Postcrossing in Singapore Chinese students' newspaper

Hello, just wanted to share this article I did with Douhao, Singapore’s chinese students’ newspaper. Here’s the link: 从收藏找到快乐 If you would like a translation just let me know!

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I’d love a translation if you don’t mind :slight_smile:

Very cool!

My translator translates maxicards as extreme postcards :grin:

A rough one from google translate (edited roughly for more accurate content):

Finding Joy from Collecting

Do you have a hobby of collecting things? Some people collect for fashion, while others collect for a memory. In the student group, there are actually many collectors. In this issue, let us see what the “treasures” collected by the three students are, and let’s learn about the stories behind them!

Making pen pals and writing postcards seems to be a very outdated way of communication for young people who grew up in the era of fast food, but this brings indescribable joy to Lee Cai Wei (Nanyang Girls’ High School, Secondary Three).​​

“Every time I receive a postcard, it’s like a gift from a distant friend. Opening the mailbox and seeing one after another of postcards is a pleasant surprise for me.”

Lee Cai Wei has liked handwritten letters since elementary school, she likes the physical paper she can touch, and she likes the feeling of writing with a pen.

After taking the PSLE, she began to make pen pals widely, “Maybe because she is an only daughter, she is eager for someone to talk to me. Having a pen pal allows you to communicate with people from all over the world without having to spend too much money, which is a very good idea.”

Lee Cai Wei began to look for partners with the same interests and hobbies as herself on social media. Soon, she discovered many accounts with the “penpal” hastag. After learning about the nationality, age, gender and other personal information of these people, she began to write letters to these strangers she had never met.

“My pen pals are from Korea, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, and other countries.”

Different postcards, different stories

In the second year of secondary school, Lee Cai Wei also began to collect postcards and discovered the postcard exchange website “Postcrossing”.

Members of the Postcrossing site send postcards to members they don’t know each other. Lee Cai Wei has received dozens of postcards from abroad, and each postcard tells a different story.

She said: “One of my swap pals was born in France, immigrated to Spain, and now lives in the UK, and he will share his immigration story with me; the other is Dutch and spent her childhood in Singapore because her parents were teaching in a local Dutch school. After reading their stories, I am glad that I have been involved in their lives in this way.”

Learning from postcards

Collecting postcards has also taught her a lot of little pieces of knowledge. For example, she found that there is a type of “Maxicard” that is very collectible.

The maxicard consists of three elements: postcard, stamp and postmark. The mailer must put the stamp on the picture of the postcard, and the postcard pattern and the stamp pattern must be the same or similar, and stamped with the postmark related to the stamp pattern or the subject of the postcard, in order to be regarded as a “maxicard”. She has received several “maxicard” so far, which she cherishes very much.

Lee Cai Wei said that she likes to connect with people all over the world by handwritten postcards and feel the customs of the world. She likes the joy of waiting patiently and getting an email. In contrast, e-mails made her feel pressured and felt that she had to reply immediately, and the content could not help but become urgent and rushed.

Lee Cai Wei said: “When I open the mailbox and find that new postcards have arrived, I will feel very happy. These postcards in my hand can give me a real feeling.”

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haha! google translate also does that to me too sadly :frowning:

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Thank you very much for the translation. Its a lovely piece, I love how much joy and connection things in the post can bring.

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