Tastes Like Canned Soup: Sent to Australia, China, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Russia, Taiwan, U.K., & the U.S.

I just got back from Malaysia, and it truly is a food paradise. Sad to say, I didn’t quite make it to every single thing on this postcard! It went off in a Postcrossing Forum food tag to Quzhou, Zhejiang, China.

The Hainanese Chicken postcard is also from Malaysia, but not procured during my trip. I got it some time ago when I ordered the wonderful book, The Food That Makes Us. A set of postcards came with the book! This card is on a trip to New Taipei City, Taiwan.

Another food tag, but this recipient in Sendai, Japan, isn’t getting anything nice at all. In brief: Andersen’s Split Pea Soup is a pretty popular brand on California supermarket shelves, so of course way back when I first passed the restaurant–a popular roadside stop in the city of Buellton–I wanted to try their homemade version. Well, do you know what it tasted like? CANNED SOUP!

Another card I bought in Malaysia; this one goes off in a “not my country” tag to Gunma, Japan.

This is a place I’ve been to, but not in a while; it’s the Hotel King Kamehameha in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, and it’s off in a travel tag to Nairne, SA, Australia.

Here’s a card I bought at the airport as I was departing for my vacation. I’ve come across a whole lot of California map cards, but I think this is my favorite. It looks even better in person! This one goes out to a postcard pal in Hawaii.

This pair of shiba inus are headed for New Taipei City, Taiwan.

This card goes to an otter lover in Hamburg, Germany.

Another otter card for another otter lover, this one in Shenyang, Liaoning, China.

Honest John went off in a Disney tag to Ylivieska, Finland.

Postcrossing Forum has a number of “send me a card from my album of favorites” tags. I don’t dip in too often because, you know, what are the odds I’ll have a card the person has marked as wanting? Well, it’s happened twice recently (though the second Postcrosser has yet to respond to my tag)! This gator is being mailed to Faches-Thumesnil, France.

The lovely merpug is off — by request — to Itzehoe, Germany.

Here’s another requested card, this one on its way to Riverside, California.

Ready for a Peanuts Gallery? I’d better send off this 2018 postcard while it’s still topical! Copies go to Itami and Tokyo, Japan.

This is the moment when Lucy starts calling for iodine; it goes to a postpal in Peacehaven, East Sussex, U.K.

Lucy & Schroeder are off to Kyoto, Japan.

“My Favorite Peanuts” will go to Jinjiang City, Fujian, China.

The tiger, like one of my earlier cards shown here, is also headed for New Taipei City (but to a different recipient).

I pulled another name on Postcard United! The recipient in Hong Kong enjoys images of architecture, so I’m sending her an image of the grand main library in San Diego, California.

…and another Postcard United draw, this one going to Zheleznogorsk, Russia.

This third Postcard United draw goes to Hangzhou, China.

This last card makes 23 I’ve chronicled this time around, and its a postcard of Kliban Cats! I love them. This card goes to a fellow fan in Taipei, Taiwan.

Stamps! Stickers! Washi tape! Do you see the durian washi tape I picked up on the second leg of my eating vacation: Singapore? Here and there you’ll also see puffy Tom & Jerry stickers, a silly online purchase that was awaiting me when I returned home. Kliban cat stickers also show up a lot in this batch of outgoing cards. I love Kliban cats. Dunno if I’ve ever mentioned that before…

Do you have any favorites this time around? Please let me know about them!

I See I’ve Left Several Comments on My Blog: Received from Germany, Indonesia, South Africa, & the U.S.

I just grabbed a bunch of cards at random, ones I’ve had for a while, but apparently have not logged before.  They’re not too interesting, so I photographed them a bit differently than usual, just to spice things up.

Those toys have waited MONTHS for their moment in the spotlight.

On the left-hand side, we have a couple of pieces of recycling.  The “Fisherman’s Friend” box panel was sent to me from someplace in Germany, thanks to a swap-bot trade.  The sender writes:

“Do you like the mint??!  From time to time they are nice, but sometimes they are too strong.”

When I told her that I had heard the name of the product, but was not aware that it was some kind of mint/candy, she expressed surprise.  I mean, it could be anything, right?  A net, rubber boots, intense skin repair lotion…

Look below for the stamps from this card, helpfully annotated by the sender.

The Ouma panel is from a product called “rusks.”  I had to look that up.  And it’s been some time, and I don’t remember, so I’ll look it up again now…

Okay, Wikipedia tells me “a rusk is a hard, dry biscuit or a twice-baked bread. It is sometimes used as a baby teething food.”  Yum!  The sender, a swap-botter in Dalview, Gauteng, South Africa, tells me:

“Ouma is Afrikaans for Grandmother.  We all love these rusks.”  

I think my favorite card this time is the one at top middle: Hotel Preanger (this word means, I am quite positive, “Before Anger”).  I received it through a Postcrossing Forum tag trade, and it’s from a 15-year-old boy in Indonesia.  Reading the message, I feel as if I’ve shared it here before, but I didn’t make any such notation on the card.  These cards are all old, and bear no notation of having previously been recorded here, so who knows.  I know I don’t read this blog!

Okay, that’s not true.  I see I’ve left several comments.

Anyhow, the sender writes:

“I’m new to Postcrossing and I’m enjoying this activity so much.  This activity of course will help me improve my English skill.  Oh yes.  A little info about this postcard pic.  This hotel, Preanger Hotel’ is a luxury hotel for high-class people.  The luxury renowned since Dutch-East Indies Colonial era and still hold its status as the most luxury hotel of its era.”

It’s a pretty fair bet that when I finally make my way to Indonesia, I’ll be staying elsewhere!

The lady who fell asleep reading was another swap-bot trade, this one sent to me from Atlanta, Georgia.  The topic was “what are you reading,” and the sender told me:

“I’m currently reading Criminal by Karin Slaughter.  She’s from Atlanta, which is where I live, so it makes for an extra special read.  She has a great way of building suspense in her books.  I truly love her writing.”

That card at top right, I’m not sure if I put it up at the correct orientation.  It was sent to me from somewhere around San Diego, California, part of a swap-bot “I HATE this Postcard” trade.  Here’s how the sender feels:

“I just don’t get modern art.  I just don’t get it.  🙂  I think this is hideous–but I’m sure other people really like it.  Maybe you do too?”

Nope.

Finally, at bottom right, comes my one regular Postcrossing incoming this time around.  It’s from Stelle an der Saale, Germany.  This man writes:

“I’m from lovely East Germany.  This postcard is about a united Europe in solidarity and democracy–and young people caring about that in my beloved city.  We need facebooklikes 🙂 !”

I apologize to you (but mostly me) if I’ve previously shared any of these cards before.  I can promise you it won’t happen again–but I won’t say why that is.

Oh, yeah!  Have a look at the stamp & sticker highlights!  What do you think of these?

 

The U.S.’s High Five?!?? Sent to Taiwan & the United States

Kitty is hanging out in the recycling.

Kitty is going to a cat lover in Taichung City, Taiwan, for a Postcrossing Forum USA-Asia tag trade.

The rest of the cards are hewn from cardboard boxes, for a couple of swap-bot trades calling for recycled bits.  Two panels from boxes of chocolate-covered cookies from It’s-It (mmmm): one is on its way to Saint Paul, Minnesota; the other is headed to Livonia, Michigan.  The latter person had the oddest statement in her profile: she said she lives in “the U.S.’s high five.”  Now, what on earth does that mean?  Yes, I Asked Jeeves, and even Google, but there was no help to be found.  I was in a library earlier today, but it had passed my mind until I sat back down here to tell you about it.  Do you have any idea what she was talking about?

The cake pic came from a box of cake flour, and now that card will go to lovely San Diego, California.  I’m a bit cold today in the San Francisco Bay Area, so I’d like to try San Diego on. Just for a while, though–until I am able to move someplace warm.

Lastly, there is the happy little face, formerly a side panel from a box of tissues.  Someone in Belle Mead, New Jersey should be winding up with that.

Now I am looking forward to seeing what cardboard scraps people cut into postcards to send to me!  Do you ever create such postcards?

Received from Belarus & the United States

Two new cards in, one each through Postcrossing and swap-bot.

The card on the left–are those umbrellas?–comes to me from Belarus.  The writer tells me these are names of the colors in the Belorussian language.  She goes on to say that Belorussian is very poetic, and that some words even shock her!  It makes me wish that there were much more room on the postcard, so she could have explained.

AND LOOK AT THE STAMP!

Did you have any idea there were Postcrossing stamps? I had no idea there were Postcrossing stamps. National post offices must be grateful for these snail-mail-based sites though, right!

The San Diego correspondent writes, in part, “we seem to be paired a lot lately.”  YUP.  That, as I’ve mentioned, is the thing about swap-bot: the individual user/trade-moderators seem to be doing the pairing, with apparently no information as to who has been matched before, and perhaps no eye to geography.  I’ve even been paired more than once with fellow users just moments (or so) from home! This San Diego swap-botter, though, is a pleasure; she seems to be very nice, and she always sends me beautiful views from in & around a city I really enjoy.

I would love to learn more from other users of both swap-bot & Postcrossing: what has your experience been like?  What are some of your joys, surprises & frustrations?

Received from San Diego, California

This just in through swap-bot:

The sender tells me this place is quite cool, especially at low tide.  I believe her!  Next time I’m in San Diego, I need to make a concerted effort to spend less time at the commercial attractions, and more time taking in the natural wonders.

Received from San Diego County, California

From a “send me a random postcard” trade on swap-bot.  The person who sent me this card grew up about 20 minutes from where I now live, currently lives near San Diego — and sent me a postcard with a picture of Maine.

No actual children were harmed in the creation of this postcard. Well, to be honest, that might not be true.

Cool stamps!