Suriname

hmm...hmmm hmmm hmm...hm hm....and i could literally go humming all day long....though i think it would be smarter and more effective if i get down to write something...not in the right-est mood for it, but then again...ive already been absent way too often...and i dont have the heart to keep some great cards in the veil of darkness...and i just need to ramble, whatever it could be....i was considering of going back to my old so-called personal blog, but i dont think id do it out of several reasons...first, i dont have the time to deal with two blogs...second, i dont really feel comfortable with having it...for some reason, the overall mental structure of my being feels better when just throwing in bits and pieces of personal stuff every now and then, instead of just getting my real state of mind totally undressed in public.....and yeah, here comes the card

I mean, its a Suriname card....posted from Suriname itself...so i really had to post it....i dont get these on daily basis (well, lately i dont get any kind of mail on daily basis...moreover, i have received mail only once this week, and its only Saturday left with the chances to *rescue me*)..
And apart from being a Suriname card, its also a map card!! So i should be really content :D

and i must admit that before postcrossing, this was one of those countries I wasnt really aware where on this planet they exactly were....speaking of which, i want to buy myself some huge wall world-map....i think im gonna be gazing at it and exploring it 24/7...

few lines from the back of the card:

Geographical size: 165,000 km²
Estimated Population: 490,000
Capital: Paramaribo
Suriname is divided into 10 districts
Official Language: Dutch
Independence Day: 25 November, 1975

there is another interesting fact i want to share with you regarding this card....there are 4 small pictures on it, where on one you can see the Suriname flag...thats a flag formation by school kids 4 years ago on Independence Square, celebrating 30 years of independency...well, the sender of this card had also taken part in forming this flag back in 1975, and she had been wearing red.
thats rather cool :)

there are 4 stamps on the card, all birds related.
the three small ones are from 2008, coming from a set of 8 stamps. The first one shows the Opal-rumped Tanager, the one next to it- the Ringed Kingfisher, while the one on the bottom, below the big stamp, shows the White-necked Jacobin.
As for the bigger stamp...its from a set of 3, issued in 1994...or re-issued, im not quite sure...

Mozart Museum, Austria

Should be working actually instead of babbling here...thats a result of my never-ending procrastination...but then again, its Friday night....how can i feel in a working mood on Friday night?! (excuses excuses...) But if its a Friday night, shouldnt i just move my butt and go out? Yeah I should...but im too lazy to do that, and its too cold outside, and i just dont feel like it...as usual...

And here comes a great card...or at least i love it a lot....it shows the Mozart Museum in Mozart's Birth House and you can see the Hammerklavier made in about 1780....just to make it clear, Hammerklavier is the German word for 'piano'.
For some reason i love cards showing certain kind of people who have had their significance throughout the history....problem is, i cant make some exact distinction about what kind of people i like to see on my cards...but so far, ive been receiving really nice ones :)))

my first Mozart encounters was when i was very little actually...i had those small game-devices...i dont know whats the exact name in English, but there were all sorts of different ones, where you could play all sorts of sports or some platform games...of course, they were very simple ones, and you had those 'joystick buttons' to move through the screen...we are talking about devices you could hold in your hands, so no plugging in the tv or pc or so...anyways, on one of those, which was about playing basketball, there were two tunes while playing and one of them was from Mozart.....i think the other one was from Betthoven, not really sure...too bad i dont have those now, otherwise i would have checked...but there, thats when i started developing some sort of affection towards classical music...how the rest of my musical taste developed is another story, but i know my mum aint happy about it at all, and often said how what i listen to aint music....

and here is something for you to enjoy...feels quite appropriate for such cold nights...

the stamp is from 2007 from a set of 5, showing, flowers, of course :)

Utah, USA

My last card for today comes as an official...and speaking of them, im really annoyed with it, coz all my cards are either stuck travelling or go expired...or end up with people who just decide to stop logging in AFTER i get their address.....urghhhhhhhhh

US-530683

has a great text on the back, so im gonna use it, of course :)

Panorama Point

Capitol Reef, located in the slickrock country of southern Utah, takes its name from pioneers who saw the imposing rock ridge as a travel barrier, similar to an ocean reef. The reef is capped with golden sandstone domes, one of which resembles the U.S Capitol Dome. Capitol Reef is part of the Waterpocket Fold, a narrow, 100-mile-long rock formation that is one of the largest monoclines in North America's surface. Many rounded depressions pockmark the Fold; these "pockets" hold life-giving water after a storm, hence the Waterpocket Fold. A short walk to Panorama Point yields a breathtaking view of Capitol Reef.

This actually a huge panoramic card, but unfortunately, i dont think you are able to notice that from here

familiar stamp...

Alles Wird Gut

It was quite hard to pick the right card to start this update....in general, i choose cards from some rare countries, but this time i had to sort of put that behind and make the intro into some more appropriate way....and mainly, since ive again been absent for a rather while, i needed something like a mood introduction, since i didnt just feel like coming here and go the regular way...coz as usual, life isnt going the regular way and there has been so much happening lately and im again in my ups and down swing of moods...though, to be honest, few days ago i felt way much worse...now i feel sort of numb and rather indifferent, yet with way too much weighing on my mind....to say im depressed wont actually do....how i REALLY feel is something neither I personally have managed to decipher...

and i do feel like this mouse here....sort of trapped and helpless and just waiting for the cat to smash its paw over me, but first it has to have its tease-time, of course...you wanna ask how was Germany?? Germany was good...tiring, but good....and before you manage to ask, let me disappoint you...no postcards.....i simply had no time to write them and mail them....i got some, and just addressed a few, but thats all i had managed....maybe next time when i go on a scenic trip to Germany I WILL make it up....but this time that just couldnt happen....so, sorry....
Apart from that, everything regarding Germany will be told along with the cards....when the time will come....
I honestly dont wanna think much about Germany right now...or all those things and people related to it and to the things that happened between September and this tour...coz i hate it that its over...coz i miss everything about these past 3 months...coz i hate being back where I am, even though i knew it was inevitable to happen....coz right now I feel as if these past 3 months were nothing but a nice dream....coz for once i found myself in certain aspects, and now i feel lost again on the road to nowhere....

As the card says....Alles Wird Gut....I really really hope so....coz i really want to keep doing what ive been doing these past 3 months...coz i really like to be among those people...coz i really like the nature of the work and the dynamic tempo of life....coz thats just....well....me.....and yeah, im complaining again, i know....sorry

Banff National Park, Canada

A card that was waiting for me in the mailbox when i came back home.....and its one of those cards that make me go jump of joy!

You know how much i just love trains but these old steam locomotives have a special touch...they are just so stylish and beautiful....i mean, nowadays you have all those modern fast trains...but they dont come even close to these old-fashioned ones...
Funny thing about this card is that for a couple of days i was convinced it was called "The Tempest" and i was wondering if it was some Shakespeare etimology....then when i read better, it said "The Tempress"....until i finally figured out it was "The Empress"....i really need to see my optician...
The CP 2816 is a class H1b Hudson type locomotive built by Montreal Locomotive Works in December 1930. Initially the locomotive ran westward out of Winnipeg to Calgary and eastward to Fort William, Ontario (now part of Thunder Bay). Locomotive 2816 then moved into service on the Windsor-to-Quebec City corridor. Its last assignment was at the front of a Montreal-Rigaud commuter train, making its final revenue run on May 26, 1960. Having logged more than two million miles in active service, 2816's fires were extinguished.

Today, after a complete three-year rebuild, 2816 is restored to the original specifications with external details from the 1940/50s.

I dedicate this post to my dad, who is in hospital right now...i dont know if he had seen this card, but im 100% convinced he would love it...I also got him a train calendar and 3 railway-related DVD's from Germany...i hope once he comes home and has the chance to watch them, he would like them as well.

And I just wanna say the greatest thanks to Glenn for this splendid surprise....from both my dad and myself...its one card which makes two people VERY happy...

wohohohh, and a bunch of lovely stamps...you've already seen the ladybug one, issued in 2007.
Then, the stamp in the top right corner is of a very recent issue, October 19th to be more precise, called Lest We Forget, and i take the freedom to steal Glenn's post about this...being Canadian, i think you cant have a more appropriate person to steal information from. Great stamp!
The one next to it dates from September this year, and its called Mental Health. I wonder what kind of an image they would get if they happen to screen my brain some day....this stamp was issued in order to make the mental illness less of a taboo and something people should speak more freely about. The stamp, which features natural scenery flowing through the outline of a human figure, was designed by Vancouver’s Signals Design Group. A tree was chosen as the stamp’s central element because it symbolizes health, growth and maturity, all attainable for people affected by mental illness. The shape of the tree refers subtly to the human brain, while the path progresses towards better health and a fulfilled life.....amazing what kind of a story a stamp can bear.
The stamp next to it, the one with the egg, is one more of the Road Attraction series, issued in July this year, while the small stamp next to the lady bug...well, im not sure about this one...if i could read right, it is said to be issued in 1999...but then again, you know i can read things wrongly...and i couldnt really find some information about it, so i dont feel competent to give any further info...

Glenn, THANK YOU!!

Sweden

Amazing and unique map card...though im still trying to figure out the real meaning behind the scenes

Does Sweden have some aspirations towards the US? Want to conquer it? Or is it just because many people from Sweden had emigrated to the US back in 1800's and the early 1900's....the promised land...either way, i love the card, and im not really familiar with the US-Sweden current affairs, so  i cant get some other idea what this card could represent...and you know what they say....Silence is Golden...so sometimes its better not to speak, then just to speak in order to say something...:)

and as you can see, this card first paid a visit to Indonesia, and then came to me...and i still dont know whats the relation between Macedonia and Indonesia, since this is the 2nd time that a card is missent to Indonesia...
There are two nice stamps on the card...actually, as with the Swedish cards, the Swedish stamps are a real rarity in my collection....the one on the left is from 2008, coming from a set of two, commemorating one of the greatest Swedish figures, Ingmar Bergman. On the other stamp you can see the Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf, issued in 2005.

South Africa

The last card today comes from South Africa....showing something called an "Informal Settlement"

This informal settlement is also known as the "township" and is said to be a side of South Africa that tourists arent told about. These houses are usually made of tin and usually consist of one room and are very small. And as you can see, its a very crowded settlment as well.
Reminds me a lot of the gypsy settlements we have here, where some are located very near to where I live...ok, many of them are made of stone, but they still dont have the basic conditions for living, and are small and are not protected against the rain or the strong winds...but these settlements here are something that you will have to see, coz wherever you need to go, the chances that you have to pass by one are rather big.

this stamp comes from a set of 4, issued in July this year, in a series called Gemstones of South Africa, and here is the Sugilite...one characteristic about these stamps is their Airmail Postcard Rate...

thanks everyone for still reading and dropping by!

Regensburg, Germany

Well, despite everyting, obligations have prevailed lately, and on top of that, travel preparations as well. Some of you already know, others dont....but in couple of hours ill be on the plane on my way to Germany....hence this card first today :)

Well, Regensburg is one of the potential places ill be at..the other is Nurnberg and maybe Amberg, but i have no cards of those, so Regensburg seemed most convenient for today. I was wondering if i should post it now or after i come back (in a week), but then again, once i come back i will hopefully get a number of German cards and make posts with my REAL experiences and views of those places...hopefully...
The trip to Germany is work related so i dont know how much time i will have to wander around, and as well buy and send postcards...so I apologize in advance if you are expecting one and dont get it...but i really cant plan that issue from this point at the moment.
Hmmm....the problem is, right now i feel reluctant about going...why...i dont know....but i dont have that "oh wow, im going to Germany" feeling....i even feel like just dropping out of it...i havent even packed completely yet...coz i hate packing...and i always end up taking a bunch of stuff which once i arrive at the final destination, i realize i cant match them with one another....so it means that more than half of those clothes, i cant wear them...another thing i hate about this is that once this is over, this entire project would be over, meaning i will have time to idle...and thing is, even though its tiring and all, i totally love this kind of a job, in so many aspects..its like i have finally found myself at least in one of the fields of life...there will be upcoming projects as well, but i hope they will be of this kind, where you are on the go most of the time..i wouldnt be able to stand to be locked at an office from 9-5 right now...*sigh*...plus there are certain other things related to all this about which sorry but i dont wanna speak in public..
Anyways....hopefully i will have a nice time and get lots of pictures and postcards and mugs and chocolate and I really hope i will find a Virgin store and make a crazy-spree there....you know how it is with me...i would starve if necessarym but i WILL get all those original CD's and DVD's i want to have (in case you didnt know, we have no Virgin Record Store here...and the music shops we have are first of all, poorly equipped, second, due to the prices, they have stopped purchasing original music stuff...so in simple terms, you cant get them here...
I also hope to finally have a Starbucks coffee (yeah, we dont have Starbucks here either....and right now you are probably wondering, where the hell am I living)....
Well, i just hope i will be able to return with all those stuff....one thing i also hate when travelling by plane is that luggage limit....i mean, 20kg....im pretty sure im able to make a luggage weigh twice than that :)

Wish me a safe trip and ill see you soon!

Bermuda

Well, being that i wanted to make just a commemoration post about my trip to Germany, i should have gone and pack right now...but then again, ive been a really lousy poster lately, and i had received such a bunch of great cards, that i just had to include a few more for today..

and this one comes directly from the sunny Bermuda....sent to me by one of my colleagues from University who is working there right now! Yeah, i asked her if postcards can be found in Bermuda, but of course, that was a *read between the lines* request of *please, oh please send me a written and stamped Bermuda postcard*....of course, she knew what i wanted and she was the kindest one and sent me a postccard...and such a lovely one, that it even has a lighthouse on it!!!
I often think of going and working abroad...or at least have a work like the one right now which doesnt let me be home so much...or in other words, which keeps me distracted from the everyday things that bother me and there are just so many of them...i often dont even know what i want anymore (typical women's answer)....on the other hand i dont know if id like to go to work so far away....i think i have probably mentioned it already, but id like to be somewhere within a bus/train return distance...coz its cheaper...and even if i had to get a plane from somewhere within Europe, its much cheaper than an overseas ticket....but now with the visa abolishment, maybe these things would be easier to handle...who knows....

 

the stamp is from a series of 4 issued in 2008 called Bermudan Greetings.

Thank you Vaska soooo sooo much for this card! :)

Michigan, USA

Not so long ago Rafal re-opened my favourite Slavic RR....and after wondering a while, i decided to take part in the Big Group which ended up with 26 participants, meaning I had to send out 25 cards...at first i was like, oh, ill do that in a jiffy...but then you know, work, life, blah blah, and so far i had sent out half of those cards, and received more or less the same..so i hopefully will send out the rest once i come back...yet, not once i had regreted for taking part in this :)

and this lovely card comes from my dear dear Katie, who said that she had been saving this card for someone special...i think i neednt say more...im just so grateful to have met such lovely people out there who on top of that, DO have an understanding for my laziness, busyness, procrastination, and dont mind if it takes me months to reply to their letters...i dont say im happy with the fact it takes me so long, but its nice when certain people you care to be in touch with, wont just turn their back and say, oh if you cant write to me immediately/often...then i think its pointless to be pen-pals. I love those people!

There is a small text on the back, but im not sure i can convey it accurately since certain bits of it are covered with a lovely long stamp.

So, ill just try to write what i can understand...if something is wrong or makes no sense...well, dont shoot the messenger :)

Michigan has 3,100 miles of shores bordering on four of five Great Lakes....it has over 100 lighthouses, more than any other state..

this is the first time i have actually paid attention to what is Michigan surrounded with actually...and looks more like some island in the middle of the ocean than a US state...

 

you've seen the American Clock stamp more than once so far...but that other longish stamp (well, its actually two separate stamps that fit into one another like a jigsaw)..but even though i have gone through the USPS site bunch of times, i couldnt find info on that one...i dont know if im blind (i know im shortsighted)..but i just COULDNT see this stamp....Katie...Chris..Glenn...anyone...help!

Salvador, Brazil

Well, lets end today with one Brazilian card.....

In my last update i talked about Chania and told you that the houses and the image of them in general reminds me of some Chilean and Brazilian cards....well, this is one of the Brazilian places i had in mind....mainly due to the colour of the buildings probably...they just both seem to have those tones of blue and red and orange...and reflect against the same light and same sky...
This is actually Pelourinho which is the historical central part of Salvador, and in translation, Pelourinho means "pillory"...it is renowned for its Portuguese colonial architecture with historical monuments dating from the 17th through the 19th centuries and has been declared a UNESCO whs in 1985....

hmm...well, i really need to go and finish packing and all the other preparations...i dont have that much time left actually.
Stay well, and see you soon! :)

Palmyra, Syria

hey everyone....seems like lately ive got into the non-posting mode..as usual i could bring up a bunch of excuses..but hopefully, from now on, thing will improve at least a bit...not coz i have extra free time...but simply coz FINALLY i got a lap top, and FINALLY i can say goodbye to all the struggle and fuss i had to encounter by a simple opening of a Word Doc. Now all the scanning and uploading of cards feels like working at the speed of light...it even feels weird coz im so much not used to it...
Of course...work has been consuming most of my time lately, but i dont want to complain...even though im tired and all, i dont honestly mind it....i started making this update two days ago, but due to all those other obligations i had to postpone it till now..i still have stuff to do, but i just had the urge to move from the dead point here...coz if i dont, i never know when i will have the chance for the next update...esp. since next week i may not be able to do it at all...eventually, ill tell you why :)

And as always when i disappear like this, i try to make it up by giving you a nice treat with some not so every day card...and for today ive chosen Syria...and not only its a rare country and first one in my collection from there, but its also written and stamped and its even a UNESCO :)))

This is the Palmyrian Theatre in Palmyra....it was used for wrestling ceremonies with wild animal and it has 13 sitting steps....hmmm, i wonder if in Syria they consider number 13 unlucky as well or no...

This theatre is located in an oasis so it was an important stop for caravans of traders and was known for its palm trees.

Perfect card!

 

All I know about these two stamps is that they were issued this year....and if im not mistaken, its showing Bashar al-Assad, the President of the Syrian Arab Republic...

Chania, Greece

An amazing card that came as a real surpise from my dear Anastasia...and funny thing is, as I already told you, i started this update two days ago and had chosen the cards to post, and today, i received another card from Chania, and this time it was an official one! And my second Greek official card...but ill get to that issue when ill show you cards :)

This picture has probably been photoshopped...but its still an amazing one! I just really love the colours, i love the houses and how the sun reflects against them...i love the colours of the sky, the water, the mountains....
Anastasia says that Chania is the most beautiful town in Crete...have never been there, but i wont object at all..compared to Athens or even worse, Thessaloniki, this town seems to be lovely! And no offence, but i dont like concrete jungles like Thessaloniki is..or Skopje...so no political feelings involved here...just to avoid misunderstandings...
Chania is a mix of Venetian, Turkish and Greek culture On the card you can see the Venetian harbour and the old town.
Reminds me actually of some old quarters of towns in Brazil or Chile...

Anasty! You know im more than thankful for all the amazing Greek cards you had sent me! You are just great! :)

Texas, USA

A new addition to my US map card collection and it comes as an official :)

US-472382

Here are the usual facts from the back of the card that come along with every US map card of the states.

State Bird: Mockingbird
State Flower: Bluebonnet
State Tree: Pecan
Capital: Austin
Motto: Friendship
Statehood: Dec. 29, 1845 (28th State admitted)

Well, not many facts given...hope you wont mind if i just ramble a bit

You know what happened to me this morning....i woke up out of nowhere, all in panic that i have overslept...then i took a look at the time and saw that it was around 6:30am...meaning i was ok...and then after a few seconds i said to myself..hey, why the hell do you panic, it Saturday today, and i went back to sleep, trying to make the schedule for the day and all...and as i was doing that i was also wondering how could it be Saturday, since I couldnt recall things i have been doing the week before...so for quite some time i was lying in bed, negotiating with myself, which day the hell is it today...somehow i was convinced it was Saturday, but then on the other hand, there was a small voice inside of me telling me that if i keep thinking like that i will REALLY oversleep and be late and all...and yeah, can you imagine how shocking it was to find out that its actually Tuesday =|

there are 3 nice stamps on the card. The one on the left is the 3-cent "make up rate" stamp which was first issued in June 2002 and features a star highlighted in red, white and blue. The middle stamp is a self-adhesive stamp issued in a set of 10 stamps in 2008 representing Tropicl Fruits, and you see here the Papaya. The stamp on the right is another one from 2009, a definitive stamp which features a bottlenose dolphin leaping from the water.

Taiwan

My last card for today is another official one, coming from Taiwan, but my decision to show it was because it actually shows a train and i just wanted to ramble in a few words about my last train ride...

TW-80508

Some of you may know that the weekend that just passed but the one before that, i was on a one day trip to Belgrade (as all my Belgrade trips end up to be), and as usual, i took the train to go back home. I think that if i had to spend all my nights sleeping on a train (in the bed wagoon of course)  I wouldnt mind one thing. I just love the solitude of the cabin, and then just hearing and feeling the sound of the train wheels...its nice to be sleeping while you are actually moving like that...feels like someone is singing you a lullaby :P

But really...its some specific, one of a kind feeling...esp coz outside it was extremely cold and on the inside it was nice and warm...and then you wake up, and open your eyes around dawn and you see mountains and trees moving in front of you...the only thing i dont like are the moments when borders approach...and when going from Belgrade to Skopje the border time is around 6am...so not the most convenient one, but i think i can neglect that fact and enjoy all the rest.

And if you are asking me about the train on the card...I honestly have NO idea where in Taiwan is this, its not even stated on the card...so its just some train...out there...in Taiwan

 

need to find some adequate Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese etc stamp sites written in English...otherwise i feel really ignorant...wanna guess why?