The Boy from Guatemala

Up until I received this gorgeous card from xtlera (again for the Winner of the Month lottery), I never had a look at Nouvelles Images postcards. I had noticed in some postcrossers' profiles the words "Nouvelles Images" but for one reason or another, I never googled it. I think it is such an adorable card. Once again, many thanks to xtlera for introducing me to this nice part of the crazy world of postcards :)

Nessebar - Bulgaria (UNESCO WHS)

My Winner of the Month - August 2010 postcards postings is still going on as you see. This pretty card of the old Nessebar was from mbali. The ancient city of Nessebar has been a UNESCO WHS since 1983. Bulgaria is a country we want to visit but never managed to. Although we are neighbour countries, Bulgaria is not considered as a vacation country by the Turks and I do not know the reason for that.

Map Cards of Germany

It is hard to believe how fast time flies away. I was the winner of the month back in August and was so sure that I'd scan and upload all the pretty cards I have received for this great lottery of postcrossing forums before the end of the month. I can't believe more than two months have passed. There are so many wonderful cards I want to upload to my blog but WotM cards will have priority.

The first map card of Hameln was from lena-lena.
The second card of Schwabische Alb was from raetselfan. The German forum members really love this winner of the month lottery and they are really fast when it comes to sending cards.

Northern Scandinavia

This is a really special map card because it doesn't show a particular city or country but a whole region. Dear Nea (nezzukka in the forums) sent it to me. Why? Because I'm the winner of the month. Still waiting? Come, join the fun!

Aachen Cathedral - Germany (UNESCO WHS)

Just like the cards from Oulu, Finland in my previous post, these two postcards of the German UNESCO WHS, Aachen Cathedral came on the very same day. The first card was from siobhan for Winner of the Month lottery and the second one was from anjaaustel for Turkey X World RR, Group 91.
Aachen Cathedral is the oldest cathedral in Northern Europe and was known as the "Royal Church of St. Mary at Aachen" during the Middle Ages. It has been a UNESCO WHS since 1978.

It is interesting that bots senders chose to send me night view of this cathedral on more or less the same day and posted the cards to me on the exact same day :)

Toripolliisi (The Bobby at Market Place) - Oulu, Finland

Many of you already know that my postman prefers to stop by twice or three times a week instaed of coming everyday to drop my mail. Yesterday there were around 20 postcards in my mail box. 8 of them was for "Winner of the Month", some officials and some for round robins. Both of the cards below came yesterday. The first one was for the winner of the month and the second one was an official (FI-864281).

Dear Suvi (nediam_nori) in the forums sent me this cute statue of the Bobby. This bronze statue is in Oulu Market Place in Finland. It was made by sculptor Kaarlo Mikkonen and it is his only public monument. In 1985 a collection was started among the citizens of Oulu to raise money to put up the sculpture. The process was followed in the local papers. The collection was speeded up with a campaign of challenges as well as with selling miniature statues, post cards, and Antell´s Bobby-figured cookies. The bronze Bobby at the Market square was inaugurated in December 1987.

The name of the work refers to three Bobbies that used to work at the Market square in 1934-1979 to maintain discipline and order in the area.

I am the WINNER OF THE MONTH :)

I am back from a really hot and a bit tiring week in UAE. It was nice to spend time in another muslim country but our timing was not correct. It was around 50 degrees and I had hard time getting used to it. I managed to make it to Dubai though and met Lila (AKA hagaki), a postcrosser from UAE. We had a lovely day in Dubai but I am saving the details of my day with Lila for another day.

After a long journey (Dubai-->Abu Dhabi-->Istanbul-->Ankara-->home) and a missing luggage, I came home to find more than 20 postcards and one of them (the one below) was telling me I was "the winner of the month". It was too good to be true after an exhausting journey...

The beautiful card this Moroccon lady was from Isabelle in Germany (isagv in the forums). First, I thought I might be the pseudo winner and immediately checked the "Winner of the Month - August" thread to see if there was already a real winner. There was none. I thought maybe the sender of my card was the winner but the card was sent from Germany and there were already some German participants. I know very well how fast German post is. If Isabelle was the real winner, she should have received other German members' cards but maybe noone had sent yet! Then, there was this discussion about the address of the real winner. I use both my home address and office address for postcrossing. At the end, I was so sure and posted in the thread that I was the winner of the month.

Then, Ipue, last month's winner, wrote that I only received one card and that may not mean I was the winner. Plus, she sent me the real winner's address. I was so ashamed at the beginning so decided to stay silent. Today 8 more cards arrived and then I officially declared myself as the "WINNER OF THE MONTH" :)

For those who are not familiar with the lotteries part of the postcrossing forums, here is some info. Firstly, you have to play if you want to be the winner of the month next time. For this particular month, playing means sending a postcard to me. Hehe :) On the first day of the next month, this month's winner chooses next month's winner and pseudo winner (in case the real winner wants to play in that month as well). Isn't it fun? Come and play then. Who knows? Maybe you'll be next month's winner :)