Mail & History II

It is believed that the first attempt for the development of a real postal system comes from Ancient Persia, although this could not be proved.
Xenophon, the best documented claim, attributes the invention of a real postal system to the Persian King "Cyrus the Great" (550 BC), while other writers believe it was his successor "Darius I of Persia" (521 BC). However, other sources have claimed much earlier dates for an Assyrian postal system, as those in times of Hammurabi (1700 BC) and Sargon II (722 BC).
Nevertheless, sending and receiving mail may not have been the primary mission of this postal service. Probably, the main role of the system was that of an intelligence gathering apparatus. It seems that this fact is well documented and the service was later called "angariae", a term that in time turned to indicate a tax system. The Old Testament (Esther, VIII) mentions this system: "Ahasuerus, King of Medes, used couriers for communicating his decisions".
The Persian system worked on stations called "Chapar-Khaneh", where the message carrier, called "Chapar", would ride to the next post. There, he would swap his horse for a fresh one, as the most important was "maximum performance and delivery speed".

Tips on letter writing I

As it was told in the post: "Tips to write a first letter", have in mind that the first letter you send to a pal may be the most important one. Why? Because you have in your hand that this person replies to you or not. I am quoting here one of the paragraphs belonging to this post: "The first letter is the key when starting a penfriendship. In this first letter you have the chance to present yourself in a way that your future penpal should think you are a person worth to be known. Don't ruin your only possibility of making a very good impression of yourself by writing an uninteresting, awfully boring text or a letter of a very poor quality".

It is clear that you have to put in effort when writing the first letter but don't become discouraged if you don't get any reply. Sometimes, even if your letter is an interesting one, the addressee doesn't reply. This is one of the negative aspects of penpalling, and not always you get an explanation why your letter remains unanswered. Don't give up, though! If all of us who are into letters would have given up when something like this happened, no-one would be writing letters by now...

In these new series of posts about "Letter writing tips" I will be presenting tips and ideas to write successful letters. They should be useful and helpful for everybody, so feel free to use them to your advantage when writing missives.

- Here they go the first ones:

1. When contacting your new pal, tell where you found his/her ad and contact data. I think that mentioning this information is important when getting in touch with someone. Since very few people post their postal address online, you should write and explain about this when contacting this future pal through e-mail.

2. Never send mass letters, neither introductory or the next ones you are about to write. Mass letters cause a very poor impression and some people insist on sending those again and again. Of course the basics about yourself are what they are and they cannot be changed, but you are mistaken if you think you can write exactly the same text to everybody. If you do, you risk not getting any reply as people won't be interested in penpalling with you. You should take the time to add some extra details to your basics and adapt those to each pal you wish to contact to. If this person has written and ad you already know some information. Use this info you already know to underline what attracted your attention and got you interested in this person, why you would like to be pals and why she/he should become your penpal and start writing to you...

3. Don't forget to mention some essential information: gender, age and location. To some people those might not be too important, but others prefer to write to people of their same gender and in a similar age range. Please, be always respectful regarding people's requests and don't be annoying. They have already made their choice. Be sure there are lots of people out there willing to have penpals and no doubt you can find someone else who is interested in being your correspondent.

4. Use the tips I already mentioned here to write your first letter. You don't have to follow them step by step, but I am sure they will be of great help when trying to build your future letter!

5. Don't force anybody to write you back by any means. You should never make anyone feel obliged to reply to your letter. They will reply if they want and wish to do so. Keep in mind that all of us are different and the person who wrote the ad is the one who decides whom to be penpals with. Also, remember that there are always reasons which explain why people don't reply and this does not mean they ignore you or that they don't want to take a few minutes to reply to you.

6. At the same time that it is not advisable to insist too much if someone does not seem interested in being our pal, don't give up and don't feel discouraged if you receive several negative replies or you don't receive a reply at all. As I said above, even if you write a good, meaningful letter it may occur that the addressee does not reply. Don't blame yourself, either. There are many reasons why people don't reply: they already have too many penpals and don't wish to have more, they consider they have found better penpal matches already, something else is going on in their lives and cannot reply... Also, some people receive lots of requests, and even if a short message declining the petition sounds correct, it gets difficult to send those to a high number of people.

If you are looking for advice on penpalling check: "Tips on letter writing".

Sandbook.Net PenPal and Swappers Magazine

In this post I have the pleasure to announce that Sandbook.net Team is working on a penpalling magazine at the moment. It is planned that the first number will be published in the following weeks. Both the sending and the digital copy of the magazine are for free.

What is the magazine about?
It will contain articles and news about penpalling, ads from stationery shops, links to penpalling websites, penpal and swappers ads... among other topics.

What do you have to do to receive it?
Send an e-mail to: magazine[at]sandbook[dot]net enclosing your name, year of birth, country, interests and hobbies, and of course, your e-mail address. As soon as the first issue is ready you will receive the magazine in your mailbox!

What do you have to do to post a penpal/swapper ad?
Send an e-mail to: magazine[at]sandbook[dot]net and enclose:

1. Your name, age, country and e-mail address

2. Your message (tell about yourself, hobbies, interests... etc)

3. For how long you would like that Sandbook.net Team runs your ad (during one, two, three... magazines). If you don't specify about the length of time, it will be run for the first issue and Sandbook.net will choose to rerun it later on or not.

What else can you do to get involved in the magazine?

1. Send a message to: magazine[at]sandbook[dot]net to promote your blog/website/small business if any of those deals with penpalling (you can send your logo/banner as well).

2. If you are interested, you can also write an article. The best ones will be published!

P.S.: Postal addresses won't be published for safety reasons. Friendship requests will be received through you e-mail address and then you choose yourself to whom to send your postal address. Also, if you insist on having your postal address published, you will be disregarding Sandbook.net Team warning. In such a case you will have to send Sandbook.net Team an e-mail underlining that you want to have your postal address published despite this warning.

The legend of "Baszta Dorotka" in Kalisz

Welcome to a new adventure belonging to the Travelling around the World sharing Cultural Heritage, Folklore and Background section. This time we are in Central Europe to meet Justyna. The shoreline of Justyna's country is bathed by the Baltic Sea and extends from the Bay of Pomerania to the Gulf of Gdansk, while the Tatra Mountains (the highest mountain range of the Carphatian Mountains) form a natural border in the south of this land. Neighbouring countries are Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania and Russia. Let's visit Poland then!

Justyna is very good at crafting and she presents her creations in her own Blog: "Handmade by Just-in", which I highly recommend! It is very interesting and full of great ideas!

Hello Justyna! Welcome to Penpalling & Letters! Where do you come from in Poland?

I come from Kalisz, which is the oldest town in Poland; it has about 100,000 inhabitants nowadays. It is located in the southern part of "Greater Poland" ("Wielkopolska"), which is a region in west-central Poland. It is famous for being a part of the "Amber Trail", has numerous bridges and some popular factories like "Big Star" (jeans and other clothes), "Hellena" (juices and drinks) and "Kaliszanka" (cookies and sweets). Some of the factories are now part of bigger corporations like "Jutrzenka" or "Nestlé". For more info you can visit: "Kalisz".

How did you discover penpalling and how long have you been into it?

When it comes to penpalling, I used to have a penpal (or rather an e-mail pal) a few years ago, but we somehow lost contact with each other. After I found out about Postcrossing (a few months ago) I thought about going back to writing letters and meeting people from all over the world so I put an ad on the "forum" and now I have several penpals (from USA, Finland, Australia, France, Canada and Netherlands).

Have you been into Postcrossing for a long time? How did you get to know Postcrossing? How did you get interested in postcards? Are you collecting them for a long time?

As I mentioned, I got to know about "Postcrossing" a few months ago, at one of the Polish forums: "Wizaz.pl". I liked the idea of getting in touch with people from other countries, so I'm on Postcrossing more for exchanging ideas and getting to know other cultures than getting postcards. I don't collect them (although I used to when I was a child and I still have quite a collecion - now getting bigger and bigger...;)) but I like getting nice ones, especially those showing something connected with other cultures. I'm also thinking about decorating my house with some of the great postcards I got :)

Are you interested in stuff related to letters? Pens, stationery, stickers? Do you also collect any other things?

I love cute stationery, as it makes writing letters even more enjoyable and I like everything that's pretty and useful, so yes, all kinds of pens, pencils and stickers. I used to collect many different kinds of things when I was a child, but now I feel I don't have enough space for that... Instead I'm really into crafts and if I can say that I collect anything, that will be craft magazines. Or crochet hooks! ;)

And here it is the "Legend of Baszta Dorotka in Kalisz".

Once upon a time there was a rich "starost" (from Polish "starosta") who had a beautiful daughter. Her name was Dorotka. She didn’t like sophisticated and expensive dresses, but she loved elegant shoes. For that reason, her father employed a shoemaker who visited the castle once a month to prepare the shoes especially for Dorotka. After some time, Dorotka and the shoemaker, whose name was Marcin, fell in love with each other. When "black death" came to Kalisz and Dorotka couldn’t come out of her room, Marcin stood outside her window every day. He also tried to remove all the dead bodies that were lying in the street, so that she didn’t have to watch them.
Her father was against their relationship, of course, as he thought that Marcin was not good enough for his daughter and forbade them to meet. That didn’t change Dorotka’s feelings and the young couple was trying to meet whenever it was possible. Unfortunately, one day, when Marcin was in Dorotka’s room, someone came in and he had to escape. He wanted to jump out of the window, but, sadly, he fell down and died. Dorotka was very sad and still refused to marry any of the other candidates. "Starost" got very angry and said that if she didn’t stop crying for Marcin and was so stubborn, he would lock her in one of the towers with no food and water. He was hoping that it would make Dorotka change her mind, but it didn’t. She still wanted to be faithful to her lover, Marcin. Seeing that, her father carried out his threat and locked her in the tower, where she died of thirst and hunger. In the end, "Starost" regretted very much being so strict, as he loved his daughter a lot.
Later, they used to lock other disobedient girls in the same tower and call them "Dorothies". Finally they called the tower itself by the name of Dorotka: "Baszta Dorotka". It can still be seen in Kalisz, right next to the park and St Joseph’s church.

Although this legend is a bit sad and gloomy, I like it as it teaches us not only being faithful till death but also that we should never get too angry with those that we love and try to understand them.

Hope everybody enjoyed this story and getting to know Justyna! See you soon again to share a new and interesting topic from somewhere in the world!

Mail Trivia VI

Did you know that...

pigeon post is a method of communication as old as the ancient Persians from whom the art of training the birds probably came?

Pigeons are effective to carry messages due to their natural homing abilities. The pigeons are transported to a destination in cages, where they are attached with messages. Then, naturally, the pigeon flies back to its home where the owner can read the mail.

Tips to write a first letter

Do you find difficult writing the first letter to a new penfriend? Some people really enjoy writing first letters, others don't like it at all...
I must confess that I belong to the first group! Why? I really find fascinating telling a future friend about myself and don't find it is that difficult or boring. Also, I never found myself wondering what to write in a first letter (the practice along the years might also help). I think there are plenty of stuff to write about in a first letter, lots of details you can describe and tell and not only about yourself...

The first letter is the key when starting a penfriendship. In this first letter you have the chance to present yourself in a way that your future penpal should think you are a person worth to be known. Don't ruin your only possibility of making a very good impression of yourself by writing an uninteresting, awfully boring text or a letter of a very poor quality.

So, what should be written in a first letter? Here there are some tips which might help you to write a succesful first letter:

- Present yourself. Tell about your name, age, when is your Birthday... but don't be scarce when writing about these as you might lack the core of your presentation. You have to be chatty and develop it in a way it sounds interesting, not a mere formality.

- Tell about the place you come from, where you were born/grew up, were you live now if you moved, or even the places you lived along the years. At this point you can add some facts: relate why the place you were born, the place(s) you live(d) in are famous for... This way your penpal not only gets to know the name of a city somewhere in the world, but why this place is famous or which features are typical of this area.

- Talk about your family. Your husband/wife, boyfriend/girlfriend, children, parents, brothers and sisters, grandparents, cousins... Maybe you have a favourite member of the family whom you share most of your adventures and you trust blindly. Perhaps you would like to tell your pal about this special person in your family. Here you also can write about your pets if you have any. After all they are like family members as well.

- Mention about your studies or your work. Maybe you are into the same field and you are interested in discussing with your pal about it in future letters. You can also tell about the places where you studied/worked, talk about anecdotes of those years, how you are living/lived your times as a student or at work.

- Write about what you like doing, your hobbies and your interests. Even if we don't like the same stuff, it is interesting to share this information with your penfriend. Perhaps you discover a new liking you had never heard about before...
I find nice to mention likings in general, but, for instance, if you like music, TV series or movies I recommend you not to write a list of all those singers/bands/TV series/films you like. It is good if you mention about a favourite one and then develop this topic in the next letters. Nevertheless, listings of such stuff are quite boring to read in my opinion.

- Develop some of those likings individually. If you like penpalling, you can write about how you discovered letter writing, how long you have been into it, how you met your first pals, which are your expectations regarding the new penfriendship...
If you are interested in music, mention which kind of music you like the most, where you usually listen to music, at which moment of the day, maybe you even play an instrument and your pal does as well...
If you are into sports do tell if you practice any, which ones are your favourite to practice and the ones you follow, which sportmen/sportwomen you like lots and are a fan of...
If you think a bit you can write every detail about everything you are into. This way your pal will find your letter much more interesting to read, instead getting into listings full of stuff which surely are very boring to go through.

- Name some random stuff you might like, besides your hobbies. Sometimes we discover that another person in the other corner of the world likes rainy days, walking in the woods or your favourite fruit!

- If you feel like it, describe yourself. It is not easy, but probably your future penpal would like to hear about your personality traits and how you think you are.

- Perhaps you would like to advance some of your dreams, ideas, hopes, points of view, opinions or future expectations in your life. Maybe you share some of them and both of you develop these topics in next letter exchanges...

Still there are some other topics you might write about in a first letter to a new penfriend. It is not necessary to write a lot about every little characteristic because you have plenty of letters to develop each of those topics in a more detailed way. However, as I said at the beginning, writing too less is as bad as writing too much! Everything should be done in a reasonable manner and remember that writing a meaningful first letter is in your hand!

If you are looking for advice on penpalling check: "Tips on letter writing".

And the winner is...

Lettersets.com and Penpalling & Letters have had a contest running for a month. The deadline was last 21st September and today I have the pleasure to announce the lucky winner! Let's see the process:

I wrote down all the names of the participants in little pieces of paper

I put all the little papers inside a bag

And finally a winner is picked out!

The winner is Joana from The Ecological Storyteller. Many congratulations Joana! You will be contacted very soon!

I also want to thank all the participants for joining this contest! Keep an eye on Penpalling & Letters as surely there will be more contests and giveaways in the future!

"Martenitzi" - Do you know which country this tradition belongs to?

In a new trip around the globe we find ourselves in southeastern Europe, in a land bathed by the salty waters of an inland sea, the Black Sea, and the fresh waters of the second longest river in Europe, the Danube. Have you already guessed where we are?

The Sandbook.net Team is accompanying us to Bulgaria to share with all the Penpalling & Letters readers a typical and lovely tradition of their country called "Martenitzi", as well as their experience with penpalling.

Hello Sandbook.net Team and welcome to Penpalling & Letters! Could you tell us from which place in Bulgaria do you come from?

I come from Zlatograd (when translated, "zlato" means gold and "grad" means city) which is located near the Bulgarian-Greek border. Don't let the name's translation of the city and its location in the Rhodopian Mountains fool you into thinking that there are gold mines around! :) The name comes from the golden color that the tobacco leaves get when they are dry. The region has been a big producer of tobacco in the early to late 1980s-1990s.

How did you discover penpalling?

I have been into penpalling for the better part of the last eighteen years. I started when I was six and I was studying English as a foreign language. Back then, the "Mickey Mouse magazine" was posting ads from people from all around Europe who wished to have penpals and well, I started penpalling in an attempt to keep my language skills in check! :) I am still swapping Friendship Books and developing a penpal site: Sandbook.net

Maybe you have seen them on the Internet or run into people wearing the white and red bracelets or badges called martenitzi. But do you know the tradition behind it? Well, the martenitzi are a typical Bulgarian tradition and no other nation celebrates the month of March with them. On the first of March and the first few days after, Bulgarians give to one another white and red tassels or small bracelets or badges called "Martenitsa" or "Martenichka" (the plural form of which is "Martenitza" or "Martenitsa" if you prefer to spell it in English with an s... the "tz" sound is a letter in the Bulgarian alphabet. Actually the Bulgarian alphabet itself is the prototype of all Slavianic alphabets, as the languages share a lot of similarities).
The roots of this holiday are very deep, as it is connected with many symbols, legends and myths, than the general beliefs for health and luck. Most of them date back to pagan times (or as early as the first establishment of the Bulgarian nation/country which was way back in time – in 681 AD).
The red colour is a symbol of the feminine beginning, health, conception and birth, and the white, on the other hand, is the male beginning, strength and light. This invariable combination between the man and woman, which actually rules the world, is notified in the Bulgarian folklore at the beginning of the spring season, the new beginning, source of the good. That is why white and red are being weaved in the martenitza, the way the man and woman are entwined, to create something new and good.
The tradition goes on that whenever you see a stork or if April 1st comes before that, you should take off your martenitza and place it under a stone or at a fruit tree. So that the year will be fruitful and successful. We greet each other and say Happy baba Marta ("baba" means grandma, "Marta" is a nickname for March). So Chestita baba Marta, everyone!

If you are interested in reading more interesting stories have a look at: Travelling around the World sharing Cultural Heritage, Folklore and Background

Giveaway Recall

Are you interested in getting some of the most beautiful penpalling supplies (writing-paper, stickers...) for free? Then you should have a look at this "Covered of Cuteness Giveaway" organized by Lettersets.com and Penpalling & Letters.

It will be running until the 21st September only, so don't wait until it is too late!

You only have to read carefully all the steps to follow and participate! What are you waiting for then? You can be the winner of a stationery bag full of cuteness and remember that each participant has a maximum of five possibilities to get this great prize!

Mail Trivia V

Did you know that...

before the use of adhesive paper stamps, letters were hand stamped or postmarked with ink?

Postmarks were the invention of Henry Bishop and were at first called "Bishop marks" after the inventor. Bishop marks were first used in 1661 at the London General Post Office. They marked the day and month the letter was mailed.