Postcard from Germany

I had planned to write an essay about why postcrossing.com is so incredibly cool.  Then I would post this essay before I got my first postcard.  But life intervened and my first postcard has arrived.  So here is the short version of why postcrossing.com is so incredibly cool.

You go to postcrossing.com and you register by picking a username, giving the site your address and perhaps uploading a picture.  Then you tell the site that you want to send a postcard. The site kicks out an address from somewhere in the world and also gives you a code to put on your postcard.  You read the profile, pick out a postcard you think the person would like, write, address, stamp and add the code.  Then you mail it and wait.  Because the waiting is the hardest part, Postcrossing lets you send up to five postcards at a time.  When the person receives your postcard, they will upload your code and add a quick message to you via the site.  This will be delivered by a cheery email that says "Hurray!  Your postcard has been received." Then, the site puts you next on the list to receive a postcard from a random person somewhere on the globe.

It's the best combination of  postal service mail and email/website I've ever seen.

Here's my first card, from the Black Forest region of Germany.

The best part was getting it.  The second best part was that Matt read it aloud to me in German-accented English.

Should you want to participate in this wonderful invention, just go to postcrossing.com.  And then eagerly await as your mail becomes so much more exiting.