In our trying to catch up on nearly three weeks of Korea craziness, we failed to include a few fun activities that we did. First, two weeks ago, Sarah, myself and our foreign teacher collective decided to go to the beach on a Saturday. Why not, right? It was a perfect day for it and only two hours away by bus. Considering how fast and changeable the weather is here, we lucked out. (We go to work in the morning with not a cloud in the sky and an hour later in the middle of your class its thundering all of a sudden). One of co-workers somehow knew of this amazing spot where not many people go—something to do with the place being right next to this fancy large beach resort or something. But whatever the reason, the place was beautiful and empty—exactly what we wanted. We had a fantastic time playing frisbee, swimming, drinking Hite and Cass (the main beer Korea) under a beach umbrella and trying to use a make shift pole vault, a random bamboo pole, to pole vault. We all failed at that miserably. Of course, this great time came with a price: Sarah and I got pretty badly burned. And we even put on 50 SPF sunblock too. But, really, it was worth it, even with the cringing of pain in the classroom the next week.
The next weekend, Sarah, myself and two co-workers all went to Gwanju’s Art Biennial which is held, you guessed it, every two years. There are three locations. We went to the exhibit located in Gwanju’s Biennial Hall. It was a phenomenal collection of politically related and inspired art, spanning some 100 years, in an amazing variety of media. I was just so impressed by the quality of the work as well as the inclusion of internationally known artists, like photographer Cindy Sherman. The exhibit, though was as impressive for its quality as its variety. There was such a range of art media, style and emotion in these works. You turn one corner and see grotesque war pictures next to mannequins with nails in their heads in a grisly anti-war art installation, and right near that see a graceful sculpture with a peaceful flower themed backdrop. There was so much to see and digest, I had to quicken my pace in my looking at each work or I would start to get overwhelmed. We were initially a little put off by the high 14 dollar ticket price—which is high in Korea for this kind of thing apparently—but after experiencing this exhibit, I think we all would agree it was worth every wan.
