About Alexandra Heep

About Alexandra Heep: The internet has allowed allowed Alexandra to maintain a semblance of life when encountering an unexpected, lingering health crisis. The Internet is a lifeline which not only allows her to remain connected to friends, but also survive, via writing.While Alexandra Heep is her pen name, she does not hide behind it. Instead, she used it to brand herself on the Internet and to create opportunities.

Alexandra published her first book, a collection of her best poems, on July 11, 2012. You can buy it at Lulu.com

Support independent publishing: Buy this book on Lulu.


Friday, April 17, 2020

A to Z Challenge 2020: O is for Overseas Territories


Did you know that there is only one country in the world that starts with the letter O? This country is Oman. I was supposed to get a postcard from there, but with everything going on in these Coronavirus times, I don't have it. So, that left me wondering what to do for this letter because my subject is postcard related (postcards that I have received).

Since my topic is about countries and territories, using a city was not an option this time. Overseas means foreign, especially over seas. According to this site, nine countries have overseas territories. Here is where it gets tricky: Overseas to me, in the USA, means something different than it does to people from other countries.

For example, UK overseas territories include Gibraltar, Falkland Islands, and Pitcairn Islands. I actually have postcards from all three of these. The USA has Guam, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa. Since I live in the USA, you see a postcard of Puerto Rico for this post.

Puerto Rico is a Caribbean Island with about 3.5 million people. Since it's 1,000 miles off the coast of Florida, USA's most southeastern point, to me it definitely counts as overseas. Puerto Rico has its own flag, and the official languages are English and Spanish, but it uses regular U.S. stamps and U.S. dollars. While known for its fantastic beaches, most of the land has mountains and hills.

Fun fact: Puerto Rico is the only country in the world with a rain forest that has no snakes nor bears. 

This postcard was sent to me by a friend. It's quite special to me because I have very few international postcards sent by real-life friends.

4 comments:

KatyTrailCreations said...

Our daughter traveled to Puerto Rico last January and was happy to return home fairly quickly. Earthquakes plagued her the entire trip. But it sure was beautiful from what pics she brought back.
https://katytrailcreations.com/2020/04/17/take-it-outside-letter-o/

Jade Li said...

I'm surprised there are that many people on Puerto Rico. It must be bigger than I was imagining. Looks like paradise on the postcard.

Lynn Forest said...

I was just there, visiting that National Forest in February! Really beautiful.

Glorygarden@msn.com said...

Is that the one I sent you? Looks familiar.