Speaking of Babies......

Yeah, not really. Just kidding there with the April Fool's and all. Today was actually a lot of fun. On the walk from the bus stop to school I mentioned April Fool's Day to Il-kyu. He told me that the concept was known in Korea, but not widely used/celebrated. We thought it might be fun to play pranks on the kids and teach a little about April Fool's Day.

I had anticipated this and done a little research in the morning before leaving home. I found a couple fun videos and also read a bit about the history of April Fool's Day (AFD from here on). Did you know that the history of AFD isn't really well known? It's surmised by many that AFD came about due to calendar changes.

Way back in the late 1500's we changed to the modern type calendar from the Julian Calandar (ala Julias Ceasar). May Day was usually thought of as the beginning of Summer. If someone were to celbrate May Day under the old calendar, they would actually be celebrating in April (under the new calendar). They would then be called an April Fool.

Another theory stems from the French new year. April 1st was the signaled the new year in France until it was changed to January 1st by King Charles the IX. Someone celebrating wrong would again be an April Fool. Other theories relate as far back as the times of Noah. So, who really knows!

So, Il-kyu and I set out to surprise our first class. We hid in the little cubbies of the room, he in the "department store" and I in the "bank". We waited.... and waited... 5 minutes passed.... 10.... Il-kyu left hiding to go check on the situation. I took a dead centipede I found and put it on a desk for an additional joke. Then, Il-kyu returned and informed me that there was no class 1st or 2nd period. They had a science drawing (?! not sure what he meant there) and wouldn't be coming. The joke was on us.....

Post lunch on Wednesdays I have 2 periods of 3rd graders. Two 40 minutes sessions. Wednesdays can be a bit rough. They speak/understand very little English. If Il-kyu happens to be out of the room I'm pretty much just screwed. But, that's not what I want to talk about now.

We decided to use our AFD pranks on them. We played a video from youtube featuring a girl leisurely riding her bike. Towards the end a scary monster face pops up and screams. The kids screamed!! They loved it! Except for the one little boy who cried. Then we showed them a Criss Angel (he's a magician) video where he shows a lady being pulled in half. They squealed and a good time was had.

You can see the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIEC-cXBhxA It's actually really neat if you haven't seen it. It's apparently an old trick from the 1930's or before. I have no idea how it's done. Or, more correctly, I have very little idea how it's done. All I know is that there are no camera tricks and no robots or anything involved. :D

After 3rd graders we have the 6th graders. One of our 6th graders likes to store her book in one of the cupboard in the very back of her room. I went to said cupboard, removed some items, removed a shelf, and climbed on in. Eventually a student came near. I scared the crap out of the student council president! :D He said it was a great scare! They jumped at the video as well. They liked the Criss Angel magic trick and asked for more. I showed them how he walk on water (available on youtube). They then begged for "scary!" I showed them his quarter trick. It's not for the squeamish. Il-kyu left the room :D

For top class one of the students hid in the cupboard. Top Class consists of 5th and 6th graders, so she was going to hide there to scare some 5th graders when they arrived. I sent one over to the cupboard to help me out and she scared him readily. The kids tried Il-kyu on the cupboard (he had missed the original scare) and she smacked his knees with the cupboard doors. Eventually a student was so scared he smacked back. HeeJung ran to the bathroom with a bloody nose! :D We had a good laugh and told her not to pick so hard!! :D

Hello! For those of you that can barely stand the wall of text I've presented so far here is a picture of Ampersand. He is attacking a brand new toy! Cat toys are nearly non-existent here. So, my lovely sister sent me some cat toys and other items (that can not be found in Korea). I got refried bean, red hot, and pasta sauce! (THANK ALL THAT IS GOOD). As you can see, Amper really likes his toys. I have a video, but it is a little over the 100mb (that is the maximum to upload here). After I figure out the trimming of said videos, I'll throw it up!

This is Mel recording Amper playing with his new toys!

So, sometimes we like to have chicken. This is our favorite: Zoono!

This is Zoono's menu. Not that you can read it. Um, you couldn't read it even if the picture didn't suck, it's all in Korean. :D

Pictures of the food! :) Note the chicken with a mug of beer in the lower right corner...

Every Wednesday is street fare day in front of our building! I have no idea why, but it's pretty neat. There's vendors with everything. You can find fruits, veggies, snacks, blankets, electronics, actual hot food, contests, cellphones, and pretty much everything else I forgot to mention.

A nice blurry shot of the street.

This was tonight's wonderful dinner! You know what that is? That's a hot dog! There's also french fries and one of those Hite pitchers I am so fond of. We found out the hard way that the hot dogs were individually wrapped. WHO KNEW?! You couldn't see the damned plastic before-hand. Once the cooking was complete they just looked like nicely cooked hot dogs until one closely examined them. ACK! PLASTIC! Good thing Mel has long fingernails and lots of patience....



Okay, finally what you've been waiting for! This is my kids singing "All You Need is Love" by the Beatles. This is the early rough draft. I have a semester to make this sound really good. I have my work cut out for me ;)

Well, that's it for me. I've blogged enough for tonight. Look for Mel to blog soon as I will nag her until her ears fall off :D

Aaron