A Letter to: Amy

A for amazing

M for masterpiece

Y for young

If I could switch words, rearrange them, and form a new statement for her, it would be: “Amy, the amazing young masterpiece.”

Amy VanWingerden, a 20 years old from the United States is such a gem. To have this young and vibrant lady in my class was really a great gift from God. She had been amazing, kind, fantastic, wonderful, and many more positive adjectives you can think of to describe her.

It was still vivid in my mind, the memory I had when seeing her for the first time. Oh, yes, it is always easy to judge people by his/her appearance. She was wearing this lousy black shirt, long pattern skirt, with her messy hair chewing gum and sitting by the cement blocks. The expression showed that she was wondering somewhere.

I wanted to talk to her at that time because she looked lonely. But this young lady never gave a sight to me. Scenes played on my mind on how to get her to have no other choice but to talk to me. It was like an intentionally coincidence for her to say hello or at least to smile and ended up with a conversation. But it never happened :D

I thought she would be volunteering with the upper grades in other campus but I was somewhat shocked when the principal had her school-tour in our campus and visited my classroom. He was just introduced her as the new volunteer. “Hello, my name is. . . Nice to meet you!” “Oh, so you will volunteer in my class, ok see you!” I greeted her. It was just those kinds of formalities in the beginning.

The next few days she did not show up in my classroom. Oh where is the volunteer? My mind mumbled.

The day had come. She was finally in my class. It was during SSR time if I am not mistaken. I introduced her to my 17 babies. “Ok everyone before we start the read aloud, I would like to introduce you with our new teacher, who sits beside me. Her name is Amy and you can call her Ms. Amy. She will be with us for . . .” I stopped and asked her, “How long will you be in here?” I actually happened to tell my students, with full confidence that she would be in Papua for 8 months when it actually wouldn’t be THAT long. DANG! I was really embarrassed. Well, an awkward laugh might have covered it. However, I did not know why but, somehow, I got a positive vibe from Amy as she sat beside me. She smiled, and it warmed my awkwardness.  That was the first thing I knew for sure that I will be a click with her.

Weather changes. So do the days. She extended her visit for about six weeks long. I was glad she enjoyed her time in my classroom together with my babies. You know kids sometimes can be very cute but sometimes they can drive you nuts as well. I involved her in my teaching especially for English lesson (of course!), Science, SSR, and Christian Studies because these fivesubjects are using bilingual language. I purposefully did that so that she wouldn’t feel intimidated when she heard me mentioned her name, or when she had no ideas what my babies and I were talking about :D She was always like, “What?”

But one thing that I liked the most from her is her contagious smiles which it happened to be seen most of the time! Even when she just say, “What?”

Well, long story short, Amy and I got a long really well. Two of us shared a long time talking and laughing. WE even had the same favorite thing to do: eating bread and cake. We went crazy when it comes to the idea of bakery and cake but we did notactually know how to bake. Well, she can bake as long as there are people to tell her the how-to. As for me, I only know the eating part :P But, anyway, the most important thing is we love bread and cake. You probably wouldn’t have guessed that Amy is an Indonesian food lover! It was a shock when I first found out that she loves eating rice. She even eats rice more than I do as an Indonesian. And that is what I like about people the most – when knowing that he/she is not picky when it comes to food. Oh how I loveeee that kind of human beings :D

Amy, thank you so much for helping me. You are really, indeed, a big help to me. Thank you for being actively involved in my class and never get tired of my babies’ God Bless You(s) J Theyreally loved you! There was a day when you didn’t come to class. The kids kept asking whether you would came or not. Thank you for encouraging me to teach English better. Thank you for correcting me in a good way when it comes to pronunciation. Remember the beginning /qu/ words? It was so hard for me but you kept saying that I was doing good.  Thank you for reading books to my babies when I actually really tired and needed a break from talking. You saved my throat! Ha ha.

You are the kind of a partner I am forever grateful for. You exemplify Christ through your joyful mien.

Bittersweet . . . But I am glad you had a great experience in Papua.

Until we meet again! You will be missed.

Love,