Got my first two Postcrossing cards...

Recently, I wrote about Postcrossing.

It's this online project I stumbled upon whereby people from around the world tell other people from other parts of the globe about their own local culture via a postcard exchange.

Somewhat similar to a social networking site, except that this one involves the real world. Hehe. In a way, it also is keeping snail mail alive.

Guess what?

I just got my first two postcards. Wheeee!

My first ever Postcrossing card (and my first ever postcard from this particular country) is from Tanja who lives in Klagenfurt, Austria. She sent me a postcard showing the Klagenfurt Dragon. A quick Google of Klagenfurt Lindwurm led to an interesting historical background. :)

A day or two after, I got another postcard. This time, it's from Kathleen who is in the US. She sent me a postcard with the very familiar Grand Canyon. Just as interesting. :)

Since the postcards I've sent have already been received, I am now entitled to send three more postcards. Cool! I just requested for new addresses and all three random addresses I got are from Postcrossers living in Russia.

Can't wait to get more postcards!

Postcard exchange project...

In this day and age of email, SMS and iMessaging, it's nice to know that there are people who are still into traditional snail mail. Hehe.

I stumbled upon Postcrossing via the tweet of one of the Singaporeans I follow on Twitter.

It got me interested, so I decided to head to the website to find out what it was about.

The next thing I know, I'm already signing up to be a member and requesting for five addresses to send postcards to.

Postcrossing is an online project whereby people from around the world send postcards to each other. If you send one postcard, you're supposed to get a postcard from another member.

What makes it even more interesting is that addresses are randomly generated. You dunno which country you're going to get next. You dunno where your next postcard will be coming from.

Just like other social networking sites, you create a profile on the site. You can indicate your preferences (e.g. Do you want to receive postcards from the country where you're currently living? What kind of postcards do you want to receive? What do you want postcard senders to write?).

Each address you get comes with a postcard-ID, which you should write on the postcard you're sending. The postcard-ID will then be logged into by the recipient of the postcard. This way, I think you build your credibility. You also get to send more postcards afterwards.

For beginners, the maximum number of postcards you can send is five. The addresses I got were from Russia, Netherlands, Germany, Finland, and USA. It's my first time ever to write to someone from Russia and Finland!!!

I mailed the batch tonight. Hopefully, they'll get to the recipients asap, so that I can start receiving postcards as well. Hehe! :)

Exciting, yeah?! :)

Check it out here.