Geography-ish | Mindful Ramblings

Postcrossing Favorites

Posted by jlsgrant in Geography-ish on December 11, 2010

I’m back with a new edition of Postcrossing Favorites from around the world. These have been chosen from the postcards I have received since my last Postcrossing post:

Favorite Building/Structure:

This postcard was received from Xander, who is six years old! (With a little assistance from Mom, I think!) It is a picture of Atomium, which was built for the 1958 Brussels World Fair, in Belgium.

Favorite Scenery:

This place has always intrigued me! I was so excited to receive this postcard from Mesut in Turkey. In Turkey, they say “Merhaba” for “Hello”. Here is a picture of Cappadocia! This place is said to have been occupied by the Hittites from 3000 – 2000 BC, and then much later by early Christians who were fleeing from the Romans! What an amazing history!

Favorite Multi-Scene:

From Esther, who is 23 and studies English Language, Literature, and Film. This cards shows a few cathedrals and castles from the historic city of Zaragoza! The four scenes shown are that of Aijaferia, Vista Aerea Del Pilar, Murallas Romanas, and the Plaza del la Justicia.

Favorite Art:

Kirra sent me this card all the way from Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia! She recently visited there when she was on holiday. This Aboriginal Rock Art is known as Algaihgo, or Fire Woman. It can be found at Kakadu National Park.

The Aboriginal art collection found at this park is one of the world’s greatest collections of rock art. The park encompasses over 20,000 square kilometers!

Favorite Cultural:

Who doesn’t love the wooden shoe? Although, I’m pretty sure I would not enjoy wearing them! Barbara says “Hallo” from Holland. She has two goldfish and two big red crazy cats, both named Jansen! Did you know there is a Legend of the Wooden Shoe?

Favorite Animal:

Veerle from The Netherlands says “Hoi” when she greets a friend. What’s not to love about this little guy?

Favorite Backside:

The back of the postcard can be more interesting than the front! Interesting stamps, messages, and handwriting make each card special.

Hannah, from Taiwan, included stamps of a different kind on her card. One rubber stamped image is from Li Mei-Shu Memorial Gallery and the other is from San Hsia Tsu-Shih Temple. Check this out:

If you would like to participate in Postcrossing, click the button in my right margin to get more information.

Disclaimer: No compensation of any kind has been received to promote this endeavor! I participate just for the fun of it! 🙂

postcard collection, postcrossing

Where in the World? Wednesday

Posted by jlsgrant in Geography-ish on October 20, 2010

This is my first official post for the Where in the World? Wednesday meme. This meme originates at The Blessings Pour Out blog where they are participating in a postcard exchange with home educating families across The United States. So I thought this would be a wonderful opportunity to share some of the postcards I have received through Postcrossing and learn a little geography. We’ll begin in the beautiful country of….

FINLAND

Capital: Helsinki

Government: Parliamentary Republic

Independence: 1917

Language: Finnish, Swedish

Population: 5,371,000 (estimated)

Religion: Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, 79%

Location: 60N, 24E

Finland is a country of many lakes…over 187,000 of them! It is pretty flat, with the highest point only about 4,300 feet. That’s up in Lapland, near the country’s border with Norway, pictured in the postcard. The country is largely coniferous tiaga forest and fens. In fact, over 80% of the country is forested!

Approximately 1/4 of Finland’s territory lies within the Artic Circle, so during the summer months the sun may set for more than 70 days and may not rise at all for 50 days during winter! I’m not sure I’d enjoy that too much!

The national animal of Finland is the Brown Bear, but some other animals that can be seen there are the Gray Wolf, the Wolverine, Reindeer and Elk.

What do they eat in Finland? From what I read, they enjoy fish, meat and mushrooms. Because of the wonderful forests, it is the perfect ecosystem for many types of mushrooms. The Finnish people also enjoy wholegrains and berries. Some of the favorites are blueberries, lingonberries, cloudberries and sea buckthorn.

I received this postcard showing a cluster of ripe cloudberries:

According to the sender, “The berries on this postcard taste bitter, but if you add sugar or eat them with vanilla ice cream, they are delicious!”

The following is a video of the National Anthem of Finland, “Our Land”, or as the Finn’s say “Maamme”. It includes a slideshow of pictures from across the country:

“Our Land” (Maamme)

Our land, our land, our motherland,
Sound loud, O name of worth!
No mount that meets the heaven’s band,
No hidden vale, no wavewashed strand,
Is loved, as is our native North,
Our own forefathers’ earth.

Thy blossom, in the bud laid low,
Yet ripened shall upspring.
See! From our love once more shall grow
Thy light, thy joy, thy hope, thy glow!
And clearer yet one day shall ring
The song our land shall sing.

Music by Fredrik Pacious

Lyrics by Finn Johan Ludvig Runeberg

1846

This postcard from Finland is one of my favorites! It shows a tapestry called, Queen Blanka. According to the sender, “it is handmade in Finland’s southwest archipelago. Artisans there have an association called Gullkrona. It has many kinds of hand made products.”

You can check out more information

and some beautiful pictures of Finland at:

VisitFinland.com

Disclaimer: No compensation of any kind has been received from any of the linked websites. No pony from the Blessings farm, no trip to Finland, not even a bowl of Cloudberries!