It’s Bielefeld-time! Last weekend, the German city opened once again its doors to almost 50 postcrossers from several countries. The Little Mail Carriers were unable to attend this year, but instead sent their recently discovered cousin in their place! Below is his photo-diary of the long weekend in Germany.
Hello everyone! It was my first time on a big meetup, and boy was it exciting! I have a lot to tell you, so grab a cup of your favourite beverage and listen up!
Friday morning we visited a mail sorting center in the nearby town of Herford – I felt right at home! My colleagues at Deutsche Post showed everyone a presentation about the company and how mail is processed, and then guided the eager postcrossers through the mail sorting plant. Everybody ooh’ed and aaah’ed at all the envelopes speeding by! It was a real eye-opening experience, and I think that after the visit we all felt renewed respect for the diligent postal workers who labour the whole night for us to have our postcards in the morning.
On the afternoon, a group of postcrossers went on a Geocaching mission in the woods around the Einschlingen guesthouse, where we were all staying! The weather was unseasonably warm and the autumnal scenery was just stunning. We saw plenty of mushrooms and golden leaves, and after a few trials, found the cache we were looking for!
In the evening, MissMaple held a neat workshop where postcrossers got to experiment with old stamps as a decoration material for different objects. I found some great stamps on those piles, and saw the participants come up with very creative ways to decorate their bags and boxes!
Saturday was scavenger hunt day! sofa organised an exciting trip around Bielefeld, where postcrossers had to do all kinds of silly assignments, on a fact-finding mission in the city. It was a lot of fun – and we learned some intriguing facts! For instance, did you know that according to some theories, Bielefeld doesn’t actually exist?
On the evening, the traditional lottery was held. Every participant had brought something from their hometown, which they put in a big pile. Then, presents were pulled while names were called, and everyone got something new.
After that, a fantastic game of bingo was organized by dandilion! By the time it ended, it was almost bedtime, but we stuck around to wish a lucky postcrosser 'happy birthday’ at midnight! :)
Of course, everybody brought sweets from their hometown, to share with other postcrossers: there were delicious Schokokussen, Lübeck’s famous marzipan, Haribo’s gummy bears… I must have gained at least 20 grams from all those treats!! :D
Too soon Sunday came and it was time to say goodbye… I couldn’t believe how fast time flew! Throughout the weekend, the participants all signed hundreds of postcards which should now be on route to friends and other postcrossers. Fancy a guess at how many cards were signed? Reply in the forum for a chance to win some prizes!
All in all it was a wonderful weekend – the kind that leaves our cheeks hurting from so much smiling! :D A big thank you to Nordbaer for organising the meeting – and to everyone that took part and helped it become this outstanding event! I hope to see you all next year! :)
55 comments so far
Wonderful blog! It was great to see what people could do with 50.000 old stamps ;-) It gave me tons of inspiration. :-)
521 postcards where written signed and sent! [?]
lovely to read! nice that you all had a wonderful time. the excursion to Deutsche Post must be one the highlights.
Great photo story! Makes me smile and remember the most amazing weekend I've spent for a very long time. A huge thank you for the perfect organisation and animation. Love you!
Awesome! So glad you all had a great time!
So nice to read this. The weekend was, again, amazing! :)
Looks like it was a ton of fun!! :)
Looks like a lot of fun! I'm guessing 473 postcards.
Nice to read about your weekend.
I think you sent 623 cards
Wow!!!! It looks like a wonderful meetup, and it must be interesting to join all those activities!! Thanks for your lively presentation!! The little mail carriers' cousin! XD
740 cards
A nice weekend. They send 835 cards? I hope, I can receive one of it...
Sorry folks, with guesses about the number of cards you can only win prizes in this forum thread: http://forum.postcrossing.com/viewthread.php?tid=72475
thanks Ana for this awesome photo story :) I enjoyed this week-end so much and I miss you all...
Great blog entry! Makes me longing back for the weekend and all the fun we had on this early morning...
Thanks for this wonderful report from the Little Mail Carriers cousin...
I miss you all - but have stopped crying meanwhile ;)
A dear, I missed it! Great blog!
I'm happy you all had fun and I'm sad I couldn't make it this year. :D
Thanks for sharing the story of the meeting with us! :)
What a shame the little mail carriers couldn't catch up with their cousin.
But Bielefeld doesn't exist -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bielefeld_Conspiracy :D :D
Wow, it looks like it was such a lot of fun!
Great blog! Bielefeld was amazing! Hope to see you all again next year! :-)
Sounds like it was a wonderful weekend! I would LOVE to see a postal sorting place! :D
Someday I want to attend a Postcrossing Meetup. Someday... :)
I got a postcard from the meeting, and I hope to be at the next meeting in person! :)
Thank you for this wonderful and interesting blog. I wish I could have been there! But thanks to all these lovely people who signed the postcard from the meeting which I received yesterday. It made me very happy.
Woo~Is amazing!!!
I hope can receive postcard from there~
Great! :-)
I would also love to travel to such an event one day in the future!
It was a great time we spent together! :-D
Thanks for everything my dear fellow postcrossers :-D
Maybe I'll be there next year... :)
The weekend was amazing and the blog entry is amazing, too.
I've receiceved a postcard from the meeting as well! Thanks a lot to everybody who signed! Hopefully I can participate next time!
I always though it was too good to be true...Bielefeld doesnt exist...looks like a fabulous time,though!
I get one of the 521 postcards where written signed in Bielefeldt. Thank`s a lot
guys, you're happy you were the part of this meeting! Now I'm waiting for the card from this meeting))one of the members wrote me about it) can't wait!
I think 793 cards?
It was so good to be with my postcrossing family in Bielefeld last weekend. Hope to see you all again next year. :)
Thanks for the blog entry Ana. :) Hugs!
Thanks for the nice pictures and the wonderful blog entry, Ana. It was a very nice, interesting and funny weekend! I hope to see you all again next year!
1981 cards - congrats ;)
Received 7 cards from this meeting....sure wish I could have attended and finally been able to personally meet some of my friends from the German forum....looked like everyone had a blast! Maybe I'll get to go next year...
I'm guessing 807 cards
I received one card from the meeting.
Thanks to all!
a great story to read :) i can imagine it was great fun there
Very enjoyable blog to read- sounds like fun-would love to go to a meet-up
Sounds so much fun like always, I'm so happy that I attended the 2011 edition, really wish I'd been with you all this time as well. But thanks to the great friends who made my mailbox happy !
Thanks for the fun story. Wish we had some events like this in the US.
Wow I read about this and when I went to my mailbox, there was one there from the meet-up! I wsa so excited my family wanted to know what I was yelling about as I came into the house! thanks so much everyone, would love to do a meet-up someday! Peace!
Thanks to chrissybaby I got a lovely card signed by all the attendees. It sounds like everyone had such fun. Maybe next year I might get a chance to attend.
What a nice meeting! looking forward to be lucky and share feelings with a postcard sent from it... I let you all know!
and I guess 735 postcards were sent from participants during the meeting...
Thanks so much for the postcard from the town of my birth!
That's a nice blog. And it must have been a great weekend ;).
i guess that 1007 cards were sent;)
1628 cards was the right number :)
hi, little mail-carriers!!!
it was great you arrived in time from your last trip to go together with ana & paulo to the gorgeous bielefeld meetup!!! nice to see the pics!! thank you for sharing!!
oh sorry, I just now remembered it wasn't the couple of the little mail-carriers but their cousin!!!! and he had blond hair!! oh yes.... I didn't noticed that.. SORRY!!!! (*smile*)
very nice meeting, I wish I were here
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