Sharing the Hate: Sent to China, Germany, Singapore, & the U.S.

Mmm, Thai food–from Thailand!  You know, no Southeast Asian person I know willingly goes to American Thai restaurants.  Oh, they love great Thai food–they just don’t believe it exists in restaurants here! In fact, a Thai cook I know told a group of people who asked about the best Thai restaurant, that she’s never been to a good one.  This is before she taught us all to cook the stuff ourselves.  This postcard came from Thailand, and it’s going to Clarksville, Tennessee, in a swap-bot trade of food postcards.

The train card is going to a train enthusiast in Shanghai, China, in a Postcrossing Forum trade.  I’ve never traveled in a sleeper train here in the U.S., but I have overseas.  Returning from Chiang Mai to Bangkok, Thailand by overnight train allowed me to see some beautiful scenery (before dark took over), and it wasn’t only a cheap way to travel: it also save me from a night’s hotel fee!

I HATE that “Seein’ things at night” card.  It came to me as a part of The Disappointassortment, of course; now it leaves me for a swap-bot “I HATE This Postcard” trade.  Yea! Off to Troy, New York, with that rubbish.

The black & white New York image goes off in another swap-bot trade, called “I don’t live here.” It goes to a swapper in Singapore, and I told her I would not want to live in NY.  To list one main reason: snow.  No, thanks.  It snows in California, but not where I live.  And if it did, well, it wouldn’t be living where I live.

Finally, a regular Postcrossing draw.  The Fairyland post office (no longer a post office) goes to someone in Norderstedt, Germany with an interest in post-related post.

Stamps, stamps, stickers, & washi tape:

 

I Throw My Recycling in the Mailbox

I took an armload of cardboard to the paper slicer yesterday, and walked away with 20 new postcards, ready to go when I need them!  I have to admit, there are products I can’t wait to finish so that I can turn the box into a postcard.

Dogs Don’t Even Have Pockets: Sent to China, Russia, Taiwan, & the U.S.

A bunch of Postcrossing Forum trades this time…

Snoopy!  The World War I Flying Ace heads for Linluo, Taiwan, in a USA-Asia tag.

Those early images of The Little Mermaid‘s Sebastian the Crab go off to Izhevsk, Russia, to someone who had that movie on her wish list of postcards.   She has since tagged me back, and since this is a “Studio Ghibli-Something from Wishlist” tag thread, I should be seeing a Ghibli card from her eventually.  I hope it’s from one of their “cute” movies!

The Skunk Train is bound for Shanghai, China!  It’s a “China Meets the World” tag, and the Postcrosser expressed an interest in railway cards.  Did you know that dogs are allowed on the Skunk Train?  They just have to have a $10 ticket.

Finally, there’s the postcard hewn from a box of Hello Panda.  It’s off to Falls Church, Virginia, fulfilling my obligations in a trade of food package postcards.  Hello Panda makes for wonderful mail art.  Also, the cookies taste good.

Stamps, stamp, sticker, & washi tape:

G a s p !

Time–AGAIN–to buy more stamps… and just LOOK at this new offering on the USPS website!  I’m going all in…

Special & Delicious Food–& Also Peanuts: Received from Germany, Japan, & Taiwan

I’ve been several days lately with no postcard love in my mailbox.  Yesterday was no such day!  I love every scrap.

That awesome Charlie Brown postcard at top left is from a Postcrosser in Hamburg, Germany.  She told me she was writing postcards while on her break during a night shift.  I’d had that card on my Postcrossing favorites, and I see the copy of the card I had marked was also sent by a (different) Germany Postcrosser.  I stared hard at the printing info line on the back of my card, and see it is indeed produced in Germany.

The “Taiwan is a happy land” card came from a Postcrosser in Miaoli, Taiwan.  All of the happy things pictured make me want to be in that country right now!  The sender tells me:

“I love delicious food too.  There are many special and delicious food in Taiwan.  This card and stamps show you about it.  I hope you will love this card as well.”

The stamps, yes, they are delicious!  I’ve included a scan at the bottom of this post.

Everything below the aforementioned two postcards is a surprise from a Peanuts-pal in Tokyo, Japan.  Wow!  That envelope: I think the original iterations of the characters–the first couple of years or so of the strip–are the absolute-best looking, and here they are!  I also especially like that card covered with images depicting Linus & Snoopy’s relationship.  On her note, which spans a couple of the postcards, my friend tells me (among other things) about a Japanese dish I don’t recall hearing about before:

“I’m into eating “Taco-Rice.”  Have you eaten that?  This is taco (Mexican food) and rice mix together.  I like to add some vegetables on Taco-Rice.  For example, tomatoes, lettuce, cabbage, and so on, and besides, tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes.  I LOVE TOMATOES!! I like vegetables, so vegetables taste good without dressing.  But Mayonnaise go well with Taco-Rice.”

Oh, you stop making that face.

 

Stamps, stickers, & washi tape:

The Jerk Who Ruined Postcrossing: Sent to China, Germany, India, & Taiwan

A Postcrossing batch, with some drama.

The tiger is going to a tiger lover in Taipei, Taiwan.  She loves to travel (hey, me, too!), and says she has been to 28 countries so far (whoa!  I seem to have some catching up to do!).

Speaking of travel, the next card depicts the Hapuna Beach Prince, a resort on the Big Island of Hawaii’s Kohala coast.  I’ve not stayed here, though I have stayed at its older sister nearby.  This one is headed for Kunshan, Jiangsu  China, in a Postcrossing Forum tag trade, to a recipient who expressed an interest in receiving hotel postcards.

The California state map (uh, not to scale) is also going off to to China in a Postcrossing Forum trade: it goes to someone in Harbin, Heilongjiang, China who expressed an interest in map cards.  I notice I have several different California map cards, some more fun, others more informational.

Next comes one of California’s more beautiful sights, the Big Sur coastline.  That’s a regular Postcrossing draw, and it’s off to someone in Aachen, Germany who says he likes beautiful landscapes, including coasts.

Finally comes the black & white card at bottom, which went to Margao, Goa, India.  And herein lays a tale.  A dark moment in Postcrossing, one might say.

“Hi!  I love getting postcards as the whole world steps in my postbox! It’s such a beautiful experience. 🙂 “

Oh, what a nice start!  I agree with the sentiment.

Unfortunately, he keeps talking.

“On the card, write the name of your city and date of posting please. Also write about the card, as in what it depicts. I prefer information about the card, rather than your personal details.  To be frank, I don’t like the sender’s personal details on the card. Please do write the date and name of city/ town where posted.”

Okay, buddy, thank you for taking every bit of joy out of this Postcrossing experience.  Thank you for taking the personal connection out of the equation.  Thank you for transforming this from a fun pastime into a grim assignment.

I should have just picked whatever card I liked, and written a chatty little missive about myself, but I picked this black & white New York Stock Exchange photo, based on Jerky’s stated preferences of cards depicting “anything related to history, law or politics,” and then I looked up sources of information on the architect, George B. Price, and I shared that, with no frivolity such as a salutation or a signature.

If every Postcrosser were like this fella, I’d quit.

Jazz Up Dinner for Less! Received from Russia, Ukraine, & the U.S.

I recognized this top card pretty quickly as a Picasso.  Nope, don’t know the work, just noted the style.  It came to me from a Postcrosser in Kirov, Russia who wishes me “good luck this summer!”  The card traveled 5,776 miles in 21 days to find me.

The other Postcrossing card this time is the woman buckling under all of those decorative layers, and it comes to me from Armyansk, Crimea, Ukraine (after having traveled 6,462 miles in 18 days).  The sender writes:

“…I’m from the Crimea, which is part of Russia now.  It’s summer and it’s hot here.  We live near the Black Sea.  I like everything connected with ethnic, so I choose this card for you! :)”

Finally, it’s an upcycled cardboard postcard, thanks to swap-bot!  It comes from a swapper near San Antonio, Texas, and I love the big sun rubber stamp she lays down next to the stamp.  Check it out!

Her Favorite Food is Sugary Cereal: Sent to Czech Republic, France, & the U.S.

Some Postcrossing, some swap-bottery!  The 2 cards on the left went out for a swap-bot “recycled cardboard”-themed trade.

So, I had to get a new iron last month.  My old iron, after years of faithful service, just quit one morning without giving notice.  Fortunately, I had an ironed shirt in reserve.  I put the dead thing in my car, to remind me to go buy a new iron.  Here, you can see what I did with the box from the new iron.   I told my sad tale to the recipient of the card, who lives in South Elgin, Illinois.

The card below that was hewn from a box of Peanut Butter Cap’n Crunch, and it’s on its way to a swapper in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, who says that her “favorite food is sugary cereal.”

In the right-hand column, we have two new Postcrossing draws, and the top one is another zebra card acquired on my most-recent postcard-shopping spree in San Simeon, California. This particular zebra shot is most fortunate, as you can see Hearst Castle–this pair’s ancestral-ish home–in the background.  The card goes to Strasbourg, France, to a Postcrosser who is interested in images of wildlife, landscapes, and also black & white images.  Check, check, check!

Finally, there is the berry drawing, which is making its way to Brandýs nad Labem, Czech Republic.  This Postcrosser is an interesting case: she’s been active on the site for over 6 years, and to keep things interesting, she has posted monthly themes.  This month, she requests that the people who draw her name send her postcards picturing fruit (“especially berries”).  I love it!  I don’t particularly like this colorless card, but it’s the only berry image I had, so off it went.

Stamps, stamps, & washi tape: