Call me old-fashioned, but I have been loving postcards and sending them when travelling or on special days for years. If you know me, you may find this a bit incongruous with my Chandler-like personality, but somehow (thankfully I am a piscis), I have got the hobby of collecting postcards, or more precisely, collecting written postcards from my friends, families and me myself.

这可能很老式，但我多年来一直喜欢明信片，并且会在旅游的时候或者特别的日子给自己寄明信片。如果你认识我，你会觉得这样的习惯跟我那犯二青年的个性不太符合，不过谢天谢地我是个双鱼座，然后不知为何就开始了收集明信片这个习惯，尤其是朋友、家人以及自己寄给自己的明信片。

I have heard about the time capsule and a couple of my friends write letters to them future selves. Well, I do the reversed version. I also know a lot of people who write down their travel stories and keep an account for every single day in the trip. Well, I do the simplified version.

我听说过时间胶囊，而且有些朋友会给未来的自己写信，嘛，我的做法可以说是反过来的。我也知道很多人会写游记，把旅途的每一天记下来，嘛，我的做法算是简化版的。

OK, I am finished being glib.

好吧，停止耍嘴皮子。

Seriously, I consider sending postcards to myself as a way of capturing my feelings and thoughts of some specific moments. I have always thought about showing my treasured postcards to my future family and telling them the stories of those trips and experiences.

认真地讲，我认为给自己寄明信片是一种定格瞬间感受和想法的好办法。我总会想，以后可以拿着明信片给未来的家人讲我旅行的故事和经历。

First of all, a postcard itself tells a story. Some postcards are scenic snapshots or photographs; some are paintings or sculptures, famous ones or created by unknown artists; some are famous quotations, poems or lyrics. It is already interesting to learn the story of the postcard itself.

首先，明信片本身就已经是一个故事了。有的明信片是风景照或照片，有的是画作或雕塑(名作或者出自无名艺术家之手)，一些是名言、有名的诗句或歌词。了解明信片的故事本就是一个很有趣的过程。

To me, postcards made of old photographs that show images of old buildings and people’s live in old times are the most attractive ones.

对于我来说，记录老建筑或过去人们的生活的明信片是最吸引我的。

In 2012, I went to Yinchuan for a trip and found a set of postcards which was issued in the late 1980s. At that time, I visited some of the places that were captured on those postcards. Those places had changed a lot and I could tell the changes by comparing with those old postcards. It was amazing, wasn’t it?

2012年，我在银川旅游，找到了一套1980年代末期发售的明信片。在银川的时候，我去了几个明信片上展示的地方。那些地方变化很大。对比明信片，我能看出那些变化。那真的很棒，不是吗?

Then, after writing something on a postcard – words, phrases, sentences or even short passages, it will turn into something more special.

然后，在明信片上写点字，可以是几个词、句子、或是小短文，那么明信片就会变得更加特别。

I still remember the first time I sent a postcard to myself. It was five years ago, during the trip to Yangzhou and was also the first time I traveled alone. One of the girls I met in the youth hotel was an experienced solo traveler who shared a lot with me about her travel stories. For the very first time, I wished to keep that meet-cute in my mind. Then, I got the idea of writing a postcard and sending it to myself.

我还记得第一次给自己寄明信片时的情形。那是五年前，我去扬州旅行，那也是我第一次一个人的旅行。当时，在青旅遇到的一个女孩在独自一人的旅行方面经验很丰富，跟我讲了很多。那是我第一次想要把那个偶遇刻在脑海里。然后，我便有了写张明信片寄给自己的想法。

Since then, I have started my great project of collecting postcards.

从那以后，收集明信片的“伟业”正式开始了。

On the boat cruising in fjords in Norway, I kept my fingers crossed, wishing to see dolphins. In a friend’s home in London, I showed her the pictures I took in Tate Modern. At a sidewalk café in Rome, I told friends that Gelato was really delicious. All these memories are carried by the postcards I sent to myself.

在挪威穿越峡湾的船上，我祈祷看见海豚;在朋友伦敦的家里，我给她看在泰特现代美术馆拍的照片;在罗马街边的咖啡馆，我告诉朋友冰淇淋特别好吃。而明信片承载着这一切的记忆。

I am not collecting postcards, I am taking down wonderful moments in life.

其实我并不是收集明信片，而是记下生活中每一个精彩的瞬间。