Postcrossing Blog

Meet the two users from Northern Mariana Islands, USA. Jude, living in Tinian, and a Public Library project. There’s more to do in a tropical island than just watch the views!

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

Jude: A home-schooling friend mentioned it on her blog. Always a lover of mail, especially postcards, I joined immediately and love it.

TPL: Jude suggested it as an activity for our Summer Reading Program and it’s now an ongoing year-round project. One of the elementary school teachers who got involved during our Summer Program plans to use postcrossing with her students when school begins in September. That’ll make 3 of us!

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

Jude: Like with everything I get into, I’m pretty gung-ho about Postcrossing so it’s my main passion at the moment. But, yes, I’ve always had many hobbies. Besides beachcombing and snorkelling most recent interests include genealogy, taking photos, writing, hiking, and now making postcards for both myself and the Library to send. The few postcards available on Tinian are expensive and since postage alone strains both our budgets, homemade is the only option.

TPL: For us it’s more a question of activities than hobbies but yes, we like to offer activities that are both fun and educative for children. This is a small island and the Library is a crucial community service. Children are the most frequent Library patrons all year.

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

Post Office on Tinian

Children practice before writing postcards

Students studying postcrossing cards and map

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

TPL: I love so many it’s hard to say but I think the aurora borealis and rainbows share the top of the list with lighthouses, windmills, culture dress, traditions, dancing and scenes like terraced rice farming! Actually we’re easy to please – glimpses of the world are colorful mailbox jewels.

Jude: Well, since we are new and considered exotic it seems like everyone wants a card from us. In self defense we have to require that you send first with your address on your card . We WILL send you a card as soon as yours arrives! I always try to read profiles before responding. I’ve gotten as many as 18 cards in one day. That takes a lot of time – so I like to limit the emails to your “it’s arrived.” messages.

Norbert, 53, Düsseldorf, Germany. Better known as “Baer” in the Forum. He is more than a polar bear friend…

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

My fiancè (which is also active on postcrossing) has been penpalling for more than 25 years. One of her penpals, the Turkish postcrosser nihan, sent her the link to this postcard paradise. I tried it first and was infected by the postcrossing virus in the same second… :-)))

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

Rubberstamping, playing table tennis. In former times fantasy roleplaying, boardgames, painting tin miniatures, watercolour painting, motorbiking.

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

My mailman doesn’t like me, I won’t photograph him and show him here. Unfortunately, the friendly people at my postoffice didn’t give me their permission to show their photos here, so I just show the space, mailbox where I sent my postcards from and my mailbox!

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

My most special card – the very first card I received by Postcrossing…

Here is another photo of one of my favorite cards, sent by the user EvansCrew:

Paul (pbesoo) is 32, lives in the Netherlands and he likes to explore the world through Postcrossing. Learn a bit more about someone who confesses himself as addicted to Postcrossing.

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

I read an article about a Dutch Postcrosser in the local newspaper. I saved the article, after a few months I activated my profile and since I’m addicted. I like the idea of exploring the world through Postcrossing and “meeting” people from other nationalities.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

Cycling, mountain biking and swimming.

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

My mailman run away, so I like to show you a picture of the mailbox where I post my mail. All the mailboxes in Holland look like this.

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

All the cards I receive are special in their own way. The senders do a lot of effort to send a nice view often with a personal touch. I just picked out this recently received colorful card to show you:

What have rubber ducks to do with postcards? Kirsi (Huppu68) thinks they go very well together. She lives in Helsinki (Finland), and in this week Postcrossing Spotlight she’s going to tell us who is 'Mauno’.

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

I read an article from the weekly magazine of Helsingin Sanomat newspaper and I registered to Postcrossing right away. I’ve always loved sending postcards and I was a bit sad, because people has sent their birthday and Christmas wishes by e-mail or text messages. When I got my first cards via Postcrossing I was hooked; this is a perfect site for me. I have also got a lot of good friends from all over the world and here in Finland too. We have lots of Postcrossing meetings here and I’m totally hooked on them too.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

I love photographing and I always have my camera with me everywhere I go. I also collect rubber ducks and I have about 120 different ones. Lately I have put these two hobbies together and started to take photos of my Postcrossing Duck called Mauno “Manu” Anselmi. He is quite famous already here in Finland; I took a photo of Manu with The Prime Minister of Finland :) Manu has his fan club in Facebook and I just started to write his own blog (only in Finnish though, sorry).

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

A photo of my nearest mailbox, where I mostly post my cards and a photo of my nearest post office.

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

Oh, this one is really difficult… I love almost all my received postcards and they all are like small gifts to me. I keep some of my favourite cards on our walls on boards and I’ll show a few photos of them. I have many collections of different themes and I have received thousands of cards for them via the official site and official forum of Postcrossing. I’m happy and thankful for every card I’ve received – they are all special for me.

From joyful Brazil, meet Karina, a journalist from São Paulo who started collecting postcards after joining Postcrossing. Sounds familiar?

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

In 2005 I read in “O Estado de S. Paulo” newspaper about Postcrossing and I decided to try this new experience. I always liked to swap letters with my friends before the 'e-mails age’ and I missed to receive mail with lots of things… So the Postcrossing project was great for me! I didn’t collect postcards before Postcrossing but I already liked to buy them in my trips.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

My main hobby now is Postcrossing, but I’m also addicted to books. And I love french movies.

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

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

This is one of my favourite and special postcards. I’ll explain: I got married last year and I put this information in my official profile and in the forum too. So, many people sent me postcards with nice wishes and greetings. It’s great and I was very very very happy :) People in Postcrossing have big hearts!

NL-115943