Please respect the kinesphere

I was just about to write about the churning acid feeling in my stomach I get before every class--not because I'm afraid of speaking, but ...it's just the thought of the unexpected and hoping they will learn something and have fun though I know that won't happen. So...knowing all of that but not being able to do anything about it sucks and so, the churning acid and strange aching, slight adrenaline pumping sensation behind my heart that floods my upper back as well...

Instead...let me say a word on kinesphere. Kinesphere is the unseeable area around a person that stretches or shrinks depending on where she is --in her mind or on the street, in a pharmacy, on the bus or in the teacher's office room. This space or bubble can morph depending on mood, comfort, etc. That comfort level is usually determined by your relationship with those people around, or whether your tight jeans make you wonder why you bought them or make you think damn I'm really sexy today. Anyway, there are many factors so it is difficult for people to guess where your kinesphere is at any given moment. Usually when you have been dancing with other people--after you have been breathing with them, leaning on them, pulling them, being thrown, and running to be caught by one of them-- that's one of the easiest times to intuitively feel someone else's kinesphere as it is sort of joins another's. And sometimes you're just damn lucky and can guess where a person is at.

However...for some reason, the girls that were just hovering over my shoulder and bumping into my chair while they waited for the teacher next to me, just could not feel that my kinesphere was extra large today, but I was filling the whole space so...I wanted the whole area around my desk to have only me in it, not four girls who must travel in a pack to ask for some paper from the teacher.

In case you were wondering: PMS is an international traveling phenomena as well. It's still alive and well with me in Korea.

A New Day, A New Blog

I sort of regret not being more of a hardass and making my students call me Ms. Kook. I always feel a little uncomfortable when students scream, "Hey you, Jackie!" when I know they would never refer to other teachers that way. I suppose I'm not the same as other teachers, but in order to teach, I think it's important to have that level of respect. But Jackie Teacher is starting to grow on me. I wonder if it's bad to not correct them since in America we don't address our teachers as teacher...though we do adress our professors as such and I'm not sure what happens in other English speaking countries. Still, Jackie Teacher or Teacher is really cute sometimes so I'd like to keep it now.

I know Hilary, Kristofer and I share Traveling Beans but it seemed more appropriate to start a separate blog for my thoughts or more personal musings, or "beans" as we have seemed to adopt. Traveling Beans seems more appropriate for larger, global reflections or themes more directly related to larger issues at hand in our respective regions. That's not saying on Traveling Beans I will tell you all there is to know about South Korea because I am no representative for South Korea, I can only tell you my experiences and what I learn from the people I spend time with. Still, I can get a little more personal on my own page...but still stay connected to the others through our communal page. Hopefully this doesn't split it up too much for ya'll.

This way...I can write more small things more directly related to teaching or small things that happen to me. I don't have to feel like I am monopolizing our communal page. :)

Enjoy.