Postcrossing Blog

Meet Iris from Hong Kong. Teacher and student who loves theater, books and much more!

How did you come across Postcrossing? What got you hooked?

A few years ago, I was looking to start new hobbies, which ended up being old hobbies revisited! I recalled my love of writing letters as a child and started seeking for penpals. While I was browsing the penpal site Interpals, I came across a profile that mentioned Postcrossing and naturally, I was intrigued. I visited the site and in a blink of an eye, I was hooked. I collected a few postcards as a child and used them to decorate my room, but I didn’t take collecting seriously until I came across Postcrossing. To this day, I don’t consider myself a collector. The person who’s sending it and the message on the back can sometimes mean more than the card alone. Blank, pristine, unwritten cards, even if they’re pretty or rare, are great, but what makes them truly unique are the words written on them and the sentiment they express, or the moment in time they capture.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

One of the greatest loves in my life, apart from my obsession with snail mail, is theatre. I have worked in a backstage capacity since I was 13 years old. Again, it was an instant passion; I loved it from the first moment I stepped on my secondary school stage. I really love the idea of helping craft a piece of art without being seen. In a way, a play or a musical is like a postcard. It has a time and a place. The character of a postcard comes from the inscription, and the setting is in the picture. Both tell a story.

Show us your mailbox, your mailman/mailwoman, your postoffice or the place where you post or keep your postcards!

When I started postcrossing, I put my postcards in photo albums and stored them on the shelf.

But I realised I don’t like this, as I can’t touch or hold my postcards properly this way. I am just beginning to file and store them in a box.

I also have a CD stand by the side of my table which holds my most recently received postcards, which I haven’t filed away yet.

I am seriously considering investing in a proper rotating postcard rack, like the ones you find standing outside souvenir shops, so that I can browse through my cards at any time!

Here is my mailbox where I receive my mail and a photo of me posting some postcards.

Here is my local post office

Show and tell us about your favorite received postcard to date, and what makes it special.

This is the most difficult question to answer, since there are too many to choose from. I really love this Mona Lisa light switch cover card from Roelof in The Netherlands because it describes me to a T – classic with a touch of irreverence; serious and funny at the same time. I had such a good laugh when I received this card, and it still makes me smile.

Have you met any other members in real life?

We recently held the first ever Hong Kong Postcrossing meeting in August 2010, and eight of us met. It was really nice to meet other postcrossers in Hong Kong! Other postcrossers I have met are kasi0408 and Markus_from_Finland when I was in London in 2008. I was also very lucky to meet Ana and Paulo when they were visiting Hong Kong a few years ago!

Is there anything that you are passionate about?

I am passionate about education and literacy. I really believe that a formal education should not simply focus on forming the students’ ability to pass exams, but to equip them with life skills. I am a tertiary level teacher and I volunteer with the local chapter of Bring Me a Book, an international charity that focuses on making good books accessible to underprivileged children and encourages the strengthening of parent-child bonds through reading aloud. As a child, I read voraciously by myself and with my mother. I know this really helped form my character, as well as giving me a lifelong hobby and skill.

Karoly is an Hungarian living in Serbia and is admittedly addicted to collecting. He is 59 and during his life he started collections of a lot of different items, but he admits that postcards are his favorite.

How did you come across Postcrossing? What got you hooked?

I was just surfing the Internet and I found Postcrossing. It seemed to be very interesting and I gave it a try – I immediately got hooked!

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

Oh yes, a lot! I like nature walking, fishing, cycling, reading, visit museums, photography and, of course, collecting – and I collect everything! Some of the things I collect are: postcards, stamps, paper money, coins, beer/wine labels, books, pins, etc. My wife isn’t very happy about me collecting all this.

Show us your mailbox, your mailman/mailwoman, your postoffice or the place where you post or keep your postcards!

On the photo below you can be see my mailbox in the background – that’s where I receive all my postcards. And in front is my daughter (she married last 10th of october!) and my granddaughter.

And below you can see part of my postcard collection – I have now about 10000 postcards.

Show and tell us about your favorite received postcard to date, and what makes it special.

They are all so beautiful! I love that they don’t bring just everyday pictures but rather uncommon sights – special ways of seeing the world! Here are some of my favourites:

Desiree from The Netherlands. She read about Postrcrossing in a magazine and found it was exactly what she liked. She owns an entertainment called Alles Kids. Read more about her now!

How did you come across Postcrossing? What got you hooked?

A little bit more than a year ago I read an article in the dutch Magazine Flow. It described what I had done since I was 12 or so, writing cards, little tokens of friendship. But not only to friends now, this was worldwide! I loved how you can throw confetti of friendliness all over the globe!!

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

I collect – too much ! Almost everything … like: holy waterfonts, old Mother Mary statues (I’m not religious at all, but spiritual …yes!) fairy tale cards, vintage stuff, Medici Society cards, cards and cards … and CARDS! Also I am drawing Mandalas, and I’m always busy creating something out of nothing!

Show us your mailbox, your mailman/mailwoman, your postoffice or the place where you post or keep your postcards!

Dees mailing her cards.

Show and tell us about your favorite received postcard to date, and what makes it special.

Have you been surprised by any place that you have received a postcard from or sent a postcard to?

Yes very much so! At one point on the forum I had told that I was becoming Grandma. I was totally overwhelmed by the cards and even packages I received for my grandchild! I opened a thread then and it ended up in the “Welcome Baby Emma – album” In the end I had more then 100 babycards from all over the world! Emma’s parents were flabbergasted and overwhelmed by so much human warmth!

Have you met any other members in real life?

Yes!! The Dutch are very communicative … I have attended to 5 meetings last year. Real friendships have developped. I’m pretty active in the meet-ups myself! I organized the last meeting in Alkmaar. We went to the Dutch Headoffice of Art Unlimited. It was a super day, with almost 40 people attending the biggest meeting I think!!

Ruan from South Africa has an interesting request on his profile: he wants to learn which are the cool (pop&rock) bands in other countries and asks postcrossers to talk about them. We think that’s quite a fun way to learn about music and other cultures, don’t you think?
Here’s what he has to say about his Postcrossing hobby.

How did you come across Postcrossing? What got you hooked?

I first read about Postcrossing in a local stamp collector’s magazine, and then forgot about it. Months later I remembered again, and thought I’d just have a look to see what all the fuss was about. Well, I got 100% addicted straight away! I love the randomness of the project – to hold in my hand an object chosen specifically for me and sent halfway around the world by a stranger; and then to return the favour. It’s great to be able to exchange ideas and information with people you would propably never meet.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

I also collect stamps, I have a large music collection, do a bit of gardening, and when the mood grips me, I imagine myself to be an amateur artist.

Show us your mailbox, your mailman/mailwoman, your postoffice or the place where you post or keep your postcards!

This is the post ofice where I do all my postal bussiness.

This is the posting box where I send all my cards and letters.

And this is the mail collection point where I receive all my mail. I have circled my box.

At first, I kept all my received postcards in a box, sorted by country. We are now busy putting a selection of interesting cards up on a wall in the passage, hoping to have the entire wall covered soon!

Show and tell us about your favorite received postcard to date, and what makes it special.

If I had to try to pick only a few favourites, I’d still end up with almost a hundred! So thanx to all the wonderful people in the Postcrossing community whose thoughtfulness never ceases to surprise me.

Maroussia, a French Postcrosser who lives in China and is collecting postcards since she was 12 years old.

How did you come across Postcrossing? What got you hooked?

I have collected viewcards and had penfriends since age 12, the cards always made me day dream about places I might never see with my own eyes and a penfriend of mine from Sweden (but actually Finnish) thought I would be interested and introduced postcrossing to me. I loved the idea, the mystery of where the next card will come from, and the opportunity to make new friends, to “meet” interesting people. I must say I have NOT been disappointed and I love postcrossing! To my happy surprise, 99% of the cards I have so far received have been good and valuable for my collection, and many came with really great words written on the back!

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

Yes, I am crazy about cooking and baking, and collecting cookbooks and cookery magazines, recipes. My favourite passtime is trying new recipes. My other “hobby” is history (which I teach along with geography), and reading history books and magazines, also archaeology, learning about people in other times and places, and postcards here come very handy and are a real help. Many cards I received are directly linked to historical events and it is very thrilling.

Show us your mailbox, your mailman/mailwoman, your postoffice or the place where you post or keep your postcards!

I live in a village 30 km from the city and mail deliveries are not reliable where I live, to say the least. So I receive my letters and cards in that 1–2–12 box in the photo which actually is my husband’s office mail box in the city, where mail is delivered safely.

This is the one I mostly patronize when I have to send things a bit out of the ordinary like packages or registered letters. Otherwise I mostly drop my cards in that post-box in San Li Tun street, but occasionally in other ones. I know the location of about ten convenient mail boxes.

Well they are quite messy, but at least organized by countries. In boxes for the countries from where I have really many like Germany, France, the Czech Republic, the USA, Austria and such. The others are in two chests of drawers, also classified by country. My big hope (when I am retired, maybe) is to put them all in albums, with explanations about the place shown on the card!

Show and tell us about your favorite received postcard to date, and what makes it special.

Hard to tell! There are so many I particularly love either because the picture is really fantastic, or because I love the place or it makes me day dream…