Great Hobby

I’ve had a new hobby for the last 4 months or so. It’s exchanging postcards with people all over the world. A friend told me about it and I checked it out. It sounded like fun, so I jumped in with both feet. Go to www.postcrossing.com and follow the directions. It’s easy and free, except for the cost of postcards and stamps. You start out by getting random addresses for others who have registered. You send them a postcard. When your postcard arrives, they register it. Your name is then thrown in the pot, and some random person sends YOU a postcard. When you get it, you register it, and the circle continues. Each time you register a card, you can get another address. So far, I’ve sent 30 registered postcards, have 8 that are traveling and have received 30.

One of the options you can sign up for is “direct swap” which means exchanging cards off the register. I’ve only had one person so far that I’ve done this with. Here’s my tally so far.(BTW, I have no idea why the numbers are all over the place. I line them up all neat and tidy, but when I go to post them, the copy shows them all over. Meh.)

Cards Sent:

Belarus            3

Russia              15

Germany         5

Finland            1

China               2

USA                5

Netherlands     5

Poland             1

Taiwan                        1

Cards Received:

Austria                        1

Germany         5

Belarus            2

Canada                        2

China               1

Netherlands     3

Russia              3

Norway           1

Finland            4

Italy                 1

Ukraine           1

USA                3

Australia          1

Taiwan                        1

Japan               1

It’s a joy every time I reach into my mailbox and pull out a card. The biggest problem I’ve had is obtaining any kind of local postcard. There just aren’t that many around here. The local Walmart is just now starting to carry a few, but there are only about 4 different ones. I’ve gotten some nice ones from the visitors center at the dam, but again, the selection is limited. And there are none that are just fun or funny cards. Sometimes I make my own postcard to send. But it’s still SO MUCH FUN to do this!! I get cards from kids who are doing this as a class project. I’ve sent cards to kids in other countries that are probably doing the same. If you’re my friend on Facebook, you’ve probably already seen my album of cards I’ve received. I really encourage everyone to look into this as a fun hobby.