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!