Through the mailbox 2.0

Six years later (omg!) I'm back.

2020 has been a tough year for everyone around the world but one good thing that it recently brought for me is my postcard hobby.

I stopped sending and receiving postcards in 2014 when I moved away from home to go to college, with new friends, new experiences and new activities going on, my interest on postcards (and this blog) started fading away. 

There were a few times when I felt like reconnecting with the hobby but I never did until now that I've been in lockdown since mid March... Just like lots of people around the globe in these last months I've baked, I've done a bunch of jigsaw puzzles, I've watched tons of shows and movies, had a bunch of Zoom calls, I re-decorated my bedroom and I've gone a bit overboard with online shopping. Last week while trying to find something new to do, a wooden box that had been closed a few years caught my attention, it was my postcard box. I went through it rediscovering my cards and remembering the excitement I felt anytime the mailman brought a new one so a few hours later I was signing up to Postcrossing again and as I filled the about me section I remembered the blog! 

Can you believe I couldn't remember the exact name?! When I finally accessed my account I remembered that aside from receiving stuff I also really enjoyed writing entries for each postcard and I felt incredibly surprised to see people have still been visiting the blog all these years! 

So what's happening?

My first five Postcrossing postcards are travelling right now and it will be a while until I start receiving cards back so I figured in order to start things running I'll be uploading some cards I received a few years ago and never made it into the blog. 

These cards are currently travelling to the USA, Germany, Norway, Russia and Malaysia!

A new header! 

I always loved my header and felt extremely proud of it since it was made using only an iPod touch camera and Microsoft Paint. I wanted to keep the same vibe showing some of my favorite stamps so it looks pretty similar but with a little upgrade. Sadly Blogger lowers the quality of the image but what can I  do. Farewell old header, thank you for welcoming visitors all these years, you'll never be forgotten. 

More interviews! 

Some of the most popular entries on my blog were the Snail mailers around the globe interviews so I'm really excited to bring those back, hopefully I'll find people who want to participate. 

In the meantime you can check the tag to read the ones I did a few years ago. 

So to all of you Postcrossers/snail-mail enthusiasts reading this, thank you for being here! 

Stay tuned, there's many cards to come ;) 

-Niza 

 

Israel

I really like this cute map of Israel as well as the stamp, as a fun fact it's a joint issue between Israel and Nepal featuring the highest and lowest points on Earth, Mt. Everest in Nepal and the Dead sea in Israel

Israel is a small yet diverse Middle Eastern country with a long coastline on the eastern Mediterranean Sea and a small window on the Red Sea at the Gulf of Eilat (Aqaba). Israel is bordered by Egypt and the Gaza Strip to the southwest, by Jordan to the east, and by Syria and Lebanon to the north. It shares borders to the Jordan River and the Dead Sea with the West Bank and Jordan. 

Israel is considered part of the Holy Land. The three major monotheistic religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—all have historical ties to the region. Israel thus contains a vibrant modern history and culture, based in part on the diverse, immigrant origins of its inhabitants returning from the Jewish Diaspora. These aspects make Israel a fascinating destination for many travelers and pilgrims. 

Israel is a highly urbanized and economically developed society and is therefore best divided for the traveler into its main cities and towns, followed by the regions and other sites.

*Source

תודה רבה (toda raba) Einav! 

Animal life - South Africa

My second postcards from Africa! It displays a very african scene which I really like, as well as the stamps

South Africa is a paradise for anyone interested in natural history. A wide range of species (some potentially dangerous) may be encountered in parks, farms, private reserves and even on the roads.

• The Kruger National Park is exceptionally well managed and a favorite tourist destination.
• Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in the heart of the Kalahari desert with wide open spaces and hordes of games including the majestic 'Gemsbok'. This is the first park in Africa to cross political borders.
• There are also a large number of smaller parks, like the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Park, Addo Elephant National Park, Pilanesberg National Park or the iSimangaliso Wetland Park.

 There are hiking trails available in almost all the parks and around geographical places of interest.

*Source

Dankie Rayno!

Penpals ♥

[Penpalling] 

I had my first penpal when I was 10 years old however I lost touch with her due to the fact that our teachers were the ones who handled the mailing process so when the school year ended so did our pen-friendship.
In 2011 I officially became a snail-mailer after the discovery of postcrossing and I decided to try penpalling again, since then I've received and sent lots of letters from/to many people, sadly most of them have just come and go and I don't really write with them anymore.
Snail-mail is an essential part of my life and penpalling is super special because I really enjoy the fact that I can share the love for old fashioned mail with someone else who lives across the world and we are able to build a friendship through writing (which is another essential part of my life).

[My amazing penpals]
After loosing some penpals for different reasons I took a few new ones and we are in the process of sending our first letters and getting to know each other so I hope that recently I'll get to talk about them. At the moment I want to share with you two amazing friends.
I wanted to include pics but I didn't want to post their picture without their permission (this post is a surprise) so I decided to draw some portraits...

Jackie

Jackie found me on instagram through a pic I had uploaded that had a snail-mail hashtag.
She's australian (I have to admit Australia has always caught my attention so I was excited about having an aussie friend when she asked me if I wanted to be penpals) and she happens to have a connection with Mexico, so we immediately got along.
Jackie is a fun, sensitive, adventurous, nature-loving girl and I feel really lucky to be her penpal, she's awesome and I always enjoy reading her long letters, we were very close to meeting in person last year but sadly it didn't happen, however I'm sure we'll make it happen sometime. I can imagine how fun would it be having Jackie the outdoorsy explorer and Niza the concrete loving "city rat" together and now that I think about it, that's one of the things I cherish the most about our friendship, the fact that we live different lives in very different environments but still we are very similar in many ways.

Sophie

This went the other way around, I found Sophie on instagram while exploring the penpal hashtag and after looking at her cute gallery I asked her if she wanted to be penpals.
She's welsh (another country that has caught my attention for a long time) and she really is one of the most "kawaii" people I've ever met.
Sophie is a cool, sweet, caring, free-spirited girl and I'm really glad I had the chance to meet her and befriend her. One of the things I really like about her is that she's one of those people that proves that a person should look the way they want to look and be whoever they want to be. Another thing I really enjoy about writing to Sophie is the fact that we started college around the same time so it's great to have someone to share experiences, opinions and anecdotes about our college life, specially since we live in different countries and that way we both gain different perspectives. I always appreciate how cute her letters are and I hope we get to meet in person really soon and hang out while sharing lots of laughs.



And I think that's all for now, next time I'll talk a bit more about my experience in the penpalling world. Thanks to anyone who reads this and as always comments are much appreciated!

The welsh alphabet

This has to be one of my favorite cards ever! I'm majoring in philology (linguistics and literature) and I love everything related to languages so it's very interesting to see the welsh alphabet with the changes of the digraphs and even learning some words. 

I found this video with the pronunciation of the letters in case that as me you are curious about the welsh language, very interesting!

Diolch yn fawr Fjara!

Fromages d'Italie

We have a new one for the collection, cheese from Italy!

*Chèvre des Langhe 

*Cimonino Valsassina 

*Chèvre et bouchons 

*Mortarat Ciambellina

*Chèvre aux noisettes et aux amandes 

*Gorgonzola 

*Scamorze fumées 

*Piacentino di Enna 

*Chèvre au moût de raisins Moscato

*Paglierina appassita 

*Ricotta fumée de Calabre 

*Burrata en feuille de jonc 

*Ricotta salée Marzolina

*Tomme de chèvre de la Val Cerrina 

*Provola Calabrese 

*Pecorino feuille de noyer 

*Ragusano 

*Sora

*Robiola de chèvre 

*Brillo rouge de Trévise 

*Mozzarella de bufflonne 

*Robiola vieille de la Valsassina 

*Ricotta Ossolana fumée

*Tommette Valle Elvo

*Ricotta piémontaise Seirass affinée dans le foin 

*Parmigiano Reggiano 

*Mascarpone et bouchées de chèvre 

*Ricotta piémontaise Seirass fraîche 

*Caciocavallo Silano

*Asiago 

Ačiū Alma!