Postcrossing July Stats

Wow! I still can't believe how fast time has flown. The 8th month of the year has just started and there's still a lot more to look forward to. I started with Postcrossing at the start of the year. Here are my latest stats on the site...

I now have over 100 postcards from all over. I still want to receive more. Indeed, in a short span of time, my postcard collection has grown. >.< 

What I love about Postcrossing is the steady number of cards I receive over time. To date, I've received postcards from 18% of the world. (Source: Been app) There's a lot more on my wish list. 

I would love to receive more cards from unique countries. >.< Plus, I'm still on the lookout for more unique and amazing local cards that I could send and share to the world. Postcard exchange is indeed a wonderful way of learning more about the big world out there! 

Till next update... ta-tah! May you have a productive month ahead! ^_^

Lovely Postcards via Postcard United

Well, Postcard United is a postcard exchange site that I discovered while browsing through IG. It's similar to Postcrossing.com. I decided to give it a shot since I'm new to postcard exchange. A few months down the line, I'm happy I checked it out. I've received a number of really nice and interesting postcards via Postcard United.

Postcard from Poland

The postcard above came in an envelope with an equally beautiful stamp! (See below) >.<

Postcard from Czech Republic

What a nice shaped card from the Czech Republic! >.< I do like getting these multiview touristy cards. It's lovely to see wonderful views from places from all over the world. 

My first ever card from Tunisia (African continent). At the moment, I arrange my postcards according to continent, then to countries (alphabetical). To date, I've received a variety of cards that range from touristy sites to illustration cards. I totally like them all! >.< 

The two cards above came from Russia via Postcard United. I've a lot of cards from Russia, and I find each of them totally unique and really interesting. >.< As of the moment, I've sent a total of 39 cards via Postcard United and have received a total of 22 postcards. I'm still waiting for a lot more before I will start sending out once again via Postcard United. 

Postcard exchange is an engaging and interesting hobby. It could also be a bit expensive sometimes. However, you could always set a budget in order to enjoy this hobby. In my case, I enjoy receiving snail mail. It's way better than just seeing bills in your mailbox. Won't you agree? >.<

I hope you enjoyed my postcard updates. Till next time.. ta-tah! Enjoy your weekend! ^_^

Postcards Galore

It's been a few weeks since I last shared about my postcard collection. Well, I've gone a bit slowly in terms of direct swapping via IG. It's a bit of a hassle for me, that's why. Instead, I decided to focus on the official Postcrossing and Postcard United sites. Plus, there's the Postcrossing forum swapping. The latter has proven to be more reliable. To date, there are about three to four cards that I haven't received. Perhaps they have really been lost in the mail. Oh well, that's not so bad, is it?

Anyway, I was motivated to share this batch of postcards I've received mainly because they look nice. Even the stamps are worth sharing.

Monkey King postcard was sent via Postcard United from China. It's one of the first shaped cards that I've received. I find it interesting. Even the stamps look really nice. 

The Little Prince card and stamp. Castle card and stamp. Both postcards were from a fellow swapper on Postcrossing. Anja from Germany contacted me via private message to ask if I would like to swap with her. Normally, such direct swapping transactions are risky. But I agreed as I'd like to help her get some cards from the Philippines. Plus, there's really not much to lose for trusting fellow swappers, perhaps just a few nice cards. As it turned out, it was all worth it.

The above cute saying card came from Japan. It's a swap via the forum at Postcrossing. I find it cute and interesting. Even the stamps used were lovely. I do love the "Traditional clothes, festivals, and events RR" on the forum.

I'd say that a touristy card from Saint Maarten is rather rare. I'm so thankful that the fellow swapping with me went there for a vacation. I got this from the "Southeast Asia x World RR" forum at Postcrossing. Yey!

Last, but not the least, is an illustration card from Russia. I do so love lots of cards from Russia. Plus, the stamps used were really nice. 

Cards such as this batch that I've received recently are the main reason why I love exchanging postcards with other collectors as well. It makes me feel like I've traveled the world and been to places I could only dream of. That's it for now... I will definitely keep updating from time to time about my postcard collection. 

Have a nice weekend! Ta-tah >.<

Postcards, Postcards, More Postcards...

It's time for another update about my postcards received from Postcrossing.com and PostcardUnited.com. If you're into postcard sending and receiving, I'd recommend that you check out both these sites. Anyway, I've received a few more to be added to my growing collection... note that these are official postcards received from both sites. I have a bigger number of postcards received from outside of these official sites.. mainly from swapping on IG and the Postcrossing forum. Here goes...

Sandra from Finland

Brrr! 2C indeed sounds too cold for me. It is after all summer now here in the Philippines. But I did love receiving this card that featured snow. I felt cooler just by looking at it. ^_^

Vika from Ukraine

I registered this card and discovered that it has been traveling for 51 days! Whoa! I didn't know it takes that long to travel from Ukraine to the Philippines. I'm glad I got it before the 60-day traveling time allotted on the site. It was in an envelope and was blank except for the ID code from Postcrossing. Upon checking I found out that the sender was also new to the site. I would have loved to read something about him/her. Oh well! It's my first card from Ukraine too.. so all is well! ^_^

Hans from the Netherlands

My first card from the Netherlands... Yey! ^_^ I have previously sent one card to the said country. I'm happy to have received one from it! It's pretty interesting too, don't you think? 

Tatyana from Russia

I have previously received a card similar to this also from Russia. It seems that there are lots of beautiful landscapes from that country. I wonder if I'd ever get a chance to visit there at all. 

Alyona from Russia

Russian illustration cards are truly lovely! I've previously also received a few from IG swapping. I just wish we also have more of these types of cards in the Philippines. I've found a few but they're a bit too expensive to be sent out casually. They're more ideal for a collector's series or the like. 

Olevsya from Russia

This card is from Russia too. It's the only one added to my Postcard United official cards. It's just the third card I've received from the said site. I guess the cards do take a little longer to get to their destination, esp. if they're from Russian countries. It really doesn't matter, as long as I still receive them. I do get worried when my mails get delayed. Ugghh! 

To date, I've sent 12 postcards and received 17 postcards from Postcrossing.com. I still have around 6 travelling cards that have yet to reach their destinations. 

For Postcard United, I've sent out a total of 8 and have received a total of 3 at this time. I also have around 11 travelling cards -- 2 of which are past 50 days travelling time. I hope I get some more soon. 

Well, that's it for now. More updates soon... esp. the March stats once the month is over.. which will happen in a few days! ^_^

Enjoy your weekend! Ta-tah!

Postcard from South America

Just a quick update for today. I've received my first ever card from South America the other day. It's from the land of Pope Francisco, Argentina. Yey! It seems my cards take a long time to reach their destination there. In fact, one of my traveling cards got expired today, after traveling more than 60 days to Colombia. I truly wonder if it would ever be received. :(

Julio from Argentina

Pretty ad card, I'd say, although I would have preferred a view card. Oh well, perhaps next time around I'd get something nicer. ^_^

Lately, I'm into Postcrossing forum swapping. There are various themes and groups that one can join, although some take a longer time to be completed. However, I've noticed that forum swapping cards get sent faster than the ones I swap with on Instagram. I guess some swappers don't mail them out right away. I've still a few from a month back at least that I haven't received at this time. I hope they're not totally lost, wherever they may be. I'm still counting on receiving them... even if it takes more than two or even three months! Ugghh!

Well, till next update... ta-tah!

Going Gaga Over Diego Loyzaga

Arrgghh! I have every reason to react this way! And why not? I'm definitely too old -- overaged -- to be fangirling over a teen star. LOL! :) Yet, fangirling I am! I can't get over this M.A.C.Y. song since it was first featured on the show. It's now on my playlist that I keep playing over and over again!

Diego Loyzaga, plays Jay Fernandez a.k.a. Batman, on the Pinoy TV series Forevermore. He's a recent addition to the show. And I must say, I have started watching the show again because of his character. Jay, I suppose, is pegged to be the third wheel to the Xander-Agnes tandem, played by Enrique Gil and Liza Soberano.

I must admit that I have stopped watching most Pinoy TV series as the theme could be quite redundant. I initially watched Forevermore when it was first launched and quite liked it. However, when the going got too rough for the good people of La Presa, I stopped following much of the show. After all, who wants to be all stressed out with TV characters' problems when we do have reality to contend with. ?!#@%$

A month ago, a new beginning was introduced, and I started following the show once again 'coz of the Jay-Agnes tandem. Yup! I do look forward to the fresh start for the good people of La Presa and Agnes. But I guess that's too much to ask for. After all, the show also dwells on the clingy past and the people who can't seem to let go and move on, like Alex's ex-wife Cherie and Buboy's ex-wife Maritess. In Book 1 there was Xander's ex Kate, who thankfully was taken out of the picture now. But in Book 2 there's Xander who's trying hard to win Agnes back.

Well, I've got to admit that the show was a Xander-Agnes love story. But more than that, I believe that Forevermore applied more to the other cast of the show like Alex & Bettina -- Xander's parents -- and Buboy -- Agnes's dad -- & Mirasol. Their relationships have stood the test of time. As for the younger casts, I just hope that the Jay-Agnes tandem would be given a chance. But a part of me also knows that in the end, this is a Xander-Agnes show. That's life! :) However, since I do love the Jay character, I'd love to write a happy ending for him too... I hope the writers of the show treat him well! :)

Oh, and after Forevermore, would it be too much to ask for a new TV show for Diego??? 

Postcrossing Wonder

And I'm back for another couple of updates! ^_^ I'm sharing another two new postcards from random Postcrossing members. This batch is awesome, although I didn't receive them at the same time. One came a few days ahead of the other. Ooh, and that one card of mine that's traveling to Colombia is in danger of expiring soon... 5 days and counting... boo-hoo!

Leila from Finland

I love it that some members really take to heart your wish list. Leila from Finland went to France for vacation and shared with me a card of La Louvre. I totally loved it! I dream of visiting France one day too... esp. Paris. I would love to see the Eiffel Tower in person! LOL ^_^

Svetlana from Russia

Moscow Kremlin is on my wish list as well. And look what came today? It's from Svetlana, who's from Moscow, Russia. How awesome indeed! It's been 70 days since I joined Postcrossing, and for me, I'm doing a lot of traveling, albeit via these international postcards that I've been receiving. I simply love the cards and the stories from each sender. It's such a wonderful experience to also be able to share my own experiences.

Perhaps if there's something that I would need to work on, it would be local travel. Yup, I'd love to travel around my country more. I'd love to experience for myself the beautiful places featured on the different postcards that I've been sending out. That way, I would also have stories to tell. ^_^

Well, I've sent a total of 12 postcards now. Three more and I would be able to send an additional card. That would mean 7 traveling cards at the same time. The more traveling cards, the more that can be sent and received. Yey! 

Eventually I would need to organize my album into the different countries. Right now, I just upload each photo consecutively. It's not even arranged by country or continent. LOL! Soon... I hope...

Well, that's it for now! Till next update...

Official Postcrossing: Postcards from Germany

Here are the cards that I previously mentioned. They both came from Germany, from official Postcrossing members. 

Dieter from Germany

I'm amazed that there are some people who are truly picky or choosy when it comes to postcards. Some don't even like multiview cards like the one above. Frankly, I don't know what's not to like. I appreciate multiview cards. It's a great way to introduce one's own city, if you ask me. Then when there are views that are worth looking at, that's a good time to go for single view cards. Oh well, to each his own.

Yvonne from Germany

This card rocks! (Pun intended LOL! ^_^) The sender mentioned about some balancing art just like the photo. And true enough balance is indeed something we should all seek in our daily lives. Thanks for the reminder, Yvonne! I truly appreciate it! The postcard looks like it came from a postcard book. It seems to have perforation on one side. How I wish I could get hold of a really nice local postcard book. I haven't seen one yet. Perhaps I should start out an edition. I would love it, but then it would mean I would need to do the traveling and the picture taking myself! ^_^ Now that's a great idea! Perhaps someone with more financial capacity would read this and embark on this project! 

At the moment, I'm just waiting for one more card from official Postcrossing. One of my traveling cards is due to expire in 9 days -- uh-oh! In a way, that's pretty good as I get to send one again. But I do hate it when my card doesn't make it in time for the 60-day deadline. It's the first for me, and the destination is Colombia. It truly amazes me how come some cards travel a long, long time before reaching their new homes. 

Well, it's the start of another week. I truly look forward to Mondays and every weekday as I await the arrival of more postcards. These days I've added forum swapping to my activities. I guess I would be more picky when it comes to whom I swap with. Some swappers truly are irritating. I don't like sending blank cards.. lest alone in an envelope! Ugghh! Oh well, other than picky swappers, it's fun to send and receive postcards. More updates to come next time around...

Have a great week ahead! ^_^

Postcrossing February Stats

And so, February's gone! It's now March, and I'm entering the third month of being a Postcrossing member. I've recently discovered the forum as another venue for swapping. There are themed swaps there, so I guess it would be a great way to complete some collection series. It does take time for some categories, esp. for countries that are rare. I've signed up for a few, and I've also sent out postcards for them.

How was my February as a Postcrosser? Well, my stats have started to look better. 

I have now sent a total of 10 postcards. I'm waiting for 5 more to be received before I have another increase in the number of postcards to be sent. There are 6 more cards that are traveling.. so I hope that at least one of them gets received soon. I'm just wondering how come it takes too long for some cards to reach their destination. 

So, in February, I've sent out postcards to the above countries. So cool to see the colorful pie chart, huh? I'm hoping to receive as well from the countries I've sent to, esp. Italy and the Netherlands. My goal is to receive cards from as many countries as possible. 

I received two postcards each from USA and Germany. These are the countries that have more numbers of Postcrossers. I guess that's why I happen to get more cards from them. But, I'm happy to have received from Finland and Norway too. I hope to receive more from rare countries. My postcard collection has grown and I'm quite happy. Pretty soon, I'd need a nicer storage for them all. Right now, I have them sorted according to continent, then sorted alphabetically according to countries. 

Well, that's it for now. Yesterday, I received two Official Postcrossing cards from Germany once again. I will be sharing them soon.

Till next update... ta-tah! ^_^

Big Incoming Snail Mail from Postcrossing

I've been a Postcrossing member for almost two months now (56 days as of this writing). I must admit that I've been waiting for quite some time for more incoming mail from random members. The thing is I seem to be able to send out faster than I receive. It must be 'coz I mail out at the main post office in Manila. Nonetheless, I find the incoming process too slow. ^_^

Earlier, I got the surprise of my life when I found that I actually had 14 incoming mail. Yebah! It was truly a happy mail day for me! It's about time I keep getting my mails. After all, I've been mailing them out regularly. If you're a newbie at Postcrossing, you may need to wait a little while to start getting lots of mail. What works for me is that I also do postcard swapping via Instagram. Of course, it's not easy at the onset. There's always that benefit of the doubt whether the person you're swapping with will really send it to you. In my case, I decided to take a leap of faith. But I digress.

Back to Postcrossing, here are my 5 incoming official Postcrossing cards:

Joa from Oregon

The above card is from Oregon. It's an artist sketch in the early 1900s of a famous mountain in Oregon. It's kinda cool as I do like art illustrations. And finally I got a postcard from the US. 

Chris of Ohio

I truly liked the above card as it is both a map and a flag card. How awesome indeed! I've been trying to collect map cards from as many countries as I possibly can. Then, there's the US States map cards too. I find map cards a bit fascinating but they're a bit harder to trade for.

Irene of Germany

I liked this owl card a lot! One reason that I like owls is that I'm a night owl myself! I just happen to work better when all is quiet around me. ^_^ Anyway, it's from Irene who lives in a dairy farm. I bet that's pretty cool. I've been a city girl all my life and sometimes wish I do have a hometown.

from Finland

Although the above card had a nice message and stamps, it wasn't signed; so I couldn't tell who sent it. The sender must like being anonymous. It's awesome since I do like cards featuring light houses. I happen to find them interesting. Some day I'm going to visit and climb a real light house! ^_^

Hedy from Taiwan

This one came from somewhere closer to home -- Taiwan. One of the good things I like about sending or receiving cards to/fro Taiwan is that it takes less than two weeks for mail to arrive. Yup! So far it's the fastest send or receive for me! Plus, Taiwan has a lot of really nice cards that I can't find much of in the Philippines. I'm always on the lookout for good local cards to send out.

Anyway, that's my biggest incoming mail from Postcrossing so far. I dream that one day I will be receiving a postcard a day for each day of the year!!! ^_^ How awesome would that be indeed!

Well, till next update folks! Ta-tah!

More Postcards from Postcard United

After being a Postcrossing member for more than a month, I came across another site that was apparently an offshoot of Postcrossing. It sure looks like a newer site and not as high tech as the previous one. Just the same, I signed up as I'm enjoying this postcard sending thingy. Plus, I've been doing some purchases of postcards more than the usual and I don't want to be stuck with a hoard of them. I might as well find folks that would want to receive some local postcards from me. 

Enter Postcard United, where I'm also a member now. The difference here is that you could send as many as 7 postcards at the beginning. Then you'll have to wait till all of them are received before you'll get an increase. So far, only one of my sent cards has been received... the one that went to France, which traveled for approximately 11 days. 

I decided to post about it 'coz I received two postcards yesterday that were from random members of Postcard United. 

Diana from Germany

The first one is from Germany. I really loved this four seasons card. And I love it more 'coz it features a lighthouse! ^_^ 

Michael from England

The second one is from England -- yey! It's the first card from there that I've received. ^_^ This hobby is indeed getting very interesting. Now, I feel like I'm fulfilling my bucket list of traveling the world... this time in postcard mode. ^_^

I can't wait to receive more postcards in the coming days, weeks, months, and years! Right now, here are the albums of my postcard collection: Official Postcrossing|Postcard Swapping on IG|Official Postcard United. ^_^

Till next postcard update... ta-tah! 

Weekend Movie Night with Kingsman: The Secret Service

My daughter and I actually watched this movie on the night of the Chinese New Year. She was the one who recommended it after seeing the trailer, saying it was a really cool action movie. Apparently it was some British spy movie. Since I'm a James Bond 007 fan, I figured why not check it out. As it turned out, it was such a fun movie to watch. However, it's rated R-16, so better bring along some ID's, esp. if you look younger than 16. LOL! ^_^ My daughter was almost not allowed to watch it.. and she's 19! >.< What a moo!
Overall, it was such a fun movie to watch, not so serious as some Bond movies, but not as wacky as Austin Powers. Newcomer Taron Egerton looked hot after the transformation! ^_^ I read somewhere that there's going to be a sequel. I sure hope so as I'm going to wait for it!
Till next random update... ta-tah!

My Postcrossing Update

I've been a member of Postcrossing for more than a month now. Just thought I'd log some updates. So there, I have sent 7 postcards that have been received. How awesome! I hope that means I would be receiving more postcards soon. I have yet to receive any since the first week of February when I got two at the same time. ^_^

For the meantime, I've been stacking up on local postcards as well as doing some postcard swapping on Instagram. I must admit I'm not too fond of direct swaps, but that is one good way of completing one's collection of postcards, esp. the rare ones.(My Postcards - received from various swaps on IG)

I've also accepted an invite recently to join a forum group that does personal swaps of postcards under a moderator who organizes the categories as well as the participants. I signed up for a couple of groups, but have yet to belong to a completed group. That would give me ample time to fill in the needed postcards for each group. 

Well, it's another Friday today. We're coming from a holiday -- Chinese New Year celebration; today it's back to work & school. I sure hope I will start receiving more postcards soon. I'm still expecting a bigger batch from all the postcards that I have already sent out. Inshallah!

Till next post and update... Happy Chinese New Year to all who celebrate!