Category: postcrossing

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foooood in the usa postcrossing

weeknotes, 22/26

our second week in boston was all about stamps! we attended the boston 2026 world expo, a big event that takes place in the usa every 10 years (in different cities). it’s a huge thing, with postal services, stamp dealers, and all kinds of philatelic associations and collectors coming together to celebrate stamps. usps launched a new stamp every day of the show, and the postcrossing one came out on tuesday!

friends, it was such a beautiful thing. there were speeches, pictures and autographs, but also the opportunity to meet and chat with hundreds of people throughout the week — all kind-hearted and full of beautiful stories about postcrossing. it felt amazing to be there and experience this collective joy for something we’ve been working on for over 20 years – and also to see these beautiful stamps start to make their way around the world. i want to bottle this feeling and remember it when i get frustrated in front of a computer.

we even got to chat with antónio alcalá, the usps art director responsible for many of their amazing stamps. and we met graham and laura (from pixpost and exploring stamps) too and they were both so nice! aaaaaaaaaaah! 😍

but it wasn’t just stamps! we also got a little bit of time to go to a diner with our friend addis from puerto rico, and try some other american staples, like grilled cheese sandwiches, lobster rolls, clam chowder, mac & cheese and dr. pepper!

and! we visited a local post office to see one of their historic new deal murals — something that had been on my bucket list for a while now.

sadly (but not surprisingly), after all the excitement was over we immediately became sick… 🙄 *le sigh*.

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foooood in taiwan postcards postcrossing

chu entry time (postcard café)

someone on the postcrossing forum mentioned there was “postcard café” in taipei, so of course we had to go and check it out! :)

the fun starts outside, even before you get in, because the menu is all written in illustrated postcards! you pick the cards featuring the food or drinks you’d like to have, and then take them to your waiter inside. they’ll be gifted to you when the food comes, which is a nice touch.

the special thing about chu entry time is that you can mail postcards to someone in the future! basically, you write, address and stamp your postcards, pay the fee and then put them on the box of the week you want it to be mailed. and they’ll mail it for you when the time comes! so in theory, you can pre-send all your friend’s birthday cards for the whole year, or even a few years in advance.

it’s not the first time we hear of something like this, but it was the first time we saw one in real life, which was pretty cool. while we were waiting, the boy was browsing some magazines they had there, and stumbled on one that mentioned postcrossing, eheh :)

there was also a really nice selection of illustrated postcards and other crafts that you could buy, and a table with rubberstamps for anyone to just use. it was lovely, and i wish there were more of these around.

nice café food and drinks + postcards = perfection!

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in taiwan postcards postcrossing

taiwan mailboxes

for us, looking for mailboxes is just something we do instinctively, everywhere we go. the most common ones in taiwan are a pair of green (normal mail) and red (priority) cuboids, sometimes condensed into a single divided mailbox.  if feels like they’re in every street, and they’re so iconic that they even have their own postcards! 

but there are others as well — we’ve spotted a couple of themed ones, dressed up to celebrate taiwan’s indigenous people:



the most famous mailboxes we’ve seen though were a set that was struck by typhoon soudelor in 2015. they’re bent sideways, as if swept by the wind, and have become a bit of a symbol of resilience.

the plaque says:

On august 8th, 2015, Typhoon Soudelor struck Taiwan. We were hit in the heads by a signboard as a result and couldn’t help but lean over from the pain. It was so painful in fact, we can’t stand up straigth anymore. But we persevered. We didn’t fall over after all. We have to take life as it is comes and in a way, I think we look more artsy and sophisticated this way! Did we inspire you? Take a picture with us to remind yourselves that we are all survivors and can persevere no matter what.

awww…

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postcrossing

postcrossing on the gaokao!

the gaokao is the name of the national exams in china, a series of tests that all high school students have to do in order to enter university. it’s a pretty big deal, with the whole country practically stopping and holding their breath while a generation of teenagers puts their intellectual skills to the test.

this year in zhejiang province, postcrossing was featured in the english exam! it’s kind of surreal to see something you work on being featured on an exam. the article is from an interview that paulo did to china daily a few years ago.

i thought that was pretty cool! :D

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postcrossing

a stamp with our name on it

how many people do you know that have their name and address on a postage stamp? two at least!

these are out today, and we couldn’t be more freaking excited about them! :D

they’re from guernsey post, who suggested that each of the three stamps they were issuing about postcrossing “went” to a different team member — so one is addressed to me and paulo, one is going to nicky in the uk, and one is going to vicki in australia. nicky and vicki’s use a fantasy address that is meaningful to them… but since we have a rented PO box for postcrossing and don’t mind getting mail, ours features our own address.

here are the accompanying postcards, that feature the same image of the stamp:

pretty neat, right? :D