Pony Express: Friendship is Cultural Exchange! Wednesday, period 1

[locointhecoco]

"Is everypony excited? I'M SO EXCITED! Today we're actually going to a place in my world I'VE NEVER BEEN BEFORE! I've met plenty of griffons over the years in the rest of Equestria, but Griffonstone is way way way out past the edges of Equestria proper. Almost nopony ever goes there. Why, it's almost as distant and remote as Yakyakistan! Which nopony even knows where is!" Pinkie clapped a fluffy fur cap on her head and beamed at the students as the portal opened behind her. "Be sure to bundle up nice and warm! The mountainy area where Griffonstone is nestled can get super duper cold! But it's sure to be worth shivers to see the capitol of one of the most majestic kingdoms in all the land!"

Pinkie trotted through the portal and past the golden, winged gate that arched over the path on the other side. She waved the class after her, practically -- literally -- vibrating with excitement. "C'mon! It should be just over this . . . rise. . . ."

The village on the other side of the rise was not as advertised.

"This is --" Pinkie spun in place. "This can't be right! Where's the palace? Twilight's research says that the palace has the Idol of -- Somethingornother -- which unites the griffons with pride! Who's the king?"

"Pinkie Pie?" A griffon stalked up, glaring. "What are you doing here? Who are -- what are your --" she sneered, "-- friends?"

"Omigosh, Gilda!" Pinkie waved. "These are my students from Fandom High! We're doing a cultural exchange class so they can learn about the lives of ponies and griffons and other creatures here in Equestria --"

"-- We're not in Equestria --"

"-- and learn more about the important power of friendship!"

"Great. So now you ponies and -- weird, disfigured, mutant ponies -- can come up here and gawk at us and judge us." Gilda rolled her eyes, then held out a claw. "Alright, I'll give you the grand tour. For enough bits."

"Okidokilok!" Pinkie pulled a pouch out of . . . somewhere . . . and poured a few gold coins into Gilda's claw. Gilda sighed. And wiggled her talons to indicate she needed more. Pinkie poured on a few more coins, then even more when Gilda wiggled her talons again, then more and more until the bag was empty and a golden pile sat on Gilda's claw. "That's all I've got."

"I guess that'll do." Gilda huffed and waved around her. "Come on, then. Let's get this over with."

Surviving (and Thriving) on Fandom Island, Week 10 (Wed., Period 3)

[weetuskenraider]

There was a turkey following Tahiri around the classroom today -- not a real one, but a small wind-up toy, nowhere near actual size. From her resigned expression, it might be easy enough to infer that it had been following her around all day and she'd given up trying to discourage it.

"Thanksgiving's coming up next week," she said, "or at least the American version of it, which is what the school will be celebrating. There are a lot of different holidays on Earth this time of year. A lot."

"Absurdity Day," Ghanima said helpfully, starting to tick things off on her fingers. "Thanksgiving, then either Black Friday or Buy Nothing Day, depending on your disposition. Then December has Hanukkah, the Winter Solstice, Mawlid Un Nabi, Christmas, and Boxing Day. January brings us the New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, Epiphany, Orthodox Christmas Day, Orthodox New Year, Martin Luther King Day, and Tu B’Shevat."

"Americans like their holidays, especially religious ones."

Tahiri chuckled. "No kidding. You don't have to be familiar with all of them, but I find it helps with perspective just to have an idea of how many there are, and how they may vary depending on region or culture."

"You also don't have to be religious to celebrate some of the more culturally dominant ones," Ghanima added. "Thanksgiving, Winter Solstice and Christmas are often celebrated secularly as well, by people who decide to celebrate the family and togetherness aspect rather than the religious, imperialist, or capitalist connotations."

Tahiri waved a finger in a vaguely circular gesture. "I found a pretty good song that touches on that concept," she said, and hit play on her datapad. When the song was done she grinned apologetically. "It was cute, I couldn't help it."

"It's far superior to the vast majority of holiday music that gets played at this time of year," Ghanima assured her (and the rest of the class). "Some of you may have already noticed stores playing music called 'Christmas carols.' Yes, I know it's not even Thanksgiving yet, but for some reason they always start right after Halloween. It's also now the season of the Christmas movies, which I confess, I still don't understand."

"Neither do I. I suspect part of it has to do with growing up on desert worlds," Tahiri suggested. "All of these Christmas movies seem to take place in places with snow, at least the ones I've seen."

She shrugged. "I think we'd be interested in hearing if any of your worlds have holidays with about the same level of significance much of this part of Earth tends to give to Christmas . . . and maybe ought to remember to give to other winter holidays too."

UGH, snow. If Ghanima had a thousand more lifetimes in her tau, she was still never going to understand the fascination with snow. "What are your feast days?" she she said, agreeing with Tahiri. "--and are there any Earth holidays you'd like to adopt permanently?"

Ethics, Wednesday

[saddeserthermit]

Anakin lounged back against his desk today, this time without coffee. Turned out that being mean to the barista meant that the rest of them wouldn't serve him for the remainder of the month. Oops. "Today we're going to talk about the seven deadly sins, or easily identifiable vices found in most sentient species," he began.

"The Earth religious document known as the Bible is rather clear on those, so we feel they are rather useful when we speak of ethics on this planet," Obi-Wan said smoothly. "There are seven, as Master Skywalker has already pointed out: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath and sloth."

Anakin gave Obi-Wan a little smirk. "And everyone has one that calls to them a bit more strongly than the rest. So today we want to you to take a moment to really think about your personal weaknesses and figure out which of the sins Master Kenobi mentioned is closest to you. I, for instance, have problems with both wrath and pride."

Which wouldn't be a shock to anyone in the room.

Obi-Wan was not bringing up his own. This, too, should be predictable. "Please explain your choice," he said, "and how you deal with your vice."