for the Oregon Humanities newsletter.

This is from my friend D. who says the colors and the vastness of the canyon are awesome.

This is from Frank and Jeannette who are 47 and just got back from a Peter Gabriel concert.  They also saw two of the Bavarian royal castles and did some walking.

This is from Sara, who will soon be sending me postcards from an entirely different state of the union. She reports they had very good weather for their visit to Natural Bridge.  I am currently loving all the benches placed just so, so one can contemplate the natural bridge from a sitting position.