You've got mail…and it's a postcard
Paulo Magalhaes, a 34-year-old Portuguese computer engineer, loves to open his mailbox and find a brightly colored picture of Rome's Colosseum. Or Africa's Victoria Falls. Or China's Great Wall.
"I often send postcards to family and friends." he says to China Daily, "but you can imagine that after a while, you never receive as many as you send, and you realize that not everyone is into it ” Seeking other like-minded souls, however, Paulo started looking in a somewhat unlikely place: online. Many would say the Internet is a place for people who have given up on the traditional postal service, but Paulo's hunch（直觉）paid off.
Today his hobby has developed into the website postcrossing.com, a social network that has grown to 575,217 registered users in 214 countries and regions since he started it 10 years ago. Running the website has almost turned into a full-time job.
Language is certainly a barrier for many people. For postcrossing to work worldwide, a common communication language is needed so that everyone can understand each other. As cool as it may be to receive a postcard written in Chinese, the concept doesn't work if one doesn't understand it. So a common language is required and in postcrossing that's English since it's widely spoken.
"Many people in China have limited exposure to English. That said, we know of many postcrossing members, including Chinese, who have actually improved their English skills through their use of postcrossing," Paulo says.
A. And that's totally fine.
B. That makes it extra hard to learn and practice it.
C. He likes to think of sending postcards as a family-friendly hobby.
D. Many love to make a connection with someone from across the world.
E. On August 5, the number of postcards exchanged by members topped 31 million.
F. Similarly, if you speak only Chinese, receiving a card in Swedish takes part of the fun away.
G. In short, he loves postcards, and the excitement of getting a hand-written note from someone far away.
