Countries and habits

So I recently re-ordered my collection of cards that I have received through Postcrossing (almost 400). I had them stacked in chronological order, but ever since my post on the stamps, I had been thinking about ordering them by country (I've also started to send out nicer, special stamps instead of the boring standard ones, because now that I realise how much fun it is to get a real, beautiful stamp, I want to send them out as well). As they are now arranged in a way that I can actually say some generalising things about countries and their Postcrossing habits, I thought I would actually do so. I'm only including countries from which I have received at least 5 cards, otherwise it is hard to draw conclusions (even though I realise I am generalising from a very, very small sample size). I'll discuss the front of the card, the handwriting, and the stamps.

Some general things I noticed:
- Some countries practically only send touristy cards with the place names written very clearly up front, while others have a wider variety. As I don't ask for tourist viewcards in particular, I assume that the ones I receive are from senders who cannot find any other cards. This goes mainly for Brazil and Portugal.
- You can see a clear difference between 'westerners' writing in Latin script and 'Asians' writing in Latin script. The latter's cards are often much easier to read, and some have beautiful handwriting.
- Some countries have one 'abroad' stamps and most people use these (Germany, the US). In others, people can choose from various 'abroad' stamps, but still only use one. Finally, others have to come up with special combinations to reach the required amount, and these usually have several stamps with a wide variety.

Belarus (15 cards)
Mainly cards of buildings, parks, or natural vistas. Some paintings/drawings, no hand-made.
Very curly handwriting, with all the words written together, usually in blue ball-point pen.
Use a loooot of different, very small stamps, usually with flowers or animals. Recently I've been receiving quite some grey-and-red official stamps, which are more boring.

Belgium (7 cards)
Wide variety, from touristy to drawings to nature scenes.
Also a wide variety in handwriting, loose and illegible versus neat and small. All blue ball-point.
Many different stamps, some Belgium-related (beer, chocolates). Difference between Wallonian and Flemish stamps.

Brazil (6 cards)
All touristy cards with sights or buildings.
Very small, straight letters so that a lot of text fits on the card, except for one. Mainly blue ball-point.
Several different stamps, interesting Christmas-tree decoration-shaped ones, but mainly trumpets and shopping bags.

Canada (6 cards)
Mostly nature-views, one funny image and one book cover.
All written with separate letters. 4 in black pen, 1 in purple pen, 1 printed in black ink.
Mostly different stamps, including two beautiful Titanic memorial stamps, but also the general abroad stamp featuring reindeer in a stream.

China (20 cards)
Wide variety, touristy views and shop-bought cutesy penguins, Jetoy, and traditional clothing/fabrics. Several traditional watercolour artworks with Chinese characters, one home-made featuring the sender.
All written in separate letters, very thin and pointy, mostly in black ink, apart from 1 card written by a Frenchwoman living in China, whose handwriting is very 'western'.
Amazing variety of stamps, some very large, ranging from Mozart via landscapes to pandas and traditional drawings.

Czech Republic (6 cards)
4 drawings (ranging from a Klimt painting to a tv-show), 1 Easter card, one rainbow concoction.
All in separate letters and blue ball-point.
Beautiful variety of stamps, including animals, landscapes, people, historic events, etc. In the 11 stamps there is not one duplicate.

Finland (28 cards)
Drawings (Moomins), touristic sights, paintings, nature views (many reindeer), and several hand-made.
Mainly written in separate letters in blue ball-point, three in pencil, three in black, and one printed text.
Usually the Aurora Borealis 'abroad' stamp, but some variety (an interesting glitter-stamp of a violin-playing fairy, for example). However, always only 1 stamp per card.

France (5 cards)
All different: 1 Eiffel tower, 1 baroque painting, 1 ad card, 1 Provence view, 1 Nouvelle Images.
Words generally written together, not in a schoolboy manner but quite sloppy, 3 in blue ball-point, 2 in black.
Stamps generally feature Marianne of France, in different colours (brown, grey, yellow).

Germany (48 cards)
Mainly tourist cards with the place name prominently on the card. Some art cards (including Rosina Wachmeister) and other drawings, one Bunny Suicides, several with a focus on books or reading.
Wide variety of handwritings, colours, and sizes.
Almost all have the standard 'abroad' stamp of the church in Regensburg, very few have small flower stamps.

Great Britain (6 cards)
5 touristy viewcards (including one from Thailand...) and one cute owl drawing.
Generally written in separate letters, quite sloppy and sometimes unreadable.
Wide variety, 6 different stamps, meaning always 1 stamp per card.

Japan (8 cards)
Some tourist viewcards, some traditional paintings, one angel card and 2 cat cards.
Separate letters, mainly in black ink, mostly very neat and tidy (but clearly 'Asian'), some very sloppy. ID number almost always in red.
Amazing variety of stamps, from Hello Kitty to lotus flowers to nature views.

Latvia (6 cards)
2 viewcards, 1 book cover, and 2 double cards.
Large, loopy letters, generally written together and in black ink.
Many different stamps, but several cards feature a small stamp with a stork, probably to get to the required postage amount.

Lithuania (8 cards)
2 viewcards, a library postcard, 3 drawings, a Banksy card, and a home-made recipe card.
Wide variety of handwritings and colours, also of legibility.
Also a wide variety of stamps, mainly featuring important historic figures.

Poland (20 cards)
Many touristy cards with place names, several animal cards (dogs, cats, penguins), a few art cards.
Generally very small and neat handwriting in blue pen.
Various combinations of 1 and 2 Zloty stamps, mainly featuring historic houses and monuments.

Portugal (7 cards)
All tourist viewcards with place names, one made out of cork.
3 written separately in blue ink, 2 written together in black ink, 2 printed texts.
4 cards with the same boat stamp, otherwise 2 art stamps and 1 science stamp.

Russia (31 cards)
A lot of paintings (of various quality, some famous, mostly not), some tourist viewcards, some animal cards (pigs, dogs), one handmade.
Generally very small writing, either neat, together, and curly, or very thin but high letters.
Generally at least 3 stamps per card, showing animals (bear, rabbit reindeer), buildings (the Kremlin) and scientific projects (mainly rockets).

Taiwan (27 cards)
Mostly tourist viewcards, but some paintings and quite a lot of cat cards. One 'happy new year of the dragon' card, two Beatrix Potter cards.
Again, typical Asian style writing, very neat and careful separate letters. Mainly in blue, but also many black ink cards.
The standard stamp shows yellow flowers on a purple background, but some other flowers and natural scenes too, including birds and insects.

Ukraine (14 cards)
Mostly tourist viewcards, but some drawings and one cat/book combo card.
Generally written together and quite curly, but some with separate letters and in various colours (green, black).
Many, many different stamps, at least 2 per postcard, featuring all possible subjects, mainly related to Ukrainian culture.

USA (38 cards)
Mostly tourist cards, but some art, animal, and home-made cards.
Almost all written in black ink and quite sloppy/illegible. 5 with printed-out texts, one pre-written for schoolchildren with only the name and age to be filled in.
Almost all use the standard 'abroad' stamp for the USA, which changed from a national park in Wyoming (98 cents) to Lancaster County in Pennsylvania (1$05) somewhere around New Year. Some cards have other stamps, including animals, nature, some people (including Katharine Hepburn and Mother Theresa on one card), an "American clock" and Hawaii shirts from Hawaii.

I will probably follow this up with some posts of the stamps of some separate countries (Japan, the UK), because I think they deserve more love :)