The locals seem to think that I have magical powers so they gave me a rather large hut and about five slaves to help me out with the daily grind. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to treat my slaves. Canada abolished slavery in the 1830's and we were or will be a kind of safe haven for American slaves escaping from America's south.
Sometimes Aztec slaves are sacrificed so that the sun rises in the morning. I keep on trying to teach my co-high priest that there is no scientific evidence that supports that, and that about in about a hundred years Johanes Kepler will publish laws about planetary motion and science will soon discover that the sun rises due to the fact that the earth revolves around an axis. He reminded me that probably back in my own culture, in its past there were probably people who talked like me, who challenged the zeitgeist of people in an area, they were probably beheaded or confined quarters and forced to confess their treasons.
I backed off at that point, but still, some people just don't know how to take criticism. I wasn't trying to say that my way was better than his, I just wanted him to listen to what I was saying, but he just blew me off.
I for one, won't be sacrificing my slaves to make the sun rise. Besides, I have this one slave that makes the best atole (An Aztec porrige), and they are pretty cool to hang out with at night, but I don't like having to beat them just to keep up appearances.
It isn't all bad though. They let me start an iron smelting club. It is nice to finally get to use my traditional metelurgy degree for something. One day I was just making some bronze alloy to make some jewelry and this one guy seemed really interested in it. I made an arrow head for him. He really seemed to like the arrow head because it helped him vanquish an enemy, so he asked for more.
I had to take a class in geology when I was in college. I found that the surrounding mountains had a lot of iron ore in them so I decided, why not? The Aztecs are pretty okay at pottery so I had a few of my slaves build a bloom furnace, and then blam, that was the start of my iron smelting club.
I have over ten members now. Most of them are from the military. I tried to blacksmith up some things for farming, but my students just seem to want arrowheads and daggers. Sometimes I feel so used :( Sometimes Aztecs can't think out of the box. I can teach them how to make things like iron shovels, nails, hammers, orelocks for rowboats, and all of that stuff, but all they every want to learn how to make are things that help them kill others. They can be so narrow minded. One time I made some nails and used them to hammer together a wooden box.
I showed the box to my students and said, "You have to think outside of this," but I don't think that anybody got the message.
Bad Day
I had a bad day today. I had this student who was the son of a noble. He was a kind of prince. this kid was really great. He was very nice and kind too. He actually helped me out one time. A lot of the peasants still thought that I was some kind of devil, here to destroy everybody. They kind of formed a lynch mob and were comming for me. When they got to my house, this kid took a position on the temple across the street from my house. He raised his arms, the people just kind of looked at him and then they dispersed.
I was actually able to teach a few people some phrases like "hello and thank you." This kid was able to learn those fast. I mimed with him in front of the others. He would give me a chocolate bean and I would say thank you. I would give him a peacock feather and he would say, "tankoo." Finally he kind of mimed that he wanted to learn how to write "thank you." He came up to me after class and patted me on the shoulder. He took a stick and started scribbling things in the ground and saying "Tankoo, Tankoo." So I took the stick from him and wrote the word, "Thank you." After that he practiced for a few minutes and then left.
The next morning the sun came up but it was a little cloudy. I walked out of my hut, and the word "thank you," was written ten times. It started to rain. The thank yous were washed away. I learned later that that kid's father was the rain priest. five days after the equinox, the first born to the rain priest, is sacrificed to the rain god to mark the beginning of rain festival that that happens once every ten years.
I went back inside so that I wouldn't get wet.
I was actually able to teach a few people some phrases like "hello and thank you." This kid was able to learn those fast. I mimed with him in front of the others. He would give me a chocolate bean and I would say thank you. I would give him a peacock feather and he would say, "tankoo." Finally he kind of mimed that he wanted to learn how to write "thank you." He came up to me after class and patted me on the shoulder. He took a stick and started scribbling things in the ground and saying "Tankoo, Tankoo." So I took the stick from him and wrote the word, "Thank you." After that he practiced for a few minutes and then left.
The next morning the sun came up but it was a little cloudy. I walked out of my hut, and the word "thank you," was written ten times. It started to rain. The thank yous were washed away. I learned later that that kid's father was the rain priest. five days after the equinox, the first born to the rain priest, is sacrificed to the rain god to mark the beginning of rain festival that that happens once every ten years.
I went back inside so that I wouldn't get wet.
