Ray of mail from Trinidad and Tobago

My mailbox was happy today with 2 letters, an envelope full of postcards, 3 official cards, and 4 swaps including one from Trinidad and Tobago. It only took two weeks to get to me, and I really needed the sunshine from this postcard since it's expected to rain all week! Thanks Reinelle, for the wonderful card! I hope someday you (as well as I) can make it to Tobago.

Greetings from the holy land

Sometimes I go out of my way to message many people on postcrossing to see if they are willing to swap. I have made a few good friends from this tactic and have gotten some beautiful cards. This card is from Israel, a city and meeting point of three major religions (christianity, judaism, and islam). I would like to visit it one day!

Guyana

A few years ago, I got a request for a swap from someone in Guyana. I didn't know what to expect. I did get a lovely card from Guyana even though the sender said they were tough to come across. It is one of the instances where I am glad the sender found me, since this is one of the more difficult countries to get a postcard from.

Postcard from Provence, France

A fellow postcrosser from Germany was traveling to France and Monaco and he was kind enough to send me a card from France. This card is from Provence, which is well known for its lavender fields. I can practically smell the flowers through the card! Thank you, Achim!

Stamp of Notre Dame. 

Info card from Bulgaria

A few weeks ago, I received my first official postcrossing card from Bulgaria. The sender, Liuba, writes that the first card she sent may have gotten lost, so she was kind to send another one my way. I am glad she did, because this is pretty much the definition of a multi-view card. Thanks for the lovely card, Liu

ba!

Special material card made of foam!

I received a pleasant surprise, after about two weeks, and I would guess some rough travel, it finally made it to my mailbox! Laura writes that it was a lot tougher to write on foam than she thought! Glad the postcard and message made it to me, though! Thing like this make me miss Germany and their wider variety of postcards available. For the mean time, I will have to travel through postcards!

Thickness compared to a regular card.

Namibia

Today I got a postcard I had been waiting for a long time...a card from Namibia! Namibia is located in Africa next to Botswana, and the card makes a great addition to my collection. It has been traveling since April, so Charlene writes about how she will go on vacation to a few places. Hope she had fun! Thanks for the wonderful surprise, Charlene!

Mail from Pakistan

I received a postcard from Pakistan after much patience. It was worth the wait! It is a lovely card that finally made it to me.

Big carnival card from Brazil

After collecting so many cards, I find that I like certain themes. One of them has been carnival cards from all over the world. I have some from New Orleans from when I went to Mardi Gras, and this next carnival card from Sao Paolo, Brazil makes a great addition. It took a while to get to me because the Brazilian postal system was down for a while, but I am glad it reached me in one piece! Thanks, Silvia!

Fastest travel record from Liechtenstein

Hello!

Last week I got a postcard from Liechtenstein. It was a great surprise, and then I noticed it was postmarked 5/12/2014! I received it on friday 5/16! This is by far the fastest a postcard has traveled outside of the US (and lately, inside...) Thanks Marie!

Postallove "Greetings from..." countries series

I came across a postcard series from postallove.com that features countries and a few facts about them. Two of them caught my attention: Finland and Poland. The Poland one arrived today, so I am eagerly awaiting the one from Finland. It is very strange though, the sender told me she had sent them over a month ago, but they are postmarked on May 5th...so they really traveled about a week. The postal system sure can be wonky sometimes!

Lottery win from Argentina

Hello!

So a few weeks ago I entered a little contest where someone posted a postcard of Argentina. The problem was there was an error on it. After doing some research on Wikipedia, I was able to point out what was wrong with the card. There was a popular park, Ischigualasto provincial park that was mislabeled. Thanks for the learning experience, Rúben!

Controversial card from Russia

Hey everyone!

A few weeks ago, someone posted cards that they were offering. They were satirical cards of the Sochi olympics 2014 and they caused quite a stir in the facebook postcrossing community. I chose one of the more tamer cards, but I still think it's great that the artist was able to express their views.

 

Fast travels from Macao

I received a nice surprise from Macao, since this postcard only traveled about a week, one of the fastest travel times outside of Europe (and I learned last week Kazakhstan also has a quite efficient postal system as well). Macao or Macau, used to be a portuguese colony, but they gained their independence in 1999. Thank you, Lily!

Another great card from UAE

Hello!

My friend Patricia sent me another great card from UAE. This is of the Sheikh Zayed Mosque in the Abu Dhabi emirate, also the capital of UAE. She tells me that she visited it on a saturday, since women are not allowed inside on fridays. Thanks, Patricia!

It's starting to get very hot and humid! In April it was 40 C, around 100F and rising!

Nice surprise from Uruguay

Hello everyone!

Today I received a postcard from Uruguay! It's of its capital, Montevideo. It took some time to get to me, but the deal is that it made it. Thanks, Veronica!

Rubber Duck sculpture in Hong Kong

I received a shaped card from Taiwan, and it is of the sculpture by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman. It's called Rubber Duck because it's a giant rubber duck. The goal of the artist was a simple one; that the sculpture remind those seeing it of their childhood. It has been in harbors all over the world, and its only US stop so far has been Pittsburgh, PA. The card is in the shape of Taiwan as well!

Fast mail from Kazakhstan

Hey everyone!

I received a card from Kazakhstan and it only took a week! Even the sender was amazed that it took such a short amount of time. The view is of Astana, now the capital of Kazakhstan. Almaty used to be the capital until 1997, but it remains the biggest city, followed by Astana. Asiya describes that sometimes it can get bitterly cold, down to -30˚C sometimes. Thank you tons, Asiya!