Have you heard of Postcrossing?

I hadn't heard of Postcrossing until a month ago, when my niece Rachel said she and her six-year-old daughter, Violet, are Postcrossers, and she wondered if I might like to be, too. (Rachel and Violet have a world map to which they add pins when they receive new post cards.)

I did, and I am. I registered immediately.

Postcrossing is a free project, except for the cost of postcards and stamps.

Once registered, you simply request the name and address of a participant, to whom you will send a card.

I've sent seven "official" and one "unofficial" postcards so far. The unofficial one went out this morning to a young man, Milad, in Baghdad. He'd come across my name on the site and wrote to ask if I'd send a postcard to him from Maine, preferably a card with a map of Maine or of our capital building, or something of that sort. It's OK to make direct swaps like this, and I was happy to fill Milad's request, but I plan to do most of my swaps through official requests to the site.

My cards have been sent to Belarus, Germany, China, Russia, the Netherlands, Lithuania and Finland. I sent the Portland Head Light card below to Tatiana in Belarus this morning.

I've received three post cards to date, from Belgium, the Netherlands, and Belarus. Maartje in the Netherlands read on my profile that I like to knit, so she thoughtfully chose the card at left for me.

The ostriche card is the one I received today, from  Rebecca in Belgium. She's a second-year teacher there, mentioning on her card that she hopes the job gets easier. I e-mailed her a thank-you and assured her the first two years of teaching are, by far, the most difficult.

Jurgita in Lithuania mentioned on her profile that she likes vintage cards, pictures of mothers and children, etc. When Ken and I went to Montsweag Flea Market a few weeks ago, I found just the card for her: an early 1900's card depicting a mother giving a baby a bath in a basin. Luckily, the card had not been written on, so I purchased it and sent it to Jurgita.

To visit the Postcrossing site, go here.

To view my profile at the site, go here.

To learn more about Postcrossings and its over 330,000 participants, go here.

I think this project is a wonderful way to meet new people worldwide, and to reaffirm what fine folks the vast majority of us are!