And you wouldn’t believe how she squeezed her tiny hand-writing into the back of the card because she wanted to maximize the space and I assume the postage too.

I usually send postcards home too, whenever I travel, and of course, whenever I can find some decent-looking postcards and a place that sells stamps :D If you’d like one from India, email me your address! I will send you one if possible :D

Otherwise, I’ll see you in May :D

Anyway…

Fifteen-year-old Jessica said she couldn’t find me a turtle card, so she gave me a turtle sticker instead. She’s soo cute..

Anyway, the card shows the Grand Hotel, which sits high on the bluffs overlooking Mackinac Island and Mackinac Bridge. The hotel was a project of two Michigan railroads and was opened in July 1887. The hotel’s porch is the world’s longest, stretching 880 feet (!!!).

And then there’s this infamous SUOMI FINLAND card that depicts the common scenery in Finland – the swan, the lake, and the flowers. Sinikua says that they have long dark winters and one short sunny and warm summer. As warm as in Malaysia..?

OK, this is funny. Ruth sent me this card, which shows the Husky Stadium in Seattle, Washington. The stadium was built in 1920 with a 30,000 seat capacity and it has been renovated four times, bringing the current capacity to 72,500 seats. But that’s NOT why it is funny.

The funny thing is that Ruth was supposed to teach me a few words in Finnish, but I can’t read her handwriting! The English translation shows that she was trying to teach me the Finnish word for “chess”. And she explained that the (particular Finnish) word comes from the Persian “shah mat”, meaning “the king is dead”, which is also the origin of the English word “checkmate”.

And you want to know to pronounce “Pelf” in Finnish? It’s pronounced “pree-VYET”. Now this is cool ;)

It was from none other than Moz Monster! I think he’d been to 10 other countries since he sent me this, my bad :(

I am sorry I took so long to get to this, hahha.. Anyway, Moz was kind enough to get me a postcard when he was in Sydney. He said he didn’t know what to get for me, and postcards was the next best thing.. (!!!) Moz, you can always get me books, you know, autobiographies, biographies, true stories.. Now remember yea? *winks*

According to the sender, Savonlinna (where the sender stays) is well-known for its Opera and Ballet festivals every summer. Not satisfied with the lack of explanation on the festivals, which sounded FUN to me, I googled for it and found Finland Festivals. Go check it out :)

And the best thing is that the card comes with matching turtle stamps! How cool is that?!

We, as in Malaysia, used to produce turtle stamps too, but they are no longer in the market. I have collected some of them when I was younger, at a time when one of my hobbies was “collecting stamps” *grins* I still collect them these days, but I think I need more stamp albums..

This is the third turtle card from Christina, how nice of her. Are you jealous now?! The card shows a painting of a green turtle. And according to Christina, one of the colleges has a terrapin as a mascot, despite the lack of turtles where she lives.

Didn’t that make you think? We have a viable number of green turtles in our waters, but some smart politicians prefer the clownfish as a mascot! *bluek*