a trip to philatelic spot could change one's way of life

I said that because I found sooo many cute and lovely things on that place. If I could only find world cup stamp series in a post office near my campus, I could find like, hundreds of more cute stamps in this philatelic spot. Would you like to see those all? If so.. here is my collection :)

 that was the PON (national sports olympic) stamps series. i like the round shape, so i bought that one :)

this one has also an unique shape - loong rectangular shape! it's the post-road of java. i sent that one to venezuela, for my friend carolina, but it hasn't arrived yet! where is it? :(

and this one is a veery cutey cutey stamp! it's the year of the rat edition, and the shape is so big and cute haha. i really like that one!

It's the Jakarta's birthday celebration stamps. I like it because it's so colorful :)

 

and this one is very cute, it's the year of the rabbit series, and the rabbits are so damn cute in this series!

Actually, I'm not a collector so however cute a stamp is, I end up sending them to someone. I can't stand the amount I spent for buying them all, and if I don't use it to post something, why should I bought it? Haha. So, those are the stamps I got from the philatelic spot (Attention for Indonesian postcrossers who might not know where is the location, I'll tell it in the end of this post, ok :) ) So, I wasn't only bought stamps, I also bought postcards! Unfortunately, they didn't sell so many cards :(  At that time, they only sell 2 series: Indonesian views and Indonesian traditional ceremonies:

the beauty of indonesia  -  indonesian traditional ceremonies

So this is what's inside the beauty of indonesia collection (I have sent it all):

And these are from the traditional ceremonies edition:

And unfortunately, the last time I went to that place, they no longer sell the "beauty of Indonesia" series :( So, for buying postcards, I didn't recommend that place, but there are lots of small kiosk who sell old cards around that philatelic spot. By bargaining, we could really get a lot of beautiful old cards - well, we have to be smart searching the best cards in those kiosk. Here are the example of cards sold around the philatelic spot:

istiqlal mosque - fishies in bunaken

 

cathedral church - keong emas, taman mini

old city - kecak dance

birds in bali - sunda kelapa harbour

vintage multiview card about bali - anemon in the sea

Those are as good as new, right? And we could buy it in a cheap price! So.. for those who didn't know where the philatelic spot (Indonesian: Gedung Filateli) is located, you could go to Gedung Kesenian Jakarta first, across the Pasar Baru, and then ask someone about the Gedung Filateli. Google didn't help me much because they have moved to a new place without updating, and they didn't have the giant name in front of that building. There are a door which always closed, but don't worry, in their opening hours, it's always open. And the seller of vintage cards, it's just around that place.. Take a look closer! :)

Anyway, I said in the title "it changed my way of life." Yes, it's true. Since I live in Depok, going to Jakarta is a very big burden for me. It's always traffic jam everywhere, if I'm taking the Depok-Jakarta. So.. if I got something I should do in Jakarta, I will try as hard as I can to visit the philatelic spot.. just to get lovely cheap cards and cute stamps! The varies pics made me happy, unlike the nearby post office who just sells the same one. And sure, when I reached that place, I'm gonna bring a lot of money.. so I need to save a lot! Haha. It really changed my way of life (and way of spending money haha). 

algerian life in 10 cards

I sent swap requests to 3 Algerian postcrossers simply because I really adore that country! Even I planned to make a thesis about an Algerian writer (but I cancelled that for some reasons), cause their culture is simply awesome and they're located in Africa. Yeaaah, Africa! I adore that continent :) And from those 3 postcrossers I only got 2 replied. One from a girl named Faiza Benchalel and one from a guy named Abdelkader Elitim. Both of them agreed to swap with me, and their cards arrived in a very good condition. Let's take a look at this card from Faiza:

Look at that pic! So full of sands.. (Algeria have desert, unlike indonesia). And the life is so exotic there, I guess.

And I don't know what's gotten into Kader, the other postcrossers, but he said he will send me 10 cards! Oh my God, that's awesome!!! When it's arrived, I was very happy! It's all blank cards, and yeah, they are soooo exotic! I love them all, especially those who have camel pics on it :)

beautiful desert view  -  woman making flour

another exotic desert view  -  my first map card!

people in algeria  -  annaba city

people in algeria  -  annaba city

AND THIS TWO ARE THE WINNERS!! :D

Told ya, I really like camels. And the silhouette makes it perfect! 

Perhaps you cant see it but there are 3 camels on this pic, and the desert, the sky, really makes me in love. 

Thaank you very much, merci beaucoup pour tous les cartes, Kader! I really love them all! :)

another postcrossing cards

Hello! Last March I got so much cards but haven't got time to post it.. and now is the time! So these are 5 cards I got from postcrossing. Let's take a look!

This card is from Pam in USA. She said that the postcard is full of Texas' state flower, bluebonnets. The flowers are so cute and bloomy. It looks like bluberries from a far distance :) She also said that she likes hamburger, fries, chocolate.. soo American :D She sent it with cute stamps, one stamp is cute orange (lunar new year edition) and one is american clock, and the other one is calvin and hobbes stamp! cute :)

I call this one a giant postcard. Because it's really big! I could even use it as a fan hahaha. This one is from Sky in Hongkong, from #1 sender in Hongkong and it seems like a free card. But I don't care, because it got a nice view! Well, in the card he said 'Hello, this is postcard from Hongkong. City that never sleep. Wish you like this card! Sky'. Yes Sky, I like the blue tone :)

This one card is from Denise in Germany. On that card there are 6 images of historical monuments or building in Potsdam, Germany. I myself know Potsdam from some historical events in European Union's foundation. She said on her card that Potsdam becomes a city on UNESCO list, which means that city considered having an universal value. She asked for a reply card, and I replied :)

These three cards (Warsaw, Leeds and Dusseldorf) are my favorites from this post. I like that multiple-view card from Poland, because of the beautiful blue sky on every pics, and the pics are soo beautiful and exciting. The funny thing is, this girl (her name is Wiktorie) that sent me this is the same girl that I'd almost requested for doing swap! It wouldn't be funny if I already ask her for swap yet she had sent a card to me, right? Haha

On the right side there is a British card! First one I got from postcrossing! (That favorite one from Edinburgh is from swap, so it's not counted haha). Actually I don't really like the pic, but since I'm an UK enthusiast, anything from UK should be appreciated properly! :)

And this one is a very beautiful view from Airport Dusseldorf in Germany. I really like it cause it has airplanes pic! My boyfriend is an airplane-airline-airport freak, and I'd like to share some postcrossing happiness to him, and that's why I put 'airplane' in one of my postcard preferences in my postcrossing profile. And when I finally got it, I gave it to him and he was more than happy. Thanks, Klaus!

swap swap

I'm starting doing swap! For those who doesn't know how to do swap in postcrossing, just follow these simple instructions :)

1. have you already registered as a member who wants to do swap? if you dont know how to set your profile into that criteria, simply click on 'edit profile'   --->

2. Take a look belooow that page and try to find a similar form as this one in the right side. check on that box i marked, and click save changes. And voila! You had become a member who wants to do swaps :)





3. Now it's your time to search for one you want to swap with! On the top of the page, you'll see an options like that pic on the right side, and click on search users! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

<<<<<<<<<<<<

4. confused? you shouldn't.. for searching users who are interested in doing swaps, you just have to check the box 'interested in direct swaps only' and pick the countries you like! for eliminating inactive users for showing up in the result, I usually pick 'logged in within last day'. try it!

enough with the tutorials, now I'm gonna show my lovely cards that I got from the swaps! told you in some post before that I had swapped with a guy from China, now it's from France, Finland and... tada.. UK!!!!! Wahhh I'm so happy receiving those cards! Take a look! :D

this one is from Finland! It's from a lady in Finland named Virpi. She ever live in Indonesia and she could speak Indonesian. We agreed to do swaps, but she sent me a card and I sent her a giant envelope.. So later she replied a very beautiful mail, I'll post that here :) She said on this card that views in Finland are basically like that. I really envy her :( Finland is a really beautiful country, I wish I'll be there someday :)

Voila c'est la rochelle! I really really like this card. I (also) really love to continue my studies there, but after some deeper thoughts, I think it's impossible. But before I stopped that dream, I studied some about La Rochelle! It's a very beautiful region in France, near the beautiful bay Biscay. And I was really happy to receive such card :)

and this one is Monet's painting. a friend of mine screamed when she saw this. she really loves paintings, while I was like 'oh.. painting.. yeah..' poor friend. The sender's name is Elisabeth, she's from France and she got this card when she was going into an exhibition. All French cards I got are written in french and I'm so happy  receiving them all :)

Tadaaaaaaaaaaaa!

my favorite ever! I really like a card that looks like that, blue in background, castles, and the most important thing: It's from UK! waaaa I'm the biggest UK fan ever soo this one is really on the top of my favorite card list. Thanks to Jenny who sent this on her trip!

Moral story of direct swap is: you could specify what do you want and you could really get things that you like, because it's you who choose the country! Seriously you could do much in direct swap, so, why hesitate? :D