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Description
12~*~12

China – Qu Dynasty

Colonial North America

India – British rule

India – Before British rule

Peru – I HATE LLAMAS!

We had our first snowfall today, and THANK EARTH! No more farming – everything is dead. Now I have to carry firewood, refill the water buckets for the fires, and crack the ice on the river so the boats can get through. I hate that job so much! I get so wet and so cold, and then I come in to warm up and Mom yells at me for dripping on the palace floors!

After the whole llama thing in Peru, I was desperate to get somewhere where all the major attractions were within walking distance. Lapis gave me a book on a place called England and it was fascinating! There is so much history that there are actually five books for England. All the books that I have read since that awful Egypt one have been much easier to read...this one even had pictures!

I read all about England from the end of the Middle Ages through the rule of the Stuarts, and I had my heart set on visiting Elizabethan London. As I have said before, it is getting easier for me to control exactly where I am going to end up (I have no idea what happened in Peru). I was hoping to arrive in the palace, perhaps even in the Queen's body, but I think that where I ended up was even better.

I was in some peasant girl's body right as she entered a crowded theater. I stepped out into a space surrounded on all sides by three stories of covered benches that opened up to the sky. Before me, I could see a huge stage raised about five feet off the ground. Tapestries depicting a man who carried Earth on his shoulders hung from the walls and pillars.

I did not get much more time to look around. The crowd behind me pushed me sideways right against a beam just ten feet from the edge of the stage, a place that I fought to hold onto during the whole performance.

The theater continued to fill. There was nowhere for me to sit, so I stood. I felt fur on my leg and glanced down in time to see a rat scamper under my skirt. I shrieked and tried to move, but the person in front of me just shoved me right back. A man behind me who stank of ale laughed.

"Wot the matter? Ain't you seen a rat before?"

I blushed and squeezed Father's hand harder, and I now realized that I had been holding his hand all along (he was not Dad, of course, but the girl's father, whoever the girl was). He pulled me a little closer.

Soon the theater was so crowded that I felt I could have lifted my aching feet off the ground and still hung there, pressed between Father, the post, and the other people around me. The heat was stifling, but it must not have been too hot that day or it would have been even more unbearable.

When the theater had filled to its limits and the spectators were packed in like cattle, the play began.

Two actors stepped out of a door and walked out to the center of the stage. One man was dressed as a king, but his costume was old and worn. The other – I laughed to see the sight – was playing a woman! He was just a boy, really, no more than thirteen, not yet grown into a man. He and the other boys who played women spoke with such exaggerated high voices that I could not help grinning whenever one of them began to say their lines.

When this first man playing a woman came out, I made the mistake of asking Father about it.

"Why don't a woman play the part?"

"A woman in the theater? There's few that even comes, so you 'old your tongue, or I'll send you 'ome."

I made a mental note to be more careful of what I said.

The king began to speak, and if I had been any further from the stage I would have had trouble hearing him, even though I could tell that he was yelling at the top of his lungs. I missed the title of the play, but I caught most of what followed.

At first I struggled to keep up with the words to understand what was going on, but I soon found that it was not necessary. Just by hearing a few lines every now and then and watching their exaggerated movements, I could figure the story out.

But, oh, the words that I could hear were beautiful! To give a summary would not do this story justice.

The play itself was good, but the audience was horrible. The day grew warmer and the whole theater smelled terrible, from the dirt under my feet to the top of the thatched roof. The crowd was restless and not respectful at all. They talked among themselves, completely ignoring the very play that they had paid to see, but they still managed to laugh uproariously at any phrases with a slight double meaning (apparently people still speak like Tam thousands of years into the future).

Towards the end, when the crowd became restless, they began yelling insults much more loudly than they had been before and crowding closer to the stage. Almost before I knew what was happening, there were two men up on the stage among the actors, making very rude jokes and competing to see who could gain the actors' attention. The poor actors were trying to continue to say their lines and ignore the men as best they could, but it was getting more and more difficult.

Now comes the worst part of this travel.

"Hmm..." said my father after one of the men's jokes. He turned to his other side. "James, take your sister 'ome. She shouldn't be 'earing this."

And he shoved someone who was my older brother at me.

"Father, let me stay!" James pleaded. "Please! I ain' never come 'ere before and I won' again! Let me stay!"

"'Old your tongue, and do wot I tell you."

I left the theater not knowing the end of the play, and left England the first chance I had.
So all in all, this has been my shortest, yet most enjoyable travel so far, made even better when Lapis presented me with a book of the playwright Shakespeare's plays. It is more difficult to read than the England book was, but at least it is more enjoyable. I have decided not to travel much this winter, as it is one of the rare times of the year when I have few chores, so I will read those stories and relax while I can.

Mom is calling for dinner. If she calls again, I will go, but if not, I saved some food from lunch.

She is calling...

~~~

Spain – Inquisition

Cuba – sugar plantation (so much for relaxing...whoever invented slavery should work as one for a day or two and see how they like it)

Somewhere in the region Morocco – not sure when. Stunning mosaics.

Russia – Catherine the Great

Caveman times – goodness knows where or when, but it was freezing. Last trip that far back I am ever taking.

Description
12~*~12

China – Qu Dynasty

Colonial North America

India – British rule

India – Before British rule

Peru – I HATE LLAMAS!

We had our first snowfall today, and THANK EARTH! No more farming – everything is dead. Now I have to carry firewood, refill the water buckets for the fires, and crack the ice on the river so the boats can get through. I hate that job so much! I get so wet and so cold, and then I come in to warm up and Mom yells at me for dripping on the palace floors!

After the whole llama thing in Peru, I was desperate to get somewhere where all the major attractions were within walking distance. Lapis gave me a book on a place called England and it was fascinating! There is so much history that there are actually five books for England. All the books that I have read since that awful Egypt one have been much easier to read...this one even had pictures!

I read all about England from the end of the Middle Ages through the rule of the Stuarts, and I had my heart set on visiting Elizabethan London. As I have said before, it is getting easier for me to control exactly where I am going to end up (I have no idea what happened in Peru). I was hoping to arrive in the palace, perhaps even in the Queen's body, but I think that where I ended up was even better.

I was in some peasant girl's body right as she entered a crowded theater. I stepped out into a space surrounded on all sides by three stories of covered benches that opened up to the sky. Before me, I could see a huge stage raised about five feet off the ground. Tapestries depicting a man who carried Earth on his shoulders hung from the walls and pillars.

I did not get much more time to look around. The crowd behind me pushed me sideways right against a beam just ten feet from the edge of the stage, a place that I fought to hold onto during the whole performance.

The theater continued to fill. There was nowhere for me to sit, so I stood. I felt fur on my leg and glanced down in time to see a rat scamper under my skirt. I shrieked and tried to move, but the person in front of me just shoved me right back. A man behind me who stank of ale laughed.

"Wot the matter? Ain't you seen a rat before?"

I blushed and squeezed Father's hand harder, and I now realized that I had been holding his hand all along (he was not Dad, of course, but the girl's father, whoever the girl was). He pulled me a little closer.

Soon the theater was so crowded that I felt I could have lifted my aching feet off the ground and still hung there, pressed between Father, the post, and the other people around me. The heat was stifling, but it must not have been too hot that day or it would have been even more unbearable.

When the theater had filled to its limits and the spectators were packed in like cattle, the play began.

Two actors stepped out of a door and walked out to the center of the stage. One man was dressed as a king, but his costume was old and worn. The other – I laughed to see the sight – was playing a woman! He was just a boy, really, no more than thirteen, not yet grown into a man. He and the other boys who played women spoke with such exaggerated high voices that I could not help grinning whenever one of them began to say their lines.

When this first man playing a woman came out, I made the mistake of asking Father about it.

"Why don't a woman play the part?"

"A woman in the theater? There's few that even comes, so you 'old your tongue, or I'll send you 'ome."

I made a mental note to be more careful of what I said.

The king began to speak, and if I had been any further from the stage I would have had trouble hearing him, even though I could tell that he was yelling at the top of his lungs. I missed the title of the play, but I caught most of what followed.

At first I struggled to keep up with the words to understand what was going on, but I soon found that it was not necessary. Just by hearing a few lines every now and then and watching their exaggerated movements, I could figure the story out.

But, oh, the words that I could hear were beautiful! To give a summary would not do this story justice.

The play itself was good, but the audience was horrible. The day grew warmer and the whole theater smelled terrible, from the dirt under my feet to the top of the thatched roof. The crowd was restless and not respectful at all. They talked among themselves, completely ignoring the very play that they had paid to see, but they still managed to laugh uproariously at any phrases with a slight double meaning (apparently people still speak like Tam thousands of years into the future).

Towards the end, when the crowd became restless, they began yelling insults much more loudly than they had been before and crowding closer to the stage. Almost before I knew what was happening, there were two men up on the stage among the actors, making very rude jokes and competing to see who could gain the actors' attention. The poor actors were trying to continue to say their lines and ignore the men as best they could, but it was getting more and more difficult.

Now comes the worst part of this travel.

"Hmm..." said my father after one of the men's jokes. He turned to his other side. "James, take your sister 'ome. She shouldn't be 'earing this."

And he shoved someone who was my older brother at me.

"Father, let me stay!" James pleaded. "Please! I ain' never come 'ere before and I won' again! Let me stay!"

"'Old your tongue, and do wot I tell you."

I left the theater not knowing the end of the play, and left England the first chance I had.
So all in all, this has been my shortest, yet most enjoyable travel so far, made even better when Lapis presented me with a book of the playwright Shakespeare's plays. It is more difficult to read than the England book was, but at least it is more enjoyable. I have decided not to travel much this winter, as it is one of the rare times of the year when I have few chores, so I will read those stories and relax while I can.

Mom is calling for dinner. If she calls again, I will go, but if not, I saved some food from lunch.

She is calling...

~~~

Spain – Inquisition

Cuba – sugar plantation (so much for relaxing...whoever invented slavery should work as one for a day or two and see how they like it)

Somewhere in the region Morocco – not sure when. Stunning mosaics.

Russia – Catherine the Great

Caveman times – goodness knows where or when, but it was freezing. Last trip that far back I am ever taking.