On Saturday Danny and I took a trip into Seoul to see the Seoul Art Museum. It turns out the museum only has 2 exhibits. An Andy Warhol exhibit took up the top two floors. It seemed really popular, because people were lined up outside the museum to see it. We were too cheap to pay the $10 entrance fee though, so we visited the sculpture exhibit on the first floor that only cost about 50 cents. It was actually really interesting. It featured modern sculptures by Korean artists. Many of the sculptures used digital media and technology, so it was different than the plaster sculptures you are probably imagining. Unfortunately, there was no photography allowed, so I have no pictures to show. Afterwards we walked along the nice streets near the museum (we were in the City Hall neighborhood), and we stumbled upon one of the five famous palaces in Seoul, Deoksugung. This palace is different from the others because it features one western-style building on its grounds. We walked around a bit, and it was cool to see a palace in the snow. There was the National Museum of Art on the palace grounds as well. We checked out that museum, but its two floors only covered one artist. He was a famous Korean artist that loved to sculpt people and horses, so the museum was a bit repetitive. By the time we finished in the museum, it was already evening, and we saw and heard some event going on in the distance. We walked over to Seoul Plaza, a large open area in front of City Hall. There was a light show and music drawing crowds to exhibits about Korea's Antarctic exploration team and its plans for modern renovations to Seoul city. The new plans will make Seoul look like a space-age city of the future. I can't imagine any city having the technology and funds to do stuff like that now, but Seoul seems to really be progressing. Once the cold got to us in Seoul Plaza, we hopped on the subway to Ewha Women's University for some Indian food and shopping around. I was looking for some warm winter boots in my size. Unfortunately, I am a size 9 and Korean shoes only go up to about 8 or 8.5. When I asked the shop owners fora size "250" (the biggest in Korea), they looked at me in shock. In the end, I finally found a pair of "Fuggs" that fit me.
On Sunday Danny and I did a lot of prepping for school, because we have Winter Intensive classes this week. We had Indian food again for dinner and saw the movie "Nine." It takes place in Italy in the 1960's, so I really enjoyed the setting. It was a musical, and the soundtrack was great as well.
Yesterday (Monday), I woke up to a winter wonderland. There was at least 4 inches of pristine snow outside my window at 8am. I was up early for my intensive classes. I put on my boots and trudged out into the untainted snow. In Korea they don't really bother to plow the snow or shovel like we do in New York. You don't hear loud Nassau County snow plows at 6am ruining the white snow. Luckily I take the subway to work, so there was no delay. By the time I got to school, the snow was coming down harder. Only 7 of my 14 students showed up, but we had a lot of fun. Both of my evening classes were canceled after that, so I went home and had lunch with Danny. I really would have liked to have played in the snow if I had the right clothing. Oh well...
