Pisco Elqui, Chile

Hello everyone....after some silence....as usual....
Funny how there always has to be something happening which in one way or another will put me off from updating...first, last Saturday my PC died...and when i say, died, i literally mean it...i tried to fix it, but no luck...it was some system-file problem and i felt helpless...I just felt sooo down...first, im not used to being without my PC...i can say that im somewhat addicted to it...second ALL my stuff for work were there....all my other stuff were there...ever since my Burner went kaputt ive been barely transfering files, except to my USB every now and then...so i just felt totally helpless and worried....until the next day sometime in the evening i wanted to give it another try...and guess what?? MY PC got resurrected!!!! I was staring at the screen while Windows was starting itself...and i couldnt have believed it!! My PC was saved!!! Magically, but saved!!
And of course, that was fixed but eventually i got ill the following day, to the extent that i just didnt feel capable to sit, think or do anything without shivering from cold all over (yet i had a very high temperature)
Im still ill...my throat hurts, i have a runny nose, my head hurts and i just feel overall weakness, but thank God its Friday tomorrow and i dont need to go to work...so i can just take my time....and hopefully get a good use out of the weekend...im not going out due to my condition, so i hope to clean some backlog of stuff...and i hope they will broadcast the Nadal-Verdasco match in the morning (even though originally its played in the evening, but this is what time-zones do)...
And lets get down to the update :)

Here is a card from Chile....showing Pisco Elqui...the back of the card says "The Our Lady of the Rosary Church, some local village streets and an old valley distillery.
Noelle, the sender, says that she had been to the Elqui Valley, and that she stayed in this village. She says that its a beautiful and relaxing place.
Well, i cant tell much from the card if it seems relaxing to me, but it wouldnt surprise me.
This was the area where pisco was distilled in the early history of Chile. The original name of the town was La Greda. It was later changed to La Union. In 1936, the Law Decree 5,798 changed its name to Pisco Elqui, to reinforce Chile's claim to have rights over the alcoholic drink pisco.

Anyone ever tried a pisco? Can you share your thoughts about it?
 

South Carolina, USA

Lately I got somewhat into getting officials....for some time i had put it o n stand-by coz first i couldnt manage along with the swaps...and i got some expired cards in a row and that somewhat put me off....but then one day i started receiving cards...and again my ratio was more received than sent...and i just had this itch to see where my cards were gonna go to...i planned to take like 3 addresses only, but guess what did i get...of course, US, DE and FI...i dont mind getting them, but now since those 3 were drawn out, i was really curios to see what will i get next...and I got France...and after a few hours, i couldnt sit still, so i pulled out another one, and got China (this one worries me since my previous to China is expired and this one is still travelling) and the last one was Italy! This is when i recalled what was the charm of sending officials...you never know what you'll pick, and that brings the excitement...just as you never know what you're gonna get...so once i get one or two officals back, ill again make a full pull out from the sea of addresses :) All the ones i sent got registered, except the Chinese one...so i hope ill get something in return soon...

US-310267

What i like about this, is the kind of card the sender chose to send me. Now i dont know if this was a lucky chance, or she had read thru my profile, and morever looked at my blog, and eventually sent me this...but first, you know how much i love map-cards...second, i already have one from South Carolina...but this one is different....so i was really wondering if she had checked what i already have or no....either way, im delighted and really thankful.

the card has the Fun Facts thing...ive already written some about South Carolina, but here ill go again...these are not EXACTLY the same :)

Capital:  Columbia
Area:  30,207 square miles
Statehood:  May 23, 1788 (8th state admitted)
Mottos:  Animis opibusque parati (Prepared in mind and resources)  and Dum spiro spero (While I breath, i hope)
Song:  "South Carolina on My Mind"
State Bird:  Carolina Wren
State Tree:  Palmetto
State Flower: Yellow Jessamine

wasnt there a song "Georgia on My Mind" as well? does it have anything to do with being a song of the state as this one above? am i just ranting maybe?

Poland

I got this card as a surprise and of course, was in total delight with it :)

This is the Polish flag, in a circled shape..it IS a circle indeed...just that whenever i scan cards, the bottom line never appears as it actually is, in case its something different than a standard flat line..
The flag of Poland consists of two horizontal stripes of equal width, the upper one white and the lower one red. The two colors are defined in the Polish Constitution as the national colours. A variant of the flag with the national coat of arms n the middle of the white stripe is legally reserved for official use abroad and at sea.

well, this one is with the coat of arms kind of flag :)

Ania, thank you soooooo immensly much for this!! Im sorry my thank-you card didnt arrive to you....but know that im really delighted and greatful you have thought of me :)

Fort San Cristobal, Puerto RIco

This is my last Puerto Rican card in stock...

Castillo de San Cristóbal is a Spanish fort in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  It was built by the Spaniards to protect against land based attacks on the city of San Juan. It is part of San Juan National Historic Site.
Castillo de San Cristóbal is the largest fortification built by the Spanish in the New World and it was finished in 1783, basically wrapping the city of San Juan. Entry to the city was sealed by San Cristóbal's double gates. After close to one hundred years of relative peace in the area, part of the fortification (about a third) was demolished in 1897 to help ease the flow of traffic in and out of the walled city.

well, that would be all for today...i need to get a good rest...and hopefully a new update will be available tomorrow :)  yeah, im in the mood for it...i just hope ill be able to do it...take care everyone! :) 

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

If i keep getting new countries at this pace, im gonna reach 100 in a blink of an eye!  And country no. 93 is reserved for no one else but Cambodia! Just amazing!

And apart from being a new, and according to some objective rating, a hard-to-get-country, it is also a UNESCO site...and it looks magnificent!  The sender says that she had been there many times so far, but each time she goes, she feels amazed.  No wonder...who wouldnt be at a site like this!

Angkor Wat is the main attraction of the  Angkor complex  whose hape is depicted on the Cambodian flag. It was built by king Suryavarman II (1113-1150) in the beginning of the 12^th century, and its construction lasted 37 years.  Angkor Wat (the name means 'The Pagoda of the City') was a funerary monument, which explains its orientation to the west in contrast to the sanctuaries dedicated to the deities, which are oriented to the east.
The temple was build according Brahman techniques to represent the entire universe. The central tower represents the sacred mount Sumeru, situated at the centre of the universe. The 5 towers make the symbolism consistent with the 5 peaks of mount Sumeru. The outer wall represents the end of the world and the surrounding moat represents the surrounding ocean.
If time permits, one should visit Angkor wat at least twice, once in the morning to admire the bas-reliefs when the light is bright and clear and once in the evening when the towers become increasingly golden as the sun sets at the horizon. Sometimes, in the twilight, bats leave the monument in large numbers, presenting the spectator with a spectacular view as if columns of smoke rise and are dispersed in the wind.

Thank You Zarah sooo much for this amazing contribution to my collection!!! 

The European Government

This one is gonna enter the top list of cool cards i have...I LOVE IT!!!

I dont think i need to do much of explaining about it, coz the pictures and the comments below them say it all....but i LOVE LOVE LOVE the irony the text and the images have...i think that the "British Ministry of Finance" is my favourite one :))))))

An immense and most genuine thank you to Gerda for sending me this one!!!  

Les Arcs, France

I got this card as a total surprise...from Valerie who spent her winter holidays here...and i was totally stunned..

I recall i got many postcards that day...it was on that Sunday when the postman came by....so when i get many cards i have this tendency to actually pick them all from the mailbox and look thru them from the back first, so i see which one comes under what occasion...tag...swap...official...so i was going thru the back and when i came at this one, i started reading, and the first sentence was "The moment i saw this card, i knew i had to get it for you"! And thats when i turned to see it on the front, and thats when me and this card met face to face and when i simply melted!
I know that there are many thouhgtful people out there, but they keep amazing me and surprising me each day with their thoughtfulness!
I have several cards in my favourites with this same adorable kitty, sitting in its chair, and each card shows a different place in France, and says "Sieste aux/en...". I didnt know about the existence of this one in particular, but that doesnt mean at all i dont like it...on the whole contrary, i totally love it, and if possible, i would love to have each and every card from France with this kitty....so far ive seen them from Avignon, Provence and Pont du Gard...if anyone has them or if there are some other French places presented this way....id be more than delighted to trade with you!!!

Thanks Val for this one...luv ya!

Australia

And another great card for today...a map-card from Australia! So just as my flag collection is growing, just as the number of the countries in my collection is growing, so does the collection of my map cards! Problem is, all this 'growing' just makes me feel more and more addicted to postcards than i already am....that aint good :)

Well, as most map cards, this one as well shows the bigger cities/places and their significant features.
Ive never been to Australia and i dont know if its due to its remoteness or something else, but i dont have an itch to go there....though if for example, right now someone came and gave me a plane ticket to Australia and a ticket for the Australian Open, i would go there without thinking...or for the F1 Grand Prix in March....and speaking of F1...you would never ever guess what i received today!!! Unless ive already told you about it :) But today was a great postcard day...and this card just made me smile from ear to ear!
Its unbelievable how such small things can sometimes add so much significance to your ordinary dark days :)

see you soon!

Irish Writers

My first card from Ireland couldnt have been more special and more perfect! I so much wanted to have a postcard which will be somehow related to Oscar Wilde, and eventually i came across a postcard not just with Wilde but with a number of other Irish writers as well...i feel ecstatic!!! 

Here, apart from Oscar, who is one of my all time favourites, you can see a number of other prominent writers, like Yeats, Beckett, Joyce, Shaw, Synge, O'Casey and Kavanagh. I studied about most of them at university, and frankly i dont really recall much regarding the autobiographies coz it was always annoying to have to learn so many dates and titles, but i definitely recall their works.
I have a great itch to actually get into details about each and every one of them, but thats gonna take way to much writing and i dont think any of you would manage to go through it all :)
So, ill just say that out of all of them, Oscar Wilde is my favourite, esp his "The Picture of Dorian Gray"....Dorian Gray has got to be one of the greatest books i had ever read, which had left such a deep impact on me...if you hadnt read it, i highly highly highly recommend that you do so!
I also love his "The importance of being Ernest" and the symbollism revolving around "Ernest"....One of the works i hadnt read is "Salome" which i hope to find and read soon....
As for the others, I would definitely recommend "Pygmalion" by Shaw..."Ulysses" and "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" by Joyce....if you are interested in poetry you can also take a look at their poems....
I should do a revision as well, and re-read many of their works...but i definitely recommend that you give them a chance as well....
Mmmmm....does anyone have a postcard related to Shakespeare...Byron...Arthut Miller...Schlink...?? If you do, can you please send me one? Thanks in advance

Suomenlinna, Finland

Here is a lovely UNESCO card coming from Finland....I so much love the colours on this one...its just beautiful!

Suomenlinna is a major monument of military architecture. The construction of the sea fortress on the islands just off Helsinki in the middle of the 18th century was the most extensive building project during Swedish rule. When it was complete, its military shipyard was one of the biggest dry docks in the world and centres of know-how at that time. At the end of Swedish rule the fortress was being compared with the maritime fortifications at Gibraltar.

The 250-year-old fortress, which has been preserved intact because of its military use, is today part of the world heritage. In 1991 it was included in UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

Suomenlinna is one of Finland’s most popular tourist attractions. At the same time it is a suburb of Helsinki, with 850 people living in the renovated ramparts and barracks.. 

Asian Region

I absolutely love this card!!!

This card originally comes from Malaysia and is supposed to represent Malaysia as well...but since it actually has maps and flags from many other Asian countries, thats why i decided to make it more general under the name of Asia, instead just Malaysia...
I wish i had flag cards from all of these places...and map cards...I have many Philippines map-cards so far, and a Malaysain one is pending, but it would feel sooo cool to have them all :)

Thank you Carol sooo sooo much for this perfect kind of a card...i absolutely love love love it!!

Hong Kong

While we are still in Asia, i wanted to show you something else from this region, a Hong Kong card...

Here you can see the Tsing Ma Bridge in Hong Kong which is the world's seventh longest span suspension bridge.  It has two decks and carries both rail and road traffic which also makes it the largest suspension bridge of this type. The bridge has a main span of 1,377 metres and a height of 206 metres.
The 41 metres (135 ft) wide bridge deck carries six lanes of automobile traffic, with three lanes in each direction. The lower level contains two rail tracks. There are also two sheltered carriageways on the lower deck for maintenance access and as backup for traffic when particularly severe typhoons strike Hong Kong. Though road traffic would need to be closed in that case, trains could still get through in either direction.

Christmas Cards, part 3

Well, even though Christmas is somewhat way behind us, i wanted to show the cards which arrived between the last Christmas post and today...

 

from Ksenia in Poland

  

from Anastasia in Russia

  

from Monika in Poland

  

from Kati in Belarus

and a Russian Christmas stamp, which i have to say came on a magnificent  Russian envelope...the most colourful and greatest city-portraying envelope i had ever seen.....my mum was especially impressed! 

 

thanks everyone for filling up my mailbox! :)

Bouddha Nath, Nepal

My next new country!! 91st to be precise....i think :) Ill organize some kind of a contest when i come to reach my 100th....hopefully it wont slip my mind :)

The Bouddhanath Stupa is one of Nepal's most holy sites for the Buddhist faith. This remarkable structure, by far the largest of its kind in the nation, stands as a giant version of the smaller monuments lining the trails in the mountainous lands of the Sherpa people. No one is certain of the historical origin of the great structure, but it has been converging point for worshiping Buddhists in the region for centuries. It constructed as a monument to the Buddha, with a representation of his "all-seeing eyes" painted on the upper tower to watch the four cardinal compass directions. This tower, capped with a great pyramid, all sits atop a great dome and a base of 3 layers. The site is located a few miles from the city center of Kathmandu, but this outlying section is still bustling with traffic and the din of street merchants. Tourists and faithful monks alike appreciate the hallowed ground that is a respite from the hectic city.

It feels so magnificent indeed! 

Thanks a lot Anastasia for such a remarkable contribution to my collection! 

Sweden

A flag!!!! A lovely Swedish flag card!!!

The Swedish flag is blue with a yellow Scandinavian Cross that extends to the edges of the flag. The design and colours of the Swedish flag are believed to have been inspired by the present Coat of Arms of Sweden of 1442.

According to the mythology, the Swedish 12th century king Eric the Holy, saw a yellow cross in the sky as he landed in Finland during the first Swedish Crusade in 1157. Seeing this as a sign from God he adopted the yellow cross against a blue background as his banner.
It has also been suggested that the Swedish flag might have been a resistance flag against the Danish flag which is red with a white cross, and which has been known since 1219.

im so happy that my flag collection is growing...maybe slowly, but its growing! :)

Eddrachillis Bay, Scotland

I got this card years ago from one of my former penpals in Germany, Christina Schlack...it used to be on my wall, hence that mark on the upper part of the postcard, from the adhesive tape...

Eddrachillis Bay is a bay on the north-west coast of the Sutherland province of Scotland.  It lies north of the Assynt parish and is at the mouth of the Loch Cairnbawn. It is neighboured by the parish of Eddrachillis of which namesakes are shared.

Wilmington, USA

Im also happy that the number of the US states in my collection is also increasing since here comes my first one from Delaware..

Wilmington is the largest city in Delaware, the seat of New Castle County and the home to DuPont, the country's largest chemical and materials coroporation. The city offers visitors great museums, restaurants and hotels.

well thats what the description on the back of the card says :)

im going back to work tomorrow (Tuesday) so i guess ill again have trouble with my updates here...but i hope ill manage...thanks everyone for following and for the support!

Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles

Who would have thought!! My first card from the Netherlands Antilles!!!!! Wow!!! I feel sooo special :))))
Plus, i must say, the name Netherlands Antilles itself sounds soooo, mmmm....appealing...dont ask me why coz i cant explain it, it just does :)
And to make things even better, i dont have one but two cards from there! The second one was a total surprise and something i hadnt expected at all...but for which im just so thankful :)

both of the cards show Scenes from Bonaire, which is one of the Netherlands Antilles islands.
On this card in particular you can see an Iguana, which according to the sender is a delicacy on the islands... soup or stew or even as a pet, it is liked by many!
Ouch....I dont think i could handle an iguana in any of those ways....i have some kind of repugnance towards anything which is of the lizard kind...or which crawls...so  i would never feel comfortable in the vicinity of this buddy....but eating an iguana???!!! This definitely makes my stomach work in a different way :) Yay....i could never ever ever consider that....I know its all probably something that you just get used to and maybe if i was born at a place where this is a natural thing to eat, i would have had it on my meal list every now and then...but like this, i just cant grasp the idea of it :) I mean the only kind of meat i eat is chicken and fish...oh and turkey....now that i mentioned it, i had a long discussion once whether the fish is fish or the fish is meat...if you wanna contribute with your opinion, feel free to do so :)  Anyway as i was saying, im not a meat lover and pork or lamb are also on my out list...so if i cant eat that, i surely have trouble to digest the thought of eating an iguana....
I just wonder....if i had to choose between eating an iguana or eating those Chinese/Japansese delicacies..like cockroaches and worms and all sorts of bugs...its gonna be a tough choice...its gonna be a really tough choice : ))

Thank you S. for the cards...thank you sooo  much!!!

Innsbruck, Austria

The majority of the Austrian cards I have come from Vienna...so it feels good to make a change and show something else...

Innsbruck is the capital city of the  state of Tyrol in Austria and also an internationally renowned winter sports centre and hosted the Winter Olympics in 1964 and 1976.

I just watched some skiing on TV this morning...ive never had an itch for it, though ive always loved watching the ski-jumpings...when i was little i was fascinated with it and probably i still am, just that i havent watched that in ages.
Now, maybe i dont find skiing appealing but if there is one thing i dream to try out and which i regret i hadnt so far, is snowboarding!! Im absolutely in love with it, even though i had never stepped on a snowboard. I like extreme sports...they just ripple my blood and give this special beat to my heart :)
Plus snowboarding feels somewhat cool...a nice cool....i dont like the 'cool for the masses' cool kind of stuff :)

Untitled, 1987, USA

I got this at one of the tags....in particular, the 'surprise the person below you' -tag....well, at least gives me something to talk about....and thats my attitude towards shopping :)

This, "I shop-therefore I am" quote is just soooo totally not me! If there is something i dont like, thats shopping...i find it annoying and boring.  I know that it sounds odd for a woman to have this attitude towards shopping, but I do...i always have had it...im not the type of person who can just go around shops for hours, not to mention if i have to try things on...if there is one thing i hate, thats trying things on...so whenever i have to buy something coz its a must, then thats a torture...esp. if i dont know where exactly to get it...i know that due to that i have missed many good stuff but oh well....oh yeah, one more thing, i hate spending lots of money on clothes...im the happiest when i come across something i really like for little money...and im not a sinister...just that giving lots of money on clothes doesnt fulfill me....but for example, if it comes to a concert i really want to go, i really put no boundaries...so it just depends :)
I dont like window shopping either....but if i have to go a greater distance in order to see if a certain store has postcards, then i have no problem with it....yeah, im somewhat complicated i know :)

Moinho de Maré da Mourisca, Portugal

Ok, after learning several new things about me today, lets take a break from that :)

I got this card along with the Innsbruck one and 8 others...yup, that was a nice trade indeed :)
Have i ever told you that the Portuguese mail hates me?  :)  yup...it delievers my mail there after 1 or 2 months :)  The mail from Portugal to here arrives in a decent time, but mine towards there causes headaches :)
Ok, why whenever i have a Portuguese-speaking related card, i can barely find any info in English about it?
Plus i feel somewhat lagged out, so i just look at the articles but its as if im looking thru them.....so you cant say you have read much of a productive update today..but its just one of those days :)  Perhaps Marta can tell me more about this :)

Matka, Macedonia

For quite some time ive been having an idea for several thematic updates, and finally, one of them gets to see the light of day today...Today's update can be called ex-Yugoslavia, since im about to present postcards which relate to each of its former republics...your opinions and suggestions are more than welcome, esp if you have any ideas for any sort of thematic update, you are more than welcome to share it with me...as long as it can involve at least 4 cards, its ok....and if a certain subject can lets say involve 10 different kind of cards, i dont need to have all ten of them in order to make a post....so, you are more than welcome to contribute...i have another idea pending in my head and it will come up shortly as well :)

Ill begin with my own country...well, regarding the location, i was supposed to start with either Macedonia or Slovenia and move forwards, but of course, if i have to choose between these two, the patriotic feelings are gonna prevail :)

Macedonia gained independence from Yugoslavia on 8th September, 1991....im one of those people who long for the good old days of Yugoslavia...things just seemed so much better back then and the world seemed so easier to reach....right now i feel like in a cage, imprisoned on my own territory
Ever since the separation from Yugoslavia we had been facing this enormous and according to me, a problem with no solution, that is, the dispute with Greece....Greece wont let go, we wont either (at least i hope  we wont), so its a dead-end street

anyway, getting political here wont really solve anything, so lets not waste space with that :)

here on the card you can see a place called Matka, which is in the nearest vicinity of Skopje (17km away) and which is a place where people go on a picnic or to relax, esp during weekends or when the weather is nice....unfortunately i havent been there in a loooong looong time...i dont even recall when was the last time i went there, which is a pity coz its really beautiful...

Matka represents both a canyon and an artifical lake.

There are also a number of monasteries there, like St Andrea, St. Matka, St. Nikola......St. Andrew's Monastery is located on Lake Matka. This monastery was built 1389 and is filled with frescos of a great artistic importance. Near Andrew's is the St. Nikola Shishovski Monastery, situated on top of the cliff above Lake Matka, thus giving the visitor a spectacular view of the lake and its surroundings. While there is no information when this monastery was built, it is first mentioned in the 17th century. Unfortunately, the monastery was abandoned during the 18th century, only to be resettled the following century.
Close to both Andrew's and St. Nikola's is Matka Monastery from the 14th century. The monastery is located on the left side of river Treska, about 12 km from Skopje. The frescos of this monastery date from the 15th century, but they don't match those of Andrew's.

EDIT***  I forgot to mention something which i thought was worth mentioning but eventually it slipped my head.
Matka in Macedonian actually means "a womb"...I guess the canyon resembles a womb. But the funny thing is that "matka" in Finnish means "a trip"....what a funny thing languages are :)

Serbia

Serbia's status with the independence is somewhat more complicated than the one of Macedonia, since first, Serbia and Montenegro were as one afterwards, Montenegro went solo, and eventually there was (and still is) a great big fuss regarding Kosovo's independence. I know its risky to talk of these issues, so i simply wont...in case you are truly interested in my own opinion than mail me or message me....

On this beautiful card here you can see some of the Serbian monasteries...on the upper part, you can see Ravanica and Stara Pavlica, while on the bottom, the monasteries Studenica, Bukovo and Pećka Patrijaršija.
Unfortunately, i dont have some data in my memory about visiting any of these, even though i had been to Serbia many times. All these are medival monasteries and Studenica and Peć are as well UNESCO whs.
Have I ever told you that during the war in 2001 in Macedonia, my dad had plans of us moving to Belgrade, coz the situation here was far from safe or stable. Well, I dont know why we never went, but there is my undestined living in Belgrade...

Montenegro

As I already mentioned something above, Montenegro didnt declare its independence until just recently, when on 3rd June 2006, it separated from Serbia and became the 192 second member state of the United Nations.
Did you know that while being a part of Yugoslavia, all the republics had a town which had the name of Josip Broz Tito in it? For example, Montenegro's capital today, Podgorica, used to be Titograd (or Tito's town if we translate it). In Macedonia, we had Titov Veles which today remained as Veles only. In Serbia there was Titovo Užice, which today is known as Užice only. Then...hmmmm....there was also Titov Vrbas in Serbia, in the province of Vojvodina...while in the province of Kosovo there was Titova Mitrovica, which today is known as Kosovska Mitrovica. Bosnia had Titov Drvar, today known as Drvar, Croatia had Titova Korenica, and Slovenia had Titovo Velenje. Of course, with the decay of Yugoslavia, they were all soon renamed.
There were also many streets and squares within the cities named after him....and in Macedonia there was even one mountain peak,called Titov Vrv....but thats all gone now...

Regarding the card now, i really love this one. I think that my mum brought it to me but i cant make sure if it was the summer she went alone  there or from the times she went with my dad...
Anyway, on the card you can see some of the Montenegro Islands scattered in the Adriatic Sea.
Ive only been to St. Stefan, and i know it was somewhat exclusive to go there...and i know that i dont know how i managed but i broke the chair i was lying on on the beach...it felt embarrasing, since i was just lying on it and all of a sudden there was this crack and the chair hit the ground. I really wonder what does it take to be able to break a chair on a beach just like that...yeah, i dont really feel comfortable when i recall that...there, now you know one of my embarassing secrets :)

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

This is one of those 'ancient' cards in my collection, but it came in so handy for this update since i have no other kind of cards from Bosnia.

Bosnia declared independence in 1992, 1st of March. What I mainly recall of Bosnia from back then is the war which lasted from 1992-1995. I was only 12 years old when all the hassle began and by the time then i had often heard on the news about a war going on here a war going on there, but when this one broke out, for the first time it felt real and so close to me (well, ive experienced the worst kind as well, of having a war in your own country, and i wouldnt wish that to anyone, not even my worst enemy...even though i wonder if i have such...anyone know of someone? anyone? report them to me :))
There is another thing i recall about Bosnia, and that is a children tv show/series with this little girl...and i know that once the war broke out, i was wondering what is she doing now, and whenever they would have shown images from Sarajevo, i would have wondered if she had been there or so....i cant recall the name of the program, so unfortunately i cant give more details, but i recall there have been numerous of fun and interesting children TV programms when i was little...so much different from whats offered on  TV today....I mean, Teletubbies!!! Por Favor!!! Turn of the tv or take your children out of the room...for their own sake!

Pula, Croatia

With Croatia's independence, and the breaking out of the war there (which was basically a war between the Croats and the Serbs), an end was put to our summer holidays in Croatia...a fact i had never got over. If there is something i feel so painfully attached  to, are my summers in Croatia...i dont know if its due to that thing in the air, or something else...but each time i think of them, i feel a lump in my throat, i feel how my heart squeezes itself, i feel pain for the things which have been and which will never come back....my childhood will never come back, and thats what i relate Croatia to...

Here on the card you can see one of the distinct sites of Croatia...the Arena Amphitheatre.
The Arena is the only remaining Roman amphitheater to have four side towers and with all three Roman architectural orders entirely preserved. It is the sixth largest surviving Roman arena and a rare example, among the 200 Roman surviving amphitheatres, of unique technological solutions. It is also the best preserved ancient monument in Croatia.
I wonder why it aint on the UNESCO whs list yet.....

Borovnica, Slovenia

And I'll close this update of course with the last one of the republics and that is Slovenia...
Slovenia went thru a 10 day war upon its independence proclamation and eventually took the part of the winner in it. It was supposed to declare its independence the 26th June 1990, but it made a move and did it one day earlier, and i guess all this was the reason for the conflict, which was expected to happen either way.
Out of all the Yugoslav republics, Slovenia is the most prosperous and most modernized one. In a great part this is due to its closeness to other highly developed countries like Austria and Italy and either way, while during history Macedonia was under the Ottoman Empire while Slovenia was under the Habsburg Monarchy (Austro-Hungarian) and lets face it, that plays a great deal as well

Anyway....as for the postcard, if it wasnt for it, i wouldnt have known that in Slovenia, there is a place called Borovnica. It wouldnt have caught my attention, unless in Macedonian, Borovnica actually means blueberry...so it seems kinda cute :)
I dont know about you, but i have a big problem regarding those berries in English...raspberry, blueberry, gooseberry, cranberry, blackberry...so many berries :) Thank God someone called the pomegranate a pomegranate...i couldnt have managed with another berry there : p

And those were the good old days of Yugoslavia...I miss them : /

Sort of an explanation...

I dont know why each time i say how 'these days i have more free time and more time to update things' it ends up being totally different. This time due to work...ive been cramped with it ever since 2nd January even though i was supposed to actually have a break till 21st...well, not having any kind of obligations till 21st is not also desirable, but being shot with deadlines and going to sleep at 8am each day is certainly not on the list of good things to do either....so from now on, i will keep my mouth shut instead of getting excited that i have the time for updates and eventually turns out totally otherwise
During this time i also received a plentiful of cards, BEAUTIFUL cards...some of the cards i thought got lost, had also arrived (2 months to Jamaica and Portugal is my newest record) and i also enriched my collection with new countries....but step by step....I just want to thank you all for your patience during this past week :)

Luxembourg

One of the absolutely great cards i received during these past two weeks is my first card from Luxembourg, sent by Ksenia who went there on a short trip...i was surprised, amazed and immensly grateful when i found it in my mailbox!!

Luxembourg is one of those places in the world which give me a small headache, since the city's capital is also Luxembourg, and its so small, that its hard for me to comprehend that its actually a coutnry. But i think thats what makes it appealing to me :)

Luxembourg is a small landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France and Germany. It has a population of under half a million people in an area of approximately 2,586 square km. It is a parliamentary representative democracy with a constitutional monarch, ruled by a Grand Duke. It is the world's only remaining sovereign Grand Duchy.
Its historic and strategic importance dates back to its founding as a Roman Era Fortress Site and Frankish count's Castle in the Early Middle Ages.
Luxembourg is a founding member of the European Union, NATO, the United Nations, Benelux and the Western European Union. The city of Luxembourg, the capital and largest city is the seat of several institutions and agencies of the European Union.

Thank you Ksenia for the thoughtfulness and the contribution to my collection...I absolutely love it! :)

Christian Valentinussen, Denmark

For quite a while I was worried for receiving no officials, and then i got 4...two at the end of the year, and other 2 during this one...so my ratio is again in my favour....29 : 31....and few days ago i was in the mood to send some so i decided to pull out some addresses....and of course, first got USA, then Finland...then Germany....there is no greater deja vu :)....So since they were already out, i decided to pull out another one...and it went to France...and while stuck with all the work, i said to myself, lets use the whole capacity of 6 im able to send right now...so i pulled two more...China and Italy...the Chinese one is worrying me....my previous one to there has been expired for a while now and the user is active....well in case you are from one of the following countries, who knows, maybe one of my cards will end up in YOUR mailbox ;-)

DK-5601

One of the officials i got is from Denmark, which makes it my first official from there! And its an unusal card, since its again definitely different from anything else i had received so far.
it shows a painting from a Danish painter called Christian Valentinussen (1903 - 1985).
I dont know how exactly this painting is called, but from what ive read, there are several of his works which relate with fishermen and the beach and the sea.... so my guessing its that its one of those, i just dont know which one....if anyone could provide me with an answer, id be more than glad

Knut, Germany

If I could, i would be delighted to keep this adorable little creature at home! Well, ok, on the card its little, once it's full grown it wont be that cute probably...but just look at him....he is so cute and playful...i wish i could at least hug him :)

When Knut was born (on Dec 5, 2006) he was no bigger than a snowball and unable to care for himself. His mother didn't know how to take care of Knut and rejected him. Knut would have died if it weren't for Thomas Dorflein, a zookeeper who nurtured Knut and gave him the love and attention he needed to thrive. The adorable little polar bear captured the world's attention, and now Knut is loved around

Unfortunately, i read that Thomas died of a heart attack last September...i really wonder how Knut (who is now 2 years old) reacted to that, having in mind how animals react to the death of the people who take care of them. They maybe are not conscious, but they surely can sense the bad things happening around them.

*sighs* I really wish i could hug him....he just seems so timid....

Thank you Yukiko for this adorable card!

Turkey

I got this card in a lottery i participated in....its been quite a while since i had won a lottery card (well, neither i had really taken part in many) so it was a nice surprise to win this one...what makes it special is coz it was a lottery for spreading happiness and good things around....i feel as if the card itself has some positive karma in it...

It gives the seven advice of the Mevlana....its both in Turkish and English. Mevlana is an Anatolian holy man who gave hope and inspiration to humanity. According to Mevlana, love is the only thing necessary to attain God. A plant or an animal may also love, but it is only man who has the capacity to love with his body, mind, thoughts and memory.

here are his seven advice:
- In generosity and helping others, be like a river
- In compassion and grace be like the sun
- In concealing others faults be like the night
- In anger and fury, be like the dead
- In modesty and humility, be like the Earth
- In tolerance be like sea
- Either exist as you are or be as you look

I know that these kind of thoughts always trigger my never-ending-analyzing mind, but if i do that now, its definitely gonna be an endless post :)

Bali, Indonesia

A really tranquil scene showing the peaceful palm-fringed lagoon at Candidasa

Located 85 km north-east of the airport, on the east coast, Candidasa offers a good base for exploring east Bali. A low key, laid back place close to cultural treasures like Pura Besakih and Tenganan Village - a unique village belonging to the original surviving Bali Aga aboriginal communities. It has lots of rustic charm.
 

Merry Christmas

Due to an unpredicted health condition, i havent been able to make updates here for the past 2 days...but i hope to get better and get back on track from tomorrow.

But i didnt want to miss the opportunity and wish a Merry Christmas to all those people who, like me, celebrate it today, the 7th of January. I hope its a great day for you, spent with your loved ones in a nice cosy atmosphere....may all of you be blessed with warmth and happiness in your hearts!

ЧЕСТИТ БОЖИЌ!

ЧЕСТИТ БОЖИЋ!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

something from my own home town this winter...in particular, the city square

the images here belong to their respective authors:

http://www.panoramio.com/user/1241158

http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/articles/2007/12/24/reportage-01

and here is a Children Christmas Song in Macedonian for you ;-)

Christmas Song

Christmas Cards, part 2

Ok, i cant make a regular update today, but i still needed to post something...for several reasons :)

First of all today something amazing happened and i have to share it with you...ok, i admit i have to brag with it as well, but i think that if you people dont understand the feeling that all those non-postcard collectors, certainly wont :)
Today being Sunday is a no mail day (i know that in many countries there is no mail on Saturdays as well...luckily, we dont fall into that group :))
Anyway, being a Sunday, the last thing i expected was to have mail...but my dear postman went against all odds and made me feel delirious! He brought me mail on a Sunday!! LOTS of great mail!!!! I absolutely adore him for this!! He is the greatest postman ever!!! To even add to it, there is soooo much snow outside that you can barely walk, but he worked today and brought me mail!! Yay yay yay yay!!! Ive been feeling soooo high all day long coz of that!! And it wasnt just mail...it was 15 postcards and 3 Christmas cards!! An absolute delight!!! I am so enormously thankful to him...even though its his job actually, im still sooo thankful for coming today...I just feel sorry that he had to go through such weather conditions...i think that it contributes a lot to the overall significance this has for me!! Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank YOU!!!!  My first mail in 2009 comes in such a great and totally unexpected way!
I truly wish that something like this or at least something similar happens to you as well...the feeling is one of a kind....and my postman is one of a kind :)))

Well, i know that i said that if i receive some additional Christmas cards i will add them to the original post...but now i find it somewhat inappropriate....coz frankly, what are the odds that you actually go to the post and see if there is something new...plus, since i want to again commemorate the enormous amount of snow we have outside, these cards just feel perfect for it, instead of posting a card which isnt truly eligible to be posted :)

So here are the 3 Christmas Cards I received today....

 

from Tanja in Germany

  

from Przemek in Poland

  

from Sietse in The Netherlands

and, of course, stamps :)

Spain

If several days ago i told you that we had snow, than what we have today cant be compared to it one bit :) Everything is absolutely covered in snow, its all white and beautiful...aaaannd, icy and slippery :)) But it is  lovely indeed, and it keeps snowing and snowing......the only thing i kept wondering today is whether my postman worked at all or no....the conditions werent really in his favour, and i would feel sorry if he had to go out in a weather like this (even though thats his job in the first place)....but so far, i have had no mail this year and i really hoped i would get some today...but nope :(
Luckily i have a great pile of postcards in stock, otherwise i would have nothing to post in here...but im well equipped i must say :P
I hope ill have some mail on Monday....it would be disappointing if i dont :)
And since the weather conditions are as they are, its a great reason to stay at home and have a nice quiet evening....and make an update :)

well, my first card to post today is my Christmas gift from dear Marta...along with the Christmas card she had sent me, she included this Spanish flag card coz she knows how nuts I am about them...and she got one for me when she had gone to Spain....wanna try and guess my reaction when i saw it? :)))

The Spanish flag has suffered various changes over its history. Under Franco's dictatorship the flag lost the colour mauve appearing on the Republican flag, and incorporated two important symbols, the eagle and the shield of the Catholic monarchy.

In 1977, two years after Franco's death, the eagle was slightly modified, and in 1981 it would disappear completely, leaving the current red/yellow/red with crowned arms.
The new Spanish flag has three horizontal bands of red (top), yellow (double width) and red, with the national coat of arms on the hoist side of the yellow band. The shield includes the royal seal, which is flanked by two crowned pillars (the Pillars of Hercules) bearing the inscription Plus Ultra. 
According to Spanish legislation, the height of the coat of arms should measure two fifths of the flag's width (i.e. hoist), and should appear in the middle of the yellow stripe. The flag's usual proportions are a length measuring three halves its width, in which case the distance from the hoist of the shield's vertical axis should be half the flag's width. In other instances (should the flag be either shorter in length or square) the coat of arms should appear in the centre.

Marta, do you have the slightest idea how happy you made me? :))

Salvador, Brazil

Here is another one of my weaknesses....a lighthouse....an absolutely beautiful card with a lighthouse...

This is the Barra's Lighthouse by night...there is a funny thing related to this swap...when i was looking thru the cards, some of them said 'noite'....i dont know by which logic, i thought it meant 'not available'...and i was like, oh pity, its so beautiful...eventually turned out that 'noite' meant 'night'....i definitely shouldnt brag with my skills in Portuguese :P

The Lighthouse in Barra is a nice building at one of the ends of the bay of Bahia. Inside the lighthouse there is a museum. In front of the lighthouse, locals do Capoeira demonstrations. You can take pictures of them, as long as you give a tip. If your tip is not big enough they may react violently. Be warned.

well, you are warned....all that it takes that you pack your bags and go to Brazil....dont forget to send me a postcard ;)

Air Mail Labels

Definitely deserves the title of a cool card :)

I got this one in a tag...i was so happy when i was told they will send it to me :)
It shows air mail labels from many places in the world....ive analyzed them all, and i think that so far i had received letters/postcards with 10 of these labels...which aint much honestly...i hope that it will change in the future.
Btw...there is no Macedonian air-mail label on the card....that shows how 'wide spreaded' snail mail is here....

Thank You Adrianne!!!

Nakhon Si Thamarat, Thailand

My last card for today is another Christmas present, this time from dear Relie in Singapore (if it wasnt for her, the GTKY Christmas Round Flamingo wouldnt have existed in the first place ;-)) Which reminds me that another thing is being organized at the GTKY but im not telling you what yet...i just need to start things IN time this time....

Relie went to Thailand for a couple of days and from there she brough this card and included it along with the Christmas one

Wat Phra Mahathat is the most important temple of Nakhon Si Thammarat and southern Thailand. It was constructed at the time of the founding of the town, and contains a tooth relic of Buddha. The 78 m high chedi is surrounded by 173 smaller ones. While the chedi is now in Sri Lankan style, it is said to be built on top of an earlier Srivijaya style chedi

Thank you Relie :)))

GTKY Christmas Cards

Hello Hello Hello! For the first time this year :)
Hope you have had a nice New Year's eve and that this year had a great start....mine was nice, just that it seems that i cant get enough sleep in general :)
Do you people make New Year Resolutions? I try not to, but ive made some this year, and i hope ill have the strength to stick up to them...and if you made resolutions as well, im wishing you all the necessary strength in the world so you keep up with them...*fingers crossed* :)

Well, enough chit-chat, lets show some stuff here...as its most convenient, i think, this is the time to show Christmas related stuff, no? So thats why todays posts will be all Christmas related

The first one is dedicated to the Christmas cards received through the GTKY thread....we arranged there with the ladies a nice Christmas Flamingo :) We were supposed to send each other Christmas cards, but with some rules applied...the cards HAD to be handmade and they had to have a quote/poem inside...so even though im totally anti-artistic, i decided to join, coz i knew if i didnt i would regret it...and im more than pleased to have done so....maybe my art skills suck, but what mattered eventually is the friendship...as we say, the cards were made with love, friendship, glue and paper :) So its the thought that counts....and here is what my thoughtful friends sent to me (im still waiting for the last one to arrive, and once it does, ill edit the post and post it here...)
No comments this time....i think the cards feel too personal and comments may just ruin the moment this time...so just feel the thoughtfulness and the friendship that comes along with them :)

The cards are posted in order they had been received...

from Marta in Portugal

from Essi in Finland

from Katy in Estonia

from Sally in New Zealand

from Valerie in France

from Charlotte in UK

from Carol in USA

from Ula in Poland

from Relie in Singapore
these are actually two Christmas cards, so i posted both of them

from Wendy in Jamaica

Enormous thanks my friends! Its been a pleasure to take part in this and share the Christmas spirit with you :)

*Hugs to you all*