Greetings from Santa Claus!

Hello!

Today, I am going to share some letters from Santa with you!
Enjoy them:)

Have you ever dreamed of Santa entering your house from the roof and leaving presents in the Christmas stocking hanging beside your bed?

Sources: Google

Have you ever heard that Santa Claus will make lists of children throughout the world and will categorize them due to their behaviors?

Have you ever hoped to write to Santa Claus, telling him that you have been a good child throughout the whole year and that the gifts you want to receive from him?

To be honest, I did. 
I did write to Santa, and he wrote back!

This is the very first letter I received from Santa.

I was in elementary school then. 
At that time, I had never sent a letter to a foreign country.
Writing to Santa is the first time I write a letter. Since then, I have always been enjoying writing any kind of cards and letters.

I remembered I wrote about how well I did on my assignments and my new year resolution (I guess it was about hoping to lose weight or something else lol.)

Then he wrote back! My teacher told me I was so lucky since Santa wouldn't leave a message on each letter, Most of the time, they would only write your name at the beginning of the letter and sign at the bottom. 

Although the message is quite brief, but for me, it is quite encouraging. I cherish it a lot since this is the very first and a warm letter I received almost ten years ago.

During high school, due to the boring school work, I decided to write to Santa again since receiving letters (and postcards)always brought me joy!

Thus, against my mom's will (she asked me to focus on my studies, but I refused. However, she was even happier than me when seeing these letters lol.) I wrote to six Santa in different countries. 😂😂


[Germany] 
I think this is the most beautiful one among the six letters I received.

The envelope is so beautiful. Although Santa didn't leave any message, he wrote my name and the address by himself! 

Besides the letter, there are also three postcards inside the envelope. 

[France]

The envelope is adorable!

Santa there is very considerate. He knows that I don't understand French, so there is also a translation of the letter. XD

[Norway]

I wrote to Santa in Norway also, a country I really want to visit.

The postcard is from Drobak, a small town near Oslo,（奧斯陸）the capital of Norway.

[Hong Kong]

Even until now, I am still wondering why I wrote to Santa in Hong Kong....

Besides, the time I sent the letter was when the Umbrella Revolution occurred in Hong Kong. I thought I would never received any letter from Santa there.

However, he wrote back!!(though with extremely brief message)

[Austria]

There are no any hand-written message from Austria, including the address. However, besides a letter, I received a story book and a sticker. 

Santa in Austria is not as considerate as the one in France though.

There isn't any translation, so I never figure out what the story book is about. (I guess it is written in German....I guess lol)

[Canada]

This is the second time I wrote to Santa in Canada!

There is also a hand-written message from Santa at the bottom of the letter! But it is a little difficult to understand what he wrote. lol

In fact, I also wrote to Santa in Greenland(格陵蘭), but I didn't receive a letter :(

Thanks for spending your precious time reading my blog!

Are you also interested in writing to Santa?

I decide to write to Santa again this Christmas!

Any comment is very welcome, so feel free to leave messages below:) 

Greetings from Russia!

Hello!

Today, I am going to share the postcards I received from Russia through Postcrossing with you!
I will also introduce some of the stories I explore on the postcards!
Enjoy them:)


[Russia?]

What comes to your mind at the moment when you hear the country "Russia"?
Siberia? Moscow? extremely cold in winter? or plenty of natural gas?

(Sources:Google)

Russia is the largest country in the world, which is gifted with plenty of natural resources such as coal and natural gas.

It has over 144 million people. With such a heavy population, it is easy to guess its postcard-sending ranking in Postcrossing. It ranks second among all the other countries. As a result, I always receive postcards from Russia!

I will briefly divide the types of postcards into three different kinds: postcards from Moscow, postcards from St. Petersburg, and postcards about art.

[Moscow]

Moscow, the largest city on the European continent, is the capital of Russia. Moscow plays a crucial role in the Russian history. It is also the capital of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, the main religion in Russia.

These are two of the postcards I received from Moscow. 

It is apparent that most of the churches in Russia share a similarity, that is, the cupola. It is said that the cupola symbolizes the sky.

This is the St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow. It is now a museum, and it is a very famous landmark in Russia. Tourists will definitely take a photo in front of it!

Perhaps it is a little bit difficult to recognize it from this postcard. It looks like this during daytime.

(sources: Google)

[Saint Petersburg]

St. Petersburg is the second largest city, as well as the cultural capital in Russia. It is built by Peter the Great in 1703, and it has been the capital of the Russian Empire for more than two hundreds years during the 18 century.

This is a postcard of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. 

The Winter Palace was built by Peter the Great in 1703. It was the residence of the Russian monarchs from the 18 to 20 centuries.

Nowadays, it has become a world known museum (Hermitage Museum) which attracts over 3.5 million people annually.

[Art]

I received several postcards which are about the history and arts in Russia.

Seeing from left to right, the first one is called "Young Lady's Morning," by F. Fan Miris (1635-1681).

In fact, the original postcard didn't have an English translation of the painting. Fortunately, a kind mother wrote the translation under the postcard so that I could understand what the postcard was about!

The second one is called "The Holy Family," by Rembrandt van Rijn in 1645. 

The third one is called "The Lute Player," by Caravaggio in 1596. This version is exhibited in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.

I guess this postcard was bought in the same place as the first and the second one since the style and the color of the postcards are almost the same though they were all sent by different people at different times.

Unfortunately, I have no idea about the last one since the person sending the postcard didn't mention anything about it....

Last but not the least, I want to share the beautiful Russian stamps with you. Most of them are alike. I can recognize them immediately when receiving the postcards!

Thank you for spending your precious time reading my blog!

These postcards are just a tip of the iceberg. I hope you enjoy them!

Which one do you like the best?

Do you want to visit the beautiful country, Russia, in the future?

I do, after receiving these fantastic postcards!

How about you?

Feel free to share any of your opinion below :)

Kumamon!

Hello!

Today, I am going to introduce an adorable city I visited last year in Japan: Kumamoto. (熊本市)

I will especially focus on the most famous landmark and the most sparkling star in Kumamoto. Enjoy them!

[Where is Kumamoto?]

First of all, you might ask,"where is Kumamoto?"

Kumamoto is a city located on the Kyushu Island.(九州) Its weather is similar to that of Tainan during summer, which is hot and humid.

[Kumamoto Castle]

Kumamoto Castle,(熊本城) built in the 1600s, is the most famous landmark in Kumamoto.

(sources: http://www.japanspecialist.co.uk/travel-tips/japans-castles/)

It is said that this castle is considered to be one of the three premier historic castles in Japan. The other two are Himeji Castle(姬路城) and Matsumoto Castle.(松本城)

However, some parts of the Kumamoto Castle collapsed during the earthquake in 2016. Thus, I could only took a photo of the castle at a far distance.  

[Kumamon: the sparkling star]

The reason why I considered this city adorable is because of the cute Kumamon.(熊本熊)

So, who is Kumamon?

(sources: https://www.pinterest.com/anchaleesea/kumamon/)

There is no denying that Kumamon is the most famous mascot in Japan, or perhaps in the world. It is created by the government in 2010 in order to promote tourism and improve their economy.

When strolling in the city, you can see Kumamon everywhere, including the train station and most of the products sold in many tourist attractions.

Kumamon in the rain

Kumamon in the train station

  

Kumamon is so famous that he has his own office, which is located in Tsuruya Department Store(鶴屋百貨)in Kumamoto.

Believe it or not, he also has a working schedule and office hours!

Kumamon's office

I like Kumamon so much since he is really cute and he sometimes acts like a stupid child.😂

(source: https://www.facebook.com/pg/Kumamon.Kawaii/photos/?ref=page_internal)

In fact, I went to Kumamon's office during his office hour last year and enjoyed his show though most of the audiences are children....

     

In my opinion, Kumamon is a great success of the promotion of the tourism. Actually Taiwan also has our own mascot bear similar to Kumamon, which is called "Oh Bear."

(source: http://www.appledaily.com.tw/realtimenews/article/new/20150518/612264/)

I think creating a world-known mascot is a smart way to promote tourism, just like the Kumamoto government did. Otherwise, our "Oh Bear" seems to be on a vacation for the entire year compared to the busy Kumamon....

But before that, I guess it is better to make our Oh Bear look more friendly or perhaps more hmm...? 

(source:http://www.tsta-bj.org/Article.aspx?sNo=03001431)

Thank you for spending your precious time reading my blog!

Do you also like Kumamon?

Any suggestion to our own "Oh Bear"? 

Feel free to share any of your opinion:)

(source: https://www.facebook.com/pg/Kumamon.Kawaii/photos/?ref=page_internal)

Postcrossing!

Hello!

Today, I am going to share one of my favorite websites: postcrossing with you.

Perhaps you might ask, "why is postcrossing related to the topic 'travel and explore'?"

In fact, in my opinion, sending and receiving postcards is another way to travel and explore the world by using written words.

[What is postcrossing?]

Postcrossing is designed by  Paulo Magalhães in 2005. He enjoys collecting postcards very much, and he wants to share the joy of sending and receiving postcards with others.

Postcrossing is a website that provides us with opportunities to send postcards to different people around the world. We can, of course, receive postcards from many other countries. Just as its tag line says,"send a postcard and receive a postcard back from a random person somewhere in the world."

[How does it work?]

First of all, create a postcrossing account!

Then, briefly speaking, click on "send a postcard", and you will receive an address and a postcard ID. It is necessary to write both the address and the ID correctly on the postcard.

On the other hand, when you receive a postcard from other country, you need to click on "register a postcard" on your postcrossing website and type in the ID number on the postcard to register.

You will also know what happens to other travelling postcards through the website!

[Why is postcrossing my favorite website?]

I was in high school when I first read an article about postcrossing. 

I thought this was really interesting and started to send postcards along with some of my friends. We would share our postcards with each other during break time, and sometimes we would even write postcards in classes!

Actually, I enjoy collecting postcards and stamps very much.

However, nowadays, people seldom write to each other through written words. There is no denying that sending messages through Internet is much more convenient and efficient than writing letters or postcards by ourselves. Therefore, receiving a postcard with written words on it is truly a " luxury" for me.In fact, I still write postcards or letters to my friends while travelling to other places.

I really appreciate postcrossing for giving me such a wonderful opportunity to explore the vast world through postcards. It is indeed the happiest moment in a day when receiving a surprising and beautiful postcard from a foreign country!

Every postcard has its own story. Together with all of them, you will get to know a country you have never been to better than before.

Postcards connect not only the people but also the world.

So, what are you waiting for?

Create an account immediately and explore the world with your written words!

(-->https://www.postcrossing.com/)

Thank you for spending your precious time reading my blog!

Do you also enjoy collecting stamps and postcards?

Let me know if you do:)

I will be very glad if you share your stories with me!