There is some funny things related to the postcards received through Postcrossing. When I started to participate in that (great!) site, the problem for some recipients was that people used to receive more postcards from Finland than from any other country. I must say it never was a problem for me. I think I'd never tired of Finnish postcards because usually they are really nice, and so are the stamps. I guess that I never would have visited Finland had it not been for the received postcards.
This fact has changed (sometimes I miss the Finns in my mail box!). Now I receive more postcards from the USA, the Netherlands and Germany than from the rest of the world. And I guess I have more and more probabilities to receive postcards from China and Russia.
Postcards from and to Russia travel really slowly. I suppose that discourages the Russian postcrossers and mail artists.
And postcards from China... Well, sometimes they amaze me. I do not know if you have the same experience, but some Chinese postcards arrive with only a "Happy Postcrossing" written on. I confess this is not my idea of best mail. However, what astonish me the most is that some postcards has nothing to do with China, and the sender almost never writes a minimum explanation!
Some examples:
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Sent by Wuai (China). I cannot read the sentence, and I do not understand why he is sending me this postcard about a writer from Praga, without a word about this fact. Please, do not misunderstand me: I do not mean that I do not like the postcard or I am not grateful to the sender. Certainly not! I am just saying that this is not the postcard I expect from China, this is all.
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Sent by Fori-Wang (China). This postcard was actually sent from the Czech Republic (but with a ID starting by CN-...). It depicts the Sacre de l'empereur Napoleon 1er (1806-1807) by Jacques-Louis David. This picture is in the Louvre (Paris, France).
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Sent by Psyche (China). No explanation.
(Now I am watching at the postcards I have posted... Is there a connexion China-France-Czech Republic I do not know?!?)
This fact has changed (sometimes I miss the Finns in my mail box!). Now I receive more postcards from the USA, the Netherlands and Germany than from the rest of the world. And I guess I have more and more probabilities to receive postcards from China and Russia.
Postcards from and to Russia travel really slowly. I suppose that discourages the Russian postcrossers and mail artists.
And postcards from China... Well, sometimes they amaze me. I do not know if you have the same experience, but some Chinese postcards arrive with only a "Happy Postcrossing" written on. I confess this is not my idea of best mail. However, what astonish me the most is that some postcards has nothing to do with China, and the sender almost never writes a minimum explanation!
Some examples:
Sent by Wuai (China). I cannot read the sentence, and I do not understand why he is sending me this postcard about a writer from Praga, without a word about this fact. Please, do not misunderstand me: I do not mean that I do not like the postcard or I am not grateful to the sender. Certainly not! I am just saying that this is not the postcard I expect from China, this is all.
Sent by Psyche (China). No explanation.
(Now I am watching at the postcards I have posted... Is there a connexion China-France-Czech Republic I do not know?!?)
Such a coincidence - a few days ago I happened to get an address to send a PC-pc to Finland - which was long ago! - and I was wondering why there are so little Finnish senders / receivers at the moment, compared to my first PC-years.
ReplyDeleteAnd indeed, i nthe past year I've received many postcards from the USA and the Netherlands, but also a lot from China, Taiwan and Belarus.
Concerning your words about Chinese postcards: of course I do understand why Wuai has sent you a postcard of a book, be it from Prague: because you love books :-)
However, when I compare your and my postcards wall, I see that you indeed received many 'Chinese' cards about other subjects (a pinguin :-) though I must say that the New York mailbox is a great postcard, too!). While the only non-Chinese CN-postcard sent to me was from the Isle of Wright. Almost all other received ones have to do with China, among them two beautiful illustrations from the Chinese Opera lately, two dragons (which are on my 'wish-list', being born in the year of this animal) and so.
But there's one Chinese subject on a postcard I am missing while you have received one: a postcard of a Chinese lighthouse! :-)
Concerning written postcards or not: to my opinion many Chinese and Taiwanese postcrossers have a very beautiful handwriting (far more clear and readable than mine, and as beautiful as yours). And a few postcrossers indeed don't write anything, but I think that this might be because of a language barreer. Similar to you I am very grateful for every postcard I received. Such a nice idea that someone from faraway is thinking of us for a while, taking the time to write our addresses, stick a stamp, put the card in the mailbox. Such a nice idea that these postcards have travelled from various places where we never have been to.
You're right about the postcard of Kafka, but I'd like know the meaning of the quotation, at least!
DeleteAnd I absolutely agree with your last paragraph: postcrossers from China and Taiwan have usually the most beautiful handwritings! And of course, there is a language barrier.
My "problem" now with postcrossing is that postcards spend a long time to arrive, and some of them get lost. That discourages me... :(