The Power of 2x3 cm Paper

Earlier yesterday I wrote a post about Presidential Election and how people on social media are showing their supports. If you think that the support comes only in virtual form, you are extremely wrong. It is not! 

The support of using the right to vote also comes in a form of print. But this is no ordinary print. Can you guess what it is? Du du du du dum,

I am talking about stamp. Yes, stamp as in postal stamp. If you have seen my other blog, I did some posts about snailmail. Through exchanging snailmail with penpals that I 'met' from all over the world, I realize how the culture is also exposed not only through what is sent but also from the stamps used.

As you may notice in this certain stamp sheet, the theme is General Election 2014. Every month, Indonesia's postal service release one or two new sheet depending on the event. Some including traditional musical instruments, traditional food, batik, etc.

  

Look at how small is it! But with the tiny size, it can bring a message and spread it to all over the world. Imagine that you are sending your letter to a friend in USA, Japan, Finland, Australia, or everywhere all over the world, your penpal might be aware of the election in Indonesia. That's why, stamp is a very good outlet to also expose our culture to the world.

Now if you are familiar with philatelic hobby, it is a hobby of collecting stamps. There are lots of people out there who has this kind of hobby, you know. My aunt used to give me a bunch of old stamps she had from Taiwan (picture below). When I posted them on internet, some people actually come to me and ask if I could send them some stamps in exchange of other thing.

Since I am not actually a stamp collector or philatelist so I happily send them part of my stuff to help their collection grow. Well, I bet you guys are getting curious about how this all snailmail and penpal thingy works. But I guess, I will save it for my next post okay ;)

Cheers,
filicia
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Vote for Change!

Hello everyone! Sorry I have been away for quite some time. I know I know, it has been two weeks since my last post. I was really busy and, the internet connection did not work properly in my campus, not to mention the dormitory. Also, I was feeling unwell this past few days. But worry not, I am feeling much better now. I am catching up with all the posts I meant to blog. So, do^expect new post everyday! ^o^

Enough with the babbling, because today is the day! Finally, the long awaited Presidential Election is happening today, Wednesday, July 9th 2014 in Indonesia!

See, even Google created a special Google Doodle for this once-in-five-years event. If you guys have the right to vote, please use it wisely. One vote will definitely make a difference!

You guys may or may not have seen the stream of campaigns, either supporting Prabowo-Hatta or Jokowi-JK. I do not want to be biased here, and since I do not really understand politics, I have no right to judge or to critic the candidates. Of course both of the candidates have their own positive and negative side. We can always watch, listen and observe what we saw in TV, newspaper, or social media. But we will never know if it is the truth or not. 

The thing about this year's election though, the youth really take a huge part in supporting or promoting their chosen candidate thanks to social media. As one of the avid /ahem/ user of twitter, facebook, path, instagram, etc, there sure are lots of the campaign. 

Another great thing about this election is that it has become a creative outlet for artist all over Indonesia to show their support. Though controversial, you may have seen the campaign video featuring Ahmad Dhani. On the other hand, I saw lots of independent artist are showing their support in instagram 

All in all, vote wisely, this is not the chance you get everyday. 5 minutes you spend voting (exclude the queuing and going back and forth to TPS okay) could lead to a totally different 5 years for Indonesia. 

Have a good day! And enjoy your holiday!

Cheers,
filicia
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