Linking up with the world via Postcrossing

It's been a while since I shared some of the joys of reaching out to people around the world via the Postcrossing postcard exchange. Shown above is a postcard I received recently from Alice, an astronomy-loving, stargazing college student in Shanghai, China, home of 24 million souls. Alice wrote:

Hello. Greeting from Shanghai of China. This postcard was brought when I visited Nanjing (Chinese city). And this is Sun Yat-sen's presidential palace. Has a history of over one hundred years. If you haven't been there. Maybe you can visit by yourself. Welcome to China!

Meanwhile, here are some recent email responses that I have received from international Postcrossers who received postcards from me:

• From Jan in Belgium: "Hi Chris. Thank you very much for your card. You have a beautifull and good readable handwriting, nice to read. You have an interesting job. You do a great thing to help animals, specially alpacas."
• From Wong in China: "Thank you so much for the pretty card and your kind message. The lovely pic, amazing collection of stamps as well as your kindness has really made my day!"
• From Kate in Russia: "Hi Chris, amazingly black and awesome purring gentleman wish to tell you they are safe and have already settled pretty well. Have just been to your blog and should say it's really great! I quite agree to the statement about strange times. ... Hope you will get more interesting and vivid postal stories."
• From Johanna in Australia: "Hi Chris, your son has impeccable taste in postcards! I am so pleased that he chose this one for me. It's gorgeous! If you are after reading some Australian literature, you might search for the list of Miles Franklin Award winners. But then, my current favourite hasn't won it yet. Try Richard Flanagan. He won the Booker prize for The Long Narrow Road to the Deep North — but you might want to start with Death of A River Guide. He has such a knack for using the specific and personal to show the universal."
• From Hanne in Germany: "Thank you for this lovely postcard, I like it very much! And thank you for greetings to my parents and my 2 cats. ... Chris, warm greetings to you and Dover and the United States! Wish us all a peaceful time, to live lucky and to keep our wonderful world!"
• From Monika in Germany: "Hello Chris, thank you for the wonderful Christmas card and your good idea. It is a very interesting card. Wow, this card is more than 100 years old. I think, this is the oldest card I ever get."
• From Gunta in Latvia: "Chris, thank you for the postcard! I have a cat that looks just like yours sleeping beside my keyboard at the moment."
• From Maria in Russia: "Hallo, Chris! Privet! Thank You and Ashar for this pretty nice card. My two small daughters love cats so much. (We have one at home) Sure Baba Yaga lives not far from us! And my girls afraid her. I never heard before about Ruth Manning-Sanders, I'll find information about her. Special thanks for really nice stamps! Beaver — the best one! Have a nice days and all the best!"