Working at a Korean after-school as one of two non-Korean people has its moments. Lots of them.

I teach a 4th and 5th grade combination class and its filled with an eclectic bunch of bright students. One such student is Harrison.

Harrison and his sister, Kate, moved to America from Korea not too long ago, and have both been adjusting to life here in the states. For example, Harrison, formerly known as Hubert, had his name recently changed by his parents. I think it was a good move to change his name to match a classic movie star or respected surname, though his classmates are now confused.

Harrison’s adventures in learning the English language have been quite challenging for him as a student, but also for me as a teacher who doesn’t speak his native language of Korean. Despite the difficulty, his language barrier has proved to be surprisingly entertaining as well.

On Mondays, I give a spelling pre-test to my students in order to prepare them for the vocabulary words for the week. After reciting the words out loud and having them do their best to spell each one, they all turned it in for Amy Teacher to grade.

I took these tests home to grade, and was at my friend Michelle’s apartment doing work. When I came to Harrison’s test, I busted up laughing. I showed Michelle what Harrison had written as number one: bigdump.

Me: “Bigdump! He thought I said bigdump! Hahahaha!”
Michelle: “Why did he write that? What was the word?”
Me: “VICTIM.”
Michelle: “HAHA!”

Lost in translation. So very lost. Harrison had put a word he didn’t know in his schema for English words, and hence produced “bigdump.” Let’s use bigdump in a sentence: The bigdump of a crime reported it to the police. I will not be a bigdump of injustice! Oh, one of my favorite shows is “Law & Order: Special Bigdumps Unit.”

Oh man, I’m having too much fun. Poor kid.

This is Amy Hu signing off for July 23, 2011.

I am in a state of transition.

Not so long ago, Saturday night would have been spent either with college students at an InterVarsity conference, event, or the dormitories of UCLA, or off to a café or my apartment to play catch-up on my never-ending to-do list. Today marks a new era.

I have come to Iso Café to simply type away freely in order to fill that void that has widened due to the previous busy season—blogging.

Amy Hu now has nights free to spend on WordPress.com after a couple of years as an InterVarsity campus minister.

But please don’t get me wrong readers—I have loved this past season with InterVarsity. To sum it up and not do it justice, it has been the most life-changing and growing experience. It was worth every minute spent. I have found purpose and calling in my life, and it has led me to where I’m headed next. Look out for a “My Time as an InterVarsity Staff Worker” reflective piece soon under “Tidbits.”

So my friends, I write to you asking to take me back. Too many stories to tell, and so little of your attention span I have (I blame it on 80s music videos and the game of Pictionary). Don’t expect a (0) on your Google Readers or come back to the lame post from a few months ago. The interweb will now receive more search results regarding silly stories about my life, though I don’t think I’d show up right away if you Googled “ridiculous stories about Amy.” I’d actually advise you not to (not that I’ve tried to myself…).

So here’s an update on Amy Hu to preface my return:

Where: Still in Westwood until at least the end of this month. Looking for cheap housing!

Work: Amy Teacher is back at Ivy League Academy for the summer once again to teach my 4^th/5^th class. It’s a wonderful Korean after-school program. Also, ending my time soon as a smoothie-maker at Jamba Juice.
Mourning: My time with InterVarsity Bruin Christian Fellowship (IV at UCLA), as well as Team Prime Time.

And soon I will mourn for my apartment, despite all its substandard-living downfalls, for the community of people and spaciousness was good to me.

What’s ahead: Entering a season of fund raising for my new job with InterVarsity as a production associate with their communications team—twentyone hundred productions. Moving to Madison, WI hopefully by the end of this year. Yes, it’ll be friggin’ freezing by then.
Recent movies watched:“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Pt. II” and “True Grit.” Masterpieces. Also Jeff Bridges had a Mad-eye Moody kind of look to him.

Books I’m working on: Finishing up Bossypants by Tina Fey, one of my greatest heroes. The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns. Gospel of Luke.
Music: Greatest Hits of Nat King Cole on vinyl (thanks to my friend Randy Taylor, who sounds just like him). Trying to also warm up to the newest Explosions in the Sky album.
Confession: Watched two hours of “Say Yes to the Dress” yesterday. Even the Atlanta version. Damn you reality TV!
Current annoyances: My eczema acted up and got worse the past couple of weeks. Going to see the doctor on Monday. Also, I hate my new assigned parking spot at my apartment. And the doctor’s of course.

Newest additions to my wish list: The iPad 2 and a melodica.
Most recent recipe: Japanese Miso Eggplant. Inspired by Furaibo Restaurant.
Looking forward to: Going home next week. Finally. Get to be with my family, my best friend Melanie, and hopefully the KKK (Katrina and Kathleen, Kevin left us for Hong Kong. Ugh.). Oh yeah, and it’s Vera’s birthday on the 24^th! My sister is getting old, dayum.
Simply can’t wait for: “Cowboys and Aliens.” Two words: Daniel Craig. He makes me…yeah.

That should be enough context for upcoming material.

It’s darn good to be back.

This is Amy Hu signing off for July 16, 2011.