1 minute summary

A card from China

This is a postcard from Gulangyu(鼓浪嶼), which is a small island located in Xiamen(廈門). Another name of it is ''island of piano.'' It is not because of its shape but because the average quantity of piano per person there is the highest in China.

''babycat私家御餅屋'' is a shop in 鼓浪嶼. As its name suggests, it is famous for its pie, and its mascot is a white cat called Jacky.

The stamp shows the symbol of World Exposition 2010(2010世界博覽會) held in Shanghai(上海). I was eager to have a look at the exhibition, but finally I didn't have a chance to see it.

To be honest, I felt a little bit disappointed when I received this postcard, since there is no beautiful landscape photo and stamp on the card. Besides, I think receiving a card with Chinese on it is not as interesting as receiving a card written in other language.

After all, it is impossible to be satisfied with the postcard you receive every time.

Hello! This is a postcard from Germany.

Hallo! Es ist eine Postkarte aus Deutschland. 

This is the postcard I like most among those I have received so far. The sender is a German man who is already 77 years old. He told me that although he is at that age, he likes to travel around this globe. I love his attitude towards his life.

Haus Kluender im Ostseebad Binz

This picture shows the Haus Kluender(in German), which is located in Ostseebad Binz(also in German). I don't know what it is exactly. It may be an apartment, a hotel,  a beach villa or whatever. Anyway, it offers people a place to stay in.

There are two stamps on the card. The left one is a picture of Tagetes(萬壽菊).

The other one is a photo of Nelly Sachs(內莉‧薩克斯), who is a German Jewish poet and also a playwright. After world war 2, she wrote a lot of poems about the Holocaust(massacre of Jews carried out by Nazi Party), and she won the Nobel prize in literature in 1966.

In the end I provide you with a youtube video about German, because I think it is very interesting.

Welcome to Oregon, USA!

Mo's is an American restaurant chain selling seafood, which is located on Oregon(奧勒岡) Coast, as we can see in the picture. Although I think it is strange to use a photo of a restaurant as a postcard, it is a postcard indeed.

Oregon is a state in the western USA by the Pacific Ocean.

Lancaster(蘭開斯特), Pennsylvania(賓夕法尼亞)

The stamp captures the beautiful rural landscape of Lancaster. Amish buggy traveling along the country road between fields is a common sight in this county. In brief, Amish are a branch of Christian. Amish are known for their simple lifestyle. Some of them refuse to accept modern technology, in order to avoid the negative impact brought by it. For example, they use horse buggy instead of car and bicycle. Pennsylvania is one of the main regions they live in.

A postcard from Boston, from USA.

This is a card from Boston. The picture on it shows the Statue of Liberty, which is sitting in New York. It was dedicated in October 28, 1886 and sent by France as a gift to celebrate America's independence from Great Britain. With the base under it, the statue is totally 93 meters in height, as tall as a 31-story building.

Broadway show:百老匯秀

This stamp is much different from others in shape. It is in the shape of a circle instead of a common rectangle. This round stamp displays a detailed photograph of the moon, the only natural satellite of Earth. Because the moon's period of rotation(自轉) and revolution(公轉) are the same, we can always but only see the same part of its surface from Earth. Maybe it is a good news for the United  States Postal Service(美國郵政署). They don't have to decide which part of the moon they should choose as a picture on the stamp.XD

Marhaba! Here is a postcard from UAE.

This card shows a view from the top of Burj Khalifa(哈里發塔), which took place of Taipei 101 in 2010 and has become the tallest building all over the world so far. Although Taipei 101 is already very high, Burj Khalifa is still higher than it by 319 meters. Exactly, with 169 floors altogether, it is 828 meters in height.

In the view we can see the Dubai Mall, which is the worlds largest shopping mall.

Below the picture is the flag of United Arab Emirates(阿拉伯聯合大公國).

Burj Khalifa

The stamps were issued in 2011, after the 31st session of the GCC Supreme Council held in Abu Dhabi(阿布達比). They represent the leaders of GCC member states. GCC(Gulf Cooperation Council, 海灣阿拉伯國家合作委員會) consists of six countries surrounding the Persian Gulf(波斯灣) expect for Iraq(伊拉克) and Iran(伊朗). The goal of this organization is to improve technology, economy, trade, and so on, by cooperation.

"Allah yusallmak!"(May God protect you!)

Ciao! Greeting from Italy!

This is a card from Turin(杜林), a city lying in northern Italy. Its real name is Torino in Italian. This city hosted the winter Olympic games in 2006.

Italy is such a culturally rich country that we can generally regard it as the cradle of human European culture. Since Turin is an important center of northern Italy, it is also rich in cultural heritage. For example, the picture on this postcard shows the medieval(中世紀的) village in Valentino Park(瓦倫蒂諾公園), located along the west bank of Po river(波河).

I.P.Z.S means 義大利政府印刷局, which is situated in Roma, produces coins and stamps.
(Banknotes are printed by the central bank.)

It is interesting that ''Ciao'' means both informal ''hello'' and ''goodbye'' in Italian. Besides, it seems that it is common to hear a heavy accent in different region of a country in Europe. A word can sound quite different when spoken by people living in the north and south of the same country respectively. We can even find a video teaching you how to mark off people from northern and southern Italy by their pronunciation!

 And here provides you another video about Italian hand gestures.

A postcard from Ukraine

In this picture we can see an Orthodox cross(東正教的十字架), since Eastern Orthodoxy(東正教), a group of Christianity, is a main religion in Ukraine. One the top wooden board of the cross shows ''I.N.B.I'', an acronym of ''lesous o Nazoraios o Basileus ton loudaion'' in Greek, meaning ''Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews''(拿撒勒的耶穌，猶太人的君王). It is written by Pontius Pilate(本丟‧彼拉多), who sentences Jesus to death on the cross.

Surrounding of Ukraine

When it comes to Ukraine, we often come up with the complex relationship between it and Russia. But I am not going to talk about this in my blog because it is too complicate to explain, especially in EnglishXD. (If you are interested in it, click here to know more about what have happened in history and how they lead to today's condition. And here is a recent news about Ukraine and Russia.)

BTW, UEFA(歐洲足協) has declared that 2018 Champions League final(2018歐聯決賽) is going to be held in Kiev(基輔), the capital as well as the largest city in Ukraine!!

NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium(奧林匹克國家綜合體育場) in Kiev

Flag of Ukraine

Its national flag consists of two colors, which are blue and yellow respectively. Blue means sky and sea, symbolizing freedom and sovereignty(主權), and yellow represents wheat field(麥田), which is symbolic of its long history of agriculture.

Ukrainian Easter eggs - pysanky

The tradition of the Easter egg has rooted in Ukrainian thousands of years ago. People there used wax(蠟) to create a pattern on the eggs. After applying colors to the egg, the wax was removed and the colorful pattern was left.

Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev

The stamp shows an oak tree leaf and acorn nuts.

Hello! This card is from Wisconsin.

This is a postcard from Wisconsin(威斯康辛州), a U.S. state near the Great Lakes(五大湖區).

The location of Wisconsin in U.S.A

State seal of Wisconsin

 There are so many cows in this state that Wisconsin produces about a quarter of America's cheese, which makes it first in cheese production among all the other states in the America.

Wisconsin cheese

Wisconsin Cheese Originals Festival

Milwaukee(密爾瓦基), the largest city in Wisconsin, is a major producer of beer.

Milwaukee Beer 

In addition, more than half of the land in Wisconsin is covered with forests, so that it is also a major producer of woods. 

The two Aloha shirt stamps are issued in 2012.One shows Kilauea(基拉韋厄火山), a currently active shield volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii. Another shows fossil fish, shells and starfish.

Aloha shirt stamps

The last one is one of the American four flags forever stamps.

American four flags forever stamps

Additional remarks:

1.Forever stamp is a postage stamp issued in the America whose value is the First-Class Mail stamp postage rate for a one ounce letter at the time of use. That is, it never declines in value.

2.First-Class Mail refers to letters less than 3.5 ounces and parcels less than 13 ounces. The price of First-Class Mail is based on its weight instead of its destination.

Привет! Warm greetings from Russia!

Postcard itself

This is a postcard from Russia, and the picture on it shows Lake Baikal, which is a rift lake located in southern Russia.

Lake Baikal is here.

The lake

Lake Baikal, meaning ''the Nature Lake'' in Mongolian, is the largest freshwater lake by volume in the world, and is the deepest one as well. By research, Lake Baikal has been on the earth for more than 25 millions years. This makes it older than any other lakes in the world. What's more, it is regarded as the world's clearest lake. By the way, it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.

Creatures

Lake Baikal has such a high biodiversity that it is home to thousands of species of plants and animals, among them including several endemic species. For instance, the Baikal seal is one of three entirely freshwater seal all over the world. It can be found throughout Lake Baikal, but in nowhere else.

The Baikal seal

Another examples are the Baikal black grayling and the Baikal white grayling, they are found only in  Lake Baikal and rivers draining into the lake.

The Baikal black grayling and the Baikal white grayling

In terms of human, on the eastern side of the lake live Buryat tribes, who make a living by raising livestock.

Stamps on it

It seems that countries usually prefer using pictures of famous people, impressive architectures and local animals as  their stamps.

All of the stamps used on this card are issued in 2008. From left to right, they are Yaroslavl Region, Penzenskaya Region and Sverdlovsk Region respectively. You might think it  is so strange to see a picture of a tire on a stamp. Actually, it symbolizes that Yaroslavl is an important industrial city of Russia.

Language

''Привет''[Privet] , which means ''Hello'' , is a common informal greeting in Russian.