Jung II-woo and Fans, Happy Valentine’s Day!

February 14, 2018

Hello! Happy Valentine’s Day! And… Happy another day of loving our Jung II-woo 씨! My trip to New York was fantastic! I came back enriched, inspired and a bit over stimulated! My senses are all in overdrive!

In thinking what to do for Valentine’s Day, I decided to do a mix of photos from “The Moon that Embraces the Sun” and my trip to New York! I really wanted to convey the message that where ever I go, Jung II-woo is always with me! and I also wanted to share some of the things I saw there…so this will be a very anecdotical post.

The reason why I went to New York was to attend a Foreign Language Conference. This is a bit of that:

Yeah… this was very outer space:

Every afternoon, after we were done, my colleague and I went to museums, and places in New York. We also took time to explore and see friends on our own…

Our hotel was a block away from the MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art, so we started there! Though there wasn’t an exhibit being shown to the general public yet (it was members only), we saw their amazing permanent collection. One of (if not) my favorite art work is there: Starry night from Van Gogh. I never… ever!… get tired of looking at it! Nor it seems many people…

There is a really great view to a sculpture garden in this museum, where there is a giant rose…It served as an inspiration for one of my photos…

This is the view with the rose:

Yes! That’s me reflected in a really cool interactive piece:

The rainbow sparkles and this man’s jacket…

Inspired this:

It was a variation of this:

That was inspired in the famous:

The next day… I went to the Guggenheim museum. I had always wanted to see this masterpiece of architecture…Frank Lloyd Wright’s last work. I was so impressed…the entire piece is an ode to the circle and geometry. The simplicity of lines and the play between asymmetry and symmetry was so beautiful! I took in every bit of its space. There was an exhibit called “Take my Breath Away” by Dahn Vo, but it did not take my breath away… My breath was already gone because of Frank Lloyd Wright! And now enjoy Jung II-woo and the Guggenheim:

Yes! Jung II-woo…you too Take My Breath Away!

At the very top of the spiral? circular showcase, there is a skylight…

There was an triangular staircase also…and the next slide after that is the shop seen from above. It was so scary for me to take these photos…I do not like heights. I know it’s really weird for a dreamer!

This is the cafe. You can see Frank Lloyd Wright in a photo taken during the museum’s construction. You can also see treat I had…

…and then I saw this kid doing what I felt like doing…spinning! This atrium…is an invitation to spin! the feeling must be amazing…but as an adult people would think I’m crazy, so I couldn’t do it… darn! But… I took a video and that gave the excuse to at least do one turn!

Are you dizzy? Yeah…so great!

After the Guggenheim, I decided to stop by the “Imagine” Memorial for John Lennon. I had always wanted to see it. I listened to the song Imagine and sat on a nearby bench… it was near sunset, and at times nobody was there…so I was able to think of John and Peace. I wish for his spirit to be in peace. He did not have much of it in life…

What I never imagined! was that they would play this song at the Olympics Opening Ceremony! I cried when I saw it …because I realized how connected I am to Jung II-woo and his country. It turns out I visited the memorial on the same day as the opening of the olympics… how amazing is that?!!! I do not believe in coincidences… I know that everything that happens to us is meant to be. We are all connected… if we all thought of peace…we would have it! So I’ll keep sending all my energy of peace along with my students (they have the best energy!)… for as long as I can. I am very spiritual…though I am not religious. I do my own thing…which is a mix of many things!

Ha… I can dream right?! Did I mention it was really cold here? I am in awe that Jung II-woo can film in those thin clothes in the cold… my hand was freezing!

Oh…how beautiful that was!

Imagine all the people…living life in peace! You may say I am a dreamer…but I’m not the only one…I hope someday you will join us and the world will be as one!

Love you John Lennon…your energy is always in me!

That night I met a friend for dinner. He was a colleague at school that moved to New York two years ago. He had the best suggestion! Koreatown!!! I didn’t know it existed! I was so excited to visit it! And even though it’s only about two blocks…you feel like you are in Korea! We had a lovely meal…and I tried Oppa’s favorite soup! Yes, Doenjang Jjigae. It was so delicious! Then we walked around. We went into a bookstore and that was so surreal! Everything was in Korean! Sadly it made me realize how little I know…I have a lonnnnnnnng way to go. I can’t wait until I visit South Korea!

Can you spot Lee Min-ho and Poporo:

I didn’t realize that Poporo was that famous in South Korea…!

While I was taking a ride back from the Guggenheim, we passed by the MET. The Metropolitan Art Museum. My eyes widened in surprise!!! A huge banner of Michelangelo was hanging! I immediately looked it up…and it turned out to be a not to be missed exhibit with over 100 of his drawings! The next day we went there…

That’s Jung II-woo looking at Michelangelo’s draft of St. Peter’s dome. It was such an amazing exhibit… the best I’ve seen of him ever! It included some of his studies for the Sixtine Chapel and the Duomo of St. Peter’s. There have been many artists in this world, but he is among the masters of art. His work and dedication… is out of this world!

This was a large rare draft he made…you can see how he stuck the smaller papers together…

You can see how large it was in comparison to this little girl. Poor little thing…she was so tired and bored…eventually she left the exhibit crying in the arms of her dad.

This was the closest thing to “Pieta”…and again I was reminded of Jung II-woo and his recent post…

There was a room where they recreated part of the Sixtine Chapel, and they set up many of his studies for it… it was so impressive. They would show you even the location in the ceiling! Bravo curators…BRAVO!

If you have the means… Do not miss this masterpiece! The Sixtine Chapel…there is nothing like it in the world! It was made by one man…!!!

I have been very lucky… I have been there… I will never forget it …after walking behind this huge line of people for like an hour…we stepped into this room and boom! It hit me so hard… my eyes water every time I remember what I felt. It’s like someone punches you in the chest and you can barely gasp air…that kind of feeling! I have two books that I recommend greatly about Michelangelo:

The bottom one, I bought on my first trip there… the second I bought later on. It is an amazing historical account of what Michelangelo went through to paint the Sixtine Chapel. He suffered so much. Against common believe…Michelangelo did not paint the ceiling laying down! He would paint looking up until the pain in his neck was unbearable! Imagine how many hours he did this for… sigh!

Last but not least… we went to Times Square… I had a lot of fun with these images… the absurdity of how calm he is, and how loud Times Square is, the contrast of color and the old versus the new…