Here's how the denizens of the Genovian Embassy spent the month before the ball:
Writing in her diary (Mia), baking cookies and little savory things on toast (Satine), making phone calls to mysterious men with Russian accents (Queenie), studying (me), shopping (Queenie and Mia), flirting (me and Satine), ignoring each other (Satine and Mia), insulting each other (me and Mia), having spats about decorations and pay (Queenie and Satine), making deals (me and Queenie), and even more studying (all me).
Actually, what I learned was pretty interesting.
Genovia has two major indigenous ethnic groups: the Rhaije and the Esnuda. The Rhaije are mostly from the outer edges of Genovia, particularly the northern wastelands. They're a fierce, warlike, nomadic tribe, with several dozen clans that are permantently feuding with each other. They hunt a lot.
The Esnuda are a very peaceful tribe; they live mainly around the middle area of Genovia, particularly the southern shoreline. They're mostly farmers and gatherers and artisans. Most of the Esnuda have assimilated into the modern culture; they tend to live in the few big cities in Genovia.
The population of Tobeins, the capital city of Genovia, is 85% Esnuda. There are very small pockets of Rhaije in the inner-city area, but they're mostly bums and winos, from what I've heard. The Rhaije don't take well to city living. The other 10% are tourists. For some reason, Genovia is a popular tourist spot. I expected that to change soon.
You'll remember that I wrote before about Lechan, the national language of Genovia. Actually, Lechan isn't used very much anymore. In the 1880s, the royal family decided that it was "an uncouth and barbarian tongue" because the Rhaije spoke it more than the Esnuda did. Naturally, it was outlawed. The only people that paid any attention to the decree were the Esnuda, who carefully avoided using it in public, but went to a lot of effort to keep it alive underground. (This sort of thing happens more often than you would think in the civilized world.) In the late 1980s, Parliament made an attempt to revive its national use, but Queenie overturned the motion. Now, Lechan is used as sort of a talismanic language, mainly for mottoes and prayers in the esoteric Genovian Catholic Church. Anyone using it inside of city boundaries can be fined up to {Z}300 (a {Z} is a zagnouth, the local unit of currency, which is equivalent to about five US dollars).
I'm sorry. You aren't really interested in this, are you? You don't care about the history of Genovia. All you want to read is me insulting Mia and getting cozy with Satine.
Tough noogies. Satine and I didn't get anywhere. Every time we had a spare moment alone, Queenie was there, yelling at me to study or complaining that Satine's mushroom quiche was about to burn.
Well, no, that's not exactly true. We did get to go out for a nice afternoon one day when Queenie had to take Mia out shopping because the chauffeur was sick. I took Satine to Central Park and we went to the John Lennon Memorial. I had been playing my copy of "Sergeant Pepper's" all week, and Satine had decided she liked the Beatles. We didn't get to do anything else; Queenie came by and picked us up after about 20 minutes.
Writing in her diary (Mia), baking cookies and little savory things on toast (Satine), making phone calls to mysterious men with Russian accents (Queenie), studying (me), shopping (Queenie and Mia), flirting (me and Satine), ignoring each other (Satine and Mia), insulting each other (me and Mia), having spats about decorations and pay (Queenie and Satine), making deals (me and Queenie), and even more studying (all me).
Actually, what I learned was pretty interesting.
Genovia has two major indigenous ethnic groups: the Rhaije and the Esnuda. The Rhaije are mostly from the outer edges of Genovia, particularly the northern wastelands. They're a fierce, warlike, nomadic tribe, with several dozen clans that are permantently feuding with each other. They hunt a lot.
The Esnuda are a very peaceful tribe; they live mainly around the middle area of Genovia, particularly the southern shoreline. They're mostly farmers and gatherers and artisans. Most of the Esnuda have assimilated into the modern culture; they tend to live in the few big cities in Genovia.
The population of Tobeins, the capital city of Genovia, is 85% Esnuda. There are very small pockets of Rhaije in the inner-city area, but they're mostly bums and winos, from what I've heard. The Rhaije don't take well to city living. The other 10% are tourists. For some reason, Genovia is a popular tourist spot. I expected that to change soon.
You'll remember that I wrote before about Lechan, the national language of Genovia. Actually, Lechan isn't used very much anymore. In the 1880s, the royal family decided that it was "an uncouth and barbarian tongue" because the Rhaije spoke it more than the Esnuda did. Naturally, it was outlawed. The only people that paid any attention to the decree were the Esnuda, who carefully avoided using it in public, but went to a lot of effort to keep it alive underground. (This sort of thing happens more often than you would think in the civilized world.) In the late 1980s, Parliament made an attempt to revive its national use, but Queenie overturned the motion. Now, Lechan is used as sort of a talismanic language, mainly for mottoes and prayers in the esoteric Genovian Catholic Church. Anyone using it inside of city boundaries can be fined up to {Z}300 (a {Z} is a zagnouth, the local unit of currency, which is equivalent to about five US dollars).
I'm sorry. You aren't really interested in this, are you? You don't care about the history of Genovia. All you want to read is me insulting Mia and getting cozy with Satine.
Tough noogies. Satine and I didn't get anywhere. Every time we had a spare moment alone, Queenie was there, yelling at me to study or complaining that Satine's mushroom quiche was about to burn.
Well, no, that's not exactly true. We did get to go out for a nice afternoon one day when Queenie had to take Mia out shopping because the chauffeur was sick. I took Satine to Central Park and we went to the John Lennon Memorial. I had been playing my copy of "Sergeant Pepper's" all week, and Satine had decided she liked the Beatles. We didn't get to do anything else; Queenie came by and picked us up after about 20 minutes.