Did someone say "Postcard Project"? O,O

I am (still) on the AJET-Chicago Consulate mailing list. Every so often, a former JET or two gets in contact with the group to rally us all to certain projects. One Jennifer Bohn, now stationed with the Peace Corps at a high school in Tonga, is asking for postcards from as many places around the world as she can spread the word. Maybe you have some cool postcards and colorful stamps you're just itching to use. Well, here's your invitation:

Malo e lelei,

Greetings from the Kingdom of Tonga! My name is Jennifer Bohn and I am a Peace Corps volunteer here. My students at 'Eua High School and I are working on a project and we need your assistance. We are asking everyone outside of Tonga to please send us a postcard of your hometown/city.

We are trying to collect as many postcards as possible. This project will help enhance the student's understanding of other places and cultures in the U.S. and around the world. Postcards will be posted in the library, next to the new student-created world map. It doesn't matter if the postcard is from Green Bay,  Buenos Aires, Istanbul: we will take them all! Please send postcards to:

'EUA HIGH SCHOOL
c/o U.S. Peace Corps
P.O. Box 24
'Ohonua, 'Eua
KINGDOM OF TONGA
SOUTH PACIFIC

I will keep a running list of all the postcards received with their origin on the EHS Website. Everyone is encouraged to check to see if their postcard successfully makes it to EHS and to learn more about the school.

The project offers a great chance cultural exchange for everyone involved. The project begins now and will continue until the end of my Peace Corps service in December 2011. Please help out if you can and tell everyone you know! Feel free to forward this information to anyone and everyone.

If you have any questions/comments or want to know more information about my work in Tonga, please do not hesitate to contact me via my blog. Thank you very much or, as we say here in Tonga, malo 'aupito!

Personally, I am in an itchy-sendy state all the damn time, and it just takes the words "postcard project" for me to send the philately flying. Honestly, have you seen the new forever stamps at the USPS? Let's get those babies posted! XD

Postality II

Hells yeah, Postcrossing is awesome. Successfully sent cards to Finland, France, and Canada; the USPS is still working on a pair to Russia and the Netherlands. Best of all, Finland and Croatia each sent me one back! ♡ 

Here is my gallery of cards received~ ♪♫

Now, on a different issue, can anyone out there catch the Japanese unicode symbols I use all the time on this blog? Here's a test:

 〠

Do you see a strange little face symbol? That's the Japanese post's Nanba-kun (ナンバ君、"Mr. Number") character, essentially the J-version of Mr. Zip. 

If you do not see the strange little face (you might get a little box instead), would you kindly let me know what browser you're using in the comments section? Thank you very much~♡

Postality

I had this idea once to exchange postcards with people if they emailed me their addresses, but only four people ever responded, and I chickened out on sending postcards to most of them because I couldn't make nice enough postcards. Also, everybody in Ku House lost their jobs right about then, so... you know, distractions.

I just found this today. :D

I think I'll be able to do it this time, without the pressure of knowing who I'm sending to... also, there are a ton more decent postcards available in Arizona than I ever found in Missouri.

外人達へ - To All Ye From Afar...

アメリカの外からいらっしゃった皆様へ;
Dear persons from Australia, Austria, Barbados, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Cuba, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Morocco, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and those fine citizens of many other venerable nations who keep popping up on my IP list;

ヘロー！
Hi there!

いったいどうやってこちらへ来ましたか？　0.0？
How in the world did you come by this place? o.o?

さあ、どうやっても、ようこそ！＾w＾
In any case, welcome! ^w^

はがきを交換したい方はいませんか？　：D
Would anyone like to have a postcard exchange? :D

もししたければ、メールでご住所を教えてね。
If you do, please tell me your address in an email.

そして、私がすぐはがきを送ります。XD
I'll write you a postcard and send it along. XD

（もちろん、交換したいアメリカ内皆さんもどうぞ。）
(Of course, people living inside America can participate too.)*

かしこ、
Cheers,

九
Ku

*If you're from the states, I will do my best to avoid sending boring "Greetings from St. Louis!" and "World's Biggest Bucket of Budweiser!" postcards; I promise.