Update

Hello again, friends! I noticed that I've had a few people check in from Serbia and Puerto Rico. These are new countries to my "audience" so greetings!  I'd love to hear from you.

Incoming...

Here is a Postcrossing tag from The Netherlands. It asks 20 questions about me.  The next envelope is from a new penpal, Ashley, in Wisconsin. (She is one of the people whose blog I mentioned)  I loved her cool envelope and her letter :)  This picture does it no justice at all- check it out on her blog! Look at the cool wax stamp on the back. I want one. My birthday is in October..lol.

RU-1107358

Thanks Olya. I believe the names of these characters are Gena and Chebyrashka.

Outgoing

    You ready? 
Vaarwel!

 Farvel!

 ごきげんよう  Woah! Hope that kanji is okay!!!

 

Good-bye! Ironically, I tried to mail this letter just like this. My mailwoman noticed my mistake and left it in my box. (I guess we're even now!)

 Bonjour!

 And... shoot, I'm not sure which other languages you speak so I'll just say goodbye to your letter too!

  I also mailed a get well soon card and an outgoing 20 questions tag for Postcrossing.
    I'm finishing up 2 letters so I can probably add them tomorrow.  People who do mailart or penpalling, how do you usually write the addresses on your addressed envelopes? I have been affixing them with paper decorations and taping them down with shipping tape, or writing it in a sharpie but I wonder if there is a better way. I would love to have a sticker or something that I can write on.  Suggestions?

The 366 Project:
Received: 29
Sent: 74

Well, I made my send 20% goal by the end of August. Can I make 25%? Not without new mail to respond to! We'll see.

 

Chopsticks!

Incoming...

    So far this week has been a slow mail week but the mail that has come in has been really nice! I received a beautiful Postcrossing card on Monday.  This postcard is from Lithuania. It shows the Trakai Island Castle.  I love the colors in this card. Narina actually put a nice Trakai stamp on the card too. I love it. Thanks! Here's the card:
LT-223497

    Then, yesterday, I received a package from my friend, Akiko, in Japan. She sent me some beautiful chopsticks for each person in my family as well as a very interesting letter which I can't wait to respond to! (Love the information about naming!  I had a conversation about naming with a friend from Uganda yesterday. It's fascinating to me to hear about how children's names are chosen. )

 Outgoing:

    I'm still playing around with making envelopes. Here's an outgoing envelope that I'm sending to Susan in Alabama. I made a whole bunch of envelopes from a New England calendar.  So, any of my penpals who live outside of the States or in a different part of the country, those envelopes will show what my area looks like- or at least areas I can get to pretty easily.  Here's Susan's envelope. I'm probably going to start photographing the envelopes before I write the addresses since I haven't been able to figure out a "non-tacky" way to cover the address. 

The 366 letter project:
Received: 23
Sent: 59
      If you're dropping by my blog for the first time, I'm attempting to send and receive 366 letters this year- one for each day of this year. Yeah, I'm behind right now. SMALL GOALS: Get 20-25% of sent letters out by the end of August. 2) Get 10% of received letters in by the end of next week. So, if you're a stranger passing through, feel free to send me a letter about yourself! E-mail me and I'll give you the address. I love just hearing people's stories so you can just tell me about your everyday life if you're unsure what to write. 
     It will just be sad if I send out 366 letters and have 50 responses. Honestly though, even though it's a large goal I set for myself, I would rather have sincere letters of substance than to just have 366 papers come through the mail. I love to penpal because it enables me to travel the world without leaving home. (I would love to ACTUALLY travel too but being a teacher is not a hugely profitable adventure!) I love making new friends across the world and sharing knowledge and goodies with my children. So, I guess I have fully accepted the fact that I would much rather invest in people (and be invested in) than to just get lots of stuff in the mail. Sorry, rambling. 

 

Ending the week...

Ending the week...

Incoming

   I got a few goodies in the past couple of days. The first was a package from a Postcrossing tag. This came from Austria:

(I have to get more creative in covering all the addresses..lol. Now you know why I'm not an visual arts teacher!)  What's in it, you ask?

CANDY! The tic tacs are a "melon mix."  They taste good, pretty similar to tic tacs we have here. I think I have had a similar tasting flavor here. The Fizzers are very similar to Smarties here, just a little more tart. (They didn't taste fizzy though)  The MAOAM was kind of like Starbursts. The white ones with the blue stripes were a type of chewy caramel- yummy. My favorites were the red striped ones. They were a white, hard candy with chocolate in the middle. The ones with the fruit on them were hard candies that were fruit flavored. I haven't eaten any of the Tutti Frutti ones yet. The boys liked all of them. (Thanks for not sending anything Timmy was allergic to!)

     Then I got some letters:

     The one on the right is a thank you note from a woman from church. (Totally unnecessary!) The one on the left was a welcome to the Letter Writers Alliance. Here's what was inside:

My membership card, a pin and a welcome letter. The Letter Writers Alliance is a a group dedicated to preserving the art of letter writing. You can't seriously be surprised that I would want to be a part of this group. :)  Wait until I start sending mail out on official LWA stationary. If anyone reading this is a LWA member, leave a comment and introduce yourself.
     I also got a letter from Claudine in France.  She also sent me some Ritter Sport chocolate with some berry "yoghurt" filling. Delicious!!!

Outgoing:

    I have quite a few letters that went out, as well as a Postcrossing tag. I have been exploring all kinds of interesting blogs, including people who make some really pretty mail art. Mama Rae's Adventurous Days is one of those blogs. I looked at her mail and thought "What a difference that cute envelope makes!" So, I was inspired to make a few envelopes of my own.  I made these 4 out of a map, 2 tourist brochures and a new Super Mario Brothers advertisement.  Tonight I made some from a calendar of New England. (I apologize if you get one of these. They are very pretty but somewhat lopsided too!)  

      
The 366 Project:
Received: 22
Sent: 53
    I feel really good about being able to sit and write some nice quality letters and not feel totally rushed. I'm hoping I'll get to 15% (of the whole project) received by the end of the month. Come on people- send those letters! I'm hoping I will get 20%-25% of the sent letters done by the end of August. It's a big goal! I still have a TON to go.

Have a nice weekend everyone! Thanks for reading!